be more affectionate and more respectful when you

are not dependent.

Dismiss corroding cares and anxieties about what you shall do to get a living.

How strange it is that end of their journey,

the nearer men come to the the greater concern they feel as to the means of future subsistence! God's hand will provide. His command to us is, "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

hristian Graces for the Aged.

ANONYMOUS.

Be patient-life is very brief,

It passes quickly by;

And if it proves a troubled scene
Beneath a stormy sky,

It is but like the shaded night

That brings a morn of radiance bright.

Be hopeful-cheerful faith will bring
A living joy to thee,

And make thy life a hymn of praise,
From doubt and murmur free;
Whilst like a sunbeam thou wilt bless,
And bring to others happiness!

Be earnest an immortal soul

Should be a worker true; Employ thy talents for thy God,

And ever keep in view

The judgment scene, the last great day, When heaven and earth will pass away.

Be holy-let not sin's dark stain
Thy spirit's whiteness dim-
Keep close to Jesus 'mid the world,
And trust alone in him;

So, midst thy business and thy rest,
Thou shalt be comforted and blest.

Be prayerful-ask, and thou shalt have
Strength equal to thy day;

Prayer clasps the Hand that guides the world:

Oh, make it then thy stay!

Ask largely, and thy God will be

A kindly Giver unto thee!

Be ready-many fall around,

Our loved ones disappear;

We know not when our call may come,
Nor should we wait in fear;
If ready, we can calmly rest;
Living or dying, we are blest.

Bridges.

A. D. F. RANDOLPH.

I.

A BRIDGE within my heart,
Known as the "Bridge of Sighs,"
That stretches from life's sunny part
To where its darkness lies.

And when upon this bridge I stand,
To watch the tides below,

How spread the shadows on the land!
How dark the waters grow!

Then as they wind their way along

To sorrow's bitter sea,

How mournful is the spirit-song
That upward floats to me,-

A song that breathes of blessings dead, Of joys no longer known,

And pleasures gone ;-their distant tread Now to an echo grown.

And hearing thus, beleaguering fears
Soon shut the present out;
The good but in the past appears,
The future full of doubt.

Oh, often then doth deeper grow
The night that round me lies;
I would that life had run its flow,
Or never found its rise.

II.

A Bridge within my heart,
Known as the Bridge of Faith;

It spans by a mysterious art

The streams of life and death.

And when upon this bridge I stand, To watch the tides below,

How glorious looks the sunny land! How clear the waters flow!

Then as they wind their way along, And to a distant sea,

I listen to the angel-song

That sweetly floats to me,