cox sorrowfully to her husband at
bedtime. "He strode off to bed without saying 'Good night' to any one,
and pretended to be asleep when I looked into his room just now,
answering gruffly after I told him I knew he was awake. What shall I
do if my child becomes an habitual deceiver?"

"We must watch his associations narrowly," replied the judicious
father. "Everything depends upon the examples and impressions of early
life."

BENEVOLENT SOCIETY.

In the snug, cozy barroom of the "Farmers' Inn," at Madisonville, sat
six young men. It was a cold, bleak evening in December; and the wind
that howled and drove without, drifting the snow and rattling the
shutters, gave to the blazing fire and steaming kettle additional
charms and comforts. There was Peter Hobbs, a youth of five and
twenty, who seemed to be the leader, _par excellence_, of the party.
He was a good-natured, intelligent, frank-looking man, and was really
a noble-hearted citizen. Then there was John Fulton, a youth of the
same age, who worked with Hobbs, both being journeyman carpenters.
Samuel Green was a machinist; Walter Mason, a tin worker; Lyman Drake,
a cabinet maker; and William Robinson, a clerk. They ranged, in age,
from twenty-three to twenty-eight, and were really industrious youths,
receiving good wages, and maintaining good characters for honesty,
sobriety, and general good behavior. Yet they were looked upon by some
as ungodly youths, and given over to perdition. True, they belonged to
no church; and, amid the various conflicting creeds by which they were
surrounded, they had not yet settled down upon any one in particular,
believing that there was good in all of them, and evil among the
members of each.

On the present occasion, they were all of them smoking, and the empty
mugs which stood upon the table near them, showed pretty conclusively
that they had been drinking something besides water. The subject of
the cold winter had been disposed of; the quality of the warm ale and
cigars had been thoroughly discussed, and at length the conversation
turned upon the missionary meeting, which had been held in the town on
the previous Sabbath.

"I don't know but this missionary business is all right," said Sam
Green, knocking the ashes from his cigar with his little finger, "but
at the same time, I don't believe in it. Them Hindoos and South Sea
Islanders may be savage and ignorant, by our scale of measuring folks;
but that is no reason why