“With punctual hand your taxes pay, Nor put far off the evil day. How soon to an enormous size Taxes succeeding taxes rise! How easy one by one discharged! How hardly in the mass enlarged! How humbling the intrusive dun! How fast, how far, the expenses run! Fees, advertisements, travel, cost, And that sad end of all, the post! This gulf of swift perdition flee And live from duns and bailiffs free. “In merchants’ books, from year to year, Be cautious how your names appear. How fast their little items count! How great, beyond your hopes, the amount! When shelves o’er shelves inviting stand, And wares allure, on either hand; While round you turn enchanted eyes, And feel a thousand wants arise, (Ye young, ye fair, these counsels true Are penn’d for all, but most for you,) Ere fancy lead your hearts astray, Think of the means you have to pay.” * * * * * GOD SEES EVERYWHERE. A Father once said to his son, “Carry this parcel to your aunt’s.” “It is the Sabbath, father,” said the boy. “Well, put it in your pocket,” replied the father. “God can see into my pocket,” answered the child. Mohammed. Among the great changes which have been made in the world, not a few have been made by arch impostors, for there seem to be no boundaries to human credulity. Mohammed, the founder of the religion which bears his name, was one of these. Of his history I intend to give my young readers a few particulars, because I think they ought to know something of a man who has given a religion to nearly a third portion of the human race. Mohammed began his reign A. D. 609, in the fortieth year of his age. He first shut himself up, and fasted and prayed for a considerable time. After this he pretended to have had communications with the angel Gabriel, the particulars of which he related to his wife. Astonished by his vehemence and the boldness of his pretensions, (for these two qualities sometimes completely overpower people,) she began to give out to her friends and neighbors that Mohammed was an apostle of God. Through her instrumentality her uncle or cousin, Wooaka, was gained, who is said to have been a Christian, and well acquainted with the Old and New Testaments. Mohammed’s servant next became a convert; and, a far more important person, his young nephew, Ali, called the Fiery, from the ardor of his temper. Soon after this, Mohammed gained over Abubeker, a man of excellent character, who stood in high respect, and persuaded ten of the most considerable citizens of Mecca to follow his example. They were all instructed by Mohammed in the doctrine of the Islam, as he styled his new religion; and Mohammed gave from day to day, as from the angel Gabriel, the revelations he pretended to have received.