. . • 1 . . lionit itilitliiio PRA.YER AND 'POTATOES. (If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of , yen say, Unto therft, - depart in peace,.be ye warmed and:filled ; not- Icithstandiag , ye give them not those things which are needful tor the body,; what doth it profit ?---James:l l i. : 15, 16.) ` An old lady sat in her old armchair, With wrinkled visage and disheveled pair,' And bungry-worn features ; . For days and for, weeks her only fore; As she sat there in per old arm! hair, Had been potatoes. - - I: lint now they were gore ; of had Or good, Not one was left for the old lady's food, Of those potatoes ; . ; • n. - And 813 e -sighed and said, "What shall I de I Where shall I send, and to wlibm shall 'I go • For more potatoes And she thought of the deacon over the way, The deacon_ so ready.to worship and! pray; Whose cellar was full of potatoes. And she Said : "I will send for the deacon to _ come, he'll not Mind much to give me some Of such a store of potatoes," And the deacon came over as ' fast as be could, Thinking tcrdo the old lady sornelgoed, But never, for once, of pcktatoes ;, k He asked her at once what was her chief want, -- . - 1 And she, poor soul, expecting a ht, ' I Immediately answered' ot toes." • But the deecon's religion didn't hi that way ; He was more accustomed to preach and to - pray , Than to give of his hoarded potatoes. So, not hearing, of courbe, What the old lady said, . ' 1 ; He rose to , pray with uncovered head, - Bat she only thought a potatoes. i 1! He prayed "for patience, and wisdom, and , 4 ' grace ; • . , , , , i: But when he prayed "Lord, give her peace," She , audibly , sighed "give Ootatoes ;" ' And at the end.pt each prayer which be said,' He beard, or thought that beard, in its stead, That same request for potatoes. . The deacon was troubled ; knew not : what ' to do ; ; -•' , -I• , 'Twas very evibarrassing to have her act so About "thoschcarnal potatoes." • So, ending his prayer, lie tamed for home, Ifut - aal the door chised,lie itiard a deep groan, "0, give to the hungry 'potatoes I' 1 And that 'groan followed :him tall the - way ' honae, ' , ' . ~ "; ' • • In the midst of the night it haunted his room. "0, givelto; the hungry potatoes !" He could bear it no longer ;. he arose and ' - dryssed : ~ ' ' ' ' From his well filled cellar, taking i i haste, A. hag of his best potatiita, : • Again he went to the widOw'slonetut Her sleepless sleeplesi eyes-she laad-not yet shut ; But there she sat, 'in ' her old arin chair, . With the same' wan features, the' same ;sail , air . oh , . And, entering in, • heyOnred the floor " A bushel or more from his gqmily store, 1 Of choice potatoes. I' The The widoW's heart` leaped tii ' for joy,.; • . 1 Her face was haggard and , vitan-no more, , I; 'Now,"sai.l thedeaconshall We pray V' "Yes," said the widow, "now, you may ;" --, And he kneeled him down on the 'sandefl floor, . ' • , Where be had poured, his goodly store, ' ~ And such a prayer the deacon prayed 1 . As never:before his lips essayed ; 'No longer embarrassed, but free and full. / He poured out the voice of a;liberal soul, ` And the widow responded, aloud,-,"amen y. ' But said no more-of potatoes.' 1- ; .. , And would ymi, who hear thisaimple tale,"; Pray for the popr, and praying . .Ptairiiiii" _vr Then preface ;your . prayers w i lt slurs` and good deeds ; Search out the poor, their warts, and'theit .0 nom.; . , ', . Pray for peade, `and grace, and spiritual food; ' For wisdom, and guidance, lor all thete‘are , ' -7- But don't forget the pottitoei ; EIcGLiSR ,FAR*-LABORER'S At seven or eight years old the girl's labor begins. Before that she has been s 4 to mind the baby, or watch the pot, and to scour about the hedges for sticks for the fire. - Now sha has not only to phallic baby, but to nurse it:; she carries it about' With her in , her 'arms, and' real ly. the infant looks almost as large as herself; and its weight codipels her to lean, backward. She is left home all day in charge of the baby„ The. younger children. and the coitage. Per- haps a little bread is left for- them to eat, but they get nothing more until the mother returns about 4:30, when woe' tn - thi giir# 010 fire is ,not lit, and the 'kettle not ,on. girl has to fetch the water:—Often a hard mid tedio3l task, - for many villages have a most ilpPerfee4;9 ll l),PlY' and you may seer,loellitehes I:ry the dammed up to yield" ttlittle 'dirty vitae.- She may have to walk half a titieto Itiiti brook, and then carry the bucket ho*o as best alto may, and repeat the operation ttiErtileietit has been' . acquired, and when 'bet Mother is. witalfing, or worse still is a washerwoman by profession, this is her wcarY trudge all day. Of course there are Tillages . where nrater . ist at band, and . sometimes too tuna of iL , I know a large vil lage where the brook rubs beside tye . highwky, I and you have tO =pass, over a "drock"• or gala 1 1 bridge to get to . each of the cottages, but' sue iustaneys are' rare. The girl 'has also to walk into the adjabene town and' . bring back" the bread, particularlY if her mother happens to be receiving parrisit Pay. A.. 'little older—at'ten Or eleven or : twelve—still more skinny and bony notv, as a rule, she follows ber mother to . the fields,and learns to pick up stones from the, young mowing grass, and place them in helps to be carried away to mend drinking Places fot cattle. She learns to beat clots and skreatl them with a small prong.; 611 , 1 - WOrkS in: the hay-field,and gleans at the Corn-harvest. ' ; Gleaning—peetical gleaning—is the meta tilt- . pleasant and inigoinfortable of bibur, - tedious, slow, back-tubing. - work ; picking 'up . ear by car the drOpped:7Wheltt, fiearebiug. among the prickly_ Stubble. ' Ni:twithstanding a 0 her's: bor,and the hardship she has,to endttre—:C4M9 tare awl'. 600 - 1 4 811 treatMent at -the:bar:as of • -- .. lliose . who ~ .EOl4 love lien7ilost:7llelittle ag , ricultural , girl still retains - Swine ''or tti4tll4lu raj, ail ir;elluatioa toward the pretiSt 4 ro th anlie In, liPi•ent-iit The sex: 'ln.rtikf. 5 - 9 — Pg , j,4 o ':: daisy elittills-litd'Winos then r, tlritt the baky'S =NM TER' , neck ; ; or with .the , of , the., dandelion makes ,a ; Otain several feet in length. , plucks great bunches of 'thu•beautifuLbluebell, , and of the,purple orehlsOf the meadow ; gath ers- !:T A of, the. edwshps, and after. playing with ,them.a little while, ,they are left to wither in.the !hit by the \ roadside, while she is sent •twuorthitemiles wtfh her father's dinner.-- She chants snatches of rural songs, and. some times Wit°, or foot, : together, joining , hands, dance slowly round and. round, singing slowly rude : rhymes, describing marriage—and ,not ov er decent some of theie, rhymes are. She has no toys, not .orie in twenty of such girls ever Lurie a doll : or, if they do, it is but some stick dreSsed in a rag. Poor thing -1 they , need no artificial dolls;. so soon as ever they cau'lift•it they are trusted with the real baby. Her pa rents probably do not mean to be unkind, and -use makes this treatment bearable, hitt to an outsider it seeing unnecessarily rough, and even. brutal. Her mother shoos \at her in a shrill treble perpetually ; her father enforces kis.or•;,l - ders with a harsh oath, and a-slap. VARRIAGE CEREMONIEi3. 1 ' ' The; ancient practice of marriage by'ctipture, which has left some traces:even in our customs and sports—notably - in that popular ,game of kiss-in-lhe-nog, a mimic' representation of the great game of marriage—finds many ifiustra lions in tiongol Rubruquis, who visited the hordes of Tarthry, s l nd was entertained in the tent ot the immediate sneeessors'of Yeng nis Khan, describes .a Morgol marriage tlius : Therefore. when any man hath bargained with another for a maid, the father of the dam sellmakes him a feast ; in the meantime she flies away to some of her kinsfolk to hide her `self. Then the father says to the bridegroom, daughter rifi yours ; take her' wheresoever you can find her." Then he and \ his friends seek her till they tind iier, and .having found her,\ he takes her brforce and carries her. to his owniouse. .1, • Tins simple form of marriage contract, is still preserved r.inong the Koraks and Teimetelms, tribes of, northeastern Siberia. There: the 'sel is pursued'by her admirer, and hides herself among the' polgos, 'Dr .'ettbins ir t ade . of wbicli form t ie internafeompartments , of their: dwellings. The womankind assist her in her pretended evasion; and not till the bridegroom • has caught his. bride, and left the impmsion of his.finger-nail upon her. tender bkin is the be trothal completed. . The analogous customs in ancient Roman marriages here strike one with the, myth of the rape, of the, §abines We need not go so far away. The customs of a Welsh wedding, up to a very recent date, included a mimic pursuit of the bride by thebridegroOm; bath on horse hack ; and .‘even in our English mitnner, *lien the Uri legroom invariably - goes to seek hi& bride on the wedding morn. But the value of womankind ina pastoral life, where there is sti much for her to do in= the way" of milking, but &r, and cheese making, and so (In, brings . rt' further element into - the relationship. A price intuit be paid forthe futurt companion, and the wedding portion enters largely 'into the clues .. A more modern Mongol wedding is described by Hoc, that most amusing of Jesuit fathers.— The religious ceremonies are those of Budd hism. The marriage is \ arranged by the pa -` 1 rents, wh6 settle the • dower that is to be paid to the fatherof the bride by means of media tors. When the contract has been concluded, .the father of the bridegroom, accompanied by . his nearest • relatives, carries the news to the family of the bride. They prostrate themselves before the domestic altar, and offer up a boiled sheep's bead, milk, and a sash ot white During the repast all the relations of the bride receive a piece of money, which they deposit • ins vase filled 'with Wine made of fermented milk, (we haye, or had, a similar custom of hid ing a ring or money in the wedding cake,) the father of theAiride drinks the milk and keeps the money. \The lathas, oir priests, fix an au d' icions day , when the bridegroom sends a putation to escort the bride. There is a. feigned opposition to the departure of the bride who is placed .on • a horse, and led .three times (note the three mystic circles) round the pafer nal house, and then taken at full gallop to tlik tent prepared for the purpose near the dwell= ing Of her lather-in •laW. All the •Tartars of the neigbborhood repair to the wedding-least and; offer ! their presents, which consists, of .beasts and eatables.. These go . :to the father ed the bridegrooin; and often _recoup him the sum he has paid for the son's bride. Rather a shame One would think,.ot that selfish papa, did we not.reflect that he will haye to support his son and daughter or stall events set them up with sheep and cattle from his flocks and , herds: • . —ear 411111. MASTER 'AND: MAN 1N 'JAPAN. No feature = of Japanese society Is more cut% ous than the relationti between Master and'nan, The master' admits his servant to hisintimate soi;iety,but the servant neveE. assumes a liberty. He takes his •plaee at dinner with the utmost humility, and having done so; bears his share of the, conversation, addressing ,freely, not only hismaater, hut even guests of the highest rank. The Master will - pass his own wine cup to his man us it he were hn honored:guesl, and for awhile they would appear', to any one hot ac quainted with .a language . most fertile in subtle distinctions, lo be upon perfectly equal terms. Yet moment the featt is over the man re tires *ith tbe same profound, obeisance and,- marksto \ f -deference with which he entered, and .mnethately relapses into the.servitor, not will \ he, in'any ' way pre Mime upon the..familiarity which, baying lasted .its hour, disappears until occa.glon calls t forth again. Freedom of in tercourse like this between 'employer and em ployed is creditable to troth. , .. s "The hest rule," Sayb a wise ',:citer, "is to,i:iy all _the good we can'of.everr-one, and to. re frail) from 'shying ill], tiniesivitpecomes a clear matt odor-to ;is: tonob worse? WW I .: 41keft, We sbOald nom* bite one 4ith Our , words, thanAith-our- teeth; ,A7tairiErri c 1,4 likWa --` • ; : .,..141W,,j) . E'AioviaT,:.. FEB..-:.:.'a,.. 1876. THE LONDON HUMAN .HAIR MARKET. - For-One Prime natural, product the eminisia- Ties ot. fashion : must, go to : Alincing Lane.- 7 , Judging _OO4 the . quantities in which it is ini potted, tbis,aiticle must be in:consi*able,de., m and. : The "loi". with which ';;We are enure. in t.imatelY concerned is .',,,ying in Cross Lane and.. 'weighs some hre thousaud . pounds-7a:toleiably large .eensigrtment':Of ,an article ' which isr—: wPlik-not .necessary, perhaps, but • apparently tieds.cuptomera readily -,enough; It • is. human hair: The great bulk ocit cow's : from phlna, is black as coal, and •coarse as i cocoanut . tibre, but of magnificent length. A any - a - .Chinese 'head 1 'head has'been shorn to ptoilti e 'these:tons' of tuatcrial, to be sold in lots o two •cases (of about four hundred pounds each,) and is ',expet7 ted to realize about one-hall a brown alpoivid in this wholesale transaction. are weighing and feeling the, icing tresses. but soon . leave them to investigate the Varioua shades and qualities of one bare of Eur6pcan, worth ten or eleven times as macb as the Chi* nese Whence comes this ? From Germany, mainly— ; from Russia and from France some times: Here - lies a heap of sampleaculled from this 'valuable bale, with the weights of each color-attsched. With what variety and rich uess Of bues glow these long, fine, silky tresses, ranging from the deepest brown through every shade of ruddy auburn and sunny cheitnut to thq, purest gold - and 'fairest flaxen. *hat a monument of self-abnegation is tere ? what picture of self-sacrifice I for when woman parts. with her hair she performs an act far mere try ing than when she parts with her jewels:— That maiden must be Poor indeed who parts with her crowning charin.br a few s'hil)ings.— Legends to the contrary noiwithstanding, how can she get more . than _a Pitiful sum when a choice • bale, after Passing hrough the hands of the shearer,- tie local r merchant, and the importercand paying cost of transport, will fetch no more than seven and-twenty shillings per pound'? Thej blonde maiden • whose superb tresses I hold in my hand, did not,.. I apprehend, get: Much fOr.them. Perhaps it few florins ; little enougli, aeicording to our estimate of money, but yet sufficient to keep the wolf tram- her. mother'S door tor a lit . tie space. But this silken crown,which prought its original owner so little, must pass through' many handS before it adorns the still handsome head of Lady 'l3arepules, who is not quite the woman she was when Tharepoies..bectime ate captive of her bOw and spear in her filet sea son---but-is yet'. a leader oflas' 1111 P THE OLD FOLKS. ,We' often reflect ; that lithe , bent and feeble forms of the aged whom: we meet in bur daily rounds, once bore hearts us gay and blithe and were as full of childish loiblekits tliblv, Of the more youthful. They have all passed i through the same drebm of , happiness, and the, pure ro mance that filled the heartaf the beardless boy when love's young dream.enraptured him by the soft cheek And languis4ing glance of lovely Woman—each could tell -his tale of school -boy life, and rehtte the scenes of that era crowded with more of love, of passion, and imore, of spiritual truth than , any of the, talea he bad read in after life. He could tell of tender lays he had penned at midnight •by the light of a "tallow, dip,". and contrast the bright days of his youth with those inter in life, and even praise the •maidens of his generatkinl as being more fair thinl.modern Maids. -When young, they bad whispers In a willing ear, kisses upon a blushipg cheek, and think the kiss and whis per of that early day fonder than modem lips can now impart. They have a recollection of passions slighted and betrayed, Of, youthful friends early gone to the spirit' land and prospects that only opened to deceive.— The eyes that are bright • and the lips that talk of love and- all the fair forms that we behold, Must, in the natural order of titmeopie to this. Ere, long, all that we value on earth will fade from our sight, and the treasures that we now so dearly regard must be surrendered. We are all growing old - - FALLEN . MAJESTY. j .; • 1 Eagle4.are subject:to : diseases, Ileskaione,and blood;inst like the Terie3t poultrYlthat - die4f . croup and consiimption on thediingliilk,.befOre • the - karn-;door, Sickness blinds the' eye • that was made to pierce the sun, and • w eakens: the wing. that dallies 'with the 'tenipest.l - Then the eagle fetid how - vain - is the' doetrine of-the di= . vide rights of kings. is .. hatvked at by the' mousing Owl, wuoselbstinet instructs these, talons . have • lost their, grasp and these pinions their -death-blew. -- The • eugle''llei • roe weeks his 'eyrie; and. liunger-driv , en over theledge, leaves ascend no more. He. is detlironeci, and waited to. mere bones-=-a bunch of leathers - his . flight`' is 'slOivee than' that ot the buzzard ; • helflosts himself along, now with difficulty, from' knell . ' to knoll,, Ott sued .by.theshrieking , maeplea, buffetled by. the Corby ,and .lying on his ,. ti back; - lik6, a recreant, before the beak Of;therti*en, Who month - ago' was- terrified . W ihop round the carcass ill . the king of the air: waii"Satiifledi and give his ner= . mission . to, croaking sooty to dig into the boy - - elihe himself had scorned. Yet he . is 'anOble aim to ,the fowler, still ; you break la wing4nd a leg, and fear to touch i . hitn with tout . " hand ; your . dog-feels\ the iron - clutchbfrhisH.talons, convulsed in the death-pangs; and holding hint up, ini wonder that such` in Knnta ity~=liar his weight is not more - than. three :pennds,•'-eitid drive his claws' throiigh'that - .611a0 hide °tits - blood sprang to the • t - Life consists notli s f a series ref 11 uslrions•ac. - I , Lions or eleganuenfoymett4.. - : The Lgreatertittrt . Of : Our timepastes !tt :coMpliatice jvith rieeessr-. : ties, iu the, .performanee :or , daily in , the removal 'of -sratill'. ineomverilen eta - , tin the pro. remen tcof petty pleaspres i - and . I we - . tire w 611 or ill.at.eaie, as thii-malti,streanii6f. life lidea tin IrnootItly;. tr.: is rtiflled--hy-: small , i,tbstaeliStt and .fregagntititerrtaptlnm - d-: Websl