Beauty is a reproach without virtue, while virtue is itself the highest beauty. The sun at noon gives no more light than at morn, but its glow has more warmth and power. Without the accessories life were of little worth, and hope gives it its permanence and serenity. Marriage should be in harmony with nature, in which what is seemingly discordant but illuminates and purifies it. Our conduct toward one another should be based upon a conception of the infinite mischances of life and the exquisite poignancy of regret. Misfortune seeks consolation in communicating itself. But when it no longer needs sympathy it is silent, and ashamed of its former volubility. We can overcome even our prejudices where some interest is subserved by it. So much stronger is self-interest than color, social status, or education. The poet should know, better than another, his limitations. Parnassus is always higher than our dreams, and his summit more radiant than the vision of any mortal. The lily of the valley, which hides its chaste head in dewy leaflets, is a thousand times less modest than the maiden whose conscious blush reveals the innocence of reason. If we were to judge all men by what they seem to have achieved, we would be harsh and unjust. We cannot always see the scar left by a heroic deed, and modesty conceals it. Complete benevolence implies simplicity of living. The Christian cannot have if he knows that others have not. Thoreau was perhaps the wisest man of his time; he practiced what he preached; and there are few examples of simplicity to compare with his. Nothing, perhaps, is more humiliating than to observe the precocious development of the negative virtues, especially prudence. There is a subtle suspiciousness in early prudence which is at war with all generous impulses. Think of the pinched heart of a little miser. There is a selfishness which deals generously with its own: my wife, my child shall be arrayed in the richest, shall feed upon the daintiest; my servant, my handmaid they are naught to me. Nature hath made nothing better than my desert; she hath made nothing poor enough for thee and thine. In an old man conceit may be so comprehensive as to include the race. Has he been reasonably successful with the fair sex, all are the subjects of his whim or desire; and he will sententiously and confidently repel any claim of virtue or purity. So blind is he to the centuries made splendid by her virtue and self-sacrifice, and so little is his judgment affected by objects unconnected with self. FOXGLOVE. (_Digitalis purpurea L._) DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER, Northwestern University School of Pharmacy. Pan through the pastures often times hath runne To plucke the speckled fox-gloves from their stems. --_W. Browne, Britannias Pastorals, II. 4._