to commit suicide. He found no resting place, amidst the "mire and clay" into which Satan had brought his feet, and saw no escape from the "horrible pit" of his own despair. In this state of mental agony, he was one day wandering about in the streets of Dublin, weeping bitterly, when he was noticed and accosted by a pious man, by trade an edge-tool maker, who, with the tact of a Methodist, and the simplicity of a saint, ascertained his state, and endeavored to comfort him-at the same time inviting him to his house, or rather to his cellar, where he was about to hold a prayer-meeting. The party assembled, consisted chiefly of soldiers from the barracks: prayer was offered by the dif ferent persons in turn, and the ease of the providential interloper was specially presented before Him, with whom "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much;" and such was the fervor of the good leader, and the soldiers, and so sincere the contrition and supplication of the penitent, that he that very night found peace to his soul. Having found such a blessing amongst these poor soldiers, he became much attached to them, and resolved, if possible, to make them some return of kindness, for what they had done for him. On inquiry, he ascertained that their situation at the barracks was by no means comfortable, being perpetually ridiculed and insulted by wicked men in the regiment. Hearing this, he was determined to relieve them if possible,-for on his visits, he found them equally as bad as described-utterers of profane sarcasms, and revilers of all religion. In resolving, however, to do what he could, towards changing the characters of these men, he hit upon an expedient which, however successful in his case, is of too perilous a nature to be adduced for imitation. He commenced his work of reformation by relating such stories and anecdotes, as he knew would please them, endeavoring by every means to make his company agreeable to them. In this he succeeded; and in time, as his visits became frequent and acceptable, he began to check their swearing, and other improper language. He would even occasionally condescend to assist them in little matters, as pipe-claying their belts, &c. At length, he so far gained their respect, and established his own influence, that no improper language was ever allowed, or used in his presence; and if anything wrong happened to be going on at the time of his visit, the moment that he entered the yard, some one would give the signal-"He's coming!" and presently all became order and regularity. He next got them to attend to reading the Bible, held regular prayer-meetings among them, and exhorted them to seek the Lord. The number of serious persons among the soldiers increased daily, and his plan prospered more and more, until, to his great regret, the regiment was removed. He now felt at a loss for a proper sphere for the exercise of his zeal; at length, he bethought himself of the Old Men's Hospital, which he visited repeatedly, but with little success, as he found the inmates, (to use his own phrase), "too tough for any impression that he could make ;" and he was often heard to say, in consequence of his experience here, that "a man turned fifty, would hardly be converted." His first class-leader was the pious Patrick French, who, at the latter end of 1817, left Dublin, as a Missionary to the West Indies. This gentleman presently discovered the sterling piety, and pro'mising talents, of the young convert; and before his departure from Ireland, he waited upon one of the preachers to commend the stranger to his particular notice, "Brother Lamb," said he, "I am going from you, perhaps never to return; remember now my last request;-take particular care of brother Summerfield: make him known to all your brethren, and he will one day shine in the world, and in the church of God." [To be continued.] THE OCEAN. LIKENESS of Heaven! From valley and sea, Are buried in thee! What are the riches Of mexico's mines, To the wealth that far down With one heave of thy breast! From the high hills that view When, like lambs in the tempest, Or mews in the blast, O'er thy ridge-broken billows The canvass is cast How humbling to one In cold ashes shall be, Yes! where are the cities The splendor of Rome? But thou art almighty, But hold! when thy surges THE GOSPEL. It is a standing miracle of the Gospel, that in reconciling man to God, it reconciles him to himself; that it makes him able to bear the sight of himself; and renders solitude and repose more agreeable to many, than all the intercourse and bustle of mankind. Nor is it by confining man's attention to himself, that it produces these wonderful effects. It is by bringing him to God, and by supporting him under the sense of his miseries, with the hope of a completete deliverance in a better life. TO THE GUARDIANS OF FEMALE EDUCATION. BY MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY. "THE mind of the present age acting on the mind of the next," as it has been happily defined by a living writer, is an object of concern to every being endowed with intellect, or interested either through love or hope, in another generation. Nor has the importance of education in the abstract, been alone conceded. Practical researches for its improvement, have signalized our age and incorporated themselves with its vigorous and advancing spirit. Our most gifted minds have toiled to devise methods for the instruction of the humblest grades of community, and to make useful knowledge the guest of the common people. In this elevation of the intellectual standard, our sex have been permitted freely to participate. No Moslem interdict continues to exclude them from the temple of knowledge, and no illusion of chivalry exalts them to an airy height, above life's duties, and its substantial joys. We are grateful for our heightened privileges. We hope that those who have bestowed them, will be no losers by their liberality. Still we believe that an increase of benefits may be made profitable both to giver and receiver. We solicit them in the name of the blooming and the beautiful-those rose-buds in the wreath of our country's hope. It is desirable that their education should be diffused over a wider space of time, and one less encumbered by extraneous objects, and that the depth of its foundation should be more correctly proportioned to the imposing aspect and redundant ornament of its superstructure. Is it not important that the sex to whom nature has entrusted the moulding of the whole mass of mind in its formation, should be acquainted with the structure and developments of mind?—that they who are to nurture the future rulers of a prosperous people should be able to demonstrate from the broad annal of history, the value of just laws, and the duty of subordinationthe blessings which they inherit, and the danger of their abuse? Is it not requisite, that they on whose bosom the infant heart must be cherished, should be vigilant to watch its earliest pulsations of good or evil?-that they who are commissioned to light the lamp of the soul, should know how to feed it with pure oil?-that they in whose hand is the welfare of beings never to die, should be fitted to perform the work, and earn the plaudit of Heaven? That the the vocation of females is to teach, has been laid down as a position which it is impossible to controvert. In seminaries, academies and schools, they possess peculiar facilities for coming in contact with the unfolding and unformed mind. It is true, that only a small portion are engaged in the departments of public and systematic instruction. Yet the hearing of recitations, and the routine of scholastic discipline, are but parts of education. It is in the domestic sphere, in her own native province, that woman is inevitably a teacher. There she modifies by her example, her dependants, her companions, every dweller under her own roof. Is not the infant in the cradle her pupil ? Does not her smile give the earliest lesson to its soul? Does she not enshrine her own image in the sanctuary of the young child's mind, so firmly that no revulsion can displace, nor idolatry supplant it? Does she not guide the daughter, until, placing her hand in that of her husband, she reaches that pedestal, from whence, in her turn, she imparts to others the stamp and coloring which she has herself received? Might she not, even upon her sons, engrave what they shall take unchanged through all the temptations of time, to the bar of the last judgment? Does not the influence of woman rest upon every member of her household, like the dew upon the tender herb, or the sunbeam silently educating the tender flower? or as the shower, and the sleepless stream, cheer and invigorate the proudest tree of the forest? Admitting then, that whether she wills it or not, whether she even knows it or not, she is still a teacher-and perceiving that the mind in its most plastic state is yielded to her tutelage, it becomes a most momentous inquiry, what she shall be qualified to teach. Will she not of necessity impart what she most prizes, and best understands? Has she not power to impress her own lineaments on the next generation? If wisdom and utility have been the objects of her choice, society will surely reap the benefit. If folly and self-indulgence are her prevailing characteristics, posterity are in danger of inheriting the likeness. This influence is most visible and operative in a republic. The intelligence and virtue of its every citizen have a heightened relative value. Its safety may be interwoven with the destiny of those whose birthplace is in obscurity. The springs of its vitality are liable to be touched, or the chords of its harmony to be troubled, by the rudest hands. Teachers under such a form of government, should be held in the highest honor. They are the allies of legislators. They have agency in the prevention of crime. They aid in regulating the atmosphere, whose incessant action and pressure causes the life-blood to circulate, and then return pure and healthful to the heart of the nation. Of what unspeakable importance, then, is her education, who gives lessons before any other instructor-who preoccupies the |