of evil in this club system among
young females which has escaped the notice of many Christian people. I
mean the independence of _home_ which it generates, as well as the new
motives which it introduces. Thus, a bright, intelligent young lady
friend of mine had joined a society or club for secular reading. The
members are bound to read works, selected by a responsible person
connected with the society, for one hour every day, a certain fine
having to be paid for every hour missed. And what was the consequence
in my young friend's case? Why, the society had usurped the place of
the parents; it, not they, was to be the guide of her studies, and home
duties must remain undone rather than this hour be infringed upon: for
it was a point of honour to keep this hour sacred, as it were; and so
the debt of honour had to be paid, even though the debt of conscience--
that is, what home duties required--should be left unpaid. Just as it
is on the turf and at the gaming-table,--the man's gaming debts are
called debts of honour, and _must_ be paid, come what will, while debts
to the tradesman, whose livelihood depends on his customers' honesty,
may remain unpaid. Such has been, or rather _had_ been the result with
my young friend. But finding that this reading-club was detaching her
thoughts from home, weakening the hold of home upon her, causing her to
lean on the judgment of others rather than on that of her parents, and
to neglect, or do with an ill grace, duties clearly assigned to her by
God, and to substitute for them self-imposed tasks and studies, she had
the good sense and good principle to give it up. Surely a system which
has a tendency to draw young people out of the circle of home duty,
influence, and authority, and thus to make them independent of those
whom God has given them to be their guides and counsellors, and to
substitute the rules and penalties of a self-constituted society for the
motives and discipline of the gospel, can neither be sound in itself,
nor strengthening to the character, nor healthful either for mind or
soul."

"Well," said the doctor thoughtfully, "there is a great deal, I am sure,
in what you say, and I think my dear wife and myself are getting round
to be pretty much of one mind with you now on these important matters."

It was with much regret that Dr Prosser and his wife took their leave
of the vicarage and its inmates on the first of May. It was a lovely
morning, combining all