Friends and Neighbors | Page 4

falls, and telling the proud,

the wronged, the merciless, or the despairing, that there is "Good in
All."

HUMAN PROGRESS.

WE are told to look through nature Upward unto Nature's God; We are
told there is a scripture Written on the meanest sod; That the simplest
flower created Is a key to hidden things; But, immortal over nature,
Mind, the lord of nature, springs!
Through Humanity look upward,-- Alter ye the olden plan,-- Look
through man to the Creator, Maker, Father, God of Man! Shall
imperishable spirit Yield to perishable clay? No! sublime o'er Alpine
mountains Soars the Mind its heavenward way!
Deeper than the vast Atlantic Rolls the tide of human thought; Farther
speeds that mental ocean Than the world of waves o'er sought! Mind,
sublime in its own essence Its sublimity can lend To the rocks, and
mounts, and torrents, And, at will, their features bend!
Some within the humblest floweret "Thoughts too deep for tears" can
see; Oh, the humblest man existing Is a sadder theme to me! Thus I
take the mightier labour Of the great Almighty hand; And, through man
to the Creator, Upward look, and weeping stand.
Thus I take the mightier labour, --Crowning glory of His will; And
believe that in the meanest Lives a spark of Godhead still: Something
that, by Truth expanded, Might be fostered into worth; Something
struggling through the darkness, Owning an immortal birth!
From the Genesis of being Unto this imperfect day, Hath Humanity
held onward, Praying God to aid its way! And Man's progress had been
swifter, Had he never turned aside, To the worship of a symbol, Not the
spirit signified!
And Man's progress had been higher, Had he owned his brother man,
Left his narrow, selfish circle, For a world-embracing plan! There are
some for ever craving, Ever discontent with place, In the eternal would
find briefness, In the infinite want space.
If through man unto his Maker We the source of truth would find, It
must be through man enlightened, Educated, raised, refined: That
which the Divine hath fashioned Ignorance hath oft effaced; Never may
we see God's image In man darkened--man debased!

Something yield to Recreation, Something to Improvement give;
There's a Spiritual kingdom Where the Spirit hopes to live! There's a
mental world of grandeur, Which the mind inspires to know; Founts of
everlasting beauty That, for those who seek them, flow!
Shores where Genius breathes immortal-- Where the very winds
convey Glorious thoughts of Education, Holding universal sway!
Glorious hopes of Human Freedom, Freedom of the noblest kind; That
which springs from Cultivation, Cheers and elevates the mind!
Let us hope for Better Prospects, Strong to struggle for the night, We
appeal to Truth, and ever Truth's omnipotent in might; Hasten, then, the
People's Progress, Ere their last faint hope be gone; Teach the Nations
that their interest And the People's good, ARE ONE.

MY WASHERWOMAN.

SOME people have a singular reluctance to part with money. If waited
on for a bill, they say, almost involuntarily, "Call to-morrow," even
though their pockets are far from being empty.
I once fell into this bad habit myself; but a little incident, which I will
relate, cured me. Not many years after I had attained my majority, a
poor widow, named Blake, did my washing and ironing. She was the
mother of two or three little children, whose sole dependence for food
and raiment was on the labour of her hands.
Punctually, every Thursday morning, Mrs. Blake appeared with my
clothes, "white as the driven snow;" but not always, as punctually, did I
pay the pittance she had earned by hard labour.
"Mrs. Blake is down stairs," said a servant, tapping at my room-door
one morning, while I was in the act of dressing myself.
"Oh, very well," I replied. "Tell her to leave my clothes. I will get them
when I come down."
The thought of paying the seventy-five cents, her due, crossed my mind.
But I said to myself,--"It's but a small matter, and will do as well when
she comes again."
There was in this a certain reluctance to part with money. My funds
were low, and I might need what change I had during the day. And so it
proved. As I went to the office in which I was engaged, some small
article of ornament caught my eye in a shop window.

"Beautiful!" said I, as I stood looking at it. Admiration quickly changed
into the desire for possession; and so I stepped in to ask the price. It
was just two dollars.
"Cheap enough," thought I. And this very cheapness was a further
temptation.
So I turned out the contents of my pockets, counted them over, and
found the amount to be two dollars and a quarter.