POSSIBILITIES.

Wwe should be seeking to develop the pos

E repose too much upon the actual, when

should

sibilities of our being. It is true of nearly all of us, that what we have done is little compared with what we might have accomplished, or may hereafter effect.

A thing is possible or impossible according to the nature that undertakes it. "Why, sir, this is impossible," exclaims one to the projector of a difficult enterprise.

"To you it would be,"

is the curt but appropriate reply.

POVERTY.

E should not so much esteem our poverty as a misfortune, were it not that the world treats it so much as a crime.

Doubtless, the best way to make our poverty respected is not to regard it so much as an evil. It was a noble trait in the character of Béranger, that he was never ashamed to be poor, nor to frankly confess his poverty. "My

an e

ar

barrassment to me, for it never cost me
thing to say, 'I am poor.' This frankn
almost supplies the place of fortune, because
permits you to exercise all the economies;
conciliates in your favor many women, and,
a consequence, the salons, which, in this respe
Do not permit yo
have been calumniated.

poverty," he wisely adds, "to be a constrai
upon others. Laugh at the fitting time, a
the world will indulge your pride witho
wounding it."

In one important respect a man is fortuna in being poor.

HE most coveted of all things is pow

We know this to be true of men, and have the authority of Chaucer for adopting

like theory as regards the softer sex.
his story of the Wife of Bath:

Witn

Some riche array, some saiden lust abed,

And oft time to be widewe and to be wedde,
Some saiden, that we ben in herte most esed,
When that we ben yflattered and ypraised.
He got full nigh the truth, I will not lie;
A man shall win us best with flatterie,
And with attention, and with besinesse.

Women desiren to have soveraintie,
As well over hir husband as hir love,
And for to ben in maistrie him above."

History incessantly repeats the warning to confer only a limited degree of power.

The

abuse of power is, has been, and perhaps always will be, the chief source of social and political evils. Most of the wars between states, as well as the misfortunes of individuals, arise from the presumption of privileged personages, elevated to a real or fancied superiority to law, and above ordinary restraints. Especially, every addition to exorbitant authority should be accompanied by increased safeguards against its undue exercise.

At every great increase in power, the props which support it require to be strengthened. Our fortunes have need to grow like trees

the broader they spread their branches, t deeper and wider they must strike their roo Or, as Dryden says

"High turrets, in their airy sweep,

Require foundations in proportions deep."

HE best evidence of merit is a cordial r cognition of it, whenever and wherever may be found.

Worth should be thrice rewarded; in itself, i the good will and kind offices it conciliates, an in the admiration and applause it commands.

It is pleasanter to praise than to condem and they who look wisely to their happines will endeavor, as they go through life, to see a many things to praise, and as few to condemn as possible. We overlook too much degrees o merit, and give too exclusive an admiration t the highest.

Perhaps there are few who cannot discover on looking back over their past lives, wherei

a little more praise on some occasions, and a little less on others, would have materially altered, if not entirely changed, the tenor of their fortunes.

Merit is prone to doubt itself, and needs encouragement from without the occasional word of applause to confirm the half-formed purpose into the fixed design. A kiss from his mother, West said, made him a painter.

Even in our highest, most laudable, and most arduous undertakings, we act under the stimulus of past, the inspiration of present, and the hope of future praise.

Praise of what we have done is encouragement for what we have still to do.

Praise a generally foolish person for an act of discretion upon any particular occasion, and he will grow to be a wise one, if that is possible, that he may earn more of it.

And yet, we speak our praises in whispers, like men afraid to be overheard, but censure