with it. Indulgence gives it strength, and greatly increases its volume, but not its melody. It converts a sour disposition into elixir vitriol, and a sweet one into vinegar. Of all scolds, the crying ones most disfigure the human face divine. They remind me of the flutter wheel of a saw-mill, clogged with brushwood. They produce no dry thunder gusts. This unfortunate, unnecessary, self tormenting, others provoking, all annoying habit, is not confined to females, as in the case of Xantippe. I have known some husbands and wives, who were all honey and dear to each other, when entertaining company and on visits, who were both adepts in this business; as their poor children and servants could attest. Occasionally, by way of change; they would open their battery on each other, and make the splinters fly freely, and sometimes the crockery too. O shame! I have known master mechanics, who converted their workshops into bedlams by scolding; spoiling good apprentices, making the bad worse, and driving away each journeyman in quick succession. A scolding teacher in a school, is worse than New Orleans mosquitoes in dog days. I have known a scolding physician destroy the usefulness of brilliant talents, and they highly cultivated, by indulging in this mad freak. I have known scolding lawyers make themselves a butt, and often injure, and sometimes ruin the cause of a client, by indulging in this sad propensity. I have known scolding preachers drive away all their parishioners, and have seldom known one to do any good. It is no where sanctioned or recommended in the Bible, in ethics, or by any philosopher, although some have been cynics. If once fixed on a person by habit, it is difficult of cure. Solitude increases its force, like pent-up waters; for the scold seldom stops to reflect. Religion has sometimes cured the disease, but, like cancers that are cut out, their fibrous roots are very apt to be left, and still torment the patient. Unless nipt in the bud, this noxious plant will grow. As a continued dropping of cold water upon the head, will eventually stop the circulation of the blood, and produce a most horrid death; so will perpetual scolding dry up the life-stream of affection, esteem, and respect; and destroy all social order that comes under its pestiferous influence. Lay this to heart ye scolds, and pray God to give you grace to overcome this freezing, ice-bound habit, and thereby increase your own comfort, and that of those around you. XENIADES. What is life? 'Tis not to stalk about and draw fresh air, XENIADES was a citizen of Corinth, who purchased Diogenes, when sold as a slave. He asked the tub philosopher what he could do. Command freemen, was the prompt and laconic reply; which so pleased his purchaser, that he immediately set him at liberty. Independence, as is usual with true lovers of freedom, was a strong trait in the character of Diogenes. Alexander the Great once visited him in his tub, and asked what favor he could bestow upon him. Get out of my sunshine, was his quick and sarcastic answer. The conqueror of the world turned to his courtiers, and said, "Were I not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes." How few we have at the present day, who would not dwindle into pigmies, and weigh like a feather against a pound of lead, if put in the scale of patriotism by the side of a Diogenes. In his day, the friends of freedom loved and fought for it, for its own intrinsic worth, not for the sake of the loaves and fishes, as in modern times. Love of gain, fame, and honor, now form the great motive power that moves the multifarious wheels, wires, and pipes, of our political machinery. The towering waves of party spirit have long rolled over old school patriotism, and covered it with the alluvion of corruption. If not too deeply buried, it will yet spring up; and our country will again reap a rich harvest from this alluvial bottom. But it is high time the plough of correction and harrow of equality should be used. The few have governed the many long enough. If the deposite is suffered to accumulate, the substratum of patriotism cannot be reached with a common instrument. Even now, it would require a prairie plough to insure a good crop. The people, in mass, should become fully sensible, that they have something more to do, than "to stalk about, and draw fresh air, and gaze upon the sun.” Let them reflect, analyze, judge, and act for themselves; and with the independence and patriotism of a Diogenes, prove themselves worthy of freedom. Then, and not without, will it be preserved and perpetuated. Let demagogues, and all the contaminating vices that have long polluted the political atmosphere of our country, be thrown over the dam, with all the accumulated flood wood, that is impeding the originally pure stream of LIBERTY. Our nation may then reasonably ask, and expect to receive, the guardian care of Almighty God—not otherwise. YAW. THIS word is applied to a ship, signifying its unsteady and indirect motion on a great swell of the sea; a fit emblem of the Yawing of man, in passing over the ocean of life. How few there are who carry ballast enough to keep their frail barks from careening at every swell that overtakes them. Many are thrown upon their beams ends, others are lost at the early part of their voyage. And why these shipwrecks? Because the vessel is of bad materials, poorly constructed, and not properly trimmed; not for want of good materials within the reach of every one, and good workmen to put them together. The youth who rushes into the avenues of vice, will find himself with a bad hull, a rotten mainmast, a mildewed mainsail, a disordered cabin, a broken compass, a weak cable, a light anchor, his figure head defaced, his helm unshipped, his ballast composed of bilge water, his cargo worthless, and all his rigging unfit for sea. In this condition, unless thoroughly repaired by those master workmen, VIRTUE and WISDOM, his shipwreck is inevitable and speedy. Reader, look around, and see what multitudes are Yawing on the billows of life. See that young man, endowed with towering talent, polished by an expensive and refined education; the hope of indulgent parents, and the pride of admiring friends-see his vessel ca reening—his sails fluttering--his masts falling-his cable parted-he founders-one awful plunge-he sinks to rise no more. Alcohol unshipped his helm, destroyed his compass, forced him on the rocks, and plunged him in ruin, before he had lost sight of the shore from which he launched. Look at the multitudes, whose flimsy barks are constructed of the light materials of sensual pleasure; their vessels cannot live on a rough sea for a moment. Look at those in the low black schooner, water logged with crime in all its varied forms-the billows of justice roll over them, and they disappear. See the gay multitudes putting to sea in their light canoes of fashionthey are tossed to and fro, like squirrels on a strip of bark; and sometimes are driven back on shore, and apply to Virtue and Wisdom, to construct them something more substantial. Look into the ship-yard of Folly and Vice, and you will see an endless variety of crafts, all enticing to the natural eye, but none of them sea-worthy-they will all Yaw those who embark in them, on the rocks of destruction. Wisdom, Virtue, and pure Religion, are the only safe workmen to be employed. They have none but substantial and durable materials, and do their work in the very best manner. Be not deceived in the firm -the name is Happiness and Heaven-index pointing upward. Embark in a craft from this ship-yard, if you desire to outride the storm of life, and be safely landed in the haven of enduring bliss and endless joy. |