speaking, there were no Savings' Banks, to afford them an opportunity of depositing their wages, and receiving the interest thereof. Had this been the case, it would probably have doubled their income by the time they married. I am, Sir,

Your constant reader,

Beaconsfield, Feb. 7, 1824.

M. W.

To the Editor of the Cottager's Monthly Visitor. SIR,

I MET, in the translation of a French work, yesterday, with some little papers, designed as a specimen of the way way to draw the attention of children to the wonderful works of creation, by making them reflect upon those common things, which are constantly before their eyes, and which are therefore neglected, whereas, in fact, for that very reason they should draw forth a still greater admiration and gratitude. It occurred that they might suit your good little work, "The Cottager;" but I have only sent one, if you can turn it to any account, and will say so, I will gladly send the others-on flowers, trees, fruit, fish, birds, &c. which are rather better, I think first. E. L. M.

January 22d, 1824. jin

ON PLANTS.

THE most contemptible in appearance has wherewithal to astonish the sublimest understandings, which, notwithstanding, can see only the grosser organs of them, without entering into all the secrets

of their life, nourishment and increase. Every leaf in them is disposed with attention; order and symmetry are visible throughout the whole; and with so prodigious a variety of ornaments and beauties too, that no one perfectly resembles another. What discoveries are made in the smallest seeds by the help of microscopes. What virtue and efficacy has God bestowed on them by a single word, by which he seems to have given plants a kind of immortality. Let the earth bring forth grass, and herb yielding seed."

Can any thing be more worthy our admiration than the general colour wherewith it has pleased God to beautify every plant? Had all the fields been clothed in white or red, who could have borne the splendour of their dress? If he had blackened them with darker colours, who could have been delighted with so sad and mournful an appearance? The agreeable green colour in which the earth is clothed, so suits the structure of the eye, that it refreshes instead of tiring it, and supports and nourishes it instead of exhausting its force. But what at first we should judge to be one colour, is an astonishing variety of shades. It is every where green, but no where the same. No plant is coloured like another; and this surprising variety, which no art can imitate, is further diversified in every plant, which in its first shooting forth, in its growth and maturity, puts on a different verdure.

The same may be said of the figure, smell, taste and uses of plants, both for nourishment and medicine.

If God had not given to hay, when dried and kept for a long season, the power of feeding horses, oxen, and other animals of service, how could we satisfy the hunger of animals of so vast a bulk, and which

Glasses which make very small objects, appear large to the eye..

are only useful while they have strength? This very dry herb suffices likewise to make other animals give, twice a day, a quantity of milk, which may supply the place of all other food to a whole family. When we consider this wonder, which passes every day before our eyes, can we avoid admiring the wisdom, and feeling grateful for the goodness of God?" He causeth the grass to for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.' E. L. M.

grow

A FRIENDLY ADDRESS TO THE INDUSTRIOUS ON THE ADVANTAGES OF A SAVINGS' BANK. SAVINGS' Banks have been found so useful, that they are now set up in most parts of the kingdom; and it is likely that every town and populous village will soon take its turn in establishing one for the benefit of its industrious inhabitants.

The uses of a Savings' Bank may plained.

be soon ex

1. It enables an industrious man to help himself; and better too than all the kindness of friends and neighbours can help him. It gathers small savings, such as almost every one can spare, into such a stock as will be of use to him as long as he lives.

These are some of the facts: one shilling a week put into this bank, becomes twenty pounds in seven years. Three shillings a week saved and put into this bank, becomes sixty-one pounds in seven years.

The price of only half a pint of beer a day, will, at the end of the year, amount to upwards of two pounds. Other savings grow, in proportion, into a fund that will make a poor man too rich to beg or borrow of any body.

The poor sometimes talk as if they could do nothing to better themselves. This is very true, if

they will work hard one day only to get money, and spend it at the ale-house the next; or if they look to the parish instead of looking to their own hands and head. But if they will bring every working day to account, and take care of what they earn, they will soon find, that, with God's blessing, they can do much to mend their condition. Let them try a new way for once, and begin directly. Let them lay the first stone of their own better days, and increasing comfort. Let them consider their labour as their stock in trade, and let them make as much of it as they fairly can. Let them save what, hitherto, they have been used foolishly to spend.

Let them take care of farthings, remembering that pounds are made up of farthings. These pounds will soon grow into more. The old stock and the new will go on together and swell into a heap, into which the owner may put his hand to help himself in time of sickness or hard times, upon a loss of work, in putting his children out to an honest trade, in paying his rent, in buying and furnishing a cottage, or, in keeping himself, in his old age, out of a work-house, where so many persons end their days, because in the season of health and vigour they wanted industry, or foresight, or resolution to save. One further advantage of a Savings' Bank deserves particular notice; a young man, by putting into a Savings' Bank a few years before marriage, greatly increases his chance of happiness, by making a comfortable provision for the wants of a young and increasing family, especially if he have the good fortune to meet with a young woman of similar prudence, who shall have made an equally good use of her savings from her wages.

2. A Savings' Bank secures whatever is put into it. It has been the hard lot of many industrious people to lose their money, by lending it at interest to friends and neighbours, whilst many more have been discouraged from attempting to

save, because they had no opportunity of depositing their savings in a place of safety. This opportunity is now afforded them. The money in a Savings' Bank is laid out upon Government security, the best security which this or any other country can give ; with the additional benefit of compound interest.

3. A man, by saving his odd money, instead of wasting it, takes the way to avoid not only want and beggary, but many sins too. The sin of drunkenness, with the horrid profaneness that attends it; the sin of wastefulness; the sin of mis-spending time; the sin of neglecting wife and children; the sin of bad example and bad company; all which, with their awful consequences, are to be seen in a careless sottish life. Who would not wish to avoid the temptations to these sins, and the miseries, present and to come, which arise from them? He who wishes to do it, let him begin, by thinking whether money carried to a public house, or to a Savings' Bang, will turn to the best account; and whether, staying at home himself, taking care of his family, if he have one, or providing against the time when he may have one, and living frugally and temperately, will not be followed with most happiness, and the greatest good. Some careless people may pretend to laugh at you, because you may choose to become on a sudden wiser than you have been, or than they wish to be. But leave them to their mirth, and to the beggary and remorse that is coming after it; and see whether you would wish to change conditions with them in a few years time, if you should live so long, when you will have money at the Bank of England, comfort at home, and a cheerful heart within; and those unhappy persons will be paupers, to say the least, and have nobody to blame for it but themselves.

4. Remember that a Savings' Bank is not like a Lottery Office, which makes great promises, but does not perform them. It proceeds by a rule as sure and