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recognition, replied in a cold, disdainful tone: "Uncle Mosey! Uncle! to be sure! I'm na uncle of yours; I claim na relationship with you, young man.' On his return to Peterborough, Mr. Morison related the incident to his blood relations, the Smiths, who asked him why he denied the relationship of the school-master. "Why," replied the old man, "I did na wish the people of Packersfield to understand that a' the relations of the Morisons were consummate fools."

*

I fear, Mr. President, that I am taking too much time in the relation of Peterborough stories. I will detain you with only one more. At one of the stores in town, upon a cold winter's night, quite a number of the people being present, the toddy circulated freely, and the company became somewhat boisterous, and as usual, some of them talked a good deal of nonsense. An old Mr. Morison, who plumed himself (and not without much reason) upon his talking talent, had made several unsuccessful attempts to get the floor, (in parliamentary phrase,) and the ear of the house. The toddy had done its work too effectually for him, and he gave it up as desperate, and taking a seat in a retired part of the room, he exclaimed in utter despair, " A' weel, a' weel, here ye are, gab, gab, gab, gab,-- and common-sense maun set ahind the door."

I have watched with intense interest, the wonderful improvements that have been carried forward in my native town within the last thirty years. When I was a boy, a weekly mail, carried upon horse-back by a very honest old man by the name of Gibbs, afforded all the mail facilities which the business of the town required. Now, Sir, we see a stage-coach pass and repass through this beautiful village every day, loaded with passengers, and transporting a heavy mail. Your highways and bridges have been astonishingly improved, showing a praiseworthy liberality on the part of the town to that important subject. Your progress

* Jonathan, the first mechanic in town, and the first male child born in Londonderry.

in agriculture, manufactures, and the mechanic arts, exhibits striking evidence of the advance of improvement. Look abroad now upon the finely-cultivated fields, the substantial fences, the comfortable, yea, elegant dwellings, the superb manufacturing buildings, the splendid churches and seminaries of learning; and in view of all these let the mind for a moment contrast it with the prospect which presented itself to the eye of the first settler, as he attained the summit of the East Mountain, one hundred years ago. Then not a ́human habitation for the eye to repose on over the whole extent of this basin-like township, -one unbroken forest throughout the eye's most extensive range. No sound of music or hum of cheerful industry saluted his ear. It was only the howl of the savage beast or the yell of the still more savage man, that broke the appalling stillness of the forest. What a wonderful change hath a hundred years wrought here, and what unshrinking energy of character was requisite to induce the commencement of the undertaking!

Some of the old objects of interest to me in my younger days are gone. Their places indeed have been supplied by more expensive and elegant structures: still I must say, I regret the loss. And let me ask, Mr. President, are you quite sure that the loss may not manifest itself in some future time? I allude, Sir, to the loss of the old church on the hill there, and the old beech-tree that stood hard by. I look, even at this period of life, upon that spot with a kind of superstitious reverence. Many are the noble resolutions that young minds have formed under the shade of the old beech-tree. Intellectual indolence is the prevailing fault of our times. Under the old beech, in my young days, the great and the talented men of this town used to assemble, and there discuss with distinguished power and ability the most important topics. Religion, politics, literature, agriculture, and various other important subjects, were there discussed. Well, distinctly well do I remember those debates carried on by the Smiths, the Morisons, the Steeles, the Holmeses, the Robbes, the Scotts, the Todds, the Millers,

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and perhaps I may be excused here for adding the Wilsons and others. No absurd proposition or ridiculous idea escaped exposure for a single moment. A debater there had to draw himself up close, be nice in his logic and correct in his language, to command respectful attention. Abler discussion was never listened to any where. Strong thought and brilliant conceptions broke forth in clear and select language. They were reading men, thinking men, forcible talking men, and sensible men. Bright intellectual sparks were constantly emanating from those great native minds, and falling upon younger minds, kindled up their slumbering energies to subsequent noble exertion. The immediate effect of those discussions could be easily traced in the beaming eye and the agitated muscles of the excited listeners. It was obvious to an acute observer that there was a powerful effort going on in many a young mind among the hearers, to seize, retain and examine some of the grand ideas that had been started by the talkers. This rousing of the young mind to manly exertion, and aiding it in arriving at a consciousness of its own mighty powers, was of great advantage where the seeds of true genius had been planted by the hand of nature. If any of the Peterborough boys, within the last thirty years, have attained to any thing like intellectual greatness, my life on it, they date the commencement of their progress from the scenes under the old beechtree. A thousand times have I thought, Mr. President, if I had the world's wealth at my command, I would cheerfully have bartered it all for the ability to talk as well as those men talked. Antiquity may boast of her schools of philosophy; the present may point to its debating clubs and lyceums, and talk loud as it will of modern improvement : give me the sound good sense that rolled unrestrained from eloquent lips under the old beech, and it is of more worth than them all. I shall always respect the spot where it grew, and even now it grieves me to see the greensward that sheltered its roots torn too roughly by the ploughshare.

SONNETS.

BY THOMAS C. UPHAM.

THE MILLENNIAL DAY.

"They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters that cover the sea."-Isa. xi. 9.

UPON God's holy mountain all is peace.

Of clanging arms, and cries, and wail, no sound
Goes up to mingle with the gentle breeze,
That bears its perfumed whispers all around.
Beneath its trees, that spread their blooming light,
The spotted leopard walks; the ox is there;
The yellow lion stands in conscious might,
Breathing the dewy and illumined air.
A little child doth take him by the mane,

And leads him forth, and plays beneath his breast.
Naught breaks the quiet of that blessed domain,
Naught mars its harmony and heavenly rest:
Picture divine, and emblem of that day,

When peace on earth and truth shall hold unbroken sway.

GOD WORSHIPPED IN HIS WORKS.

"The heavens declare the glory of God: and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." Ps. xix. 1, 2, 3.

MEN use a different speech in different climes,
But Nature hath one voice, and only one;
Her wandering moon, her stars, her golden sun,
Her woods and waters, in all lands and times,
In one deep song proclaim the wondrous story.
They tell it to each other in the sky,
Upon the winds they send it sounding high,
Jehovah's wisdom, goodness, power, and glory;
I hear it come from mountain, cliff, and tree,
Ten thousand voices in one voice united;
On every side the song encircles me,

The whole round world reveres and is delighted.
Ah! why, when heaven and earth lift up their voice,
Ah! why should man alone nor worship nor rejoice!

THE STUDIES OF AN ORATOR.

BY SAMUEL GILMAN BROWN.

HISTORY has been called the "letter of instructions which the old generations write and posthumously transmit to the new; the message which all mankind deliver to every man; the only articulate communication which the past can have with the present." It teaches us the wisdom and folly of our race; of ourselves; for we are only wiser or less foolish than our fathers, because we are their sons and not their progenitors. In all matters of policy, we know the effect of measures only by experiment. It is given to an age, to a nation, to develope fully the operation of certain principles, in order that the next age and other nations may be wiser. It was necessary that our fathers should have been driven from the house of bondage, in order that their sons might rejoice. in the inheritance of freedom. It was needful that the privy council of Scotland should have enacted, "that, whereas the boots were the ordinary way to explicate matters relative to the government, and that there is now a new invention and engine, called the thumbikins, which will be very ef fectual for the purpose and intent aforesaid; the lords of his majesty's privy council do therefore ordain, that whenever any person shall be, by their order, put to the torture, the said boots and thumbikins, both shall be applied to them, as it shall be found fitting and convenient." This was needful in the seventeenth century, that the privy council in the nineteenth century should allow examination by the oaths of witnesses alone. It was needful, sad necessity, that a race of doubters should arise, that a whole nation should cut itself loose from religion, in order that men might feel that faith