of red-hot iron. And we believe the greatest aphelion distance yet computed was that of the comet of 1844, which was four hundred billions of miles beyond Neptune.

Professor Trouvelot gave the length of the great comet of 1843 at two hundred millions of miles.

The head of the comet of 1811 was one hundred and twelve thousand miles in diameter; and its tail was one hundred and fifteen millions of miles in length, while its aphelion distance was computed at forty billion miles. This comet is expected to return in three thousand years.

Halley's comet of 1833 was first discovered in England in 1066. It was then as large as a full moon. Dr. Halley was first to discover its period, and by

its period, its identity, tracing it back to one hundred and thirty years before Christ. In 1456 its tail reached from the horizon to the zenith, one hundred and fifty million miles.

Donati's comet of 1858 was, of all known comets, the most brilliant; and the graceful curvature of its fifty-millionmile tail, is said to have been without a rival in the history of comets. Its period is computed at two thousand years.

Some of these travellers are supposed to go away and never return again. We may suppose that they go to some other part of the universe on a similar mission to that which brought them here. The more we examine this science, the more we see of its breadth and beauty to admire, and of God's purpose and fullness to venerate. 1882.

The Wife.

I WOULD rather have a villa, with my loving little Nellie, than a Buckingham without her.

Would rather have the love, of my precious little lover, than all the world without her.

Would have a span of life, with my precious little wife, than a century without her.

Ancestry.

ANCESTRY, in a republic, is a very insecure foundation to either bank or build upon. One ounce of live force, in any market, is worth more than a pound of ancestral fossil. Great men in all historic ages have built upon live issues and self-reliance.

The Weazened Soul.

THE little, narrow, selfish soul, in this life, will be worthy of a cosy, little, frozen grave all to itself, in the hereafter.

Pope.

To the immortal Alexander Pope, the labyrinths of human nature were little less than an open transparency, which he was able to translate and expose with an array of human deities, in style, force, and glow hitherto unknown in English literature.

As a genius he was without a peer.

His Essay on Man, and the Messiah, are immortal. In his review of the comparative merits of Homer and Virgil, he is shown at his best. In this he towers far above them both.

The Point of View.

THE observer's vantage ground or standpoint gives tone and shape to the view. The clouded skies, seen from the valleys, look dark and foreboding; while the same skies, viewed from lofty cliffs, are in color as the "golden fleece." So with God's purposes and wisdom when viewed from the broader and higher cliffs of a divine nature: the skies are lighter, and the stars are nearer.

The Race.

To live is to do: to live well is to do well. Then strive to be the hero of a noble wife; or the noble wife of a hero. As the life race is open to all; all should compete in the race; and all may in degree win.