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The following lines may fitly follow, to which we are indebted to our very appreciative American cousins. "They're always abusing the women As a terrible plague to men; They say we're the root of all evil, And repeat it again and again.

"Of war, and quarrels, and bloodshed,
All mischief too, be what it may ;-
And pray, then, why do you marry us,
If we're all the plagues you say?

"And why do you take such care of us,
And keep us so safe at home,
And are never easy a moment
If ever we chance to roam ?

"When you ought to be thanking Heaven
That your Plague is out of the way,
You all keep fussing and fretting-
'Where is my Plague to-day?'

"If a Plague peeps out of the window,
Up go the eyes of the men ;

If she hides, they all keep staring
Until she looks out again."

I have been

Let me conclude with a caution. supplying sharp-edged tools, such as fools cut their fingers with. Let me deprecate any ill-advised use of any word here. He is no true man who ever treats woman with anything but the profoundest respect. She is no true woman who cannot inspire, and does not take care to enforce this. Friendly raillery is all fair enough, but it is perilously easy to overdo it. Any real rivalry of the sexes is the sheerest folly, and most unnatural nonsense. As Longfellow has so well written.

As unto the bow the string is,

So unto the man is woman;

Though she bends him, she obeys him;
Though she draws him, yet she follows,
Useless each without the other!

Hiawatha.

'Woman's right' is a good husband, but there are thousands upon thousands perfectly happy, and useful, and contented without one. Let St. Paul solemnise

the summing up of this chapter.

"Neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

"For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God."

I Cor. xi, II, 12.

WEATHER WISDOM.

After women, Weather, perhaps, has called forth the most proverbs. Is there any connection? Dare I

hazard the suggestion that both are somewhat uncertain, and inclined to be capricious?

The charming Cloe, has no mind they say,

I prove she has, it changes every day!

Souvent femme varie

Bien fol est qui s'y fie.—Francis 1st.

The weather depends very much upon

No weather is ill

If the wind be still.

the wind.

And some gentleman, who seems to have been cruelly used upon occasion, has thus busied himself in tracing out the analogy.

What is lighter than a feather?

The dust, my friend, in windy weather.
And what's lighter than that, I pray?
The wind that blows the dust away.
And what is lighter than the wind?
Ah me! 'tis faithless woman's mind!

And what is lighter than the last

Well, now, good Sir, you have me fast!

It is only fair to add also the lines in which Sir Walter Scott so chivalrously meets this allegation.

O woman! in our hours of ease
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please;
And variable, as the shade

By the light, quivering aspen made;

When pain and anguish wring the brow

A ministering angel thou!

We English have got a character for talking about the weather, and nothing is more natural in such an

out-of-door nation, when also, as we have seen, there is but one thing more uncertain. Weather proverbs might reasonably be expected to abound amongst us. And unquestionably they do. I apprehend we have far more than most other countries. The accumulations of the experimental wisdom of our ancestors on this subject are both very considerable, and of great practical value.

Take this, to begin with, for its general character. Be it dry, or be it wet,

The weather'll always pay its debt.

Wait long enough, and, in the long run, the same average is arrived at, the only difficulty being that occasionally,

While the grass grows the steed starves.

and that some may meanwhile think they have been having almost too much of a good thing,

It is no use throwing water upon a drowned mouse.

Some of the weather proverbs are so well known that it would be an insult to the memories of my readers to rehearse them. The days of the week, the months of the year, the moon, the clouds, the rain, the wind, as we have seen, and the winter season, all have their set of sayings; many of which have an important bearing upon the subject of agriculture. Respecting this there must be many floating about, which are still un-registered. It would be a public benefit to note down such at the mouths of those shrewd old farmers, and observant shepherds, whose talk often abounds in them. He is no fool who can produce a good weather proverb.

He, who is weather-wise, is not otherwise. We will begin with some sayings respecting the day. Lose an hour in the morning, and you'll be all day hunting for it.

But don't put too much trust in the morning's promise; for

Again,

The morning's sun never lasts the day.

For age and want save while you may
No morning's sun lasts all the day.
Praise a fair day at night.

The evening brings a' hame.-Scotch.

Al fin di salmo ci canta la Gloria.-Ital.

When the Psalm is finished they chant the Gloria :

a beautiful thought in respect of the good man's psalm of life.

Blow the wind never so fast

It will lower at last.

or according to the French version, a saying with which Damiens on his way to those terrific tortures, is said to have consoled himself

f;

La journée sera dure, mais elle finira!

The day may be dire, but at last it will be done.

The sharper the blast
The shorter 'twill last.

Respecting the days themselves we notice.

Thursday come

The week's gone.

Friday's always the best or the worst day in the week.

As the Friday so the Sunday,
As the Sunday so the week.

Friday's sail
Always fail.

Fridays in the week

Are never aleek.-Devon.

Friday will be either king or underling.― Wilts.

Friday's dream on Saturday told

Is sure to come true be it never so old.

C

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