My heart-strings round thee cling, And still thy branches bend. Thy axe shall harm it not. MY MOTHER'S BIBLE. This book is all that's left me now! For many generations past, Here is our family tree; My mother's hands this Bible clasp'd; Ah! well do I remember those Whose names these records bear, Who round the hearth-stone used to close After the evening prayer, And speak of what these pages said, In tones my heart would thrill! Though they are with the silent dead, Here are they living still! My father read this holy book To brothers, sisters dear; How calm was my poor mother's look, Her angel face-I see it yet! What thronging memories come! Again that little group is met Within the halls of home! Thou truest friend man ever knew, Thy constancy I've tried; Where all were false I found thee true, My counsellor and guide. The mines of earth no treasure give That could this volume buy: In teaching me the way to live, It taught me how to die. LEONARD BACON. REV. LEONARD BACON, D. D.,' was born in Detroit, Michigan, on the 19th of February, 1802. His father was, for several years, a missionary to the Indians, and in the new settlements, sent by the Missionary Society of Connecticut. He died in 1817, leaving three sons and four daughters. At the age of ten, Dr. Bacon was sent to Hartford, to prepare for college, and in the fall of 1817 he entered the sophomore class in Yale College, where he so distinguished himself as a scholar and writer, that a high position was predicted for him in the profession he had chosen, that of the ministry. In the autumn of 1820, he entered the theological seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, where he prosecuted his studies for four years. Soon after leaving Andover, he was invited by the First Congregational Church of New Haven, whose building is known by the name of the "Centre Church," to preach to them; and over this church he was ordained pastor in March, 1825, when he was but twenty-three years of age; and at this important post he has remained ever since. Though Dr. Bacon's life has been a quiet one, and barren of incident, he has filled a large space in the eye of the Christian public, especially of the Congregational Church in New England; and the high estimation in which he is there held is evident from the frequency with which he is invited to deliver addresses before literary societies or sermons at ordinations. As has been well said, he embodies to a remarkable degree the distinctive features of New England character and New England theology, having the New England selfreliance, energy, and adaptation. He turns his hand, or rather his head, to a variety of topics, and is successful in all. He has the New England firmness and compactness of mental structure, while susceptible of the highest polish. If a congress of representative men were to assemble in London, New England might well send Leonard Bacon of New Haven.? For a fuller account of this distinguished clergyman, read "Fowler's American Pulpit"-an excellent work. 2 The following are Dr. Bacon's chief published works: "Select Practical Writings of Richard Baxter, with a Life of the Author, " 2 vols. 8vo., New Haven, 1831; "Manual for Young Church Members," 18mo., New Haven, 1833. This is an exposition of the principles of Congregational Church order. "Thirteen Historical Discourses on the Completion of Two Hundred Years, from the beginning of the First Church in New Haven," 8vo., New Haven, 1839. Besides these volumes, about twenty-five of his sermons and addresses JOHN DAVENPORT'S' INFLUENCE UPON NEW HAVEN. If we of this city" enjoy, in this respect, any peculiar privileges if it is a privilege that any poor man here, with ordinary health in his family, and the ordinary blessing of God upon his industry, may give to his son, without sending him away from home, the best education which the country affords -if it is a privilege to us to live in a city in which learning, sound and thorough education, is, equally with commerce and the mechanic arts, a great public interest—if it is a privilege to us to record among our fellow-citizens some of the brightest names in the learning and science, not of our country only, but of the age, and to be conversant with such men, and subject to their constant influence in the various relations of society-if it is a privilege that our young mechanics, in their associations, can receive instruction in popular lectures from the most accomplished teachers3-if, in a word, there is any have been published, delivered on various public occasions, such as ordinations, meetings of temperance societies, literary societies, &c., among which are the Phi Beta Kappa at Yale and at Harvard. His first contribution to the "Christian Spectator," on "The Peculiar Characteristics of the Benevolent Spirit of our Age, was in March, 1822, when he was a student at Andover; and for every year down to 1838, there was scarcely a number of that celebrated magazine that was not enriched by his pen. To the "New Englander," also, since its commencement in 1843, he has been a constant contributor, and all his papers are marked with an ability, earnestness, and directness that make them among the most readable articles of that able review. This holy and fearless man of God was not afraid of "preaching politics," nor of counselling his people to give succor to the fugitive from tyranny and oppression. Among those who signed the death-warrant of Charles I., found guilty of treason against his people, were Edward Whalley and William Goffe. On the Restoration they fled to this country, and came first to Boston and then to New Haven. On the Sunday after they arrived at the latter place, Mr. Davenport, knowing that they would be pursued by the king's officers, boldly went into the pulpit, and instructed his people in their duties in the matter, from the following text-a text which was of itself a sermon for the occasion: "Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth: let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler."-ISAIAH xvi. 3, 4. 2 New Haven. * This alludes to the munificence of James Brewster, Esq., of New Haven, whose heart to do good equals his means of doing it-a rare union in men of wealth. He founded with his own means an institute for popular instruction -comprising a lecture-room of fine dimensions, a chemical laboratory, a mineralogical cabinet, and a collection of shells scientifically arranged-all designed for the intellectual and moral improvement of the mechanics of the place. privilege in having our home at one of the fountains of light for this vast confederacy-the privilege may be traced to the influence of John Davenport, to the peculiar character which he, more than any other man, gave to this community in its very beginning. Every one of us is daily enjoying the effects of his wisdom and public spirit. Thus he is to-day our benefactor; and thus he is to be the benefactor of our posterity through ages to come. How aptly might that beautiful apostrophe of one of our poets have been addressed to him: "The good begun by thee shall onward flow In many a branching stream, and wider grow; And yield thee fruit divine in heaven's immortal bowers." NEW ENGLAND. What then do we claim for the Pilgrims of Plymouth—what for the stern old Puritans of the Bay and of Connecticutwhat for the founders of New Haven? Nothing, but that you look with candor on what they have done for their posterity and for the world. Their labors, their principles, their institutions, have made New England, with its hard soil and its cold long winters, "the glory of all lands." The thousand towns and villages-the decent sanctuaries not for show but for use, crowning the hill-tops, or peering out from the valleysthe means of education accessible to every family-the universal diffusion of knowledge-the order and thrift, the general activity and enterprise, the unparalleled equality in the distribution of property, the general happiness resulting from the diffusion of education and of pure religious doctrine-the safety in which more than half the population sleep nightly with unbolted doors-the calm, holy Sabbaths, when mute nature in the general silence becomes vocal with praise, when the whisper of the breeze seems more distinct, the distant waterfall louder and more musical, the carol of the morning birds clearer and sweeter-this is New England; and where will you find the like, save where you find the operation of New England principles and New England influence? This is the work of our fathers and ancient lawgivers. They came hither, not with new theories of government from the labora tories of political alchymists; not to try wild experiments upon human nature, but only to found a new empire for God, for truth, for virtue, for freedom guarded and bounded by justice. To have failed in such an attempt had been glorious. Their glory is that they succeeded. THE PRESENT AGE. The present age is eminently an age of progress, and therefore of excitement and change. It is an age in which the great art of printing is beginning to manifest its energy in the diffusion of knowledge and the excitement of bold inquiry; and therefore it is an age when all opinions walk abroad in quest of proselytes. It is an age of liberty, and therefore of the perils incidental to liberty. It is an age of peace and enterprise, and therefore of prosperity, and of all the perils incidental to prosperity. It is an age of great plans and high endeavors for the promotion of human happiness; and therefore it is an age in which daring but ill-balanced minds are moved to attempt impracticable things, or to aim at practicable ends by impracticable measures. If we could exorcise the spirit that moves men to do good by associated effort on the grandest scale, perhaps we might be rid of some few ill-concerted enterprises that importune us for co-operation. If we had war instead of peace, and robbery instead of commerce, we should soon be rid of the evils attendant on national prosperity and this vast accumulation of the outward means of human happiness. If our liberty were abolished, our free schools, our equal rights, our elective government, we should be rid of the perils of this constant political agitation. If the universal circulation of books and newspapers were taken away, and the waking up of mind in all directions were quieted, if all religious worship and instruction were regulated by the sovereign and made to conform to one standard, if intellectual culture and general knowledge could be confined to the "better classes," and they would be content to take everything by tradition; we might have a very tranquil state of things-all calm as the sea of Sodom. But so long as we have liberty, civil, intellectual, and religious; so long as we have enterprise and prosperity; so long as the public heart is warm with solicitude for human happiness; so long we must make up our minds to encounter something of error and extravagance; and our duty is not to complain or despair, but to be thankful that |