THE YANKEE DEACON.

By Mrs. S. M. C. Perkins.

A STURDY young blacksmith of twenty years of age bought his time of his brother, and one cold Saturday morning in midwinter he started to walk to Boston and seek his fortune. He buttoned up his gray overcoat and put on his buckskin mittens, happy in his freedom, trusting alone in Providence and his own strong arm. He knew but a single individual in the city; but the evening found him a guest of that friend, and he spent his first Sabbath at church.

He had no thought, as he sat there in rustic garb, listening eagerly to the sermon, that he would yet do more for Boston churches, for the poor of the city, and for all benevolent purposes, than any other layman of that city. But he commenced life aright. He wasted no time on frivolous amusements; but in his own language, he "set his heart to seek the Lord and his hands to work."

On Monday morning, he entered into a partnership with his host, giving him his whole fortune of twenty dollars and his note for two hundred and forty more. Then came the smutty apron and anvil; and by that burning forge he shaped for himself a name and a fortune which has largely blessed the world.

Almost his first earnings were expended for a poor widow who was destitute of fuel. He purchased a load of wood, hired a man to saw it, and after a hard day's work, he carried it himself to her attic and piled it up nicely for her use. No wonder that the widow's God remembered the young man and accepted the offering! It was a large gift, then, for one of his slender means, and was returned to him fourfold.

Daniel Safford bore the yoke in his youth. His life, with all his powers, was early consecrated to God, and in a remarkable manner, he illustrated his faith by his works. He sowed the seeds of righteousness in early life, and he lived to reap a harvest of peace, love, and joy in his own experience.

He was prospered in business, and every year increased the sums devoted to

benevolence. On one public occasion, he gave a thousand dollars to the American Education Society. But he says of this gift, "It caused me a great deal of pain. saw in my heart risings of self-complacency which were very odious, and led me to fear that God would not accept the offering."

And I doubt if it were as pleasing to God as many a smaller gift of his, privately given, of which the world took no notice. His life was not without its sorrows. Severe domestic bereavements were laid upon him during the first years of married life, and repeatedly was he called upon to strew the dust upon the sunny brow of cherished friends; but he gave them up without a murmur, and blessed the hand that held the chastening rod, saying, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him." But other ties were formed, and he was surrounded by a loving family; and the minister of the gospel, the missionary, the poor, and the outcast ever found a welcome seat at his hospitable board. He provided a handsome home for his family, consecrated it, with all he had, to God, and then, like his Master, he went about doing good. When he had accumulated the small fortune of forty-five thousand dollars, he resolved to devote his entire income, except the support of his family, to works. of benevolence and charity. This resolution was religiously adhered to through life. He never became any more wealthy, but gave away thousands of dollars every year, until, at his death thirty years afterwards, it was found that his charities amounted to the sum of seventy thousand eight hundred dollars.

Some of these gifts were large subscriptions; but the greater proportion of them were in small sums, unknown to the world, but accepted by Him who suffereth not a sparrow to fall without his notice. One instance I will notice:

A poor Irish woman applied to him in a time of trouble. She had not where to lay her head. Mr. Safford gave her a little money and sent some of his family to ascertain the truthfulness of her story, which was found to be correct. He provided her with a home and employment,

and persuaded her inebriate husband to sign the pledge. The poor woman, in her gratitude, asked and obtained permission. to name her son for her benefactor, and twenty years afterward, she said of her boy, "My Daniel has good larnin', has never been a Cat'olic, never drank any rum, and never brought a tare into my eye.'

Of how few sons of more favored families can this be truthfully said!

Mr. Safford was emphatically a happy man. I have almost wondered at the peace like a river which seemed to permeate his whole being and almost glorified his daily life, long before he reached the heavenly shores. In a peculiar way, God seemed to prosper him in all that he did. He gave him wealth, he gave him leisure to devote it to the good of others, and better than all else, he gave him the peace which passes understanding, which none can enjoy save those who tread the narrow paths of duty.

He visited the narrow lanes and lowly cabins of Boston, clothed the children of want and sorrow, and then gathered them into the Sabbath-school. The doors of his home were thrown open to them, and a social, Christian influence was thus thrown around them that it was not easy to resist.

The rich and refined are too apt to forget the good they may accomplish by their costly parlors. Let the little bare feet press upon the beautiful tapestry carpets so like the mosses upon the hillside; let the piano music charm their sensitive ears; let their bright eyes gaze in admiration upon the gilt-framed Madonnas and other paintings upon the walls; then let your hands rest in love upon their sunny, uncombed locks, and tell them the sweet story of Jesus and his wondrous love for them. They will look up to you with a wonder akin to reverence, and will, to their dying day, remember the story, and it may keep them from sin in the hour when the tempter would lure them to destruction. "In heaven, their angels do always behold the face of the Father."

Mr. Safford visited Europe twice, and each time paid the expenses of others

He died in Boston, February, 1856; and the memoir which I have just closed is one of the best biographies I ever read. His life was a benediction to his race. The poor mourned for him as for a father, and their tears are a better memorial than the proudest monument.

He

THE HENRIAD.

[From the French.]

By Rev. C. F. LeFevre. CANTO III.

Argument.

noble example still speaks to us, to scatter blessings in the pathway of the unfortunate, "Pure religion and undefiled is to visit the widow and the fatherless in their afflictions, and keep himself unspotted from the world."

THE FEMALE MIND.

Tus influence of the female mind over the stronger mind of man is greater, perhaps, than many are willing to acknowledge. Its operations are various, and some men struggle fearfully to disengage themselves from it. But this we believe, that, more or less, all men have felt its power; and those perhaps have experienced it to the greatest extent who would have it supposed they despised it most. A woman loses many of her charms, and consequently much of her power, in the opinion of many, when she ranges herself on the side of that which is wrong; while it is impossible to calculate the influence of virtuous women, when that influence is exerted with tenderness and modesty. The rain produced by a bad woman may be sudden and violent, and compared to the bursting of a volcano, or the overflowings of the ocean; but the influences of a virtuous woman are like the gentle dew and morning showers, which descend silently and softly, and are known only by their effects in the smiling aspect of the valleys and the weight of the autumnal branches.

NATIONS, like individuals, exist for something beyond themselves.

America is to do more than to develop its own magnificent resources, if it fulfils its legitimate destiny. It has a world's work to do. It has to achieve the practical unity of the human race by the elements of freedom, truth, and love.

of France. Awful death of Charles IX. Reign of Henry III. His character. The character of the famous Duke of Guise, known by the name of the Blafre. Battle of Coutras. Death of the Duke of Guise. The extremity to which Henry III is reduced. Mayenne is chief of the League; D'Aumale is its hero. Reconciliation of Henry III. and of Henry, King of Navarre. Succor promised by Elizabeth. Her answer to Henry of Bourbon.