daily. And the train itself is not more punctual to time than he is. He has travelled by our railway for several years, and he often boasts that he has never yet been behind time; never failing to add at the same time, "there is nothing like punctuality." The want of punctuality would doubtless be to him no ordinary crime. Indeed, I have had an opportunity of witnessing his indignation at its occurrence. I remember one morning, just as we had stepped into the box, a young man was seen, all covered with perspiration, hastening up the steps, in order to get his ticket.

"Hallo!" ejaculated Mr. H- "there is a young fellow who will be just in time to be too late." Then, pausing a moment, he continued, "I thought he would; the door is closed, and, hark! there's the whistle. There's no chance for him. But it serves him right. Nothing lessens a man in my estimation more than the want of punctuality. For a young man especially there can be no excuse, and I do not pity him for a moment. He knew the time, and he should have been here; it is as easy to be a minute too soon as a minute too late. I hope it will prove a lesson to him. Such a man would not do for my house; I should soon shut the doors against him."

Some time ago I was in a similar predicament. I had been in London a few days, had finished my business, and was waiting at my brother's house expecting the omnibus to go by as usual. But it did not arrive in due time, and when we reached the station at Euston-square, the door was shut. I rapped at one of the windows, a porter threw it up, received my luggage, and opened the door for me. I hastened to get a ticket, ran on the platform, and was about to get into a second class carriage, when the porter called out, "This way, sir, you are a first class passenger; make haste, sir, they're off." The shrill whistle sounded, in I jumped, and he tumbled my luggage into the carriage after me. Then it was

I found that they had given me a first class ticket for only a part of the way, and made a “gentleman" of me, at my own expense, for being too late! But as it turned out a very rainy and cold evening, I did not much regret that I was safely lodged in a comfortable arm chair-like seat, secure from the wet and the cold, though I had to pay a few shillings more for it.

This brings to my recollection another "too late" exploit of my own. I was invited to a tea festival at a village about fifteen miles off, eleven of which were by rails, and then a friend was to meet me with a conveyance. A friend of mine, a minister in the neighbourhood, calling in, agreed to accompany me. We left my house in good time, secured our tickets, and walked quite leisurely on to the platform, but from a misapprehension as to which train, up or down, was about to start, we did not perceive our mistake till the whistle made us look sharp about us, and then only to discover, to our mortification, that our train was moving, and as it was no use calling "Stop the coach," we were left behind.

I am generally attentive and prompt, but in this instance I was not prompt enough for these railway managers. I have taken good care to be in time ever since, and not only in time, but I have always watched their movements, and have not allowed them to leave me behind again.

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I thought a good deal about that door being shut and opened again for me at Euston-square, and I then thought of those words of our Lord, and the door was shut." Will my young readers think of that too? It is a sad thing for any person who is going a long journey on important business to be "too late," and find the door shut and the train gone. But far more sad and serious will be the condition of those who neglect to enter the way of life, the door of which now stands open, but which, once shut, will be shut for ever!

HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY

MOTHER.

NONE love you so much as they; none are so much interested in fitting you to act well your part, and none so anxious that you should be kept from the evil of the world in which you are, and in which you live. If you leave their roof, and go out from their counsels and advice, who will you find to fill their places? who will love you with a purer or more tender affection? who will nurse you more constantly when sick? You hear honied words and fair speeches, as you pass along in the sunshine and by pleasant places; but who, among all the herd, will pity and befriend, and comfort, and sympathize with you, when the sun has withdrawn its shining, and the days of darkness have come, as an affectionate mother, or a kind father? Let no distance hinder you from giving them a large place in your affections. No mighty continents, though they lie between you, should hide from the mind's eye their forms and their familiar countenances. No rolling oceans should blot out the memory of their worth, or the remembrance of their kindness. Honour thy Father and thy Mother.

HONOUR THE AGED.

"THE hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness." "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear before the Lord thy God." Such are the express precepts of Scripture. So reasonable in itself, and so clearly commanded by God, is reverence from the young to the aged, it may be fairly said, that the young person who fails in so obvious a duty is a stranger to the fear of God, and destitute of those dispositions which alone can render youth amiable, manhood virtuous, and old age honourable.

A disposition in youth to give due honour to the

aged, is one of the fairest indications of general excellence of character; and a particular blessing is seen to rest upon those who have treated the aged with conscientious respect. On the other hand, the youth who can despise and ridicule the aged, gives a sad evidence of a generally vicious and depraved disposition. He often becomes a tyrant in his family, a quarrelsome neighbour, and a despiser of religion. And many instances are on record (besides that of the children of Bethel, who mocked the prophet Elisha) in which divine displeasure evidently rested on those who refused the respect due to old age.

A CHILD'S FIRST IMPRESSION OF A STAR.
SHE had been told that God made all the stars
That twinkle up in heaven, and now she stood
Watching the coming of the twilight on,
As if it were a new and perfect world,
And this were its first eve. How beautiful
Must be the work of Nature to a child,
In its first fresh impression! Laura stood
By the low window, with the silken lash
Of her soft eye upraised, and her sweet mouth
Half-parted with the new and strange delight
Of beauty that she could not comprehend
And had not seen before. The purple folds
Of the low sunset clouds, and the blue sky
That looked so still and delicate above,
Filled her young heart with gladness, and the eve
Stole on with its deep shadows, and she still
Stood looking at the west with that half smile,
As if a pleasant thought were at her heart.
Presently, in the edge of the last tint
Of sunset, where the blue was melted in
To the faint golden mellowness, a star
Stood suddenly. A laugh of wild delight
Burst from her lips, and, putting up her hands,
Her simple thought broke forth expressively,
"Father, dear Father, God has made a Star!"

T.-You see this dark brown mineral body; it is almost black, and you know it has the property of attracting needles and other small iron substances.

J.-Yes, it is called a load-stone, leading-stone, or magnet; we have often been amused with it; but you told us that it possessed a much more important property than that of attracting iron and steel.

T.-Yes: and it is what is called the directive property, by which mariners are enabled to conduct their vessels through the mighty ocean out of the sight of land; by the aid of this, miners are guided in the bowels of the earth, and the traveller through deserts otherwise impassable.

C.-Were not mariners unable to make long and very distant voyages till this property of the magnet was discovered?

T.-Till then, they contented themselves with mere coasting voyages, seldom trusting themselves from the sight of land.