THE FIRESIDE. The Fireside. HOUSEHOLD HABITS OF YOUNG CHILDREN.-The influence of a female head of a family, materially affects the formation of character in her children. Many children are injured in their health, and yet more in their character, by false indulgence. Luxurious tastes and wasteful habits are formed in the nursery, and many seeming trifles go to form them. Children should not be encouraged in daintiness or greediness by allowing them to have everything they fancy, or to eat more than is proper for them, of what they esteem a delicacy; or to leave one thing for the sake of getting something they like better; or to waste their food in any way. In all these, and many such matters, a judicious mother will keep in view, not merely the avoiding unnecessary present expense, but also the yet more important object of training her children to habits of propriety and moderation. The care exercised by the good mother in training her children to habits of frugality, will not be limited to matters of appetite. She will teach them care in cverything they have to do with for instance, in regard to their clothes, to avoid making them unnecessarily dirty, by spilling grease, or walking through mud, or wantonly tearing and destroying them by mischievous tricks. Without being at all kept uncomfortably restrained, children may, and ought to be, trained to habits of care of clothes, furniture, books, playthings, and pocket-money. They should be taught to know the value of things, and the uses to which they may be applied. It should be impressed upon them that what is done with, in one form, may be useful in another; that what is no longer wanted by them, may be acceptable to others; and that nothing must, on any account, be wasted. Children may be thus taught at a very early age; and so long as utility and benevolence are kept in view, this training will not promote a spirit of selfish hoarding. HOME.-A man's house is his earthly paradise. It should be, of all other spots, that which he leaves with most regret, and to which he turns with most delight. And in order that it may be so, it should be his daily task to provide every thing convenient and comfortable, and even the tasteful and beautiful should not be neglected. "A few sunny pictures in simple frames shrined, A CHEERFUL, PATIENT, SMILING, PIOUS WIFE. WHAT is it smooths life's rugged way When weary, worn with care and toil, THE PENNY POST. The Penny Post. CRIME AND CRIMINALS.-Criminal reformers are engaged in a noble enterprize. But many of them do not sufficiently recognise the factthat drunkenness is the chief source of crime. This is proved 1. By the evidence of Judges.-"I have found that if the murders, burglaries, robberies, riots, tumults, adulteries, rapes, and other enormities that have been committed during that time, (twenty years) were divided into five parts, four of them have been the product of excessive drinking." Sir Matthew Hale. "I venture to say that in much more than half the offences which have been brought before these assizes, drink has had something to do." -Judge Coleridge. "Three-fourths of the criminal charges that are brought to trial, originate in habits of intemperance, and the spending all leisure time in the public-house."-Justice Wightman. 2. By the evidence of Magistrates.-"If public-houses were all shut up, there would be a Reformation."-London Magistrate. "Were it not for intemperance, the premises (i. e. the police-court) might be shut up."-Dumfries Magistrate. "Four fifths of the prisoners go there (to prison) through drunkenness."- Middlesex Magistrate. 3. By the evidence of Prison Chaplains." As to murder, maiming, and other crimes attended with personal violence, they, for the most part, are actually committed under the excitement of liquor."- Rev. D. Ruel. "The increase of crime I should attribute to the increase of intemperance.-Rev. C. F. Bagshaw. 4. By the evidence of Prison Governors and Superintendents of Police. -One hundred and seven prisoners were committed to this prison (Lanark) during the last twelve months. Of these, thirty-eight were charged with the crime of theft, and, to my knowledge, twenty-two were intoxicated when they committed the deed."-Mr. D. Lennie. "I have attributed to intemperance a great portion of the crime committed in the community, and I have yet seen no reason to change my opinion."—Mr. Millar, Glasgow. "He believed that at least one-half of the prisoners who were brought to Newgate, were in consequence of intemperance."-Mr. Cope. "From a recent examination of 203 convicts in the Auburn State Prison, United States, it appears that 202 had been habituated to drinking." We hold our proposition to be established, and think that every person anxious to see crime diminished, prevented, and destroyed, should ponder the facts and testimonies adduced, and to all such we would saythe temperance reformation is what we want. London. GEORGE WILSON M'CREE. THE CHILDREN'S CORNER. The Children's Corner. fearing that God would not forgive him. His agony of mind was increased by the bodily sufferings be endured, which were very great. Once he called out, as if struggling with the enemy of souls, "Get thee behind me, satan." Exhausted, he¦ now fell asleep, and when he awoke he said, he had had such a pleasant dream; he had seen his little sisters in heaven, and he should soon go to them. They called him a blind boy now, but he should see well enough in heaven! He then repeated the hymn, "There is a land of pure delight, THE BLIND CHILD.-John Rich. | was in sad trouble about his sinsard Haycock lived in Birmingham. He was blind from his birth. His parents were poor but honest, and they lived in a yard, and when John went up the yard, the neighbours sent him down again, and when he went into his father's shop he sent him out, and he was not allowed to go into the street for fear of being run over, and so the poor little fellow was regarded as a nuisance by them all then he would go to his mother and say, "Mother, they will not let me go anywhere!" His mother would then comfort him, and talk to him kindly. Ah! there is nobody like a mother if you are in trouble. Is there? John was taught by his parents not to say bad words, or take anything that was not his; and at length they sent him to a school, taught by a kindhearted minister of the gospel, with whom John was a favourite. And he taught John the fear of God, and the love of Jesus Christ to his soul, and also repeated little hymns and plain passages of scripture to him until he could say them off. He also attended the sabbath-school, and when the sermons for the school were preached, John sung beautifully, for he had a good voice; and he repeated some pretty verses about "Woodland Scenery," the close of each verse ending, "I can but image them in mind; I ne'er shall see them-I am blind!" This dear child appears to have profited by what he heard at the schools. He seemed conscious that he was a sinner before God, and always manifested uneasiness when he heard other children say bad words. In January last, John was taken poorly, and it was soon found that his sickness was unto death. For some time the poor little fellow Where saints immortal reign; And pleasures banish pain." During his illness he several times expressed his anxiety for the salvation of his father and mother. He gradually became weaker and weaker, and died on the 30th of January, aged eight years and nine months. Thus closing his eyes (we had nearly said,) upon the scenes of time. But no, he never had the gift of sight so long as he dwelt below. He has gone, however, where he will with open face gaze on scenes of resplendent beauty and glory before the throne of God. Now he may indeed say of his blessed Lord and Saviour, "Millions of years my wondering eyes Shall o'er thy beauties rove; The wonders of thy love. For ever thy dear charming name The close of every song." THE TALKING TOWN PUMP. NOON, by the north clock! Noon, by the east! High noon, too, by these hot sunbeams, which fall, scarcely aslope, upon my head, and almost make the water bubble and smoke in the trough under my nose. Truly we public characters have a tough time of it! And, among all the town officers chosen at March meeting, where is he that sustains, for a single year, the burden of such manifold duties as are imposed, in perpetuity, upon the town pump? The title of "town treasurer" is rightfully mine, as guardian of the best treasure that the town has. The overseers of the poor ought to make me their chairman, since I provide bountifully for the paupers, without expense to him that pays taxes. I am at the head of the fire department, and one of the physicians to the board of health. As a keeper of the peace, all water drinkers will confess me equal to the constable. I perform some of the duties of the town clerk, by promulgating public notices, when they are pasted on my front. To speak within bounds, I am the chief person of the municipality, and exhibit, moreover, an admirable pattern to my brother officers, by the cool, steady, upright, downright, and impartial discharge of my business, and the constancy with which I stand to my post. Summer or winter, nobody seeks me in vain; for, all day long, I am seen at the busiest corner, just above the market, stretching out my arms to rich and poor alike; and, at night, I hold a lantern over my head, both to show where I am, and keep people out of the gutters. At this sultry noontide, I am cupbearer to the parched populace, for whose benefit an iron goblet is chained to my waist. Like a dram-seller on the mall at muster day, I cry aloud to all and sundry, in my plainest accents, and at the very tiptop of my voice. Here it is, gentlemen! Here is the good liquor! Walk up, walk up, gentlemen! walk up, walk up! Here is the superior stuff! Here is the unadulterated wine of father Adam-better than Cogniac, Hollands, Jamaica, strong beer, or wine of any price; here it is, by the hogshead or the single glass, and not a farthing to pay! Walk up, gentlemen; walk up, and help yourselves. It were a pity if all this outcry should draw no customers. Here they come. A hot day, gentlemen! Quaff, and away again, so as to keep yourselves in a nice cool state. You, my THE TALKING TOWN PUMP. friend, will need another cupful, to wash the dust out of your throat, if it be as thick there as it is on your cow-hide shoes. I see that you have trudged half a score of miles to-day; and, like a wise man, have passed by the taverns, and stopped at the running brooks and well curbs; otherwise, betwixt heat without and fire within, the consequences might have been fearful. Drink, and make room for that other man, who seeks my aid to quench the fiery fever of last night's potations, which he drained from no cup of mine. Welcome, most rubicund sir! You and I have been great strangers hitherto. Fill again, and tell me, did you ever, in cellar, tavern, or any kind of a dram shop, spend the price of your children's food for a swig half so delicious? Now, for the first time these ten years, you know the flavour of cold water. Good bye; and, whenever you are thirsty, remember that I keep a constant supply at the old stand. Who next? Oh, my little friend, you are let loose from school, and come hither to scrub your blooming face, and drown the memory of certain taps of the ferule, and other schoolboy troubles, in a draught from the town pump. Take it, and may your heart and tongue never be scorched with a fiercer thirst than now. There, my dear child, put down the cup, and yield your place to this elderly gentleman, who treads so tenderly over the paving stones, that I suspect he is afraid of breaking them. What! he limps by without so much as thanking me, as if my hospitable offers were meant only for people who have no wine cellars. Well, well, sir, no harm done, I hope! Go, draw the cork, tip the decanter; but when your great toe shall set you a-roaring, it will be no affair of mine. If gentlemen love the pleasant titilation of the gout, it is all one to the town pump. This thirsty dog, with his red tongue lolling out, does not scorn my hospitality, but stands on his hind legs, and laps eagerly out of the trough. See how lightly he capers away again! Jowler, did your worship ever have the gout? Are you all satisfied? Then wipe your mouths, my good friends, and, while my spout has a moment's leisure, I will delight the town with a few historical reminiscences. In far antiquity, beneath a darksome shadow of venerable boughs, a spring bubbled out of the leaf-strewn earth, in the very spot where you now behold me, on the sunny pavement. The water was as bright and clear, and deemed as precious as liquid diamonds. For many years it was the watering place, and, as it were, the wash bowl of the vicinity, whither all decent folks |