enervates the mind of a young man, will it not also enervate that of a young woman? These are questions that demand candid replies. In answering them, the reader will perceive that industry is essential to the well-being and successful influence of woman. All that can be said of it as an indispensable requisite for boys, may be spoken as truly of girls.

We are told, in a fable, of a dying man who said to his sons, "My children, I am now departing from this life; but all that I have to leave you, you will find in the vineyard." They supposed that their father referred to some hidden treasure, and, after his death, they commenced digging for it. They dug and dug, day after day, and not only turned over the whole soil of the vineyard, but turned it several times over. No treasure was found, however. But the vines were so much strengthened and improved by the labor expended upon the soil, that they yielded a finer vintage than ever before. Their industry proved a treasure in itself. The incident furnishes us with an illustration of the benefit of industry to girls in developing the powers which they possess. The good derived therefrom is not merely physical and secular; it is also intellectual and moral. The mind grows by thinking upon useful subjects; and, when the girl is employed in useful work, her mind, of

course, is dwelling thereon. When she is idle, her mind is vacant and thoughtless. The influence on the heart is still more striking. Industry preserves the heart from corruption. It leaves smaller opportunities for the tempter to try his arts. The most industrious girls have usually the most excellence, other things being equal. Says Bishop Hall, "The industrious have no leisure to sin; the idle have neither leisure nor power to avoid sin. Exercise is not more wholesome for the body than for the soul; the remission whereof breeds matter of disease in both. The water that hath been heated soonest freezeth. The most active spirit soonest tireth with slackening. The earth stands still, and' is all dregs; the heavens ever move, and are pure. We have no reason to complain of the assiduity of the work; the toil of action is answered by the benefit; if we did less we should suffer more. tan, like an idle companion, if he finds us busy, flies back, and sees it no time to entertain vain purposes with us. We cannot please him better than, by casting away our work, to hold chat with him; we cannot yield so far, and be guiltless."

Sa

There is a great waste of time, which Antipho called "the greatest of all sacrifices," among girls, even when they cannot be said strictly to be idle. They are scarcely aware of the number of precious moments that are lost on account of

the slight importance they attach to habits of industry. Many of them will labor with zeal when they can earn large wages, and refuse to labor at all when their earnings would be small. It is better for them to be industrious, even though the fruits thereof will not pay their board, than to be idle. No one can afford to be idle. All things considered, it is a most expensive vice. But many girls, not appreciating the habit of industry, throw away weeks of precious time every year. The loss of a single hour per day is thought little of by a multitude; yet this amounts to three hundred and sixty-five hours, or thirty days, of twelve hours each, in one year. In fifty years it runs up to more than four years of time all wasted, and worse than wasted! If time be a God-given talent, for the improvement of which each person is responsible, a fearful reckoning awaits those who are thus prodigal of it. A person may lose a dollar, and replace it by doubling his diligence; but who can replace a lost moment? Who can restore a wasted hour? None. Every such fragment of time is so much of responsible life thrown away, as if it were valueless.

Bishop Taylor very beautifully describes the value of time in this connection. "It is very remarkable that God," he says, "who giveth plenteous to all creatures, hath scattered the firma

ment with stars, as a man sows corn in his fields, in a multitude bigger than the capacities of human order; he hath made so much variety of creatures, and gives us great choice of meats and drinks, although any of both kinds would have answered our needs; and so in all instances of nature. Yet, in the distribution of our time, God seems to be strait-handed, and gives it to us, not as nature gives us rivers enough to drown us, but drop by drop, minute after minute, so that we never can have two minutes together, but he takes away the first before he gives the second. This should teach us to value our time, since God so values it, and by this so small distribution of it, tells us it is the most precious thing we have."

It has been said, that if each member of the human family performed his part of the labor of the world, no one would be obliged to over work. But, owing to the indolence of many, others are obliged to tax their strength excessively. Perhaps this is truer of the female than of the male sex; for the indolence which fashion requires in affluent circles, has to be atoned for by the increased labors of the poor. The idleness of one portion creates toil and suffering for the other. A Chinese emperor was so convinced of this, that he issued an edict against idleness, saying, "That if one person was idle, some one must suffer cold

or hunger in consequence, as each individual had his allotted work to perform; and if he failed in his duty, some one else was called upon to fulfil his neglect." On this account he forbade idleness, and punished all incorrigible offenders severely.

Occasionally we meet with a daughter, of industrious habits, whose study and aim it is to relieve the care-worn mother. It is a pleasant spectacle. Contrasted with some girls, who leave everything in the family to be performed by the mother, avoiding all the domestic labor possible, it is a very beautiful sight. It indicates the possession of good sense, true affection, and moral principle. Such a daughter is a blessing to her parents. She aids in keeping the spring of domestic felicity full and free. A dull, lifeless, indolent daughter, must be a cause of much misery to her mother. What the thorn in the flesh was to Paul, that she is to her toiling and weary parent. Let the reader avoid her example as unbecoming and

sinful.

"Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger."

"The slothful saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets!" So life becomes a failure.

"The sleep of a laboring man is sweet."