IMPROVEMENT. 1. There are but few righteous men in these parts. 2. The manner in which beasts are treated, exemplifies the state of public morals. 3. Men who drive their horses furiously, proclaim to all observers their own unrighteousness and depravity. 4. A minister of the gospel, or professor of christianity, should be careful how they drive their horses. 5. The owners of livery stables ought to read and prize the Bible, as it thus guards their property from abuse. 6. The owners of livery stables have no right to let their horses to unrighteous men. 7. All righteous men, as well as the horses of unrighteous men, have great reason to rejoice in the multiplication of rail roads and Morse's Magnetic Telegraph. 8. If horses could speak, they would often complain. Num. 22: 30.-Woonsocket Patriot. TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. The child that delights in torturing insects and animals, and in robbing birds' nests, is preparing for a tyrant, robber or murderer, and to become a pest to society. The man, woman, or child, that inflicts needless pain on dumb animals, is a monster! The Arab treats his horse as his children, and never strikes him a blow, and always treats him with kindness and tenderness. The result is, the Arabian horses are the fleetest, kindest, and best in the world; an ugly or vicious horse is unknown among them. Who then is the barbarian, the wild Arab, who thus tenderly treats the dumb beasts under his care, or the boasting man in civilized lands, that works his horse beyond his strength, and cruelly beats him? "Oh shame, where is thy blush!" Thousands of these noble animals are daily goaded under heavy burdens, and beaten, and cruelly lashed, by beings in human form calling themselves civilized and enlightened men and christians! Let an angel, for the first time, witness this cruelty, and doubtless he would think those cruel beings are fiends from hell! THE KIND MOTHER'S TEARS. Mrs. Mason once caught her two children quarrelling. "Oh," said she, "my dear children, has it come to this?" and she burst into tears, and wept for some time. The children stopped quarrelling in a moment, when they saw their mother weeping. This was the first time they had ever seen their mother shed tears, and they felt that she was weeping on account of their bad conduct. They felt as if an arrow had pierced their hearts; and they ran to their mother, and threw their arms around her neck, and said, "Dear mother, don't cry; we will never do so again." The mother embraced them tenderly, and said, "My dearest children, I forgive you. I love you more than I can tell. You know I love you fondly. But I would rather see you both lying cold and pale in the coffin, than to have you grow up with this spirit of anger and ill-will toward each other." That quarrel was their last one. Whenever that quarrelsome spirit was rising in their breasts, they remembered their mother's tears, and that checked them instantly. THE MESSENGER OF MERCY. Says a minister: "I once visited a poor, miserable dwelling, where I heard a very bad man using wicked and cruel language to his wife, who was confined to her bed by sickness; it was fearful to see and hear him; and I am sorry to say, I had not the courage to speak to him-I actually trembled with horror and dread. But a little girl, about eleven years of age, and who was dying of a consumption, went up to the angry man, and laid her small, emaciated, and thin hand upon his arm, and looked in his face, and said, Father, on't speak so, God hears all we say; pray don't speak so, father.' She uttered these few words with such tender earnestness, and loving gentleness, that her feeble, trembling voice touched the heart of the angry man, and he was silent for a moment, and then he said, 'I will do any thing that child tells me to do, for she is an angel.' His fierce nature was subdued." MONUMENT OF THE POWER OF KINDNESS. In Medfield, Massachusetts, stands an old unique house, the only one that was spared in the last Indian war; all the others were burned by the Indians, and as they were approaching this, an old lady, with a smile on her countenance, meets their chief on the steps, and presents him a large earthen vessel filled with cider. He quickly turned to his followers, and said, "We no burn dis house." And it remains to this day a monument of the power of kindness. THOUGHTS FROM BENGEL. We are approaching a time of spiritual, specious, and most extensive seduction; which will be followed up by extraordinary violence. The only true preparation against that seduc tion is, wisdom from above; and against that violence, to be patient and faithful unto death. Any retaliation that Christians may be provoked to make upon the enemies of the truth, will most certainly recoil upon themselves Have nothing to do in secret with any unrighteous cause, and in public stand up for the honor of God, and you will be immoveable. All I am and have, both in principle and practice, is to be summed up in this one expression-the Lord's property. My belonging totally to Christ, as my Savior, is all my salvation and all my desire. I have no other glory than this, and want no other. Man's judgment must be a very small thing in the eyes of God, or he would not suffer persons, who really love him, to be assailed with so many revilings and reproaches. LITTLE KINDNESSES. Small acts of kindness-how pleasant and desirable do they make life! Every dark object is made light by them, and every tear of sorrow is brushed away. When the heart is sad, and despondency sits at the entrance of the soul, a trifling kindness drives despair away, and makes the path of life cheerful and pleasant. Who will refuse a kind act? It costs |