strictions under which you would speak were the person present whom you address—bearing in mind, that when your letters are perused by strangers, they will form an estimate of your character and manners, from the nature and style of their contents.

In your correspondence, you should keep in view your own station and circumstances, and the rank and condition of the individual whom you address. In writing to relatives and intimate friends, you should express yourself in a different manner than when addressing a stranger. In the former case, you should be warm, affectionate and familiar—in the latter, more reserved, yet respectful, candid and concise.

Regularity in correspondence, should be observed. Many are very negligent in this respect— putting off writing from day to day and week to week. This is an unnecessary habit, arising solely from sheer indolence, and often causing much disappointment and inquietude. Write promptly, at the proper time, without any unnecessary delay. Youth who are absent from home should be punctual in this respect. As children leave the abode of their infancy, the sun-light of their parents' joys waxes dim and more dim—as stars, the cherished objects of love vanish one by one from the family galaxy, leaving darkness and gloom behind. While, in mixing with the busy multitude and engaging in the exciting avocations and amusements of active life, the hours pass lightly

over your heads, you should remember that to your parents, in consequence of your absence, time drags with leaden step; and that nothing so cheers their aged hearts, as letters from the absent and loved ones. The young, therefore, should often think of their home, of their venerable parents, and the peculiarities of their situation. Often should you despatch letters laden with love and filial affection, and kind expressions of regard, to light up the evening of their days, with smiles of joy. Oh! how highly are those written messengers prized by the father and the mother! Anxiously do they await them, and eagerly do they devour their contents. They are as angel's Visits, diffusing consolation and peace. The melancholy caused by separation, is felt much more sensibly by those who remain at home, than by those who go out into the world.

Be cautious, in giving letters of recommendation, that the individual whom you would benefit, actually possesses the qualifications you enumerate. If you deceive in this respect, it will injure your integrity, and detract from your influence. Give no such letters, except in cases where you feel perfectly assured of the worth of those who bear your testimonials.

Never be guilty of circulating anonymous letters, or of assuming false signatures.* These

*The reader will understand that I do not allude to fictitious signatures in writing for the public prints, where they are often properly assumed. But even in this respect

are low, base practices, utterly beneath the lady or gentleman. They should be heartily reprobated and despised. If you desire to give advice or to warn of danger, or to make any communication to an individual, do it under your own proper signature, with all frankness and candor. If you can not proceed in this open, manly manner, refrain entirely from all interference. The motives of anonymous writers are ever suspected—they are almost invariably detected and exposed, and do not fail to meet that public execration and disgust which they too frequently richly merit.

they are sometimes resorted to for the basest purposes. As a general rule, it is better in writing for the public, to use at least the initials of your name.

That man is by nature, a religious being, is a truth so evident, and so universally acknowledged, that it has passed into an axiom. A religious propensity or a desire to worship, is one of the constituent principles of the human mind. Whereever a human being is found, throughout the globe, this religious principle is perceived, leading him to seek out and adore some object, power or being, whom he believes exercises a control over his enjoyments and his destiny. If he can not perceive properties calling for worship in one object, he will in another—if he is ignorant of, or disbelieves in the existence of one supreme, intelligent Being, he will worship three or a thousand—or will reverence a beast, a reptile, a block, or unintelligent matter. This religious propensity, like the other powers of mind, must be cultivated and enlightened, ere it can impart all the benefit of which it is capable—and when so enlightened, it becomes the source of the purest

happiness within the reach of man on earth. But when it is uncultivated and swayed by ignorance, doubt or superstition, it leads to the belief of the wildest vagaries of the imagination and to much mental pain.

An enlightened and consistent religious belief, should be viewed by youth as one of the first and most important of human acquisitions. It forms a stable and secure basis, upon which all the proper enjoyments of life can be safely founded. All other sources of earthly happiness, depend upon many contingencies, and are liable to fluctuation and decay. But a reasonable and scriptural system of religion, when once firmly settled in the mind, is subject to no variation from time or events. It is a pure stream of running water, whose fountain is far removed, alike from the scorching heat of Summer and the icy chains of Winter. Prosperity can not dry it up, neither can adversity freeze it. In seasons of success, it heightens every comfort, and it turns the edge of the keenest afflictions. It is a friend that never forsakes; but stands by the firmer, when its as

sistance is most needed.

I am aware that youth, generally, are inclined to view the subject of religion in an unfavorable light. But I attribute this disinclination, to the manner and form in which the topic has been presented to them, rather than to any innate aversion. They have been led—or, rather misled—to look upon religion as something gloomy,