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170 What the Minutes Say. Wc are but minute?, ’*M things Each one furnished with sixty wings. With which we fly on our unseen track, And not a minute ever comes back. We are but minutes; when wc bring A few of the drops from pleasure’s spring, Taste their sweetness while yet we stay, It takes but a minute to fly away. We are but minutes; each one bears A little burden of joys and cares: Take patiently the minutes of pain ; The worst of minutes cannot remain. We are but minutes; use us well, For how we are used we must one day tell; Who uses minutes has hours to use, Who loses minutes whole years must lose. Written for Burke’s Weekly. MAROONER’S ISLAND; OR, Dr. Gordon in Search of his Children. BY RF.V. F. R. GOULDING, Author of the “ Young Metro oners," CHAPTER XlV.— Concluded. RITII a grave, yet highly pleased expression of countenance, Wheeler went directly to Dr. Gordon, and said— in, what would you think ringing you a message m your children ?” 'l'don turned somewhat pale, and his voice almost choked as he asked: “ Are they here ?” Wheeler was troubled to see how much more of hope had been excited by his words than he intended, and he hastily replied: “No, they are not here. I wish they were. Rut here is a message from them which I doubt not will give you joy. ’ He then unwrapped from its envelope and put into Dr. Gordon's hands a little vessel, nicely carved out of a piece of white cedar, and ballasted with buckshot so as to right itself upon the water, even after being upset. The little sails were so rigged that whenever she “yawed,” as sailors call the turning of a vessel out of her course,) she would “luff up ” into the wind, or run before it, as the case might be, but always keep moving. On its tiny flag of white silk was the word “Hope,” and on the smooth white deck were deeply penciled, in a female hand, the words: “ Schooner Hope. Harold Mclntosh, Builder; Robert Gor don, Rigger; Mary Gordon, Sail-maker; Frank Gordon, Captain and Super cargo. Bound from Marooner’s Island to Belle vue, Tampa, with a full freight of love and good wishes.” 13 IT II K IT • s \Y E E K L V . This precious little toy Dr. Gordon took into his hands, and, with all the compo sure he could command, examined in every part. Not a word was exchanged between him and the rest, only a few whispers and low murmurs of the voice, beginning with Wheeler, conveyed from man to man the general fact that the young marooners had been heard from. Unable longer to control his feelings, Dr. Gordon drew back as far as possible from observation, covered his face with both hands, and trembled from head to foot; while the men, who, used every excuse for looking in an opposite direction, could not help seeing an occasional tear trickle through his fingers. As soon as the Doctor had finished his examination, and had laid the little ves sel on the seat, Tomkins took it up, scru tinized its various parts, then passed it to the men. Poor Wildcat, who could not read, and who was, beyond comparison, the most powerfully excited person aboard, except Dr. Gordon, looked plead ingly to his friend Jones to read and ex plain to him every word. Then the men began to talk, first in low whispers, then in an under-tone, and at last more freely, until they had exchanged thoughts upon all the points connected with the little vessel and its launchers. The conclusions at which they seemed satisfactorily to arrive, and which Dr. Gordon was much interested to hear, although he had not as yet allowed himself to say a word, were: Ist. That the missing company had reached land in safety ; 2d. That the land they had reached was an island ; 3d. That this island could not be very far away; 4th. That when that vessel was made and launched, the young people were at leisure, in good spirits, and in no fear; sth. That this toy had probably been made and launched within the past two days. These conclusions, which tallied closely with those of his own mind, were very comforting to the grief-stricken father, and caused him to feel very near to his lost ones. There were some other ques tions also discussed by the men on which there was a strong division of opinion. These were— -Ist. Whether that island lay to the north or the south of their present posi tion. 2d. TV hether the young people were most probably then upon the island, or had left it and returned to Tampa. 3d. Whether, therefore, it was worth while to continue their search down the coast; and whether it were not better to turn their bows northward, and to search the coast on their way home. These several points were freely dis cussed, and some important facts adduced about currents and counter-currents in the Gulf; but when, after discussing the third point, someone appealed to Dr. Gordon to know whether he thought best to return to Tampa, or to keep down the coast, his reply was— “To keep dow’n the coast. My impres sion is,” said he, “that they are still be low us.” This decided the question about the voyage. In addition to what had been said Wheeler took occasion to remark that one reason why his exploring tour upon the Gulf side of the key had been so much prolonged, was that he could catch occa sional glimpses of some object far south which seemed to him like a canoe with two persons aboard. Thinking that they might be Dr. G ordon’s negro man, in com pany with Riley, he had tried, by ascend ing the most elevated points of the key, to obtain a better view of them, but the curvature of the earth hid from him ail but the head and shoulders of the men, if indeed they were men, as he supposed. Towards sunset they approached an other low island of pines, where they landed and prepared to encamp for the night. Silent Influences. The Rev. Albert Barnes say’s: “It is the bubbling stream that flows gently’, the little rivulet which runs along day T and night by 7 the farm house, that is useful, rather than the swollen flood or the warring cataract. Niagara excites our wonder, and we stand amazed at the power and greatness of God there, as He pours it from the hollow of His hand. But one Niagara is enough for the Conti nent and the world, while the same world requires thousands and tens of thousands of silver fountains and gently flowing rivulets that water every farm and mea dow, and every garden, and shall flow on every day and night with their gentle, quiet beauty’. So it is with the acts oi our lives. It is not by great deeds, like those of the martyrs, good is to be done, but by the daily and quiet virtues oi Hie, the Christian temper, the good qualities of relatives and friends.” Filling a child’s mind is like pack ing a trunk. We must take care what we lay in below, not only’ to secure foi that a safe place, but to prevent it h'° m damaging what is to come after.