A DREAM AT SEA.

METHOUGHT that the deck of the good old ship
No longer opposed my vision,

But disclosed a view, to my senses new,
Of a spirit to us on a mission!

Sent down from above, on a message of love,
By the Lord of this great creation ;—
She bore in her hand an angel's wand,
To point out the way to salvation!

As a fond mother droops o'er a sick child's looks,
She seemed to regard us sadly;

Bewailing the day, the hour, and the way,
Fond hopes had ended so badly!

"Great Father!" she cried, "who temper'st the wind To the shorn lamb's mournful condition,

Let the fervent prayer even now reach thine ear,
And hear a fond mother's petition!

"'Twas breathed in the time of his childhood's prime, Ere the serpent's tooth brought sadness *

To the bosom that heaved, and the eye that beamed, With only a mother's gladness."

It hovered in air, amid promises fair,

Of their youth's untainted morning,

Ere Innocence learned, in the school of the world, spurn a father's warning,

To

* 66

Sharper

than a serpent's tooth it is,

To have a thankless child."-SHAKSPEARE.

Till, scared by the sight of the saddening blight
Guilt brings to the heart of the scorner,
She hastened away, to the throne on high,
Wafted there by the sigh of the mourner!

W. I.

WEEKLY RECORD.

It is a subject of congratulation to us that our daily life flows on with a current so equable and calm as to furnish no topic of sufficient importance to merit a place in our register of events. This monotony, however, does not conceal from us the steady progress we are making in education. While the more advanced classes are acquiring a tolerable knowledge of geography, history, and the higher branches of arithmetic, we observe with pleasure the success which has attended the labours of those who had not previously acquired even the rudiments of reading. While the more youthful members display a fervid anxiety to improve themselves, the aged, in spite of advancing infirmities, evince a steady zeal, which must be attended with the happiest results. It is to be borne in mind, that the soul is immortal, and that though intellectual accomplishments may avail nothing in this life, they qualify for a higher grade of existence in that which

is to come.

We thank our correspondents for the number and increasing worth of the articles transmitted to us,—our readers for the interest they take in our labours, and for the evident gratification they derive from them. These stimulate us to exertions which overcome all obstacles.

In the late severe gales, when it was found almost impossible either to sit or stand without holding on with both hands, our indefatigable scribe had actually lashed himself to his post with a few fathoms of strong cordage. This will convince our readers of our determination to gratify them, under all circumstances, which we hope will be duly appreciated. D. R.

No. XII.-JULY 14, 1852.

Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead past bury its dead!
Act-act in the living present,
Heart within, and God o'erhead.

Let us then be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate :
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.
LONGFELLOW.

SOCIAL TREASON.

MR SETEL was a respectable commission agent and merchant in a distant British dependency. He was, at the time of which this is a record, past the meridian of life, but still possessed all the urbanity and cheerfulness of youth. Enjoying a comfortable income from his flourishing business, no subject of care or melancholy foreboding threw a cloud across the sunshine which gleamed gaily on his hearth. His heart was gladdened by the merry voices of his youthful family, who were fast approaching that momentous epoch in the life of individuals, when youth merges into maturity, when the airy visions of an untried judgment and the plastic materials of young principles are about to be submitted to the rough handling of a callous world.

How easy it is at that time to change the current of life from a smooth and crystal stream into a turbid and pestilential torrent! The individual, then, is placed in a position from which his journey leads either to the gate

of paradise, or to the abyss of sin. The hand of God in mercy may arrest his downward course and give him a new vantage ground, but the natural tendency of the falling is to continue to descend. Where? The darkness and profundity of the gulf are unfathomable.

Mr Setel was widely known as a man possessing the kindliest heart, and largest sympathies. To every object of distress he was ever ready to lend his aid. His liberality and discriminating charity carried comfort and happiness into many an anguished home, healed many a bleeding heart, and stimulated to a healthy vitality many a desponding and crushed spirit. The good he bestowed on others returned to him a greater good—a contented mind, and a self-approving conscience. The dross of his earthly nature became the finest gold; his heart was turned into a pure fountain of the holiest thoughts, not one of which could have caused a sigh to the recording angel.

This good man-for good I do not hesitate to call one who performed all the duties of a father, a husband, and a man, in a way to endear himself to many loving friends, and which has consecrated his memory in the minds of those who never knew him-was seated at his desk one day, when a knock at the door announced a visitor. "Come in," cried Mr Setel, not knowing that his invitation was addressed to one whose treason was to bring him to a premature grave, and destroy the hopes of his family. A man about thirty years of age entered slowly, with a crouching gait. He was in rags; and the misery expressed in his haggard looks would have moved to pity the hardest heart. At the sight poor Mr Setel was moved by the tenderest emotions, and with his feel