CHRISTMAS TIME A HAPPY TIME.

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Hark! these are the merry, merry bells that usher in the 25th of December. clock strikes twelve, and Christmas is come! We give a hearty welcome to Old Father Christmas, for though his hair is silvery with age, he has always the same happy smile. He brings to all of us a remembrance of joyful things, which make those who think about them very happy.

There is a difference, my readers, between being merry and being happy. The

boisterous gaiety which many put on is merely a mask, for it disguises a sad, sad heart. The "boy who passed through a churchyard at night, whistled loudly to show that he was not afraid of the ghosts." He whistled loudly to "keep his spirits up." True happiness is not a noisy but a quiet thing. It may be compared, not to the brook passing over pebbles and stones, but to the broad full stream flowing onward, and silently carrying fertility and freshness within its bosom.

Let us enter into the spirit of a truly happy Christmas day, and learn the lessons it is designed to teach.

What happy scenes it brings to our memories! what pleasant recollections of old friends, and what remembrance of friendship! Yes, there is indeed a charm in all this, for it is pleasant to link the present with the past, by thinking of those who were once with us, now again par