pineness, or a prodigal waste of time and resources; few, who, when they look back upon the field of past experience, but feel how barren they have left the track which might have been richly cultivated. Let us instantly reform. The present will become the future; let us resolve that it shall be rich in fruit, delicious to the reverting spirit of review, and yielding good seed for the progressive path before us. The traveller rarely begins with his own country; in like manner, the searcher after enjoyment too often looks beyond home; too late in life's journey, when little of either strength or time remains, this is regretted. In the case of home, the early neglect is usually irretrievable, where, we may be certain, if flowers are not cultivated, weeds will spring, where the violet and the rose might have charmed our senses, the nettle and night-shade will offend them. Fenelon was ac customed to say, "I love my family better than myself; my country better than my family; and mankind better than my country; for I am more a Frenchman than a Fenelon, and more man than a Frenchman." This is an instance of reasoning more beautiful in theory than reducible to practice; I should be satisfied with the man who proceeded almost inversely and invested his first funds in the domestic treasury; these once established and yielding interest, he may at once THE WELL OF ST. KEYNE. BY ANNA SAVAGE "St. Keyne, saith the chronicle, many a time And before the angel summoned her, For he shall be master for life." "I WILL not throw the sceptre down now that its power I know, For who that once had reigned a queen would to a subject bow? Must he to whom my smile was law his freedom hold again, And woman's will and woman's wit henceforth be all in vain ? Not till within our favored West one crystal well is dry! Save me the dire disgrace, St. Keyne, of blessed memory! And if I fail to gain the gift thou hast bequeathed the wave, Let woman's will make woman's wit henceforth a willing slave." |