A NEW YEAR'S ADDRESS.

DEAR READERS, whoever you are,
Permit us to count you as dear;
You have pondered our pages thus far,
And we wish you a happy New Year.
Our object has been, in the past,
Your duties to urge and explain,
That you may be happy at last,
Nor we fear to meet you again.

The Old Year has vanished, and fled
Are its bright hopes and promises too,-
All numbered and left with the dead,-

Yet live we to welcome the New.

If Memory lingers a while

To shed o'er the buried a tear,

Sweet Hope doth enchantingly smile
To welcome another new year.

It is true grizzly Death, with his wand,
Has touched many sweet blooming flowers,

And borne to his shadowy land

The good and the lovely of ours.

O'er the havoc his sceptre has made,

O'er the hopes he has nipped in their bloom,

What fond hearts in anguish have bled,

And wept at the gates of the tomb!

Old age with the wrinkles of time,
And manhood perplexed with its cares,
Maternity's glory and prime,

And the smile infant innocence wears
With wisdom and beauty and worth,

Have tranquilly fallen asleep,

To rest on the bosom of earth,
While Memory lingers to weep!

Yet we our fond labors renew,

The loved ones still living to bless, Still bringing old virtues to view,

With the charms of a lovelier dress. In accents of kindness and love

We speak to Maternity's ear, And hope by our efforts to prove

That we wish all a happy New Year.

1

With skill which we boast not as ours,

Here Genius rich chaplets hath twined, With Music, Engravings, and Flowers,

For the eye and the ear and the mind. While duties of mothers and wives

Here shine like a necklace of pearls, For them to wear during their lives, And then to transmit to their girls.

And lest we should seem in your eyes
Engaged in this great work alone,
Our Hookers and Humphrey and Wise,
Phelps, Alcott, and Abbott and Stone,
With Shepherd and Kittredge and Knight,
And Maxwell and Eddy and Dyer,
Are pledged for our columns to write,
With others whom you will admire.

No pains shall we spare to supply
Such reading as mothers demand;
The best that our money can buy,

And some of the best in the land.

For this do we prizes afford

For Essays of excellence rare ;

Some unto the men we award,

And some are borne off by the fair.

Our poets still better will write

(The same who have written before), Save one who has passed from our sight,

Whose muse will enchant us no more.

She sang of the wonderful scenes

Which checkered the life of her Lord,

And now on his bosom she leans,
And sees him by angels adored.

One tear for the vanished from earth,
For the minstrel departed one sigh;
But joy that a soul of such worth

Has found a new harp in the sky.
We think of the dead, and we mourn,
We drop the sad tear of regret,
And then to the living we turn,

In the hope we may profit them yet.

Afford us, then, only the means

Our work to enrich and improve, And then through life's beautiful scenes We'll lead you with labors of love,

Till the heart of each mother shall thrill
With new and increasing delight,

O'er the pages we labor to fill

With the best thoughts that sages can write;

Till not only mothers, but wives,
Whose standard of duty is high,
Shall count it one joy of their lives

To cast o'er our pages an eye;
While beauty shall linger to learn

That the hue of her cheek must decay,
And the youthful, admonished, shall turn
From their youthful excesses away.

Thus useful, contented, and blest,
Still seeking that happier clime,
Whose flowerets have never been pressed
By the terrible foot-prints of time,
We'll pass through each dreary defile,
With hearts full of courage and cheer,
Rejoicing in hope of that smile

Which alone makes a happy New Year.

A GEM.

BY MRS. S. A. B. CURRIER.

THERE is a gem of rarer beauty than the

diamond that sparkles That may dazzle the

from the crown of earth's greatest monarch. eye, but the other charms the heart. The one can be worn but by the few, the other may grace the person of every son and daughter of intelligence. Wouldst thou possess this priceless treasure? Take then the gem to thy bosom, and learn that it is that "charity that worketh by love and purifieth the heart;" that ever radiant and imperishable love which "thinketh no evil," which "all things beareth, all things hopeth, and all things endureth."

Its heavenly lustre may
Encircle thee around,

And as a chain of purest gold
Thy gentle spirit e'er enfold,
To shield unseen thy pilgrim way,
And constant in thy heart be found.

SYMPATHY, THE BOND OF MARRIAGE.

BY REV. E. F. CUTTER.

Alone, along the lyre of Nature sighed
The master chord, to which no chord replied.
For Man, while bliss and beauty reigned around,
For Man alone, no fellowship was found;
No fond companion, in whose dearer breast
His heart, repining in his own, might rest.
For, born to love, the heart delights to roam,
A kindred bosom is its happiest home.

On earth's green lap, the father of mankind,
In mild subjection, thoughtfully reclined;
Soft o'er his eyes a sealing slumber crept,
And fancy soothed him, while reflection slept.
Then God, who thus would make his counsel known,
Counsel that willed not man to dwell alone,

Created Woman, with a smile of grace,

And left the smile that made her on her face!
The patriarch's eyelids opened on his bride,
The morn of beauty risen from his side;

He gazed with new-born rapture on her charms,
And Love's first whispers won her to his arms;
Then, tuned through all the chords, supremely sweet,
Exulting nature found her lyre complete,

And from the key of each harmonious sphere
Struck music worthy of her Maker's ear!

MONTGOMERY.

WE ever read with deep interest the opening pages of the Bible; for there we find the only record of the origin of all things. There, too, we learn the earliest human relations, and the reason why man was bound to such relations; a reason which lies deep in his natural constitution, and teaches that the bonds of social life are not artificial, but natural and necessary to man. He was created for them, and without them he cannot exist.

Hence we trace, with deep interest, the progressive work of creation during the six days in which the wonderful skill and power of God gave shape and beauty to the world. The earth was without form and void, wrapped about with clouds and darkness. It was the undisturbed reign of "chaos and old night." Then brooded the Spirit of God upon the face of the waters, light beamed upon the