SUMMER AND ITS RECREATIONS.-A vertical July sun now beats upon us, and the pent-up city population pant for fresh, invigorating air, and a temporary release from the toil and lassitude which oppress them. Almost every one who can afford it, is therefore arranging his affairs for a season of recreation, and the stream of life is setting towards the country, the springs, the sea shore, wherever fresh air and pleasant scenery invite. The utility of summer recreations from home depends mainly upon a quiet, satisfied state of mind. It does but little good to change our place without changing our thoughts. We gain little of strength and vigor amid the most delightful scenes and the balmiest breathings of nature, if we carry our business and our anxieties along with us. Leave these at home. Dismiss them absolutely for the time, and give the mind up entirely to agreeable thoughts, pleasant company, entertaining books, and glad communion with nature and nature's God. Do not go, if you can go but once, so early in the season as to be obliged to return while the summer heat is unabated. Bathe abundantly; live moderately; exercise freely; keep a clear head, a cool temper, and a good conscience; avail yourself of occasions for benevolence, cherish all the kindly feelings, and seek the peaceful enjoyments of religion; and then, when you return to your home and your ordinary labors, you will find yourself re-CREATED and prepared for the vigorous performance of every duty.

THE WAR.-The all-exciting, all-absorbing topic of the last two months has been the war with Mexico. For a whole generation we have been at peace, and with slight and distant exceptions, the civilized world, since the battle of Waterloo, has been at rest. We had begun to hope that the dreadful calamity and crime of war had ceased, and that the predicted era of peace among the nations had come. That hope is blasted. The war trumpet has sounded. The blood of conflicting forces has been poured. The dormant war spirit is roused all over the land, and husbands have taken leave of their wives, brothers of their sisters, sons of their parents, and have gone to the field of strife. It belongs not to our province to discuss this subject in its political relations and bearings. But we may remind our readers that a state of war imposes vast responsibilities, from which no individual can escape. Every Christian man must regard war as a calamity of the worst kind, involving great criminality somewhere. Public war, according to the apostle, is the fruit of private lust, of individual sinfulness, and when permitted to break out is to be viewed as a chastisement. Self-examination

and repentance become prime duties with all. Each one should endeavor to ascertain his share of the guilt which has called down the chastisement. And especially should we guard against the unhallowed spirit which war awakens. Indifference to the value of life arising from its profuse expenditure in war; fondness for military display; callousness to the misery which war inflicts, and to its demoralizing tendencies; the spirit of revenge, ambition, and aggression which it stimulates, are to be diligently guarded against. It is a time when Christians should pray much, beseeching God to avert his anger, and imploring, in behalf of our rulers and people, THE SPIRIT of wisdom, moderation, and peace.

FASHIONABLE CALLS.-This is often styled an utilitarian age, yet many of our practices seem to give it the lie, inasmuch as they appear to answer no purpose of utility whatever. Our fashionable calls, for instance, what useful end do they accomplish? Mrs. A. starts on her round of calls. She finds Mrs. B. at home, is seated, and a conversation is commenced, in which one informs the other that it is a hot day, or a cold day, a damp day, or a dry day, as the case may be; one mentions that Miss C. is to be married to Mr. D., and the other states that Mrs. E. is a disagreeable woman-that the late social party at F.'s was entertaining and pleasant, or otherwise, as it may have happened. These and a few similar topics are disposed of, and the parties separate, Mrs. A. to make more calls and hear the same subjects talked over again. Cui bono? Who is benefited? What advantage accrues to any one? Time is spent, fatigue endured, and no one along the whole line of calls is a particle wiser, better, or happier. Cannot this business of "calling" be made subservient to some benevolent purpose?

IGNORANCE IN LARGE CITIES.-A writer gives an account of a visit in one of the lanes or courts of London, to an old blacksmith known as "the Bishop," partly because most of the people in the alley were in his employ, or to some extent under his influence, and partly because, like the blacksmith of Gretna Green, he was accustomed to officiate at the marriage ceremony among his neighbors, and tie the knot by sprinkling some salt over a gridiron, reading the Lord's prayer backwards, and recording the names of the couple. "And what is your name, my good fellow?" said the visitor, addressing a young blacksmith who had recently been married by "the Bishop." "They call me Tummas, but I ain't got no second name, but now I'm married I mean to take my wife's, for she's been baptized and has got two." "Yes, sir," said the girl with a vacant

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face and a back like a grasshopper, "I be a reg'lar born Christian and my mother afore me, and that's what few gals in the alley can say. Tummas will take to it himself when work is slack, and he believes now in our Lord and Saviour Pontius Pilate, who was crucified to save our sins, and in Moses, Goliath, and the other apostles." This, our reader will say, is rather tougha crayon caricature; and yet, if that reader will take our arm, we will, in a walk of five minutes, show him neighborhoods in New York where he may find ignorance as gross as this. A venerable clergyman, some time ago, stated to us that a woman having some business with his family happened to call during their morning worship, and heard the prayer that was offered. In a conversation afterwards, she told the clergyman it was the first and only prayer she had ever heard, and that she did not remember ever to have heard the name of Christ, or the circumstances and object of his death. We could multiply instances of this sort to the conviction of anybody, that heathenism may be found under the shadows of our Christian temples as ignorant and debased as any in Pagan lands.

THE OLD ENGLISH POETS.-It is gratifying to observe a growing relish for the old English literature, and a consequent demand for authors w have long lain upon the shelf. It is a sign that the enlightened mind of the country is becoming weary of the overstrained style of the Byron and Shelley schools, and is inclining to be content with the simplicity of nature. It is certainly a matter of prime importance, especially to youth, that their tastes should be formed upon these oldfashioned models. It is worth a great deal to possess that relish for, and enjoyment of, the scenery of the country, and that delight in homely pleasures and pursuits which it is the general tendency of the old English poets to create. Between such tastes and the feverish, sickly sentimentalism which is produced and nursed by many later writers, the difference is incalculable, especially in its effect upon the moral tone and healthfulness.

Speaking of old English poets and their simple rural imagery, what fine passages are found in old Herrick, whose writings, could they be expurgated of the indelicacies which tainted the literature of his age, would rank among the most delightful of English lyrics. Herrick was formerly much admired, and is described by one of his critics as the most joyous and gladsome of bards, singing like the grasshopper, as if he would never grow old-fresh as the spring, blithe as the summer, and ripe as autumn. "The spirit of song," continues his admirer, "dances

in his veins and flutters round his lips, sometimes bursting out in boisterous joy; sometimes breathing strains 'soft as the sigh of buried love;' and sometimes uttering feelings of the most delicate pensiveness." His poems resemble a luxuriant meadow, full of kingcups and wild flowers, or a holy firmament sparkling with a myriad of stars. Here is a little picture of old-fashioned English hospitality, in which not only the master of the house abounded, but

"He had taught his train

With heart and hand to entertain,

And by the armsful, with a breast unhid
As the old race of mankind did,

When either's heart and either's hand did strive

To be the nearer relative.

Thou dost redeem those times, and what was lost

Of ancient honesty, may boast
It keeps a growth in thee."

ABOUT COURTSHIP.-The correspondent who wishes us to give our advice respecting courtship, imposes a task of serious import, and one that requires considerable reflection. Courting is a very pleasant but rather perilous business. Love is proverbially blind, and when a young pair have heartily entered upon the business of courtship, ten to one they will be too blind to perceive the applicability of advice, however good and well suited to their condition. They will be incapable of seeing each other's faults and failings, and in this deplorable condition will continue till the plunge into matrimony and the blissful dreams of the honeymoon are passed. Unfortunately his blindness is usually cured with no other physic than time and experience; and what may seem remarkable, the subsequent keenness of vision is such often as to discover blemishes where none exist, or magnify those which are barely visible to other eyes. Then come domestic bickerings, curtain lectures, mutual discontents, and all the tarts and acids of married life. However, we will think of our correspondent's request, and may offer some suggestions in our next on this delicate and important topic.

BEAR AND FORBEAR.-An excellent clergyman, after uniting an interesting couple in marriage, observed to them that the advice he had to give them touching their duty to each other might be summed up in two words, "bear and forbear." There was much practical wisdom in the remark. We will venture to say that if any married couple who now find themselves uncomfortably harnessed together should make a fair, persevering experiment of the virtue of the good clergyman's advice, they would find it a perfect charm in its influence upon their domestic relations. Try it.