Year: 1870




surety for a stranger shall smart fo
it; and he that hateth suretiship j


sure"


When we are injured, I'VE are boun


as Christians to bear it without ma
ice; but We are not to pretend tha


we do not feel it, for this will bu


encourage our enemies to kick u


again. He who is cheated twice b


the same man, is half as bad as til


rogue; and it is very much so i


other injuries-unless We claim on


rights, we are ourselves to blame


we do not get them. Paul was will


ing to bear stripes for his Master


sake, but he did not forget to tel


the magistrates that he was a Ro


man; and when those gentlemen


wished to put him out of prison


privately, he said, NAY, verify, lie


them come themselves and fetch u


out" A Christian is the gentlest o


men, but then he is a man. A goot


many people don't need to be told


this, for they are up in moment i


they think anybody is likely to ill
treat them; long before they know


whether it is a thief in the farm


yard, or the old mare got loose, they
up with the window, and fire off the
old blunderbuss. Dangerous neigh


bors these; a man might as wei
make seat out of a bulls forehead
as expect to find comfort in theil
neighborhood. Make no friendship
with an angry man; and with a furi
GUS man thou shalt not go. "Ht
that is slow to wrath is of great un
derstanding; but he that is hasty Of
spirit exalteth folly" ''Seest thou
man that is hasty in his words
there is more hope of fool than OF
him." In my day l have seen few
downright obstinate men, whom
neither sense nor reason could alter
There's a queer chap in our village.
who keeps bulldog, and he tells
me that when the creature once
gives bite at anything, he never
lets go again, and if YOU want to get
it out of his mouth, You must cut
his head off; that's the sort of man
that has fretted me many time and
almost made me mad. You might
sooner argue a pitchfork into a
threshing machine, or persuade a
brickbat to turn into Warble, than
get the fellow to hear common sense.
Scrubbing blackamoors white, and
getting spots out of leopards, is
nothing at all compared with trying
to lead a downright obstinate man.
Right or wrong, you might as easily
make a hill walk to London, as turn
him when his mind is made up.
When a man is right, this sticking
to his text is grand thing; our
minister says, sit is the stuff that
martyrs are made off, but when an
ignorant, wrongheaded fellow gets
this hard grit into him, he makes
martyrs of those who have to put
up with him. Old Master Pighead
swore he would drive a nail into an
oak board with his fist, and so
lamed his hand for life; he could
not sell his corn at his own price,
and so he let the rats eat up the
ricks. You cannot ride by his fields
without noticing his obstinacy, for
he VOWS, "he won't have none of
these ere new tangled notions and
so he grows the worst crops in the
parish; and, worst of all, his daugh-
ter went among the Methodists, and,
in towering rage, he turned her
out of doors; and though l believe
he is very sorry for it, he will not
yield an inch but stands to 1t, he will
never speak to her so long as he
lives, and meanwhile the dear girl is
dying through his unkindness. Rash
VOWS are much better broken than
kept. He who never changes, never
mends; he who never yields, never
conquers.


. With children we must mix gen
tleness with firmness; they must
not always have their own way, but
they must not always be thwarted.
Give to pig when it grunts, and to
a child when it cries, and you will
have fine pig and a spoiled child.
A man who is learning to play on a
trumpet, and petted child, are two
very disagreeable companions even
as next-door neighbors; but unless
we look well to it, our children will
be a nuisance to others and tor
ment to ourselves. "The rod and
give wisdom; but child
left to himself bringeth his mother
to shame" If we never have head
aches through rebuking our little
children, we shall have plenty of
heartaches when they grow up.
Strict truthfulness must rule all our
dealings with the young; our yea
must be yea, and our nay nay, and
that to the letter and the moment.
Never promise u child and then fail
to perform. whether you promise him
a bun or beating. Be obeyed at all
costs-disobedient children are I'M
happy children; for their own sakes
make them mind you. If you yield
up your authority once, you will
hardly ever get it again, for he who
says A, must say B, and so on. We
must not provoke our children to
anger, lest they be discouraged, hut
we must rule our household in the
fear of the Lord, and in so doing
may expect blessing.


Since John Ploughman has taken
to writing, he has had a fine chance of
showing his iirmness, and gentleness
too, for he has received bushels of adj
vice, for which he begs to present his
compliments, as the squire's lady
says, and he does not mind either
returning the advice or some of his
own instead, by way of showing his
gratitude; for he is sure it is very
kind of so many people to tell him
SO many different ways in which he
might make a stupid of himself. He
means to CLEAN as many good hints
as he can from the acres of his
friends stubble; and while sticking
to his own style, because it suits his
hand, he will touch himself up a bit
if he can. Perphaps if the minister
will lend him Cowper or Milton, he
may even stick sprig of poetry into
his nosegay, and come out as fine
as the flowers in May; but he cannot