On the next day, the minister had an appointment to preach at a neighboring school-house in the country. The congregation being assembled, while the minister was in the act of reading the first hymn, who should pop in but the old lady with her new-fashioned fan, and having taken her seat, immediately commenced puffing away in good earnest! The congregation knew not what to make of it――some smiled, and some looked astonished; but the ludicrous prevailed over everything else, and to such an extent, that the minister himself was obliged to stop reading, and hand the book to his brother in the desk. After the usual preliminary services, he rose to preach, but there sat the lady with the bellows, and a hand hold of each handle, the nose turned up towards her face, and with much self-complacency puffing the gentle breeze in her face. What to do, or how to proceed, he knew not, for he could not cast his eyes over the congregation without meeting with the old lady. At length, summoning resolution, and trying to feel the solemnity of the duty imposed on him, he proceeded. He finished his discourse, but it cost him more effort than any sermon before or since.――_Mt. Vernon Watchman._ * * * * * A PIOUS MOTHER.――It is said, that, in the hand of one of the mummies found in a pyramid, was discovered a bulbous root, which being placed in the earth, grew and bloomed a beautiful but unknown flower, after having been buried for many hundred years. So may the good seed of God spring up after many years. We mention a case in point. Some years since, a venerable old man, upwards of one hundred years old, was the subject of converting grace in an American state. The cause of his conversion was hearing a text of Scripture, which his pious mother had taught him in England, one hundred years before! “Though seed lie buried long in dust; It shan’t deceive our hope; The precious grain shall ne’er be lost, For grace insures the crop.” [Illustration] The Medallion. The subscribers to the Medallion, edited by Uncle Christopher, have already been informed that that paper is discontinued; and it is requested that those who have heretofore given it their support, will now lend their aid to Merry’s Museum. In token of his good will, Uncle Christopher has lent us his countenance, as you see above, and we venture to guess that in the April number, we shall be able to offer one of his pleasing stories. We have a variety of new tales on hand, some of which are interesting; we shall begin one or two of them in our next. Good and Evil. An aged man along the road Pursued his weary way―― His back was bent beneath a load, His thin long locks were gray. The aged man with tottering tread And many a sigh did go, And misery seemed to bow his head And mark his brow with wo.