there are servants to help do the work. All these dwell in one house; they sleep beneath one roof; they eat of the same bread; their hearts are bowed together, night and morning, adoring their Creator: they are very closely united, and are dearer to each other, than any strangers. If one is sick, they mourn together; and if one is happy, they rejoice together.

Many houses are built together; many families live near one another; they meet together on the green, and in pleasant walks, and to buy and sell, and in the house of justice; and they gather together to worship the great God, in companies. If one is poor, his neighbor helpeth him; if he is sad, he comforteth him. This is a village; see where it stands, enclosed in a green shade, and the tall spire peeps above the trees. If there be very many houses, it is a town; it is governed by a magistrate.

Many towns, and a large extent of country, make a state or kingdom. It is enclosed by mountains; it is divided by rivers; it is washed by seas the inhabitants thereof are countrymen ; they speak the same language; they make war and peace together; a king or governor is the ruler thereof.

Many kingdoms, and countries full of people, and islands, and large continents, and different climates, make up this whole world. God governeth it. The people swarm upon the face of it, like ants upon a hillock. Some are black with with the hot sun; some cover themselves with furs,

against the sharp cold; some drink of the fruit of the vine; some, of the pleasant milk of the cocoanut; and others quench their thirst with the running stream.

All are God's family; he knoweth every one of them, as a shepherd knoweth his flock. They pray to him in different languages, but he understands them all he heareth them all; he taketh care of all. None are so great, that he cannot punish them; none are so mean, that he will not protect them.

Monarch, that rulest over a hundred states; whose frown is terrible as death, and whose armies cover the land; boast not thyself, as though there was none above thee: God is above thee; his powerful arm is always over thee; and, if thou doest ill, assuredly he will punish thee,

Nations of the earth, fear the Lord families of men, call upon the name of your God.

PART SECOND.

THE RICH AND THE POOR.

A DIALOGUE.

MAMMA! said Harriet Beechwood, I have just heard such a proud speech of a poor man! you would wonder, if you heard it.

Not much Harriet; for pride and poverty can very well agree together :-but what was it?

Why, mamma, you know the charity school, that Lady Mary has set up, and how neat the girls look, in their brown stuff gowns and little. straw bonnets.

Yes, I think it a very good institution; the poor girls are taught to read, and spell, and sew, and, what is better still, to be good.

Well, mamma, Lady Mary's gardener, a poor man, who lives in a cottage just by the great house, has a little girl; and so, because she was a pretty little girl, Lady Mary offered to put her into this school; and do you know, he would not let her go!

Indeed!

1

Yes he thanked her, and said, "I have only one little girl, and I love her dearly; and, though I am a poor man, I would rather work my fingers to the bone, than she should wear a charity dress.

I do not doubt, my dear Harriet, that a great many people will have the same idea of this poor man's behavior, which you have; but, for my own part, I am inclined to think, it indicates something of a noble and generous spirit.

Was it not proud, to say she should not wear a charity dress?

Why should she? Would you wear a charity dress?

O, mamma, but this is a poor man!

He is able to pay for her learning, I suppose; otherwise, he would certainly do wrong, to refuse his child the advantage of instruction, because his feelings were hurt by it.

Yes, he is going to put her to Mrs. Primmer's, across the Green; she will have half a mile to walk.

That will do her no hurt.

But he is throwing his money away; for he might have his little girl taught for nothing; and, as he is a poor man, he ought to be thankful for it.

man ?

Pray, what do you mean, by a poor O, a man, those men that live in poor houses, and work all day, and are hired for it.

I cannot tell, exactly, how you define a poor house but, as to working, your papa is in a public office, and works all day long, and more hours,

certainly, than the laborer does; and he is hired to do it, for he would not do the work, but for the salary they give him.

But you do not live like those poor people, and you do not wear a check apron, like the gar

dener's wife.

Neither am I covered with lace and jewels, like a duchess: there is as much difference between our manner of living and that of many people, above us in fortune, as between ours and this gardener's, whom you call poor.

What is being poor, then? Is there no such thing?

Indeed, I hardly know how to answer your question. Rich and poor are comparative terms; and, provided a man is in no want of the necessaries of life, and is not in debt, he can only be said to be poor, comparatively with others, of whom the same might be affirmed, by those who are still richer. But, to whatever degree of indigence you apply the term, you must take care not to confound a poor man with a pauper.

What is a pauper? I thought they were the same thing.

A pauper is one who cannot maintain himself, and who is maintained by the charity of the community. Your gardener was not a pauper; he worked for what he had, and he paid for what he had; and, therefore, he had a right to expect that his child should not be confounded with the children of the idle, the profligate, and the dissolute, who are maintained upon charity. I wish the lower classes had more of this honorable pride.