Umbrellas.

method of treatment for young husbands who come home to their wives drunk at midnight is quite worthy of consideration. It has the advantage of being comparatively inexpensive, and, in the case referred to, it seems to have resulted in an immediate and permanent cure. If such were its uniform effect, the knowledge of it must prove a boon to afflicted humanity.

UMBRELLAS.

UST a hundred and ten years since it was still so unusual for men to carry umbrellas in our London streets that John Macdonald, the autobiographic footman, could not unfurl in any thoroughfare of the town his 'fine silk umbrella, newly brought from Spain,' without provoking derision from street-boys and angry gibes from hackney-carriage drivers. Frenchman! Frenchman! why don't you call a coach?' was the usual exclamation of the cockney mob, which, holding Frenchmen in unqualified disdain, attributed the invention of umbrellas to French effeminacy, and thought no man but a Frenchman could use so ludicrous a contrivance. Popular sentiment had for years conceded the umbrella to woman as a contrivance adapted to her physical weakness, and accordant with her cumbrous costume; but it did not follow that men should be allowed to bear the oily shed' any more than they should be suffered to wear petticoats. So John Macdonald, Jonas Hanway, and the few other daring Englishmen who fought the battle of the umbrella on behalf of their sex, were groaned at and hooted by the rabble for their womanly and Frenchified practice. The reformers were confident of ultimate victory. But though they were sure that their example would be followed in the course of a few years by all well-clothed men, they little imagined that a century later umbrellas would be as common as walking-sticks, and that a single London tradesman would in the course of twenty years sell four millions of cheap umbrellas, covered with alpaca. Indeed, the opposition to the use of umbrellas by men was not more remarkable for its violence, during a few years, than for the suddenness with which it came to an end.

Before the close of the last century every English gentleman was an umbrella-bearer, or, at least, was free to bear one if he wished to do so. And from that time the portable rain-tent has undergone a surprising number of modifications and developments. It has also assumed forms so strangely and exquisitely eloquent of character, that it kas become a part of human nature as well as of human costume. How should we recognise Mrs. Gamp if we encountered that excellent woman without her gingham? Charles Dickens was a keen student of umbrellas. An amusing paper might be written on the peculiarities of the umbrellas which he puts into the hands of some twenty different characters; and it was not the smallest of his triumphs that a particular type of rain-defender came to be called as it still is, 'a gamp.'

But the student of umbrella character may not confine his observations to the umbrellas of low life. The parapluies of dandyism and

'They Say!'

foppery are even more expressive of individual taste and temper than the umbrellas of the slovenly and the indigent. When he was told that if he persisted in his extravagance he would soon be unable to afford himself a carriage of any kind, Alfred Count d'Orsay answered gaily,So be it. But as long as I have a carriage it shall be the best one in town: and when I can no longer drive the best carriage, I will carry the best umbrella in London." And the man of fashion was true to the sentiment uttered thus lightly. Paris could produce no daintier parapluie than the one that guarded his fading features from sun and rain.—Globe.

66

'THEY SAY.'

LADY once said to me, 'People constantly use the words They Say." Now can any one tell who "they" are, whose speeches are continually quoted?' I have often thought of her words, and meeting a few days since with a sensible paper, entitled They Say, I transcribed some of its remarks.

'Who has not heard of the world-renowned "They-Say?" His name is everywhere familiar: the high and low, the rich and poor, the honoured and despised, the civilised and barbarian, Jew and Gentile, Mussulman and Chistian, most nations, tongues, and kindreds, have heard of Mr. They-Say. His name is almost a household word. But who has ever given the world a history of this remarkable personage? Numerous as biographies are, no library contains on its shelves the life of a personage universally known and quoted. Permit me, therefore, to give you some particulars re

specting him.

'With regard to his parentage, nothing, I fear, very respectable can be adduced. His father's name is Slander, his mother's Tattle; he was born in the town of Evil Report, in the kingdom of Sin.

'As respects his age, no one can identify it; many conjecture that he came into the world soon after Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden: if this supposition be correct, he is far advanced in life; nay, extremely old, and must have the evidences of great debility: but such is not the case, he is strong and active, as hale and hearty as ever-truly, a remarkable old creature.

'With regard to his education, it may be assumed to be limited. His knowledge is chiefly from hearsay, hence he does not gain any correct information on men or things. Yet so artful is this singular being, that he never positively commits himself, or makes a decided assertion he supposes this, that, or the other; guesses, and pretends to hope that the thing he mentions may or may not be true.

:

He is said to be strong and active, like his patron, going up and down the world seeking whom he may devour. No one has ever seen, but all have heard of him. My own opinion respecting him is that he is somewhat like a phantom, which we can neither see nor hear. Still we know that he exists, because every one quotes his sayings, though unseen and impossible to take hold of a sort of

Short Sermon.

Will-o'-the-wisp, a Jack-o'-lantern, whose personal appearance cannot be described.

'A few words more, and I have done with the subject. He is distinguished for a vile, slanderous disposition, being likewise deceitful; a liar, a peace-breaker: in short, he is everything that is bad, filling the world with suspicion.

"Reader, is "They-Say," a visitor in your family? If so, drive him forth; don't even allow his name to be mentioned, much less let any one under your roof listen to his vile insinuations; he will cause mischief without end, he has ruined many a happy household. He has set husband and wife at discord, children against their parents, and parents against their children. "They-Say" has his own way of telling a tale; the story runs like wildfire. This is just what he wishes; for his profession is that of a mischief-maker. Listen not, therefore, to his whispers, and allow not your lips to repeat them. Rather pray, "Set a watch, O Lord, on the door of my lips, lest I offend with my tongue."

It may be useful to add the following recipe for the cure of a terrible disease of the mouth called 'Scandal:'-Take of Good-nature, one ounce; of the herb, commonly called by the Indians, Mind-yourown-business,' one ounce; mix this with a little 'Charity-for-others, and two or three sprigs of 'Keep-your-tongue-within-your-teeth;' simmer them together in a vessel called 'Circumspection' for a time, and it will be fit for use. Application: the symptoms are a violent itching in the tongue and roof of the mouth, which is most strongly felt when you are with a kind of being called 'a gossip.' When you feel an attack of it coming on, take a teaspoonful of the above; hold it in your mouth, which you will keep closely shut until you get home, and you will find this to be a complete cure.

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BY W. R. CLARK, M.A., PREBENDARY OF WELLS AND VICAR OF TAUNTON. THE SIN OF EVIL-SPEAKING..

1 St. Peter, iii, 10.- Let him refrain his tongue from evil.' HEN we consider the prominent place assigned in Holy Scripture to sins of the tongue, it is perhaps to be wondered at that we hear so little of them from the pulpit. When the Psalmist asks, Who shall dwell in God's tabernacle?' he places in his answer this character: He that hath used no deceit in his tongue, nor done evil to his neighbour, and hath not slandered his neighbour.' When St. Paul describes the awful depravity of the heathen, he speaks of them as being full of envy ... deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters. . . despiteful, boasters, inventors of evil things:' a very complete account of an evil, and particularly of a slanderous tongue.

When the same Apostle entreats his fellow-Christians not to

Short Sermon.

grieve the Holy Spirit of God,' he says, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.' Whether we who are here have need of such warnings and exhortations I cannot tell; but it is quite clear that, when such words are written in the Bible, it is the duty of those who teach to draw attention to them, and explain them, and enforce them.

The importance of speech, as it is represented in the Scriptures, is twofold: it is the truest expression and representative of a man's life, and it is, at least, one of the greatest powers in a man's life. If we could know what men speak-on every subject and in all circumstances we should almost be sure as to what they were. 'Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.' By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.' This is one side of the matter: a man's truth or falsehood; a man's kindliness or unkindliness; a man's wisdom or folly; a man's thoughtfulness or inconsiderateness; these and many other qualities are shown by our words.

6

And the other side is equally true. If speech reveals the man, no less truly does it make the man. St. James compares that 'little member, the tongue, to the helm of a ship, which, although itself 'very small,' turns about ships, though they be so great,' whithersoever the governor listeth.' Hence St. Paul, in telling Titus how he is to instruct his people in the true way of Christian life, bids him 'put them in mind... to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.'

You will see how constantly the sacred writers connect the sin of slander with hatred, malice, envy, and the like; and this is quite natural, for such is its ordinary source; and, I may add, this is the worst form of slander: to speak evil of another, from envy or malice, from a desire to do him an injury, and especially when the speaker knows that what he says is false. But this is, perhaps, a very uncommon form of evil-speaking-at any rate, it is a form of it to which very few would plead guilty. Who would acknowledge, even to his own heart, that he had spoken from envy or malice? Yet many do undoubtedly so speak. Who would acknowledge that he circulated a report which he knew to be false? Yet many do cirulate such reports. They will probably tell you that they believed that what they said was true, and they had a perfect right to say it!

And so we are forced to notice another form of evil-speaking, closely allied to the one just mentioned: I mean, the taking up lightly and without investigation the flying rumours of the day, and repeating them, and, alas! sometimes with exaggeration. This is a sin which is second only to that of deliberate falsehood and malice. A man who does this kind of thing-let us say it plainly, although it may condemn many must have a very imperfect sense and love of truth, and must be very wanting in the cardinal grace of Charity; and he must have a very low sense of duty to his fellow-men.

And this leads me to remark that I must place among the sins which are certainly akin to slander the repeating of evil reports, even when they are true-the taking pleasure in dwelling upon the faults and offences of others. My brethren, it seems almost incredible that

Short Sermon.

here should be people in the world who seem to take no pleasure whatever in speaking of their neighbours' virtues and good qualities, but who seem to take great pleasure in dwelling upon their vices and failings. And yet there are such people. Speak evil of a man, and they have nothing to say in extenuation; nothing to interpose that will show that the man has his good as well as his evil side. Speak well of a man, and they will not let you conclude without making some deduction from what they regard as your too favourable estimate of him.

And then there is the form of slander, which, when it cannot fasten upon any tangible evil, finds out that the good proceeded from a selfish motive. A man labours for the public good: in the eye of your slanderer he is animated by vain-glory. A man is genial and kindly in his intercourse with his fellow-men: of course he is only hunting for popularity. A man is liberal and munificent in his gifts: the evil eye discerns that he is doing it to be seen of men. obvious remark that these men see in others what they feel in themselves. And it is a true remark. Depend upon it the man who sees nothing but evil, or chiefly evil, in the good of other men, has something wrong and bad in himself.

It is an

It would be impossible even to allude to all the many forms which slander may assume. Sometimes it is conveyed by a nod, a shrug of the shoulders, a shake of the head, or even by simple silence. It has a language of its own which all understand.

And this leads to another remark. I do not think we should be anxious to know of what is said against ourselves. There are cases in which, I admit, it is necessary to warn others of such things for their own protection, that they may be on their guard against false friends, and the like; but these cases are very rare. The best remedy against calumny and detraction is to do good, to speak the truth, and to be kind to others; and then it will not long be believed. Very little mud will stick to a wall which has nothing to catch it, and the little will soon drop off. A man who is sincere and without offence-or even fairly so-will easily bear in silence the reproaches of evil tongues.

To resume. If I am asked, Are we never to speak against others, even when we are sure that what we say is true? I answer, Never, unless we are doing so in the discharge of an evident and imperative duty. I do not say that great excuse may not sometimes be found for the transgression of this rule; but I am quite sure that the rule itself is one which every good man will deliberately approve, and the violation of which must usually be set down to malice or some other evil motive.

Do we, any of us, consider what a fearful sin this of evil-speaking is in the eye of Almighty God? As a general rule, we have said, it proceeds from envy, jealousy, or revenge-most commonly, perhaps, from envy. Many of us are like the Athenian citizen, who voted for the banishment of Aristides because he could not bear to hear everyone calling him the righteous man.' So it is now-people cannot bear to think that some one is better or wiser than themselves, and they must blacken him that he may seem as bad as themselves, or, if possible, worse.