his parents acquainted with his situation, and imploring their counsel and help. A little longer, and he would, in all probability, have been carried off in triumph, and perhaps have been ruined for both worlds.

Oh that I could select words sufficiently emphatic to express my entreaties to you to beware of evil companions out of the house, but especially in it. Oh could you see but a thousandth part of the miserable ghosts that have passed to the regions of unutterable wo by the influence of bad associates, what a comment would their damnation be upon the passage, "A companion of fools shall be destroyed!"

VICIOUS WOMEN are as much to be dreaded as bad men, and far more so. I have known some who have been in great jeopardy from female servants.. It is of the greatest consequence that a .young man should be upon his guard against this danger, and not allow himself to take, or receive, the smallest possible liberty, that would intrench upon the most delicate modesty. Profligacy and misery of a vast amount have been the result of a want of caution in this matter. Towards young women of this description, be always kind, but never familiar; never joke with them; keep them at a proper distance, by keeping yourself so. Not a few have been lost to morality, by not watching against this danger. And then, how are our towns infested with those unhappy women, who in many, if not most cases, are the victims of seduc

tion, and horribly avenge themselves upon the sex of their betrayers, by becoming seducers in their turn. Youthful reader, be upon your guard against this peril to your health, your morals, your soul. Go where you will, this snare is spread for your feet. Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. Set a strict guard upon your senses, your imagination, your passions. Once yield to temptation, and you are undone: purity is then lost, and, sunk from self-esteem, you may give yourself up to commit all uncleanness with greediness. Prov. vii.

DRINKING PARTIES, though not so common as they were, or as are some other snares are still sufficiently prevalent to be pointed out as a source of danger. Happily for the morals of our country, a hard drinker is no longer regarded with eclat in the better classes of society. Still it is an object of ambition with some misguided youths, to be able to use the bottle with freedom, and drink the bumper and the toast with convivial grace and manly firmness. What a low and sensual aim! Young man, as you would not lie down in the grave of a drunkard, worn out by disease, and closing your miserable career in poverty and wretchedness, beware of the filthy, degrading, and destructive habit of drinking. Remember the words of the wisest of men: "Who hath wo? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of

eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright; at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thy heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again," Prov. xxiii. 29-35. Study this inimitable and graphic picture of drinking and its consequences, and begin life with a horror of drunkenness; acquire an Oinophobia,-a dread of wine. It is calculated that fifty thousand drunkards die yearly in this country, and that one half of the insanity, two thirds of the pauperism, and three fourths of the crimes of the land, are the consequences of drunkenness. A large proportion of drunkards, begin this dreadful habit in youth. It is a most fatal thing for morality, that drinking usages are so interwoven with all our habits. Drinking is the symbol of hospitality; the pledge of friendship; the sign of conviviality; the ratification of bargains. It is the accompaniment of weddings, baptisms, and burials. The bottle meets us every where. Fifty millions sterling are annually spent by these united kingdoms in intoxicating liquors, in promoting disease, insanity, pauperism, and

crime: in ruining men's bodies, and damning their souls. I do not say that this is strictly applicable to the whole of what is thus spent: because many drink only in moderation, and some invalids actually for health; but I fear by far the larger portion of it is drank with no other result. I again say, and with all possible emphasis, Begin life with a horror of drunkenness. Watch against a love of wine. As one who has practised total abstinence for three years, I can, and do recommend it to all persons in health, and especially to youth. It may seem like a truism, and mere puerility, but it is an impressive truism, which amidst the fearful desolations of intemperance is not without salutary warning. "He that does not drink intoxicating liquors, can never become a drunkard." The young man who has acquired a relish for wine; who always drinks it when he can get it; who drinks as much as is given him, or he can afford to purchase; who avails himself of the dinner or supper party, to go as far as he can without actual intoxication,-is already an incipient tippler; and if he does not stop at once, and practise total abstinence, or, at any rate, watch his propensity, and lay down rules of the most rigid temperance, will, in all probability, become a confirmed drunkard.

4. Perhaps, the discomfort of your situation exposes you to perils.

It is not to be expected by any youth who has had the blessing of a comfortable home, that he

should find the same degree, or kind of provision made for his enjoyment in any situation in which, on going out into the world, he may be placed: oftentimes the very reverse occurs, and his new domicil presents a melancholy contrast to the house of his father. Perhaps you, my reader, may be thus circumstanced. Your place of abode is so utterly comfortless, that you can scarcely think of home without tears. It is not only that your fare is coarse, your lodgings mean, and your work hard you could bear all this, if your privations were made up by the kindness and sympathy of your employer, and your labors were softened by his obvious and expressed satisfaction: but probably he is a tyrant, whom nothing can satisfy or conciliate, or his wife is a termagant, whom nothing can please. Many a time you retire to your hard bed, and ill-furnished room, with a spirit discouraged, and a heart half broken. Oh what a contrast is this cold, unfeeling, and grinding conduct, to the love of a fond mother, and the solicitude of a kind father. In such a situation, you are in danger of several things likely to be injurious to your moral welfare and future prosperity. Some have been induced by the pressure of their misery to abscond. In an unhappy hour, they have listened to the voice of temptation, and have suddenly burst the bonds which they could not loose, and cast off the yoke which they felt to be intolerable, and ran away. This is a desperate and dreadful remedy ⚫ and has in most cases proved a ruinous one.