ONDER white stone, emblem of the innocence it covers, informs the beholder of one who breathed out its tender soul almost in the instant of receiving it. There, the peaceful infant, without so much as knowing what labor and vexation mean, "lies still and is quiet; it sleeps and is at rest." What did the little sojourner find so forbidding and disgustful in our upper world, to occasion its precipitate exit? 'Tis written, indeed, of its suffering Saviour, that when he had tasted the vinegar mingled with gall, he would not drink. And did our new-come stranger begin to sip the cup of life; but, perceiving the bitterness, turn away its head, and refuse the draught?

Happy voyager! no sooner launched, than arrived at the haven! But more eminently happy they, who have passed the waves, and weathered all the storms of a troublesome and dangerous world! who, "through many tribulations, have entered into the kingdom of heaven;" and thereby brought honor to their divine Convoy, administered comfort to the companions of their toil, and left an instructive example.

Highly favored probationer! accepted, without being exercised! It was thy peculiar privilege, not to feel the slightest of those evils which oppress thy surviving kindred; which frequently fetch groans from the most manly fortitude or most elevated faith. The arrows of calamity, barbed with anguish, are often fixed deep in our choicest comforts. The fiery darts of temptation, shot from the hand of hell, are always flying in showers around our integrity. To thee, sweet babe, both these distresses and dangers were alike unknown.

Consider this, ye mourning parents, and dry up your tears. Why should you lament that your little ones are crowned with victory, before the sword is drawn or the conflict begun? Perhaps, the Supreme Disposer of events foresaw some inevitable snare of temptation forming, or some dreadful storm of adversity impending. And why should you be so dissatisfied with that kind precaution, which housed your pleasant plant, and removed into shelter a tender flower, before the thunders roared; before the lightnings flew; before the tempest poured its rage?

At the same time, let survivors, doomed to bear the heat and burden of the day, for their encouragement reflect, that it is more honorable to have entered the lists, and to have fought the good fight; before they come off conquerors. They who have borne the cross, and submitted to afflictive providences, with a cheerful resignation; have girded up the loins of their mind, and performed their Master's will, with an honest and persevering fidelity; these, having glorified their Redeemer on earth, will, probably, be as stars of the first magnitude in heaven.

THE CHINESE EXCELSIOR.

FROM "THE BOY TRAVELERS."

FATHER TIME'S CHANGELING.

A STORY TOLD TO GRACIE.

Tiny and soft, and pink as pink We never found it from that ummer day.

He rules the world they say;

He took my babe away

Whether I would retrace the four years' My precious babe-and left me in its place

UR revels now are ended. These, our
actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air-into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this
vision,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such
stuff

As dreams are made of, and our little life The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, Is rounded with sleep.