Again, we know that _simplicity_ is ever the expression of the highest truth, of elegance, and of purity. We need not rake up classical authority, or quote the poets, to prove what makes its own way to every unsophisticated mind and heart. But would indeed that the "daughters of the land" might consider this, and reflect on St. Paul's caution, "Not the outward adorning of plaiting the hair, or of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel," ere they present themselves as examples to the young, so especially, on _this_ point, prone to imitation and emulation. Far higher, we feel assured, would they then rise in the _true_ esteem of their juniors, far more secure would they be of reaching and maintaining that position to which _every_ teacher should aspire, that of feeling that in a _real_ superiority none has the claim or the power to surpass them. Our time and space are limited, and we do not desire to crowd on our readers too much of our own practical experience, and "notes taken from life by the way." If welcomed, however, with the sincere good-will with which they are offered, other "thoughts" may yet find utterance, and, we would fondly trust, find their counterpart in the efficient action of many an unknown young teacher, and their reflection in many a childish scholar. [Illustration] DON'T OVERTASK THE YOUNG BRAIN. THE minds of children ought to be little, if at all, tasked, till the brain's development is nearly completed, or until the age of six or seven years. And will those years be wasted? or will the future man be more likely to be deficient in mental power and capability, than one who is differently treated? Those years will not be wasted. The great book of nature is open to the infant's and the child's prying investigation; and from nature's page may be learned more useful information than is contained in all the children's books that have ever been published. But even supposing those years to have been absolutely lost, which is anything but the case, will the child be eventually a loser thereby? We contend, with our author, that he will not. Task the mind during the earlier years, and you not only expose the child to a greater risk of a disordered brain--not only, it may be, lay the foundation for a morbid excitability of brain, that may one day end in insanity--but you debilitate its bodily powers, and by so doing, to all intents and purposes, the mind will eventually be a loser in its powers and capabilities.--_Dr. Robertson._ THE SOUVENIR; OR, THE ARRIVAL OF THE "LADY'S BOOK." A SKETCH OF SOUTHERN LIFE. BY PAULINE FORSYTH. (_See Plate._) "You may train the eagle To stoop to your fist, Or you may inveigle The Phœnix of the East; The lioness, you may move her To give up her prey; But you'll ne'er stop a lover, He will find out the way."--_Old Song._