To guard the pure and vestal flame of Peace,
Till, fed by Truth, its brightness shall increase,
Blasting the laurels round Ambition's bust,

Melting the splendors from the throne of kings,
But shining o'er the pathway of the just,

With radiance soft as light from angel's wings,
And kindling in the soul that holy flame
Which turns to dross the pride of selfish fame.

And ye, who would man's powers and virtues know,
On the young mind your hopes and care bestow;
Remember in the Spring the bud will shoot
That bears the Summer flower and Autumn fruit;
That youth neglected ne'er its loss repairs,-
Who seeks a harvest from a field of tares ?-
Then bid the nurseries of thought abound,
Tended by Love, by Wisdom hedged around;
And let the tried and true Instructor stand
Among the first and noblest of our land,
Till Science in her Christian garb goes forth,
Giving to men dominion o'er the earth,
A brother band, who yield with loud acclaim,
To Peace the sceptre, and to Goodness fame.

CORNELIA.

THE CALENDAR. SEPTEMBER.

This month takes its name from the circumstance of its being the seventh in the old Roman Calendar established by Romulus. But we will leave the Romans and their Heathen Deities, and breathe in our lovely Mall the peaceful air of the season, and of an evening devoted to the thoughts that Christianity inspires. Oh, there is something in the contemplation of nature at such an hour as this, which steals over the soul in placid mood, and wraps it in holy musings!

It is a moral impossibility for that mind which lives in habitual communion with the works of God, to harbor at the same time impurity of thought and feeling. To be in harmony with nature presupposes moral purity. How can it be otherwise? What is nature or the works of nature, as they are differently called, but the bright and beautiful manifestations -the most touching expressions of the infinite wisdom, unbounded goodness, and tender love of our Father in heaven? Can the bosom, then, torn with conflicting passions, and the seat of unchaste desires, be in consonance with such

tokens of the Divine Benignity? Oh no. A deep and abiding love of the magnificent and glorious works of God is the natural and spontaneous growth of moral excellence. Purity and truth in the secret springs of thought, feeling, taste and action, are the essential attributes of the true lover of nature. The peaceful bosom of the lake gives back, by clear reflection, a faithful image of the heavens above.Thus he who would see the divine presence in the rich and diversified beauty of nature must first perceive its image reflected in his own mind. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they and only they shall see God."

Such were the feelings that suggested themselves as the splendid prospect, which opens upon the view at the head of Beacon St. Mall, irresistibly arrested my attention, and kept me, as it were, spell-bound upon the spot for several moments. Here let us pause for a while, and calmly contemplate, in the solemn stillness of the moonlight hour, this beautiful landscape. The first object in close proximity on the left, that meets the view, as the eye traverses the extensive promenade spread before it, is Park St. Church with its commanding spire and plain proportions, characteristic of the stern simplicity of the Puritan school, which, associating, and that too, naturally enough, the tyranny and spiritual domination of the English hierarchy with the majestic symmetry and stately elegance of the cathedral and other magnificent piles in the church establishment, ran to the other extreme, and rejecting all ornaments, banished thenceforth all architecture, taste, and beauty from the house of worship; whence arose, in conformity, the plain and unpretending meeting-house. Park St. Church, however, is a noble specimen of the Puritan school. Behind that triple row of noble elms which intersects the whole extent of Tremont St. Mall, forming a delicious shade for a walk at noon under their wide spreading branches-peeping through the trees is seen the classic form of St. Paul's, venerable to a mind of sensibility and taste for the deeply cherished and poetical associations that cluster round the old "Church of England," upon which it is modelled both in body and spirit. It bears, too, the revered name of a most heroic champion and martyr of Christianity. At the name of St. Paul what heart is there that does not throb with emotion, in contemplation of his devoted zeal, and generous sacrifices, and unwearied toil in the holy service to which he was called?

"Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul,
Were he on earth, would hear, approve, and own,
Paul should himself direct me. I would trace.
His masterstrokes, and draw from his design.
I would express him simple, grave, sincere ;
In doctrine uncorrupt; in language plain,
And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste,
And natural in gesture; much impressed
Himself, as conscious of his awful charge,
And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds
May feel it too; affectionate in look,
And tender in address, as well becomes
A messenger of grace to guilty men.
Behold the picture!-

Let us enter this beautiful temple and admire the classic purity of the interior; ascend the middle aisle and survey the vaulted roof which gives us so vivid an idea of vastness; look at the finished elegance of the chancel; and listen to the rich tones of the pealing organ as it lifts up its "voice of praise and thanksgiving.j It is the holy Sabbath. Behold the chosen servant of God in the place of prayer in his white robe, emblematic of the purity of heart required in this solemn service. Behold him now in the desk of exhortation. Listen to his words. Well may Cowper's graphic description of the gifted preacher, as given above, be applied to him! But I may not dwell upon so delicate a theme. Let us resume the contemplation of the landscape view.

N. L.

FASHIONS.

There is no one part of our duty, as editor of a Lady's journal, which we feel so reluctant to perform as to quote, or exhibit the fashions of dress. Not that we, by any means, think lightly of the graces of the toilette, or would discourage, or condemn any suitable decorations of person; but the servile imitation of European extravagances, and modes, we cannot think creditable to the taste, and character of our intelligent, and refined, and moral community. We would do nothing to increase this mania of fashion, but much, were it in our power, to diminish it—and it is, therefore, that we endeavor to make our plate of fashions teach a lesson to the heart, as well as the vanity of our fair readers. The present one may be read thus-This Russian costume represents the taste of an ignorant, and half-civilized people, where the tyranny of the government keeps the monopoly of wealth, and the means of grati.

fying pride, in the hands of a few, and so renders the display of vast pomp and ex. pense in the dress and equipage of the nobility, an essential requisite of caste. The most expensive stuffs, brilliant colors, and a profusion of ornaments, characterize the fashions, where money expended forms the criterion of beauty, and glare is mistaken for grace.

The French fashion owes its charm, and it is really charming and becoming, to the simplicity of the materials, and the propriety with which taste and feminine industry have prepared an elegant costume without the aid of expensive ornaments. Still, the dress of the Parisian lady might be somewhat more simple in its arrangement, and yet equally beautiful and more becoming; and our American fashionables should recollect, while admiring French modes, that Republicanism, which we may honor and make honorable, is giving a tone of purity and plainness to the fashions of regenerated France, and that all imitations of courtly splendors in dress is now, for us, impolitic, as well as ridiculous. We are not extravagant in the estimate we make of the influence which the fashions and manners of our own sex are calculated to have on the destiny of this Republic-public opinion will decide the character of our nation, and that opinion is essentially guided and governed by the sentiments and tastes of women. We rejoice to find that men are becoming more aware of this, and that our writers and orators are endeavoring to awaken the attention of the ladies to their duties as affecting the public interests and happiness of our country. Till women feel their responsibility they cannot, or will not, perform their part. Treat them as thongh they had no souls or minds, and they will be soulless and mindless.

A writer in the last No. of the Christian Examiner expresses the following beautiful and true ideas.

"Women as well as men belong to the country, and have equal interest in its honor and prosperity. Their duties may be different, but equally imperative. They may not often be called to make bow-strings of their hair, or melt their gold and silver ornaments into coin. Like the women of the revolution, they may not be now call. ed to make lint and prepare bandages for the wounded, or minister in hospitals to the suffering martyrs of freedom; but there is a daily beauty in their lives, which they are constantly bound to exhibit; a power over the taste and sentiment, the habits and manners, the inclinations, fashions, and mode of social intercourse, which they cannot better exert, than by the honorable example of diminished extravagance.

A servile imitation of the faded decorations and unseasonable fabrics of European invention, exhibits a national poverty of design, which is not to the credit of our genius. To import from the shops of London and Paris the pictures of a French opera dancer, or an English jockey, as models for our own ladies' and gentlemen's personal decorations; to exhibit here in August, what was there en regle in March; to display cast off finery as a novelty, by which the charms of our beautiful countrywomen can be improved, is a folly so supremely ridiculous, that no quantity of impudence would have the audacity to propose it, if already it had not become familiar to us by inveterate usage.'

The whole article-"Social Life”—is excellent, and deserving the careful consideration of every intelligent reader. Is not the extract we have given, more intelligible and entertaining, than would have been a transcription in our work of the "gold colored gauze-"vandiked garniture"-hair dressed en corbielle," &c. &c. which is so frequently served up to us, rich from the English milliner's literature?

LITERARY NOTICES.

A VIEW OF ANCIENT AND MODERN EGYPT; with an Outline of its Natural History. By the Rev. Michael Russell. With a Map and Engravings. New York: J. & J. Harper.

This volume makes the twenty-third number of Harper's Family Library, a work that has deservedly attained great popularity. The History of Egypt cannot but be a welcome offering to readers of every class—the antiquarian, historian, politician, and more than all the Christian must feel deeply interested in the result of those researches which have of late years been so successfully prosecuted among the ruins on which the records of ancient days were written.

The following extract shows conclusively the high antiquity of the country, and its progress in the arts and sciences of civilization.

The Greeks, it has been frequently remarked, were the only nation in Europe who had any pretensions to antiquity. But the wisest even among that ambitious people considered themselves as of yesterday compared to the Egyptians. Plato confessed that his countrymen had no memorial of any event beyond a thousand, or at most two thousand years before his own time; whereas, in the days of Moses, the wisdom of Egypt had already become proverbial, and that, too, among the Syrian tribes who bordered upon he original seats of primeval knowledge. Phenicia, which appears to have set the first example of commercial intercourse to the rude colonies on the northern shores of the great sea, proved the medium through which the learning, the laws, and the religion of the Nile were conveyed to the ancestors of those brave and ingenious nations who have since associated an imperishable fame with the memory of Athens and Lacedemon. The names of Cadmus, Cecrops, and Danaus continue to represent those missions or voluntary migrations which, at a remote period, transported from Africa to Europe the treasures of oriental wisdom.

The governing spirit, the prevailing characteristic of this mighty nation seems to be that "longing after immortality" which we are apt to impute only to a few ardent and ambitious individuals. These must, therefore, have been wonderfully successful in impressing their own genius on their