It is the use, not the possession, of any material treasure that gives it its highest value. Money gathered and kept for its own sake increases the discontent and cravings of its holder: while money sought and handled for its beneficent uses gives pleasure and satisfaction to him who employs it. As a rule, men and women of ample means shrink more from the outlay of money for their personal convenience and enjoyment, or for the giving of pleasure to others, and really have less of the delights which money-using might secure, than persons of more limited income who have no desire for money as money; no wish to be rich, in comparison with the thought of living and doing richly. Straitened circumstances are quite likely to increase with growing accumulations of wealth; and unsatisfied cravings for riches are exaggerated by every effort at their satisfying. “There is”--indeed there is--“that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” And the pinch of poverty itself can never nip so sharply as the pinch of withholding avarice. Our mental faculties gain through their using. Giving out thought in speech or writing increases one’s treasures of thought, as well as one’s ease and power of expression. In our moral nature the same principle prevails. Pres. Hopkins said: “It is of the very nature of the affections that they give; and of the desires that they receive.” The exercise of desire is belittling, that of affection, ennobling. Desire brings unrest. Affection brings content. When a child receives gifts, or selfishly employs what has been given him, his _desires_ are exercised, and by their very exercise they are strengthened and intensified. But when the child gives to others, it is his _affections_ which are exercised, and which are enlarged by their exercise. As with the child, so with those of us of any age. Only as we give do we get anything that is worth getting. Only in our giving do we find the real pleasure of living. If we find that our affection, our ministry, our presence, is a source of comfort or pleasure, we recognize a blessing just there. “For the heart grows rich in giving; all its wealth is living grain. Seeds, which mildew in the garner, scattered, fill with gold the plain.” --_S. S. Times._ THE FREEDMEN. REV. JOSEPH E. ROY, D.D., FIELD SUPERINTENDENT, ATLANTA, GA. * * * * * ANNIVERSARY REPORTS. HAMPTON INSTITUTE. BY REV. H. B. FRISSELL. Anniversary day at Hampton was cool and comfortable. The steamers from New York and Boston for several days previous had been bringing the friends of the institution from the North, and the morning of Thursday, May 25, found a good number assembled to witness the anniversary exercises. At 8.30 A.M. the battalion was drawn up in front of Academic Hall and the regular morning inspection was held by the U.S.A. officer who has charge of the military drill of the school.