1857.] Extravagance. 93 word to young men. What a lesson do they furnish to all who will be wise. Make not haste to be rich; value your character more than wealth; what is a man when he is disgraced. Who would not rather "be a dog, and bay at the moon," than be doomed to an everlasting disgrace. To be rich is not the thing; but to be honest and respectable. A good name is to be chosen above great riches. A man ought to grow in his worldly circumstances like a tree, gradually and surely. Mushrooms spring up in a night, but they are generally found on dung-hills. It is a beautiful sight to see a man doing a regular, honorable business, with the blessing of God and man upon him, because he is an honest and good citizen. Whatever is thus gained will be a comfort to the person himself, as well as to his family, and his children after him. He that puts a dishonest dollar into his pocket, has put death into the pot, and he will feed on it in due time. EXTRAVAGANCE. THE New England Farmer, in an article on the cost of luxuries, branches off in this wise: Every week, for months in succession, from a million and half to two millions of dollars' worth of dry goods, of a costly description, have been thrown upon the New York market. For the year ending in September, the total of dry goods imports in that city alone was $78,211,780. A dry goods dealer advertises a lace scarf, for which he demands fifteen hundred dollars. Lace at twenty dollars a yard-and that but one-tenth of a yard wide-find ready purchasers; so do capes at two hundred dollars a-piece, and jets at one hundred. Another dealer offers a bridal dress for twelve hundred dollars. Shawls at one and two hundred a piece are not uncommon. Cashmeres for three hundred dollars and upward are seen by dozens in a walk along Broadway. A hundred dollars is quite a common price for a silk gown. Bonnets at two hundred dollars are not unfrequently sold. A set of Russia sable furs costs about fifteen hundred dollars, and yet we have ladies who think they can afford to wear them. The importation of fancy furs at New York this year already amounts to two million dollars, to which nearly another million must be added for duties and profits of importers. A fashionable lady spends annually on her milliner, mantua-maker, and lace dealer, a sum that would have supported an entire household, even in her own rank in life, in the days of Mrs. Washington. A thousand dollars a year is considered, we are told, quite a narrow income for such purposes among those pretending to be "in society" in some of our cities. To this must be added expenditure for opera tickets, for a summer trip to the springs, and for a score of little inevitable et ceteras. There are few, it is true, who are able to indulge in this reckless scale of extravagance; but, unfortunately, these vain and foolish women are recognized as leaders in fashionable society, and the pernicious influence of their example is felt in every rank, and in every section of the country. LAST WORDS OF THE GREAT. Tete de l'armee (head of the army.)-Napoleon. I have loved God, my father, liberty.-De Stael. I must sleep now.-Byron. Don't give up the ship.-Lawrence. I'm shot if I don't believe I'm dying.-Thurlow. The artery ceases to beat.-Haller. Let the light enter.-Gathe. All my possessions for a moment of time.-Elizabeth. Be serious.-Grotius. I feel as if I were myself again.- Walter Scott. Independence forever.-Adams. A dying man can do nothing easy.-Franklin. I have endeavored to do my duty.- Taylor. There is not a drop of blood on my hands.-Frederick V. I resign my soul to God, my daughter to my country.-Jefferson. It is the last of earth.-J. Q. Adams. Don't let that awkward squad fire over my grave.-Burns. Precious salvation.-Sir John Stonehouse. I have sent for you (Lord Warwick) to see how a christian can die. -Addison. I shall be happy.-Archbishop Sharp. God's will be done.-Bishop Ken. Amen Bishop Bull. I have peace.-Parkhurst. Come, Lord Jesus.-Burkitt. I thank God I was brought up in the church of England.-BishopGunning. O Lord, forgive me, specially my sins of omission.— Usher. Lord, receive my spirit.-Ferrar, Cranmer, Hooper, G. Herbert. Thy will be done.—Donne. This day let me see the Lord Jesus.―Jewell. And is this death.-George IV. Lord, take my spirit.-Edward IV. What do they run already? Then I die happy.- Wolfe. God bless you, my dear (Miss Morris.)-Dr. Johnson. What I cannot utter with my mouth, accept, Lord, from my heart and soul.-F. Quarles. Then I am safe.--Cromwell. 1857.] The Parting Hour.-A Mammoth Clock. 95 Let the earth be filled with his glory.-James, Earl of Derby, Bishop Broughton. I go to my God and Saviour.-P. Heylyn. My days are past as a shadow that returns not.-R. Hooker. Let me hear once more those notes so long my solace and delight.— Mozart. I wish the true principles of governmcnt carried out. -Harrison. I ask no more. For my coming down, let me shift for myself (on the scaffold.)-Sir Thomas Moore. In me behold the end of the world, with all it vanities.-Sir P. Sidney. I am weary-let us go home-good night.-Neander. THE PARTING HOUR. THE hour is coming, and it is a fearful and solemn hour, even to the wisest and the best-the hour is coming, when we must bid adieu to the scenes which please us, to the families we love, to the friends we esteem. Whether we think or whether we think not, that body which is now warm and active with life, shall be cold and motionless in death-the countenance must be pale, the eye must be closed, the voice must be silenced, the senses must be destroyed, the whole appearance must be changed by the remorseless hand of our last enemy. We may banish the remembrance of the weakness of our human nature, we may tremble at the prospect of dissolution; but our reluctance to reflect upon it, and our attempts to drive it from our recollection, are vain. We know that we are sentenced to die, and though we sometimes succeed in casting off for a season the conviction of this unwelcome truth, we never can entirely remove it. The reflection haunts us still; it haunts us in solitude, it follows us into society, it lies down with us at night, it awakens us in the morning. The irrevocable doom has passed upon us, and too well do we know it. "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." A MAMMOTH CLOCK. Ir is stated that the dials of the English Parliament clock are twentytwo feet in diameter, and are the largest in the world. Every half minute, the point of the minute hand moves nearly seven inches. The clock will go eight and a half days, and strike only for seven and a half, so as to indicate by its silence any neglect in winding it up. The mere winding of each of the striking parts will take two hours. The pendulum is fifteen feet long; the wheels are of cast iron; the hour bell is eight feet high, and nine feet in diameter, weighing fourteen to fifteen The weight of the hammer is four hundred pounds. tons. NOTES ON LITERATURE. ANNALS OF PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE OLDEN TIME; being a collection of Memoirs, Anecdotes, and incidents of the city and its inhabitants, and of the earliest settlements of the inland parts of Pennsylvania, from the days of the founders. Embellished with engravings by T. HÍ. Munford. By John F. Watson, member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Two vols. Published by Whiting & Thomas, Philadelphia. This is decidedly the most interesting book of Pennsylvania history we have ever seen. Truly these are "quaint and curions volumes of half-forgotten lore." Webster once said, "We want a history of firesides." Here is such a history. It re-produces the early history of our noble State, and its metropolis, and shows us men and things as they lived and moved, and had their being in the olden times. How often have we inwardly thanked the author for these charming volumes. And now again, and especially, do we thank the publisher for bringing out this book in a Sunday dress. Whiting and Thomas are publishing a new edition in numbers, at twenty-five cents a number, illustrating it richly with beautiful engravings of all kinds of scenes and things as they were in the days of our ancestors. The first four numbers are before us, printed on excellent paper, and in just such a style as the work deserves. This book will live, and its charm will increase in proportion as the early history of the State fades back into the dim past. We heartily commend this book-and especially this beautiful edition now in course of publication. THE HOME SCENES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT; or Christ in the family. By Rev. Theophilus Stork, D. D., Author of the Children of the New Testament, &c., &c. Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston. 1857. pp. 296. This book is made up of the following chapters: Home, The Holy Family; Cana, or the Bridal Scene; Cornelius, or the Family Altar; Bethany; Unity and Love; The Sphere of Woman; Family Cares; Domestic Afflictions; Emnaus, or the Home of Old Age. Under these various heads it treats on many interesting points pertaining to Family life. The book is written in an easy, chaste, and clear style; and the sentiments are truly evangelical, set forth in a forcible and impressive manner. It is a book intended for the family circle, and it must do good wherever ii is attentively read. Dr. Stork is known as a successful preacher, and has given good proof, in previous works as well as in this, of his ability to make himself eminently useful as an Author. The book is published in fine style, for which this publishing house has a wide reputation. FRANKLIN AND MARSHALL COLLEGE, AND THE NEW ENDOWMENT SCHEME. By Rev. E. V. Gerhart, President. Chambersburg, Pa.: Moses Kieffer & Co. 1856. pp. 96. This is a plain, pointed, and very pressing plea in favor of the interests of higher education, especially among the Germans. It is designed thus to enlist a more general interest in the scheme put on foot by the Trustees of the College for its full and liberal endowment. According to this scheme, or plan any person may purchase the right of putting one student through the whole college course for $50-otherwise the tuition would be $120. This privilege to be open till $40,000 are added to the fund of the College. He certianly misses a fine opportunity who delays till the scheme is full, and he come too late. For further information see this little book, it is put up in paper cover, and can easily be obtained by mail. Address E. V. Gerhart, President of the College, Lancaster Pa. The only advice we give our friends is, do not wait too long. When the door is once closed, admittance will be $120 instead of $50! THE GUARDIAN: A Magazine Devoted to the Interests of Young Meu and Ladies. VOL. VIII. APRIL, 1857. CASPER OLEVIANUS.* BY THE EDITOR. No. 4. CASPER OLEVIANUS, the eloquent court preacher of Frederick the Pious, and the friend and co-laborer of Ursinus, shared with him the labor, and inherits with him the honor, of having produced the Heidelberg Catechism. These two eminent men-Olevianus, a strict disciple of Calvin, Ursinus imbued with the mild spirit of Melancthon-were the complement of each other, and admirably adapted for the mutual work which, in the providence of God, fell into their hands. To the Elector, however, his favorite court preacher, Olevianus stood in a decidedly more intimate relationship than the learned professor Ursinus. Olevianus was not only a countryman of Frederick, but besides this, when a youth of only twenty years, he greatly endangered his own life in an attempt so save the life of the Elector's son, who was drowned in the Eure at Bourges, and in return, by his prevailing influence, the Elector also had delivered Olevianus from the prison in Treves, and immediately taken the fugitive to himself. These two pious persons were therefore wonderfully united to each other by the ties of mutual gratitude, as well as by a common living faith, on which account the immediate influence of Olevianus upon the Elector was naturally stronger than that of Ursinus. This peculiar relation to the Prince was to him a great source of power, so that he became the real founder and regulator of the Palatinate Reformed Church, whilst the learned Ursinus was the principle author of its catechism. It was his labor and influence that accomplished the introduction into the Palatinate of the presbyterial form of *Comparatively little has been presented to the public, especially in this country, in regard to the beautiful life of Olevianus. We have no doubt this sketch will be welcomed by our readers. It has been drawn chiefly from "Gobel's Geschichte des Christtichen Lebens in der rheinisch-westphaleschen evangelischen Kirche." |