Year: 1862

The Age of our Earth.


Among the astounding discoveries Of modern
science Is that of the immense periods that
have passed in the gradual formation of the
earth. So vast were the cycles of the time
preceding even the appearance Of men on the
surface of our globe, that our own period seems
as yesterday when compared with the epoehs
that have gone before it. Had we only the
evidence Of the deposits of rocks heaped above
each other in regular strata By the slow accu-
mutation of materials, they alone would con-
vince US of the long and slow maturing of Gods
work ou earth; but when We add to these the
successive populations of whose life this world
has been the theatre and whose remains are
hidden in the rocks into which the mud or
sand or soil Of whatever kind on which they
lived has hardened in the course Of time-or
the enormous chains Of mountains whose up
heayal divided these periods or quiet accumu-
atioa By great conyusions-or the changes of
a different nature in the conhagration of our
globe, as the sinking Of lands beneath the
ocean or the gradual rising of continents and
islands above for the slow growth Of the coral
reefs, those wonderful sea walks, raised by the
little ocean architects whose own bodies fur
nish both the building stones and cement that
binds them together, and who have worked so
busily during the long centuries, that there
are extensive countries. mountain chains, is
lands and long lines of coast, consisting solely
of their remains-or the countless forests that
have grown up fourisbed, died, and decayed
TO fill the storehouses Of coal that feed the fires
of the human race-if we consider all those
records Of the past, the intellect fails to grasp
q chronology for which our experience furnish
es no data, and time that lies behind US seems
as much an eternity to our conception as the
future that stretches Indefinitely before US.


Agassiz.


DEAru AND SLEEP-In b-othery embrace
walked the Angel Of Sleep and the Angel Of
Death upon the earth. 1t was evening they
laid themselves down upon hill not far from
the dwelling Of men. A melancholy silence
prevailed around, and the chimes of the eve
ming bell in the distant hamlet ceased. Still
and silent, as was their custom, sat these two
beneicent genii of the human race, their arms
entwined with cordial familiarity, and soon the
shades of night gathered around them. Then
arose the Angel Of Sleep from bis moss grown
couch, and strewed with a gentle hand the in
visible graius of slumber. The evening breezes
waited them to the quiet dwelling of the tired
husbandman, enfolding in sweet sleep the in
mates of the rural cottage-from the old man
upon the staff down to the infant in the cradle.
The sick forget their pain; the mourners their
grief; the poor their care. All eyes closed.
His task accomplished, the benevolent Angel
Of Sleep laid himself again by the side Of his
grave brother When Aurora awakes, ex-
claimed he, with innocent JOY, men praise me
as their friend and benefactor. 0, what hap
piness, unseen and secretly TO confer such ben
efts How blessed are we to be the invisible
messengers of the Good Spirit How beauti-
ful is our silent calling I" So spake the friend
ly Angel of Slumber. The Angel of Death
sat with still deeper melancholy on bis brow,
and tear. such as mortals shed, appeared in
his dark eyes, Alas" said be, g" may not,
like thee, rejoice in the cheerful thanks Of man
kind they call me, upon the earth, their eue-
my and joy killer" 20, my brother" replied
the gentle Angel of Slumber, and viii not
the good man, at his awakening, recognize in
thee bis friend and beuefactor, and gratefully
bless thee in his JOY? Are We not brothers,
and ministers Of one Father ~ As be spake,
the eyes of the Death Angel beamed with
pleasure, and again did the two friendly genii
cordially embrace each other hrummacher.


REcElPrs.-A hot shovel held over varnish-
ed furniture will take out white spots.