Sarah. It was a very eventful period of the world's history, when this great Western Continent was thrown open to the crowded and oppressed myriads of the old hemisphere.

Papa. It was indeed an eventful period. Luther had set the ball ́ of reformation rolling, the art of printing had given men the means of knowing their rights, and there was a boundless field thrown open to relieve the European nations of their superabundant population; but especially has it proved a refuge for the down-trodden, and a home for the industrious and the needy.

John. I have always admired the great perseverance, firmness of decision, and the wonderful forbearance of Columbus, during his long and tried life.

Mamma. Yes, these traits were greatly pre-eminent in his character. When, in his first voyage, his men threatened to throw him overboard, if he did not turn the prow of his ships homeward, their opposition did not daunt him. When dangers. yet greater thickened around him, his motto was, Onward; and when maligned and thrown into prison, and fettered with chains, his request was that these manacles might be buried with him, a memento of the wrongs and injustice that had at last wore away his great and active mind.

Ellen. I have heard Columbus mentioned as a religious character, and that his religious enthusiasm prompted him to make those voyages to amass riches, that he might aid in the deliverance of the Turks from Jerusalem, and secure the holy city in the undisturbed possession of Christians.

Papa. It is so said by some writers, and the life of Columbus corroborates the same idea. Being brought up a Roman Catholic, he was devoted to that church: the cross was erected wherever he took possession of a new country; and the simple inhabitants were often, by harsh and cruel means, compelled to submit to the rites and laws of the Popish creed.

Sarah. I believe Columbus never set foot upon the northern part of this continent, and never saw the Pacific Ocean.

Mamma. This is true; he landed south of the isthmus, near the mouth of the Oronoko, but never crossed the continent, and therefore died ignorant of what his real discoveries were, and a

later navigator gave his name to this New World, instead of its bearing the name of its primitive discoverer.

John. We mark in the history of many individuals the peculiar providence of God, in preserving certain characters for the accomplishment of great purposes.

Ellen. Yes, indeed we do. You remember the Indian, who said that it was impossible to hit Washington either with a rifle or an arrow. Napoleon used to tell his generals, that the bullet was not yet moulded by which he was to fall; and Columbus, when returning from his first voyage, being overtaken by a storm, and expecting to be lost, and all his discoveries to perish with him, retired to his cabin, wrote upon a piece of parchment, or some other suitable material, the results of his voyage, enclosed it in a bottle, and threw it into the sea, in the hope that if he perished his discoveries might not die with him.

Mamma. While we thus look upon the discovery of America as a great event, it is the character of the people that came hither by which their descendants have become prosperous and happy. While the navigator admires Columbus as a great and successful seaman, the Christian and the philanthropist regards the landing of the Pilgrims upon Plymouth Rock as an event fraught with blessings second to none since the birth of the Saviour.

Ellen. How long was it, papa, after the discovery of this country to the landing of the Pilgrims?

Papa. It was rather more than a century between the two events; though prior to the landing of the Pilgrims, an English settlement had been planted at Jamestown, in Virginia; but the oldest city, of European origin, in the United States, is St. Augustine, in Florida, founded by the Spaniards in the year 1565.

John. I am very fond of reading the early history of the first settlers of our beloved country, and find there abundant reasons to admire the goodness of God, in preserving them amidst the great deprivations and sufferings they endured.

Sarah. They were truly a tried people. The climate was much more severe than what they had been accustomed to ; famine sometimes threatened to destroy them; disease diminished their

later navigator gave his name to this New World, instead of its bearing the name of its primitive discoverer.

John. We mark in the history of many individuals the peculiar providence of God, in preserving certain characters for the accomplishment of great purposes.

Ellen. Yes, indeed we do. You remember the Indian, who said that it was impossible to hit Washington either with a rifle or an arrow. Napoleon used to tell his generals, that the bullet was not yet moulded by which he was to fall; and Columbus, when returning from his first voyage, being overtaken by a storm, and expecting to be lost, and all his discoveries to perish with him, retired to his cabin, wrote upon a piece of parchment, or some other suitable material, the results of his voyage, enclosed it in a bottle, and threw it into the sea, in the hope that if he perished his discoveries might not die with him.

Mamma. While we thus look upon the discovery of America as a great event, it is the character of the people that came hither by which their descendants have become prosperous and happy. While the navigator admires Columbus as a great and successful seaman, the Christian and the philanthropist regards the landing of the Pilgrims upon Plymouth Rock as an event fraught with blessings second to none since the birth of the Saviour.

Ellen. How long was it, papa, after the discovery of this country to the landing of the Pilgrims?

Papa. It was rather more than a century between the two events; though prior to the landing of the Pilgrims, an English settlement had been planted at Jamestown, in Virginia; but the oldest city, of European origin, in the United States, is St. Augustine, in Florida, founded by the Spaniards in the year 1565.

John. I am very fond of reading the early history of the first settlers of our beloved country, and find there abundant reasons to admire the goodness of God, in preserving them amidst the great deprivations and sufferings they endured.

Sarah. They were truly a tried people. The climate was much more severe than what they had been accustomed to; famine sometimes threatened to destroy them; disease diminished their

numbers; the savage barbarian and the wild beast lurked in the forests, to make them their prey.

Ellen. I always admire the great religious principle which induced these Pilgrims to brave the dangers of the deep, and seek a home in a land so far distant, and of which they then possessed so little information.

Mamma. It is in this consists the true sublimity of their character. They came not for commerce nor worldly gain, but to enjoy what is naturally every man's right and privilege, viz., to worship God in the manner their consciences dictated.

Papa. Yes, and with all this their love for freedom in religious matters, they combined with it full liberty in their civil society, compatible with the safety and peace of the community.

John. I remember Mr. Hume, in his History of England, says, it was owing to the Puritans that Britain obtained the civil liberty she enjoyed. These were the men who withstood the tyrannical acts of the court, set in motion those proceedings which for a time destroyed the monarchy, and which will eventually, we hope, remove those burdens which now oppress the inhabitants of our fatherland.

Ellen. But, papa, may not the people in the old country attend what place and religious form of worship they choose?

Papa. They may now, but then even that privilege was forbidden them, in the times of which we have been conversing. Episcopacy was the established religion of the land, and fines and imprisonments were the penalties inflicted upon those who did not conform to the rules and service of the National Church, and even now all people must pay their share for the support of that ecclesiastical establishment, although they never enter the doors of her temples for worship.

Sarah. But do you not think it wrong, papa, that one man should prescribe a form of faith for another, and not allow him to follow out his own views of religion, when he has the means of reading the Bible for himself?

Papa. Certainly I do, my dear, but men in the old country have not yet learned this lesson, nor will they as long as the Church and State are united. Here we have no such anomaly,