YOUTHS' MAGAZINE;

OR

Evangelical Miscellany.

JUNE, 1829.

THE PANCHWAY.

A "PANCHWAY," or passage-boat, succeeded, whose crew offered their services for 15 rupees to carry any passengers to Calcutta, a distance of above 100 miles. This was a very characteristic and interesting vessel, large and broad, shaped like a snuffer dish; a deck fore and aft, and the middle covered with a roof of palm branches, over which again was lashed a coarse cloth, the whole forming an excellent shade from the sun; but as I should apprehend, intolerably close. The "Serang," or master, stood on the little after-deck, steering with a long oar; another man, a little before him, had a similar oar on the starboard quarter: six rowers were seated cross-legged on the deck upon the tilt, and plied their short paddles with much dexterity; not, however, as paddles usually are plied, but in the manner of oars, resting them instead of on rullocks, on bamboos, which rose upright from the sides. A large long sail of thin transparent sackcloth in three pieces, very loosely tacked to each other, completed the equipment. The rowers were all naked except the "Cummerbund," or sash; the steersman, indeed, had in addition a white cap, and a white cloth loosely flung like a scarf over one shoulder: the whole offered a group which might VOL. II. 3d SERIES.

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have belonged to the wildest of the Polynesian islands. Several of these Panchways were now around us, the whole scene affording to an European eye a picture of very great singularity and interest. One of the Serangs had a broad umbrella thatched with palm leaves, which he contrived to rest on his shoulder while he steered his canoe, which differed from the others in having a some. what higher stern. The whole appearance of these boats is dingy and dirty, more so, I believe, than the reality. HEBER.

MY LITTLE RED BOOK.

I AM One of several happy sisters, living in the house in which we were born, and partaking of every comfort which children can enjoy under a tender parent's roof.

I have two Sisters older than myself, and as many younger; and in order to give my reader an idea of our ages, I must add, that we are all in our teens, though our eldest sister will soon arrive at the dignity of being twenty years of age.

We live in the country, but within a pleasant walk of one of the prettiest towns in England; and if we have the privilege of attending an excellent preacher in the town, we have, also, the delight of seeing some of the most beautiful works of God from the windows of our house. There are two rooms, opening into each other, at the top of the house which our kind parents have given up entirely to us. In these we have each a bed, a chair, and a chest of drawers; and, in cold weather we are allowed a fire in one of these rooms. We have each of us also, a table with a small looking-glass upon it; and we are required to keep every thing in the exactest order. My place in these rooms is I consider far the most pleasant, though my sisters do not agree with me, and that you will say

is quite as well, for if all human beings had the same tastes, there would be more quarrels in the world than there are now,-which would by no means be desirable, for there is no family on earth which does not occasionally suffer from the ill temper of its members; but this will not be so in heaven, for there we shall all be one in Christ and be of one mind, and one spirit. But I was saying that I like my own place better than that of my sisters, and for this reason, I have a window entirely to myself; it is a casement window indeed, projecting from the roof, but it looks down over all the trees in the garden, into a valley through which winds a little river, not a navigable one, indeed, but on that account the more delightfully solitary, and retired from the haunts of men, and in the meadows are sheep and cattle feeding. In the remote horizon is a range of blue hills, and between the hills and the river, are many groves of trees and other beautiful objects, forming a thousand varied combinations, so that the eye is never tired of these scenes.

Our parents have taken great pains, from our very earliest infancy, to lead us to associate spiritual and holy ideas with the beautiful and varied works of God; and in some instances, they have succeeded to their hearts content, for my sisters are not only truly pious, but have much of that elegance of mind which renders piety pleasing in the eyes of some who would be disgusted with it, if it were to appear in a coarser form. In short, I believe that never parents were blessed with four more lovely daughters than my parents are. I alone, since we entered our teens, have ever given them serious uneasiness. I shall proceed to explain the cause of the uneasiness I gave them, in as succinct a manner as possible.

When I was fourteen years of age, I was invited to spend a few months with my godmother at Bath. This lady, although she was very kind to me in other matters,

seemed to have forgotten the vow which she had taken for me at my baptism, namely, that I should renounce the pomps and vanities of this wicked world; and, in consequence, she suffered me to be initiated into all sorts of vanities whilst I remained with her. I then, for the first time, heard beauty and fashion talked of as very important things, and actually took it into my head that I was very handsome; and when I came home, I was in consequence very unhappy, and could not enter into any of the innocent pleasures of my sisters. One of the first things I remember which I did on my return, was to move my little dressing table from its old place opposite my bed to a situation under the window, telling my sisters that it was impossible to see clearly in the looking glass which stood upon the table, whilst the light came upon it in an oblique direction. My sisters laughed at me, though in a good humoured way; and expressed a fear that the glare of the free stone, of which Bath is built, had injured my eye-sight.

The dissatisfaction which I exhibited at home, for some time after my return, was at first attributed by my kind friends to the pain I had felt in parting with my godmother; but when this uneasiness continued after the lapse of several weeks, and I refused to enter into any of the business or the pleasures of my sisters, my Mamma became angry with me-at first she reasoned with me, and pointed out the ingratitude towards God, which I displayed in thus being dissatisfied in a situation where I was surrounded by every blessing; and then, when she found that these milder measures would not do, she reproved me more sharply, and thus led me to endeavor to seem more satisfied, and to become more industrious, though in reality I was not changed as to my feelings. I still sighed for the worldly pleasures I had lost, and it was my chief delight at that time, to run up to my room, and to contemplate

myself in my looking glass whenever I could find an opportunity. When I was fifteen, I was allowed to purchase my own clothes, a privilege which had been allowed to my two elder sisters at the same age; and then I had a new subject of thought, and was always full of contrivances how to dress better than my sisters with the same sum of money, and how to fabricate the most becoming caps and bonnets; thus I spent every moment I could get to myself in studying and consulting my glass; and though my parents, more than once, told me that my glass was a false friend, and even gave me bad advice in the very thing in which it might be supposed to be most sincere, for it taught me to disfigure rather than to adorn myself; yet I was not to be persuaded. I had been at Bath, and I thought I knew better than any body else, what was genteel and fashionable, and I would not believe either of my parents when they told me that I had acquired a false taste, and was in the way to make myself very ridiculous.

Thus however I went on, endeavoring (though in vain) to make myself happy in my own way, till the month of January 1828, when my Father one day whilst we were sitting after dinner, received a small packet from London; he opened it immediately, it contained a number of little books bound in red morocco, and made to close like pocket books. My Father smiled as he opened the packet, and placing the books in a row before him on the table, he guarded them in a playful way with his hand, saying, no one touches one of these books before I have made my bargain.

"Your bargain, Papa," said my youngest sister, 68 money do you mean, I am ready to pay all you ask; you will not want more than half-a-crown I dare say, for one book, Papa; pray let me have one of those beautiful books."

"Money will not satisfy me," said our Papa, " I must