regarded as such by the family. They dread them, indeed, and sometimes endeavor to shelter themselves from their effects; but they know the storm will soon be over.

Now these moral storms are far from being as salutary as the physical storm;-nay, they are in themselves a most serious evil. But they are far from being the worst evil that could befall a family. I honestly believe that an occasional fit of rage does less mischief than a settled gloom; just as an occasional storm injures vegetation less than to have the sun constantly obscured. In the case I have just mentioned, the wife is on the whole happy, and the children very affectionate and tolerably well educated, notwithstanding the father's occasional sallies.

The master, too, seldom fails to discover the effect of kindness on his servant or slave, and to govern himself accordingly. I have known an instance of such severity in a slaveholder towards favorite slaves, as I thought at the time could not fail wholly to estrange their hearts from him. And yet they loved him scarcely the less for it, because it was rather an occasional thing, and not in keeping with the general tenor of his conduct.

But if these are the effects of remitted kindness-if not only savage men but fierce animals are susceptible of its influence-if, in one word, its

influence is irresistible-then how important it is that it should be constantly brought to bear, in a relation of all others the nearest and most tender! If the occasional violence of man does not wholly destroy its legitimate tendency, what happy results would not follow its uninterrupted influence on the part of woman, in married life!

There can be no room for doubt on this subject. There is reason to believe that the simple exercise of kindness, in the most intimate and unremitted relations of matrimonial life, would do more to promote domestic bliss than the wisest have ever yet supposed. The husband can, in this respect, do much; but the wife can do more—much more. Can there be a doubt that what is so important to domestic happiness, and through that, so promotive of the general good, is demanded? May it not be here assumed that kindness, next to concession, is the first and most imperative of the young wife's duties?

Solomon, in his description of a virtuous wife, couples kindness with wisdom, and considers his picture incomplete without it. "She openeth her mouth with wisdom," says he; but as if this were not enough, he immediately adds, "and in her tongue is the law of kindness."

The time has been, in the history of our world, when it was governed chiefly by physical force.

But a new order of things is coming about, and men are beginning to be controlled by a moral influence. It is scarcely necessary to say that whatever may have been or may continue to be hereafter the sub-agents in effecting this great revolution, the great and principal agent is christianity.

While the world was ruled by physical force, and woman—and even the wife—was regarded as only a better sort of menial, human improvement was slow. It was so, especially, because so little was done in the family-the great cradle of character. Yet there was something done, even here; and whatever was achieved of human melioration seemed to be the effect of maternal love.

It was reserved, however, for a new era-one upon which we are now entering-to show the silent power which woman has in governing the world. Her influence is just now beginning to be felt. The nations, instead of being controlled by fear, are ere long to be controlled by the law of love and kindness. In this change-revolution I have called it-woman is to perform a most important, if not the principal part. She is to wield the sceptre, first over her husband, and next over the children whom God may give her

Let her understand, then, fully, the efficacy of kindness, in enabling her to fulfil her duty and

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destiny. Let her be particularly careful to be kind in the smaller matters. It is no hard task to maintain kind feelings amid the great concerns of life, and while we are nerved and braced for the work. It is no difficult task to preserve the occasional look and tone and word and action of kindness and love; but to preserve our souls, as we ought, when entirely off our guard, at home, in the domestic circle, and to do this always, is not so easy a matter. And yet this is precisely what is most necessary to be done. It is in vain, or almost in vain, to hope for any signal amelioration of our race, through family influence, till this point is secured-till woman's life, amid her household, is one uninterrupted series of kind actions, words, tones and gestures, and till she has overcome and transformed her husband. This is one peculiar and pressing duty of the young wife; and it is a duty which ought in no circumstances to be overlooked or disregarded.

This kindness must extend even to what are called little things. Mrs. Sprout, in her “ Family Lectures," has the following highly interesting remarks on this subject:

"A great portion of the misery which has so often embittered married life, I am persuaded has originated in the neglect of trifles. Connubial happiness is a thing of too fine a texture to be

handled roughly. It is a plant which will not even bear the touch of unkindness- -a delicate flower, which indifference will chill, and suspicion blast. It must be watered with the showers of attention, and guarded with the impregnable barrier of unshaken confidence. In this way, it will bloom with fragrance in every season of life, and sweeten even the loneliness of declining years."

I am not over-fond of quotations, however apropos; but since I have begun to quote, allow me to finish this chapter with a few excellent things which I have found in the course of my reading on this subject.

In the "Whisper to a Newly Married Pair," I find the following paragraph. It is, to say the least, worth reading once:

"I repeat, it is amazing how trifles-the most insignificant trifles-even a word, even a lookyes, truly, a look, a glance-completely possess the power, at times, of either pleasing or displeasing. Let this sink deep into your mind; remember that to endeavor to keep a husband in constant good humor is one of the first duties of a wife."

"Our lives," says an intelligent writer, "are made up of little things. If the neglect of little duties is a source of unhappiness, they at once lose their insignificancy. If little peculiarities of manner, of expression or habit, are annoying, they are