"home!" And if the pure and happy be-|| ing, whose influence had allured him to the path of right, had perused all his subsequent letters, she would have found nothing concerning herself, but boasts of the warmest love and the sincerest adaniration. THE CHARMED WIFE. BY WHITTIER. In one of my hunting excursions abroad on a fine morning-it was just at this time of the year-I was accompanied by my wife. 'Twas a beautiful morning. IMMOLATION OF A HINDOO WID. The sunshine was warm, but the atmos OW. BY L. E. LANDON. Gather her raven hair in one rich cluster, I phere was perfectly clear; and a fine breeze from the northwest shook the bright green leaves which clothed to profusion the wreathing branches above us. had left my companion for a short time, in pursuit of game; and in climbing a rugged ledge of rocks, interspersed with Shed fragrant oils upon her fragrant bosom, shrubs and dwarfish trees, I was startled Until the breathing air around grows sweet; by a quick grating rattle. 1 looked forScatter the languid jasmine's yellow blos- ward. On the edge of a loosened. rock som Beneath her feet. Those small white feet are bare-too soft are they To tread on aught but flowers; and there is rolled lay a large rattlesnake, coiling himself,as if for the deadly spring. He was within a few feet of me; and I paused for an instant to survey him. I know not why, but I stood still and looked at the deadly serpent with a strange feeling of curiosity. Round the slight ankle, meet for such dis- Suddenly he unwound his coil, as if re play, The band of gold. Chains and bright stones are on her arms and neck; What pleasant vanities are linked with them, Of happy hours, which youth delights deck With gold and gem. to lenting from his purpose of hostility, and raising his head, he fixed his bright, fiery eye directly upon my own. A chilling and indescribable sensation, totally different from any thing I had ever before experienced, followed this movement of the serpent: but I stood still, and gazed steadily and earnestly, for that moment there was a visible change in the reptile. His form seemed to grow larger, and his colors brighter. His body moved with a slow, almost imperceptible motion towards me, and a low hum of music came from him—or, at least, it sounded in my that which melts from the throat of the ear-a strange, sweet melody, faint as humming-bird. Then the tints of his body deepened and changed, and glowed, like the changes of a beautiful kaleidscope, green, purple and gold, until lost sight of the serpent entirely, and saw only wild curiously woven circles of strange colors, quivering around me like an atmosphere of rainbows. I seemed in the centre of a great prism-a world of mysterious colors; and the tints varied and darkened and lighted up again around me; and the low music went on without ceasing, until my brain reeled; and fear, for the first time,came like a shadow over I the unaccountable terrors of a dream,—thrilling interest to cultivated minds. It and yet my limbs shook, and I fancied I enables us to prize the superior blessings could feel the blood stiffening with cold of our own lot, dwelling, as we do, so as it passed along my veins. I would have given worlds to have been able to peacefully and joyously under the soft bear myself from the spot-I even at-shadows of the tree of life; it also enlargtempted to do so, but the body obeyed es our ideas of man, his nature and capacinot the impulse of the mind-not a mus-ties; it awakens in our heart kindly feel-. cle stirred; and I stood still,as if my feet ings of benevolence and starts the flow of had grown to the solid rock, with the in- the milk of human kindness in our souls—. fernal music of the tempter in my ear, and the baleful colorings of his enchant ment before me. for who can contemplate wretchedness,and not feel the rich swellings of holy desire to remove its pangs? With these views we have attempted a Suddenly a new sound came on my ear-it was a human voice--but it seemed strange and awful. Again-againbut I stirred not; and then a white form brief description of the Women of Burplunged before me, and grasped my arm. mah. Our authority is the Rev. Mr MalThe horrid spell was at once broken.com; whose travels in Burmah furnish, at. The strange colors passed from before once a literary feast for the mind and an my vision. The rattlesnake was coiling authentic account of the manners,customs, at my very feet, with glowing eyes and uplifted fangs; and my wife clinging in religion, &c., of the principal countries of terror upon me. The next instant the the glorious yet degraded East. Glorious, serpent threw himself upon us. My wife for its ancient and sacred associations-dewas the victim! The fatal fangs pierced graded, for its heathenism and ignorance. deeply into her hand, and her scream of agony, as she staggered backward from me, told me the dreadful truth. The women of Burmah are in person a-. bout four or five inches shorter than those Then it was that a feeling of madness of Europe and America. They are unicame upon me; and when I saw the foul serpent stealing away from his work of versally round shouldered, possess promideath, reckless of danger, I sprang for- nent cheek bones and a remarkable squareward and crushed him in pieccs upon theness of the jaws, their noses are nearly ragged rock. The groans of my wife flat, their lips thick,their complexion dark, now recalled me to her side, and to the resembling the color of our mulattoes: their horrible reality of her situation. There was a dark, livid spot on her hand; and heads are covered with long, coarse, black it deepened into blackness as I led her hair, which is rendered glossy by the conaway. We were at a considerable dis- stant use of oils. It is worn in the form of tance from any dwelling: and after wan-a graceful knot behind, with chaplets of dering for a short time, the pain of the wild flowers hung on a thread. They,like Wound became insupportable to my wife, too many of our own ladies, use paiut for and she swooned away in my arms. Weak and exhausted as I was, I had yet the face. Their most valued cosmetic is strength enough remaining to carry her of a bright yellow color, which is the standto the nearest rivulet, and bathe her broward of beauty. They also frequently stain in the cool water. She partially recover- their nails with a scarlet pigment. ed, and sat down upon the bank, while I supported her head upon my bosom.Hour after hour passed away, and none came near us—and there-alone in the great wilderness, I watched over her, and prayed with her and she died! Becords of Woman. For the Ladies' Pearl. THE WOMEN OF BURMAH. a The dress of a Burman lady consists of te-mine or petticoat of cotton or silk lined with muslin, wide enough to pass round the body and fasten at the corners, and extending from beneath the arms to the ankles; an in-gee or jacket of gauze, lace or other thin material, open in front, with long sleeves, is also worn. Sometimes they add The condition of our species in other a garment of common calico resembling a Countries is a subject fraught with deep and sailor's jacket. The head is always un covered, and for the feet they wear san-led, they are compelled to live together as dals. man and wife. After marriage the young Instead of rings for the ornaments of the bridegroom resides with his wife's parents. ears they wear cylinders of gold, silver, three months and three days,serving them horn, wood or paper according to the abil-as a son, or, if he prefer and his bride be ity of the wearer.. This cylinder or tube willing, he pays them sixty ticals (a tical; is at first small, but is gradually enlarged is about sixty cents) and removes her to until it becomes an inch in diamater.—his own house. These are passed through a hole in the soft, fleshy part of the ear. It Polygamy, though lawful, is very rare, but divorces are frightfully common. This 'Women,' says Mr Malcom, 'have their perhaps is occasioned by the ease with place assigned them as correctly in Bur-||which it is effected. The aggrieved party mah as in any other nation. Their inter- has but to become a priest or nun for a seacourse is open and unrestricted. The unison. This nullifies the matrimonial conversal custom is to give them the custody tract and leaves them free to marry again. of their husband's cash; by them is done Women may put away their husbands as the chief part of all the buying and sel- easily as men their wives. ling,both in shops and in the bazaar. They Such are the Women of Burmah. clean rice, bring water, weave and cook. should also be remembered that they are But hard work of all kinds, the universal heathens and atheists-believers in a syscustom assigns to men. They are by no tem of blind and comfortless superstition, means denied education, nor is any imped-which leaves them no hope of immortality iment placed in the way of their attaining after death. Annihilation is the acme of it. Famales of the higher, classes do not human felicity,to their disordered imagina contemn industry. They furnish their ser- tions: for this, they look hereafter. With vants with useful employment over which all their superiority over heathen women,. they preside with attention. A British am-in general; they are still far behind, even bassador, when formally presented to the the lowest orders of Christian society.-. mother of the queen, observed in one of They have less intelligence, less comfort,, the galleries, three or four looms at work. less enjoyment, less hope. It should thereThis fact reminds us of the occupation of fore be the desire and effort of all Chris the Greek ladies, as intimated in the ad-tian women to send them the means of vice Pelenachus gave Penelope : Christian and mental illumination. "Retire, O queen! thy household task re sume; Tend with thy maids, the labors of the loom. There rule, from public care remote and free; That care to man belongs." Religions BY MRS. SIGOURNEY. Unto him who hath loved us, and gave, himself for us, and washed us from our sing in his own blood.-Rev. How hath He loved us?-Ask the star, Matrimony is left to the choice of the parties, the parents exercising no compulsory power, excepting among members of That on its wond'rous mission sped, the royal family. The young man, makes Hung trembling o'er that manger scene bis choice and declares it to the mother, Where He, the Eternal, bowed his head; when, if there is no objection,, he is per-He, who of earth doth seal the doom, Found in her lowliest inn-no room. mitted to visit the house, In consummaing the marriage he asks no, sanction of priest or magistrate, for, the law requires When the courtship ends, he eats At midnight's prayerful vigil sought, with his chosen, and in this consists the rat- And Cedron's brook, whose rippling wave. ification of marriage. If this can be prov-Frequent his weary feet did lave. nong. Judea's mountains, lift your voice, How hath He loved us?-Ask the hand Scarcely his bitterest tears effaced; Ask of Gethsemane, whose dews Shrunk from that moisture strangely red, Which, in that unwatched hour of pain, His agonizing temples shed! The scourge,the thorn, whose anguish sore How hath He loved us?-Ask the cross, Their prisons at his fearful cry- For the Ladies' Pearl. REMORSE. 'The heart of the sympathizing observer should he suddenly meet a desponding Anna under the circumstances described. But no! such were not the causes of Anna's woe. She mourned for other themes save lost wealth or faithless love. A flagrant crime bowed that beautiful form, and gnawed that sighing heart. Over this, her soul lamented and wept itself. As she dwelt upon it, her bosom swelled with burning shame, her spirit writhed in inward agony; she wrung her hands, looked up, and then abashed looked earthward again and cried aloud, O wretched folly! O wicked of fence! O desperate crime! Alas! wretch that I am-what shall I do?' What had Anna done? Had the betrayer of innocence beguiled her? Never! Had she in guilty passion poisoned an enemy, or destroyed a friend? Never! Pierced with a sharp remorse for guilt, dis- Then why such impassioned penitence? claims The costly poverty of hecatombs, summer. Listen, and her crime shall be disclosed! She had rejected Christ! That was her It was the soft hour of twilight in mid- offence. Favored in early childhood with The calm of the grave pervaded religious light, blessed in after years with the expanse of nature. So calm was that an evangelical ministry, and often entreathour, that it seemed one of universal rest. ed by a pious and departed mother, she reBut there was one who did not rest; in-sisted all. She chose pleasure instead of quietude and pain disturbed her agonized Christ; gay companions and the fooleries heart, and forced the big drop to her pol- of fashion she preferred to religion. The ished brow. She sat, alone, in the little blood of Jesus Christ, her offered Saviour, parlor of a small cottage, embowered with she counted a worthless thing! All this the trees of the beautiful garden in which she did for full twenty years, and then reit stood. She was young and fair; fortune morse took hold upon her. Her soul was smiled upon her, friends gathered at her horror-stricken at its offence-appalled at wish, she had scarcely a desire but could its own ingratitude. Hence she wept, and be met, and yet she was unhappy. We was inexpressibly wretched. will call her name Anna. Reader! as Anna felt, so will you She sat reclining on the sofa; her fine Like causes produce like effects. If you tresses had fallen from their silken bands are treading in her steps-guilty of her and hung dishevelled and loose; her eyes, crime! you will suffer her remorse. Perfilled with tears that burned their way chance like the hoary politician-the rich down her pale cheek, were fixed stead- and powerful Randolph-you may be comfastly on the floor; while now and then a pelled to exclaim on your death bed, Redeep sigh escaped the fair mourner. morse! Remorse! Remorse! Or failing What ails thee, sorrowing beauty? Why there, you may in a worse abode; endure this deep excess of grief? Has lover or eternal remorse! friend forsaken thee? Hast thou beon Let wisdom, then, point you to a path of doomed to feel the fell stroke of some un-peace. She offers chaste and holy pleasooked for misfortune? ures with a crown eternal beyond the Such, perchance, would be the questions grave. And she bids you seek these things in the companionship of her beauteous would justify him in presuming upon the maiden, Religion. She will conduct you hand and heart of the daughter of a to Him who hath loved you and given wealthy shipper. HIMSELF for you, and who waits to wash you from your sins in His own blood. The Young Lady. OBEYING INSTRUCTIONS. "Well, Julia, suppose I ask your father, any how, his refusal cannot make things much worse than they are at present. Suspense, Julia, is the cause of the most miserable feelings." The character of this young gentleman was unimpeachable, and he was as much respected for his talents, as he was for his correct deportment; but (but is a. wicked word) the curse of Giugaukin was on him, he was poor. Robert had been in the counting-room of Mr. Hallowell since he was fourteen family, and by the side of this lovely years of age, he had grown up in his heiress, who had been promised to a thing the Indies, amassing riches to lay at the of wealth and show that thing was in had on it the stain of dishonor, and Julia feet of his beautiful bride, but his soul had vowed before God he should never call her wife. Mr. Hallowell knew that : "We must not be hasty, Robert, our situation requires caution; by a little management we may possibly succeed, gloomy as the prospects appear to be. Now don't say anything to Pa about it yet—I had much rather you would not. Robert generally attended his daughter The best possible way for us to accom- to church, went and came with her when plish our wishes is not to advance too she visited her friends, and so on; but he never dreamed that the wily Cupid was soon." "Too soon-too soon, Julia! Have we not waited two years and more? and witching his darts successfully in the have you not been preaching the same little god were firmly fixed, and he dealt bosom of both; and the arrows of the doctrine of 'too soon,' all the while!out the silken cord until they were far Too soon, indeed ?" out upon the sea of love, too far to proceed or return without each other. "Well, now don't be angry; throw that frown from your countenance, and look pleasant, and we'll immediately set about|| "Do tell me, Robert, what is the matsome plan by which to effect what you ter with you? I have been a witness to so much desire. Come, smile away your your downeast looks and sorrowful apanger-the skies of love are sometimes pearance, until I have grown melancholy clear." myself. What's the matter, boy?" Robert Moultrie had loved Julia Hal- This question was asked by Mr. Hallolowell, and she loved him; about four well one day, when he and Robert were years more had passed since they had a- in the counting-room alone, and if any greed, come weal, come wo, they would individual has ever passed through a like trudge through life together. Two long, fiery trial, he can have some idea of Roblong years! Two years would seem to ert's feelings, when the man whose be an eternity to wait upon the eve of daughter he loved, was contriving the bliss, and to delay the happy consumma- best plan to get from him the secret cause tion. of his downcast looks, and addressed him Julia's father was a wealthy shipper of in such a kind and affectionate language. the port of Charleston, South Carolina. It went too deep, however, into the secrets Some old inhabitants may remember the of Robert's bosom, for him to return a firm of Hallowell and Haddington. He quick reply. Mr. Hallowell plainly saw was an upright, and highly honorable that something was working upon his man; but whose ipse dixit was law sumind that made him unhappy, and he preme, wherever his power could be ex-wished, if possible, to remove the cause; ercised. The urged a candid revelation of all that Robert Moultrie was a clerk in the effected his feelings, and promised his ascounting-room, and his salary, which was sistance to relieve him, whatever it rehis sole dependence, though far above quired. Robert succeeded, however, in the pittance allowed for the services of putting him off for that time, and tremyoung men similarly situated, and amply bled at the thought, when, at their next sufficient to warrant him in assuming the meeting, he related the matter to Julia. expenses of a family, did not elevate him "I thought," said she, laughing, "you to that importance in society, which were not so anxious to ask the old gentle |