in the land, and a sick Indian woman expressed a great desire for a mess of Indian corn. Her husband having heard that a trader at Lower Sandusky had a little, set off on horseback for that place, one hundred miles distant, and returned with as much corn as filled the crown of his hat, for which he gave his horse in exchange, and came home on foot, bringing his saddle back with him.

(9) THE SHAWNEE'S LOVE TO HER HUSBAND.-A married woman of the Shawnee Indians, made this beautiful reply to a man whom she met in the woods, and who implored her to love and look on him. "Oulman, my husband," said she, "who is for ever before my eyes, hinders me from seeing you or any other person."

(k) A GOOD WIFE.-The Rev. William Jay, of Bath (England), on the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination, gave his wife the following noble compliment. Being presented by the ladies of his congregation with a purse containing £650, after a few remarks he turned to Mrs. Jay, and said: "I take this purse and present it to you, madam -to you, madam, who have always kept my purse, and therefore it is that it has been so well kept. Consider it entirely sacred-for your pleasure, your use, your service, your comfort. I feel this to be unexpected by you, but it is perfectly deserved. Mr. Chairman, and Christian friends, I am sure there is not one here but would acquiesce in this, if he knew the value of this female, as a wife, for more than fifty years. I must mention the obligation the public are under to her (if I have been enabled to serve my generation), and how much she has raised her sex in my estimation; how much my church and congregation owe to her watchings over their pastor's health, whom she has cheered under all his trials, and reminded of his duties, while she animated him in their performance; how often has she wiped the evening dews from his forehead, and freed him from interruptions and embarrassments, that he might be free for his work. How much, also, do my family owe to her; and what reason have they to call her blessed! She is, too, the mother of another mother in America, who has

reared thirteen children; all of whom are walking with her in the way everlasting!"

8. AFFECTION, FILIAL-EXEMPLIFIED. (a) ALEXANDER AND HIS MOTHER.-Olympias, the mother of Alexander, was of so very unhappy and morose a disposition, that he could not employ her in any of the affairs of government. She, however, narrowly inspected the conduct of others, and made many complaints to her son, which he always bore with patience. Antipater, Alexander's deputy in Europe, once wrote a long letter to him, complaining of her conduct; to whom Alexander returned this answer: "Knowest thou not that one tear of my mother's will blot out a thousand such letters ?"

(b) QUINTUS AND HIS SON.Among the multitude of persons who were proscribed under the second triumvirate of Rome, were the celebrated orator Cicero and his brother Quintus. The latter took means to conceal himself so effectually at home, that the soldiers could not find him. Enraged at their disappointment, they put his son to the torture, in order to make him discover the place of his father's concealment; but filial affection was proof against the most exquisite torments. An involuntary sigh, and sometimes a deep groan, were all that could be extorted from the youth. His agonies were increased; but with amazing fortitude, he still persisted in his resolution of not betraying his father. Quintus was not far off; and it may be imagined, better than it can be expressed, how his heart must have been affected with the sighs and groans of a son expiring in torture to save his life. He could bear it no longer; but quitting the place of his concealment, he presented himself to the assassins, begging of them to put him to death, and dismiss the innocent youth. But the inhuman monsters, without being the least affected with the tears either of the father or the son, answered that they must both die; the father, because he was proscribed; and the son, because he had concealed the father. Then a new contest of tenderness arose, who should die

first; but this the assassins soon decided, by beheading them both at the same time.

(c) AFFECTION'S CHOICE TREASURES.-Ancient history records, that a certain city was besieged, and at length obliged to surrender. In the city there were two brothers, who had, in some way, obliged the conquering general; and, in consequence of this, received permission to leave the city before it was set on fire, taking with them as much of their property as each could carry about his person. Accordingly, the two generous youths appeared at the gates of the city, one of them carrying their father, and the other their mother.

(d) A PRISONER RESCUED BY HIS DAUGHTER.-M. Delleglaie being ordered from a dungeon at Lyons, to the Conciergerie, departed thither. His daughter, who had not quitted him, asked to be admitted into the same vehicle, but was refused. The heart, however, knows no obstacles; though she was of a very delicate constitution, she performed the journey on foot; and followed for more than a hundred leagues the carriage in which her father was drawn, and only left it to go into some town, and prepare his food; and in the evening to procure some covering to facilitate his repose in the different dungeons which received him. She ceased not for a moment to accompany him and watch over his wants, till the Conciergerie separated them. Accustomed to encounter gaolers, she did not despair of disarming oppressors. During three months, she every morning implored the most influential members of the Committee of Public Safety, and finished, by overcoming their refusals. She reconducted her father to Lyons, happy in having rescued him. She fell ill on the road, overcome by the excess of fatigue she had undergone, and, while she had preserved her beloved parent's life, she lost her own.

(e) HENRY HOCK AND HIS FATHER.-A few years ago, five Dutch gentlemen set out from Rotterdam, to travel on skates to Amsterdam. They had passed over about twelve miles of the waste of inland waters which extends between the two cities,

and were, with the exception of one of the party, who kept apart, skating with great velocity, in close files, and hands linked, in the Dutch manner, and were striking out far from the shore, when at once, the whole file was precipitated through the ice, and two out of the four were hardly seen to rise again. The other two were father and son, both remarkably fine men, and the father an expert swimmer, which enabled him to support himself, and his son too, for a considerable time, during which he was so collected as to give directions to the only one of the party who had not fallen in, how he should conduct himself to afford assistance; but at length he gave utterance to the thought, that his son's continuing to hold him would be the death of both. The son immediately kissed the father, and, with the familiar and endearing expression he was accustomed to, bade him "good night," loosed his hold, and deliberately resigned himself to death. The father lived; and the name, at least, of Henry Hock, the son, must live also.

(ƒ) THE BEST PRESENT.-The three sons of an Eastern lady were invited to furnish her with an expression of their love, before she went a long journey. One brought a marble tablet, with the inscription of her name; another presented her with a rich garland of fragrant flowers; the third entered her presence, and thus accosted her: "Mother, I have neither marble tablet nor fragrant nosegay, but I have a heart: here your name is engraved, here your memory is precious, and this heart full of affection will follow you wherever you travel, and remain with you whereever you repose."

(g) ARCHBISHOP TILLOTSON'S AFFECTION.-There are some children who are almost ashamed to own their parents, because they are poor, or in a low situation of life. We will therefore give an example of the contrary, as displayed by the Dean of Canterbury, afterwards Archbishop Tillotson. His father, who was a plain Yorkshireman, perhaps something like those we now call "Friends," approached the house where his son resided, and inquired whether "John Tillotson was at home." The servant, indignant at

what he thought his insolence, drove him from the door: but the dean, who was within, hearing the voice of his father, instead of embracing the opportunity afforded him, of going out and bringing in his father in a more private manner, came running out, exclaiming, in the presence of his astonished servants, "It is my beloved father;" and falling down on his knees, asked for his blessing.

(k) THE HAPPY MEETING.Some years ago, a pious widow in Ameriea, who was reduced to great poverty, had just placed the last smoked herring on her table, to supply her hunger and that of her children, when a rap was heard at the door, and a stranger solicited a lodging and a morsel of food, saying, that he had not tasted bread for twenty-four hours. The widow did not besitate, but offered a share to the stranger, saying, "We shall not be forsaken, or suffer more deeply for an act of charity."

The traveller drew near the table; but when he saw the scanty fare, filled with astonishment, he said, "And is this all your store?-and do you offer a share to one you do not know? Then I never saw charity before! But, madam, do you not wrong your children, by giving a part of your last portion to a stranger?" "Ah," said the widow, weeping, "I have a boy, a darling son, somewhere on the face of the wide world, unless heaven has taken him away; and I only act towards you as I would that others should act towards him. God, who sent manna from heaven, can provide for us as he did for Israel; and how should I this night offend him, if my son should be a wanderer, destitute as you, and he should have provided for him a home, even as poor as this, were I to turn you unrelieved away?"

The widow stopped, and the stranger, springing from his seat, clasped her in his arms; "God, indeed, has provided just such a home for your wandering son, and has given him wealth to reward the goodness of his benefactress. My mother! O my mother!"

It was indeed her long lost son, returned from India. He had chosen this way to surprise his family, and certainly

not very wisely; but never was surprise more complete, or more joyful. He was able to make the family comfortable, which he immediately did; the mother living some years longer in the enjoyment of plenty.

9. AFFECTION, FILIAL-REWARDED. (a) THE PRISONER AND HER DAUGHTER.-Valerius Maximus relates, that a woman of distinction having been condemned to be strangled, was delivered to the triumvir, who caused her to be carried to prison in order to be put to death. The gaoler who was ordered to execute her was struck with compunction, and could not resolve to kill her. He chose, however, to let her die with hunger; but meanwhile suffering her daughter to visit her in prison, taking care that she brought her nothing to eat. Many days passed over in this manner, when the gaoler at length, surprised that the prisoner lived so long without food, took means of secretly observing their interviews. He then discovered that the affectionate daughter had all the while been nourishing her mother with her own milk. Amazed at so tender, and at the same time so ingenious an artifice, he related it to the triumvir, and the triumvir to the prætor, who thought the fact merited stating in the assembly of the people. This produced the happiest effects; the criminal was pardoned, and a decree passed that the mother and daughter should be maintained for the remainder of their lives, at the expense of the public; and that a temple, sacred to filial piety, should be erected near the prison.

(b) TITUS MANLIUS AND HIS FATHER.-A certain Roman, in the days of paganism, called Titus Manlius, was treated extremely ill by his father, for no other reason than a defect in his speech. A tribune of the people brought an accusation against his father before the people, who hated him for his imperious conduct, and were determined to punish him with severity. The young man hearing this, went one morning very early from his father's country farm, where he was forced to live like a slave, and finding out the house of the tribune who had impeached his father, entreated that he would immediately

drop the prosecution. The tribune declared before the people that he withdrew his charge against old Manlius, because his son Titus had obliged him to promise upon oath that he would carry it no further. The people, charmed with the filial piety of Titus, shown to so unnatural a father, not only forgave the old man, but the next year advanced his generous son to the supreme honours of the state.

(c) THE JUDGE OFFERING TO DIE WITH THE CRIMINAL. While Octavius was at Samos, after the battle of Actium, which made him master of the universe, he held a council to examine the prisoners who had been engaged in Antony's party. Among the rest, there was brought before him an old man, Metellus, oppressed with years and infirmities, disfigured with a long beard, a neglected head of hair, and tattered clothes. The son of this Metellus was one of the judges; but it was with great difficulty he knew his father in the deplorable condition in which he saw him. At last, however, having recolleted his features, instead of being ashamed to own him, he ran to embrace him. Then turning towards the tribunal, he said: "Cæsar, my father has been your enemy, and I your officer; he deserves to be punished, and I to be rewarded. One favour I desire of you; it is, either to save him on my account, or order me to be put to death with him." All the judges were touched with compassion at this affecting scene; Octavius himself relented, and granted to old Metellus his life and liberty.

(d) EFFORT TO RANSOM A FATHER. Montesquieu, being at Marseilles, hired a boat, with an intention of sailing for pleasure. He entered into conversation with the two young boatmen, and learned, to his surprise, that they were silversmiths by trade, and had agreed to employ themselves thus as watermen, only that they might increase their earnings. On expressing his surprise and his fears that this must arise only from an avaricious disposition, "Oh, sir," said one of them, "if you knew our reasons, you would not think so. Our father, anxious to assist his family, scraped together all he was worth, and purchased a vessel, for the

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purpose of trading to the coast of Barbary; but was unfortunately taken by a pirate, carried to Tripoli, and sold for a slave. He writes that he has happily fallen into the hands of a master who uses him well, but that the sum demanded for his ransom is so exorbitant, that it will be impossible for him ever to raise it, and says we must therefore relinquish all hope of ever seeing him, and be contented. With the hope of restoring to his family a beloved father, we are striving by every means in our power, to collect the sum necessary for his ransom; and for such a purpose, we are not ashamed to employ ourselves in this occupation of watermen."

Montesquieu was struck with this account, and on his departure made them a handsome present. Some months afterwards, the two brothers, being at work in their shop, were greatly surprised at seeing their father enter: he threw himself into their arms, exclaiming, that he was fearful they had taken some unjust method to raise the money that procured his ransom. They professed their ignorance of the whole affair, and could only attribute their father's release to that stranger, to whose generosity they had been before so much indebted.

(e) A COURAGEOUS SON. — At the siege of Knaresborough, by the Parliament's army, under the command of Colonel Lilburn, a young man who resided in the town, and whose father was one of the garrison, had several times, at the hazard of his life, conveyed provisions to him, which he effected in the night by getting into the moat, which was dry, climbing up the glacis, and putting the provisions into a hole where his father was ready to receive them. Being at last discovered by the guard belonging to the besiegers, they fired, but missed him. He was, however, taken prisoner, and, having made a full confession of his conduct, was sentenced to be hanged the next day, in the sight of the besieged, to deter others from giving them the least assistance. The sentence was about to be carried into execution, when a lady, whose name Wincup, with several others, petitioned the commander to pardon the unhappy youth. They succeeded so far as to

was