AFFLICTION'S TEACHINGS: THREE NIGHTS IN THE PINE FOREST. "AY, let him in, Doris, but what boots | priest, his form was tall, and his bearing it? He can do nought for me;" and the distinguished. His features she could not lady tossed round impatiently to the see; this was owing partly to the hat other side of her couch. But the grave which shaded them, and partly to the presence of the stranger who was now semi-light which pervaded the chamber. ushered into the apartment, awed even His tones were calm and impressive, and her restless spirit; and, quietly and in- as he spoke there seemed something in quiringly, she turned her face towards the voice which was strangely familiar; him, waiting till he should speak. yet if it were so, she could recall no one to whom those tones might have belonged. "Do you know my history, Father! she asked suddenly. Seating himself, he began "Daughter, thy fame, and the fame of thy afflictions hath reached me, I am here to proffer comfort; fear not to confide in me; and be assured that the blessing of the Lord shall rest on thee." Slightly raising herself on her arm, the lady replied "Who are you, that you should say be comforted? Can you give back the blessings which the Lord has taken from me? Wherefore deride me ? I ask not your presence." "Hold, do riches give happiness? then truly it becomes me to revel in joy; yet, when you go hence, seek out the meanest beggar, and tell him--whisper it close-that Amédée de Montfoix envies him his lot and his rags." "Hush, these are ravings; yet I go. I may not listen to the sinful outpourings of a discontented heart. I will pray that our holy Mother Church may not utterly repudiate one so lost, and that the tender mercies of God may descend in healing showers to soothe thy worldly aching heart." But before he reached the threshold, a faint voice called him back. "I have heard of a woman who lived with her husband and children, upon whose head blessings were invoked by the poor and needy, who was distinguished alike by rich and poor, and whose life was a bright example; and I have also heard of one, whom it pleased the Lord to deprive of her children; whose husband became of evil repute and died the sinner's unrepenting death, whose friends left her, and who is a miserable woman — such a one as I see before me." "But you do not, cannot know what he did; wherefore have I no friends now! Wherefore am I an exile in a foreign land? But what is all that to the loss of my children?' sobbed the unhappy woman. I think the demeanour of that grave priest would have startled you at that moment; those eyes which blazed with wrath, and those clenched hands, proclaimed that he was not even the passionless thing he might have seemed. It was but for a moment, however. He drew a long hard breath, and again you saw before you the cold severe ecclesiastic. "Daughter, cease thy weeping; and ere I show thee God's most merciful consideration and bounteous consolation for such as thou, listen and judge. Others beside thee have traversed the dark valley of sorrow and humiliation." Amédée remained silent and still, and after a short pause the priest continued: 'Many years ago I went to the Pine Forest. It is not for me now to paint the all-subduing beauty which pervaded the Pine Forest, steeped in the silvery moonlight of that still, calm evening; but I see it before me, and I see myself as I was then, a youth for whom existence was happiness; and in my mind I cast a halo round the future, and visions of greatness and grandeur floated before me. Nor were these visions wholly unfounded. Of noble birth, though poor, I had been taken by the hand by a powerful relation, who watched the development of my powers of mind with increasing interest. I was to have been heir to his name and fortune, and my betrothal to Amédée de la Sainte Loraine was sanctioned with his approval. As I stood then, the cool breeze which stirred the tops of the pine trees, whispered to me of all which existence had in store for me, and I said aloud in my exultation, All things prosper with me. "Again, in a year's time, I went to the Pine Forest. It was evening, but a fierce storm raged. All the elements were warring in deadly strife; peal after peal of thunder shook the earth; more terrible still was the forked lightning,-and why was I there? evening I went once more to the Pine Forest. How much had I not to think of and be thankful for, while resting under the shade of those well-known trees? On leaving Lutzenberg, after my disgrace, I had gone on to Rome; there God, in his infinite mercy, inclined the heart of the Superior of the Jesuits towards me. I became a member of the order, and neither my origin nor my history were made known to any but the Superior. In course of time I rendered important service to my order. I rose, and now I am trusted, reverenced, loved beyond my due,-and Amédée ? Well, they told me at Lutzenberg that she had married and was happy, happy in her choice, in her children, and her life; and I thanked God that I was enabled to rejoice in her hap piness, also for my own peace, sure and lasting. That was my last night in the Pine Forest, and I go there no more now. My mission takes me to distant climes. "But rumours were afloat; they came nigh me; a cry arose which I cannot choose but hear; and therefore am I here this day. Daughter, arise, put off the ungodly grief which clingeth round thee as an unseemly garment! Arise, I say, take "Was not my whole being convulsed up thy burden, sink not under it. with a strife as deadly as that which Wouldest thou regain thy children? Seek moved the elements? Even so, for that holy communion with them through thy morning had seen the downfall of all my Saviour, thou shalt find them. Weep not, hopes and prospects in this life. How but rejoice. Minister to the poor as thou shall I speak of the vile hound by whose were wont in former days. So shall I go perfidy I was falsely accused, and ignomi- on my way rejoicing without the dread cry niously ejected by my noble kinsman who in my ears which maketh my task heavy." hated the name of deceit and fraud. So cunningly was the snare laid, that not the astuteness or penetration of my more than father availed to discover it, and therefore I was the victim. Not till he was on the eve of a felon's death did that arch-deceiver proclaim to the world his guilt and my wrongs. Was this nought to bear? Was it easy to quit Lutzenberg, thrust out by night, and without saying one word to Amédée de la Sainte Loraine. I trow not; and loud were my murmurings against the Providence who overlooketh all, and ordereth all for the good of his ungrateful, rebellious children. Listen yet a minute longer. Some years passed, and having occasion to pass through Lutzenberg, I rested there for one night. In the And saying, "God be for ever with thee," he rose and left the room. But I knew that while he yet lingered on the threshold, the faintest whisper rose melodiously in the air, "The spirit is willing, I pray God the flesh may not be weak." ESTELLA. 1804, a lady of ton going to attend a fashionable A FASHIONABLE ANECDOTE.-About the year party, alighted from her carriage, and, on ascending the staircase, was ushered into the room where the guests were received. No sooner, however, had she advanced about half-way across the floor than a sudden jerk prevented her proceeding further. On a gentleman present examining into the cause of this unexpected detention, it was discovered that the train of her ladyship's dress had, by accident, been shut in the door of the carriage below!!!Geo. Mathewson. Mesh No. 1, one quarter of an inch; mesh ends together, and fastened to the knee No. 2, one third of an inch; mesh No. 3, three quarters of an inch. The best way of doing square netting is by commencing with a line across the centre, from one corner to its opposite, for a foundation; this foundation is a stout thread tied both with a pin, or passed under the foot to hold it tight; the end of the thread on the needle is tied to this; the mesh being held in the left hand on a line with it, take the needle in the right hand, let the thread come over the mesh and the third finger, bring it back under the mesh, and hold it between the thumb and the first finger, slip the needle through the loop over the third finger, under the mesh and the foundation thread; this will form a loop, which must be passed over the fourth finger; withdraw the third finger from the loop, and draw up the loop over the fourth, gradually tightening it on the mesh, keeping the thumb firmly over the mesh while forming the stitch. When the necessary number of stitches are made on the foundation, the other rows are to be worked in the same way, backwards and forwards For this Anti-Macassar, cast on 79 loops. Then net a row, only taking care that at its end you must take up the two last loops, instead of one. In this way the rows gradually shorten, till at last you get to a single loop. In this stage of the work it looks like a half handkerchief. To do the other half, so as to make the square, you must draw out the string which has been the foundation of your netting, and, with a bodkin, thread it in and out of the loops in a regular line about four in depth from its edge, and then recommence your work as before, always being careful to take up the two loops at the end of the line. Doing this makes the square of square netting. All this is to be done on mesh No. 1. Then take mesh No. 2, and net one all round. Then take mesh No. 3, and net five loops on one loop, missing two, and so on all round, with the exceptions of the corners, where five of the long loops must be netted on the threes of each corner next to each other, to make the border lie flat. Then take mesh No. 1 again, and net all round. Repeat, only leaving out the connecting loop which comes between. This is to be done four times each round, leaving out the intervening loop. It is in this way that the pretty pattern is formed which makes the edge. When all this is done, it only remains to darn the pattern, and this elegant Anti-Macassar will be complete. CROCHET MAT.-These pretty mats are very useful for many purposes. Consulting the illustration will greatly simplify the work. Commence by making a chain of twenty loops, join, to form the circle, and then work round with simple crochet (that is, not putting the thread over the needle). Second Row. - Work twenty stitches of single crochet (the thread once over the needle), with one chain between each stitch; working in every stitch of the centre ring. Third Row.-Six chain, two simple crochet; repeat all round. forming twenty double loops. Fourth Row-Five chain all round, hooked into the double loops. Fifth Row-Five chain hooked into every one of the last scallops. This row is the first thick row in the illus trations. This is made thick by buttonholing round with the crochet needle. The next three rows are exactly the same, only increasing the length of the chain in each division, in each row. As the centre of the mat is the only part requiring especial explanation, being a variation from the usual crochet, we have endeavoured to make it plain; but for the remainder it will only be necessary to consult the illus tration, which is so beautifully clear, and so correctly engraved, that it is scarcely possible to make mistake. ADVANTAGES OF A BAD TEMPER.-The highest type of character is, of course, that calm, serere, steadfast force which moves onward towards its end without excitement or perturbation; that quiet, noiseless energy, unhasting yet unresting, undewhich acts from fixed principle as by an inner law monstrative yet unfaltering in its severe resolve, of its being-which needs no impulse from without, being sustained by its own indwelling resolve. Bat in the case of weaker natures a passionate energy is often almost the only alternative to inefficient languor. Housewives of my acquaintance prefer a bad-tempered servant to any other. They say unusual force and despatches her work with a marthat when a girl is in a passion she scrubs with an vellous celerity. The excitement of feeling strugg ling to find vent somewhere passes off as if by a safety-valve as in the broom and scrubbing brush, Where a good-tempered girl would sit apathetically amongst her pots and dishes, opposing a sluggish tions of her angry mistress, an irascible one takes and imperturbable good humour to all the objurgafire at the reproaches addressed to her. Furor firma ministrat. She delivers mighty blows at the demon of dirt, wishing the while that it were her mistress she had in her clutches, or even for the moment imagining it to be so. Our irate Bety furnishes an example of multitudes in every condition of life whose bad temper is notorious, but who accomplishes an amount of work at which langud impassive amiability can only gaze with stolid wonder. The Christian Spectator. A TERRIBLE WARRIOR.-In the western expedition of 1758 against the French in America, General Forbes, who commanded it, was, by his infirmities, reduced so low as to be carried about in him so a litter. The Indians, when they saw carried, expreseed their astonishment that a warrior could not walk. This so disgusted them with their commander that they remonstrated with him on the subject. Their old friend, Colonel Weiser, in order to appease them, made the following sagacious reply:-"This man is so terrible in war, that we are obliged to confine him and let him write his orders, for if he were let loose on the world he would deluge it with blood!"—Ges. Matthewson. 3 |