most furious among them. His keepers ap proached him with caution, as he had in a fit of fury killed one of them with a blow from his manacles. He was chained more vigorously than any of the others. Pinel entered his cell unattended, and calmly said, "Captain, I will order your chains to be taken off, and give you liberty to walk in the court, if you will promise me to behave well, and injure no one. Yes, I promise you, (said the maniac,) but you are laughing at me-you are all too much afraid of me. I have six men, (said Pinel,) ready to enforce my commands, if necessary. Believe me, then, on my word, I will give you your liberty if you will put on this waistcoat.' submitted to this willingly, without a word. His chains were removed, and the keepers retired, leaving the door open. He raised himself many times from his seat, but fell back again on it; for he had been in a sitting posture so long, that he had lost the use of his legs. In a quarter of an hour, he succeeded in maintaining his balance, and with tottering steps, came to the door of his dark cell. His first look was at the sky, and he cried out enthusiastically, 'how beautiful!'

He

During the rest of the day, he was constantly in motion, walking up and down the stair-cases, and uttering short exclamations of delight. In the evening, he returned of his own accord to his cell, where a better bed than he had been

accustomed to had been prepared for him, and he slept tranquilly. During the two succeeding years which he spent in the Bicetre, he had no return of his previous paroxysms, but even rendered himself useful, by exercising a kind of authority over the insane patients, whom he ruled in his own fashion."

In the course of a few days, Pinel released fifty-three manaics from their chains; among them were men of all conditions and countries; workmen, merchants, soldiers, lawyers, etc. The result was beyond his hopes. Tranquility and harmony succeeded to tumult and disorder; and the whole discipline was marked with a regularity and kindness which had the most favorable effect on the insane themselves, rendering the most furious more tractable.

We see in this very striking and beautiful illustration of the influence of the law of kindness, that it subdues the raging manaic into calmness, and to become as obedient as a child. Since violent madness bows before kindness, what may we expect its effects to be on the sane?

EFFECT OF KIND WORDS.

"A soft answer turneth away wrath."-Prov. xv. 1. When Esau was on his way to take vengeance on his brother Jacob, the latter sent him

a present, accompanied by words of kindness, which melted the revengeful heart of Esau into love for his brother.

The kind words of David to his mortal enemy, Saul, melted him to tears. (1 Sam. xxiv. 7-19.)

EFFECTS OF HARSH WORDS,

"Grievous words stir up anger."

When Rehoboam succeeded Solomon, many of his subjects requested some of their burdens to be removed. The king first asked counsel of some of his old men, who advised him to be kind to his subjects, and speak pleasantly to them, and assured him, that thus he would have loving and loyal subjects; but his young counsellors "spake unto him, saying, thus shalt thou answer the people that spake unto thee, saying, As my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." (2 Chron. 10th chap.) Rehoboam followed the latter advice, and the result was, the ten tribes were filled with rage, and revolted against their oppressive ruler.

EFFECT OF EXAMPLE ON CHILDREN.

Children are imitative beings, and are moulded by the example around them, whether good or

bad. The children of one family are amiable, peaceful, virtuous and happy; of another the very opposite, and are almost devils incarnate; in the former, the example was good-in the latter, bad. Says Williams, "I have endeavored to familiarize my children to those things that excite fear. In their infancy, we accustomed them to look at, and even touch spiders, frogs, &c. It was enough to set them the example, and they soon wished to have them and bring them up. I have seen Adelaide weep at the death of her favorite frog, and show as much grief as if she had lost the most beautiful Canary bird. When it has thundered and lightened, every body near them has cried out, "What a charming sight! look at the clouds and the flashes of lightning !" and the children have been delighted to sit at the window to watch the progress of the storm." In several Cantons of Switzerland, there were no criminals, prisoners, and the reason is the great care taken to give children, even the poorest, a moral and religious education, both by precept and example.

EFFECTS OF HUMANITY ON NATIONS.

In the ratio that cruel laws have given place to more humane ones, in the same ratio have crimes decreased. During the entire reign of

Catharine II., of Russia, for about twenty years, even in that semi-barbarous nation, not one murder was committed. She abolished the punishment of death, and substituted imprisonment. Leopold of Tuscany, also abolished the deathpunishment, and no part of Italy was so free from crime as that land.

OUR ACTIONS.

"Our actions must follow us beyond the grave; with respect to them alone, we cannot say we shall carry nothing with us when we die, neither that we shall go naked out of the world. Our actions must clothe us with an immortality, loathsome or glorious; these are the only title deeds of which we cannot be disinherited; they will have their full weight in the balance of eternity, when everything else is as nothing."-Lacon.

OUR THOUGHTS

Says an eloquent preacher, "like the waters of the sea, when exhaled towards heaven, will lose all their bitterness and saltness, and sweeten into an amiable humanity, until they descend in gentle showers of love and kindness upon our fellow men."