The trees are leafless, and the hollow blast Sings a shrill anthem to the bitter gloom, The lately smiling pastures are a waste, While beauty generates in Nature's womb; The frowning clouds are charged with fleecy snow, And storm and tempest bear a rival sway; Soft gurgling rivulets have ceased to flow, And beauty's garlands wither in decay: Yet look but heavenward! beautiful and young In life and lustre see the stars of night Untouch'd by time through ages roll along, And clear as when at first they burst to light. And then look from the stars where heaven appears Clad in the fertile Spring of everlasting years! BENJAMIN GOUGH. * * * * * EXERCISE, AIR, AND SLEEP. (_Abridged from Mr. Richards's "Treatise on Nervous Disorders."_) The generality of people are well aware of the vast importance of exercise; but few are acquainted with its _modus operandi_, and few avail themselves so fully as they might of its extensive benefits. The function of respiration, which endues the blood with its vivifying principle, is very much influenced by exercise; for our Omniscient Creator has given to our lungs the same faculty of imbibing nutriment from various kinds of air, as He has given to the stomach the power of extracting nourishment from different kinds of aliment; and as the healthy functions of the stomach depend upon the due performance of certain chemical and mechanical actions, so do the functions of the lungs depend upon the due performance of proper exercise.