7. Great care should be taken, in leaving a heated ballroom, to put on sufficient wrappings before going into the outer air. Many young and beautiful girls have lost their lives by inattention to this most important point. Over-fatigue should also be avoided in dancing at balls, or at the watering-places, during the extreme heat of

summer.

V.- BLOTS ON THE LIGHT OF HOME.

IR Walter Scott says, "The spirit of chivalry had in it this point of excellence, that, however overstrained and fantastic many of its doctrines may appear to us, they were all founded on generosity and self-denial, of which, if the earth were deprived, it would be difficult to conceive the existence of virtue among the human race.”

The spirit of chivalry always gave reverence to God and honor to woman: this spirit we would awaken among our young countrymen. We have hitherto preferred to point out the bright side of the usages of good society, and their bearings upon the happiness of the home circle; but our subject would be incomplete if we did not look on the other side, and show the influence of such habits as swearing, intemperance, and the use of tobacco, habits, which, if allowed to gain ascendency, will surely lead to selfishness and hardness, and thus lower or destroy the true nobility of American character and the virtues of home life.

The first two must be classed in the list of sins, whilst the latter is little more than a bad babit; and yet we have noticed it here, because it seems to us objectionable, undesirable, and not tending to increase the enjoyment of the domestic circle.

We shall come to this later, however.

Swearing, or any form of profane language whatsoever, is so repeatedly and strictly forbidden in Holy Writ, that any words of ours surely should be needless; and yet how many persons thoughtlessly make use of irreverent expressions in daily conversation, merely from a habit contracted in boyhood, and continued without consideration of the sin.

Swearing is considered so inadmissible in good society, or in the presence of ladies, that there is little danger of its being introduced in either; but let no one forget that the sin is the same wherever it is indulged. God is present everywhere, and He is outraged whenever his holy name is taken in vain. Mothers have a great responsibility in this matter. Let them watch and guard the expressions of their sons, and early inculcate the exceeding sinfulness of the practice.

We e say of their sons; for we cannot bring ourselves to think of the pure lips of their daughters, or of any woman, indeed, unless fallen to extreme degradation, being sullied by the use of profane language.

Some one may ask, But, if unused in the presence of ladies, how does it impair the happiness of home? We

answer, A man too frequently gives himself a license within the precincts of the domestic circle which he would most carefully avoid elsewhere; and thus it often comes that a slight difference or trifling altercation is magnified into a bitter quarrel by the use of violent and profane language.

Intemperance, with all its sad train of sorrows, - the deserted home, the lonely wife, the neglected children, is doubtless a heavy sin, and one which entails prompt and present punishment upon the offender; but to my mind the guilt is by no means so great as that of swearing. Whilst there are many causes and excuses for the one practice, such as feeble health, great suffering, exhaustion from either mental labor or physical exertion, exposure to cold, &c., there can be none in palliation of

the other.

The one sin seems a yielding (cowardly, it is true) to temptation; a feeble power of endurance; a weakness of the flesh the other, a sin of the spirit, a moral stain upon the conscience, and a crime against the majesty and holiness of God. And yet, whilst intemperance, spiritually considered, is not so great a sin as blasphemy against the Lord of Heaven, we must never overlook the fact, that no one crime so desolates the home, and wrecks all domestic peace and enjoyment as this, the crying sin of our land. To prevent the spread of this evil, the law should go to the root of the matter, and stop the manufacture of distilled spirits, except for medical or scientific

purposes. Wine and beer are, comparatively speaking, harmless; but it is the tremendous traffic in distilled spirits which works the main mischief. We can hope for no reform in this habit, so long as the very ships which are carrying out our missionaries to spread the light of the Gospel are laden, at the same time, with New-England rum, as the chief part of their cargo.

We may be met with indignant denial; but we do assert that club-life has vastly increased this evil in our midst. Nothing is more surely and certainly subversive of all true domestic peace, than the habit of passing days and evenings away from home, at such places of resort for idle men.

Often, at first, the habit is formed without any wrong intention; but look at the results! By degrees, the simple pleasures of home become tasteless and insipid; a craving for the stimulus of excitement is created, and gradually becomes a necessity; then for the sake often of drowning the reproaches of an accusing conscience, sharpened by the memory of a pale, patient, loving face at home, other stimulants are sought, and, as a matter of course, increased till the power of resistance is gone.

To all who prize home happiness, we would most af fectionately and earnestly say, Never let any friend or any inducement whatever lead you to pass your evenings at a club: if you have leisure for a club, you have leisure for the home circle; and, depend upon it, you will find a deep, true, and exalting happiness in the one which the other can never afford.

We are aware that we are trenching upon dangerous ground, when we enter upon the large question of the use of tobacco; nor have we any idea of placing it on a level with the other habits of which we have been speaking.

The use of it is a world-wide custom; and it may be that (as is the case with many other things), its worst effects spring from its abuse. And yet our chief argument against it is drawn from the strange fact that those who are its strongest advocates in practice are also usually its strongest opponents in theory. Here is a singular thing.

Why are we constantly told, "Yes, I smoke or chew, or take snuff; but it is a miserable practice, a wretched habit: I never would let my boys do it if I could prevent it!" Then why do it yourself?

Having heard this testimony, not once, but frequently, from confirmed smokers, we have been led to look at the matter, and try to discover whether the use of tobacco was actually necessary to masculine happiness. We were assisted in this study by the remark of a gentleman in one of our steam-cars. As an apology for not offering a lady his seat next the window, as possibly more agreeable to her than the outer one, which she had taken, he mentioned his habit of chewing, which required that he should retain that seat.

By way of courtesy, the lady remarked, that she believed "the use of tobacco was a habit, which, when gen