Some of his neighbors, however, laughed at his Puritanical habits, and told him that, as men could not stay long in New Orleans, it was best to make money as fast as they could, and then go home and enjoy it. He began to think himself that he might be too strict. He therefore opened one half of one shutter on Sabbath morning, and sold shoes to such as called for them. By-and-by, he opened a whole shutter; then all his shutters and the door. He neglected public worship, and soon, instead of sending money to his brother, as he had done before, he began to draw upon him for what he had sent. Thus he continued to do, till his funds were exhausted; and in the course of a few years, he came back himself, a poor, reckless vagabond, and died. Had he continued to keep his store shut on the Sabbath, and to attend public worship, as before, he might have become a wealthy, respectable man, and avoided his miserable end.

77. FISH CAUGHT TOO SOON. - A number of fishermen went out to fish for halibut. On the Sabbath, they found themselves in the midst of great numbers. All the boats were employed in taking them, except one. The men on board that boat remembered the Sabbath day, and kept it holy. The former soon obtained their supply, and set sail for the market. The latter commenced on Monday, and when they had obtained their supply, they also sailed for the market. The former were met by a calm, and were detained till, the weather being very hot, many of their fish were spoiled. They had to throw them overboard; and when the latter were going in, under a prosperous gale, the former, having lost many of theirs, were going back for another load. Had they let the fish stay in the ocean till after the Sabbath, they might have escaped the loss.

78. THE WAY TO SAVE TIME. - In the town of

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are two manufactories. In one they mend bands, clean boilers, and repair machinery, on the Sabbath. In the other, they do nothing, but confine all their labors to the six working days, or perform them in the night. That manufactory has to stop less time, during the week, to make repairs, than the other. They meet with fewer disasters, and have a more moral and trustworthy set of operatives. Similar, it is believed, should the experiment be perseveringly made, would be the result in all other establishments.

79. "Now LET IT RAIN." A farmer in Rwho had a large farm, often had a quantity of grass cut so near the close of the week, that, with good weather, it would be dry and ready to get in on the Sabbath. There was a large manufactory in his neighborhood, in which the hands did not work on that day. Nor did they attend public worship. As they were at leisure, the farmer could hire them to help him at a less price than he could ordinarily hire laborers on other days. In that way he thought he could be a gainer. On a certain week, he had mowed an extraordinary quantity of grass. He took care of it with the help he had, till the Sabbath. On that day, he got the factory hands, and they went to work. In the course of the day, it began to look rainy, and he began to fear that the hay would be wet. He urged on his men, and they worked with great vigor. Load after load was put on and driven off in haste. The clouds continued to gather blackness, but the rain did not come. With great efforts they succeeded, and the last load was driven into the barn. Then said the farmer, in great exultation, "Now let it rain." It did rain; and with the rain. came the lightning, and struck his barn. The hay was on fire, and all which on the Sabbath day, and on the week days, he had put into his barn, was consumed.

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80. THEY TRIED IT. In a manufactory in Mthey were accustomed, for years, to confine their ordinary business to the usual working days. But when any thing gave way, or got out of order, they repaired it on the Sabbath. But, notwithstanding this, such were the number and variety of disasters, that they often had to stop for repairs during the week. Afterwards they changed their policy, confined all their repairs and labors of every kind to the six working days, and let the workmen enjoy the rest and privileges of the Sabbath. The result was, as the overseer testified to the writer, that they had to stop their mills less during the week to make repairs, than they did when they made them on the Sabbath. Similar is the testimony of others who have tried it. Different men may account for this in different ways, but no man can in truth deny the facts.

81. BETTER THAN BEFORE. An agent of a manufactory employed a mechanic to keep his machinery in repair. He was an excellent workman, well acquainted with his business, and gave good satisfaction to his employers. After a number of years, he was transferred to a larger establishment; the man who before was in this establishment, had been in the habit of repairing machinery on the Sabbath, and had found it, as he said, necessary to employ at least a third of all his Sabbaths in this way. This man resolved not to work on the Sabbath, but to make all his repairs in the week time. The first man told him that he would not succeed, and that if he should not work on the Sabbath, he would lose his place. Then he said he would leave it. But he did not leave it, nor, as he told the writer himself, did he work an hour on the Sabbath. For years he kept the machinery in order - gave the utmost satisfaction; and all concerned acknowledged that all things were conducted "better than before."

82. "DON'T SAY ANYTHING.” "I have not been absent from church on the Sabbath," said a man, "either morning or evening, for more than thirty years." When young, he often broke the Sabbath, and sometimes neglected public worship. On a certain Friday, when his first child was about four months old, he sat with his wife, and in the course of conversation he told her that his business was very pressing, and that he must start the next day for New York. "What," said she, "start on Saturday, and be out on the Sabbath ? ” "Yes," he said, "I must do it." "O," said she, "I hope you will not; you had better stop till Monday." "What," said he, "lose a whole day?" She replied, "Perhaps it will not be a loss. Men do not generally gain any thing by stealing.”

Stealing?" said he. "Yes," she replied, "stealing. The day does not belong to you, but to the Lord; and you had better not steal his day." "O wife," said he, "do not talk so, I shall go!" She said, “I hope not. It would grieve me much to have you go and travel on the Sabbath." He left the room, aud, somewhat disturbed, went out into another alone. He sat down, laid his head back on the chair, and fell asleep. In his sleep he dreamed that his little babe came into the room. At that he was surprised, as he did not know before that it could go alone; and it said to him, "Pa, are you going to New York on the 'Sabbath?" He answered, "Yes." The child replied, with great emotion, "O pa, I hope you will not. It would grieve me much to have you steal."” He awoke, and, not being conscious that he had been asleep, supposed that it was all real. He, looked round for the child, but he could not find it. He rose up haste, went out to his wife, and asked her, "Where is the child?" She told him, "In the chamber, asleep." "Asleep!" said he: "has it not been into my room since I went out?" She told him "No." "Don't say any thing," said he: "T shall not go to New

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York to-morrow, and I will never travel again on the Sabbath." After relating the above himself, he added, with great emphasis, "I never have; and I have not been absent from church on the Sabbath, either morning or evening, for more than thirty years." As might have been expected, he is now a wealthy, respectable, and useful man.

83. PROFITABLE REFLECTION. The statement given below, in a business letter from Michigan, may furnish profitable reflection to those who think to increase their wealth by trampling upon the Sabbath.

It may not be uninteresting to your readers to learn a few facts in reference to the steam mill, on which the proprietors, though professors of religion, were making repairs on the Sabbath last season, some account of which was given in the Puritan by your correspondent "R. W."

"That mill took fire last spring, and was consumed, together with about a thousand dollars worth of lumber. The cost of the mill was about four thousand dollars; this, with the loss of the lumber, would be five thousand dollars. The engine, in a state considerably damaged, and also some lumber, which was not destroyed by the fire, were shipped for a port on Lake Erie. On the voyage, a storm arose, which was so tempestuous, that the captain of the vessel threw overboard the lumber and a part of the machinery. This was an additional loss of some hundreds. But this is not the last of the disasters. One of the owners, in order to go on with his operations, loaned an amount of money on a bank, which shortly after failed. The mill and a lot of lumber are in ashes; a part of the engine and some of the lumber are in Lake Erie, and the money borrowed for the purpose of rebuilding, is about as worthless as rags!"

Now, it is not said that these disasters have come in consequence of a violation of the fourth command