ever and anon an anxious cloud has darkened his vision, and he has perhaps brushed a tear from his dim eyes away as he has thought, " Poor wife ! if she were taken from me, what should I do ? " This is true marriage, in spite of little differences settled as soon as the\' begin, when the man or woman feels tl.at without the wife or the husband the burdens of life would be unbearable, and that to lose that kindly face and sympathizing heart would be to lose all that makes life worth living. O, how glad is the poor man when he learns that all danger is over, and that his wife will not be taken from him as so many are, leaving a motherless child, or taking it with her to another home. Now the sunshine of happiness and hope illumines the face that was lately downcast. Already he sees his boy cherishing his mother when she is old and he is dead. My boy, he thinks, will be a better man than his father. He will rise far higher ; he will have no such drawbacks and hindrances as I have had. I am not m.uch of a scholar, but he will be great in all that books can teach, for now-a-days they say that science and learning may be had by any lad for the asking. How proud his mother will be of him ! I hope he will be like her in quiet power, and have her forgiving temper, I am a little hasty sometimes myself, and want things my own way. But my wife is always right, and has the best of it when we differ. Poor, dear girl ! she has been a better wife to me than I deserve, and all her thoughts and feelings are way ahead of mine. How happy this little man will make her ! I guess I shall have to do my own mend- ing for the future. I wonder if I shall get any dinner now, that the youngster will need all her care. Well, I must shift for myself and take " pot-luck," as the saying is. And so the father rambles on, and -scratching his agricultural pate, for no doubt he is a farmer, or he would not be thus discussing the first-fruits, and the crops and the tender blossom that has appeared suddenly in the little garden of home. Let us leave the good man to sleep on the floor, or break his neck between two stools, or sit up smoking his pipe and gazing at the stars that have looked down on such domestic scenes since light first broke from heaven upon the earth. How calmly they Hie BABY'S WELCOME. THE BAUV IN THE HOME. ^g regard him, eveiy quivering orb seeming to wink at him that his case is not uncommon, and that his baby will not be the last man. " Nothing in nature's aspect indicated That a great man was dead," sang Tennyson upon the death of the Duke of Wellington. Noth- ing in nature's aspect indicates that a new man is born on such occasions as the one I am describing. All things, except in-doors, con- tinue as they were. The birds have not an extra note, nor the flowers an extra perfume. Yet there is melody and fragrance in one poor woman's heart as she " remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." The mother also has deep and silent thoughts, and the tear of thankfulness betokens that her meditation is sweet. " To-day the haliow'd air Is fragrant with a mother's fust and fondest prayer." " O, what a treasure of sweet thought Is here ! what hope and joy and love All in one lender hosom brought! "

AI-modernized reading of the original text

ever and anon an anxious cloud has darkened his vision, and he has perhaps brushed a tear from his dim eyes away as he has thought, " Poor wife ! if she were taken from me, what should I do ? " This is true marriage, in spite of little differences settled as soon as they begin, when the man or woman feels that without the wife or the husband the burdens of life would be unbearable, and that to lose that kindly face and sympathizing heart would be to lose all that makes life worth living. O, how glad is the poor man when he learns that all danger is over, and that his wife will not be taken from him as so many are, leaving a motherless child, or taking it with her to another home. Now the sunshine of happiness and hope illumines the face that was lately downcast. Already he sees his boy cherishing his mother when she is old and he is dead. My boy, he thinks, will be a better man than his father. He will rise far higher ; he will have no such drawbacks and hindrances as I have had. I am not much of a scholar, but he will be great in all that books can teach, for now-a-days they say that science and learning may be had by any lad for the asking. How proud his mother will be of him ! I hope he will be like her in quiet power, and have her forgiving temper, I am a little hasty sometimes myself, and want things my own way. But my wife is always right, and has the best of it when we differ. Poor, dear girl ! she has been a better wife to me than I deserve, and all her thoughts and feelings are way ahead of mine. How happy this little man will make her ! I guess I shall have to do my own mending for the future. I wonder if I shall get any dinner now, that the youngster will need all her care. Well, I must shift for myself and take " pot-luck," as the saying is. And so the father rambles on, and -scratching his agricultural pate, for no doubt he is a farmer, or he would not be thus discussing the first-fruits, and the crops and the tender blossom that has appeared suddenly in the little garden of home. Let us leave the good man to sleep on the floor, or break his neck between two stools, or sit up smoking his pipe and gazing at the stars that have looked down on such domestic scenes since light first broke from heaven upon the earth. How calmly they [illustration: BABY'S WELCOME - THE BABY IN THE HOME] regard him, eveiy quivering orb seeming to wink at him that his case is not uncommon, and that his baby will not be the last man. " Nothing in nature's aspect indicated That a great man was dead," sang Tennyson upon the death of the Duke of Wellington. Nothing in nature's aspect indicates that a new man is born on such occasions as the one I am describing. All things, except in-doors, continue as they were. The birds have not an extra note, nor the flowers an extra perfume. Yet there is melody and fragrance in one poor woman's heart as she " remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." The mother also has deep and silent thoughts, and the tear of thankfulness betokens that her meditation is sweet. " To-day the haliow'd air Is fragrant with a mother's first and fondest prayer." " O, what a treasure of sweet thought Is here ! what hope and joy and love All in one lender hosom brought! "

The hearthstone; or, Life at home