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"IT WILL BE ALL ONE

A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE."

THIS was a famous expression of my uncle's old gardener. Anthony was of a quiet, easy disposition. If things happened not exactly according to his wishes, I never saw his temper ruffled, but he would give his shoulder a significant twist, and say, "Ah, well, it will be all one a hundred years hence." If he had unintentionally caused offence, (I am quite sure he would not willingly have offended any one, but offences about trifles will arise,) instead of giving an angry retort for an angry word, he had recourse to his old truism, "I am sorry for it; but it will be all one a hundred years hence." This was alike his consolation, when the fruit of a young apple-tree, which he had watched with special care as a choice golden pippin, proved it to be a worthless crab; when the cook was enraged at being told that the green peas were not ready for gathering, and that she must put up with asparagus instead; and when some thieves got into his house, and stole a purse, a watch, and a flitch of bacon. It was on one of these occasions, that my uncle, who often amused himself by trimming and training the greenhouse-plants, said to him, "Anthony,

that saying seems to be your universal specific; it must save you many uneasy feelings in the course of a year."

"Yes, sir, I think it does; but like many other good medicines, it will not do for all persons, or at all times. When I had the cold rheumatism last winter, your honour sent the doctor to me, and his stuff did me a deal of good, and soon brought me round again; but, I take it, the same sort of stuff would not have been fit for a person in a burning fever."

"Most likely not; but how does that illustrate the use of your favourite saying?"

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Why your honour understands all that better than I can tell you; but my meaning is something like this;-that the saying is very good to satisfy one under what comes without any fault of our own, and what cannot be helped; but it is not good to make one easy under the neglect of any duty, however small. Now about the peas; I certainly intended to have them ready for your honour's birthday, but the weather was untoward, and we could not command it. I told Lydia it was of no use to fret about what could not be helped, and I was sure your honour would not fret about it." "True," replied my uncle; "I recollect a sound remark, (I believe it was by Adam of Wintringham,) "There are two kinds of evils about which a wise man will not greatly distress himself; those which can be mended, and those which cannot.' The first he will mend, the second he will quietly bear."

"Yes, sir, that is just it; and I do think, that if every body, instead of flying into a passion about trifling disappointments and vexations, would

just take a moment to consider, 'What will this signify a hundred years hence?' it would tend as much to their quietness and peace of mind, as the doctor's stuff did to cure the pain of my rheumatism."

"You are quite right there, Anthony; for, notwithstanding all that is said, and even all that is truly said, about this life as a scene of trouble, and this world as a vale of tears, it really depends much more on a person's temper of mind, than on his outward circumstances, what portion of happiness he shall enjoy, or what portion of misery he shall bear. I do think that more than half the unhappiness endured by the children of men arises from the veriest trifles, hardly worth the name of evils-things concerning which we need not look a hundred years forward, but of which we might say, 'It will be all one this time to-morrow."" Ah, sir," said the old man, encouraged by the remarks of his master, "and which of all the troubles of life does not shrink into a trifle, when we think of a hundred years hence?

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"When my poor niece died, whom I had brought up from a child, and who was so kind and dutiful to me, and made my home so comfortable, I thought at first, it was such a knock-down blow as I should never get over; but when I came to look at it quietly, better thoughts and feelings came to me. She was fit to go, and willing to go, and now she is safely landed out of the reach of sin and sorrow. I have, at most, only a few years longer to struggle alone, and then I hope to join her in a better world; and what does it signify which of us went first? It will be all one a hundred years hence."

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Yes, it was thus the apostle Paul looked at his trials and sufferings. They seemed at first view very heavy and oppressive; but he called up his spiritual arithmetic, and reckoned them by number, weight, and duration, against eternity, and then he concluded that they were 'light afflictions,' and 'but for a moment. Not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us,' the 'far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,' Rom. viii. 18; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. It is a great privilege, Anthony, to have the eyes of our understanding opened by the power of the Holy Spirit, and enabled to look upon the things which are not seen, and which are eternal. It sets all the things of time to rights, and teaches us to regard them of importance only as they affect the character, or state of heart. If we take things as they come, in a right state of mind, nothing that comes can do us any harm."

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"Yes, sir, that is just what makes the difference; not what things come to us, but how we take them; and that is where some of our young ones make a mistake. When anything happens amiss through their neglect, carelessness, or disobedience, I sometimes catch them consoling themselves with old Anthony's saying, 'It will be all one a hundred hence.' years No, no,' I tell them, 'that saying is no more fit for you now, than the strong hot stuff that cured my rheumatism is fit for a man in a burning fever. Your neglect or disobedience acts upon two things-master's interest and your own character. Now, a hundred years hence, it will not matter to master, whether his wishes were obeyed, and his property taken care of; but it will matter to you what sort of character you

formed for yourselves: and whether you believe it or no, all these little things which you are apt to think trifles, have a great influence in forming a character, which will, in all probability, abide with you through life, and even fix its influence on you for eternity. They generally take in good part what old Anthony says to them; but whether it makes any impression on them, or whether they go away and laugh at what they hear, I cannot tell. Poor fellows, I know that my concern is to do them good, now, and for a hundred years hence as well."

"That is right, Anthony; we should endeavour to do good to every person with whom we come in contact, and sometimes a word incidentally dropped sinks into the mind, and makes more impression than we are aware. I am glad to find that you have prevailed on your kinsman to send that boy of his to school. He is a sharp, promising lad, athirst for information; and as the family is not poor, it was a pity that, for the sake of his trifling weekly earnings, he should be withheld from the privileges of education."

"Yes, sir; but John East is no scholar himself, and it was a hard matter to persuade him that learning would be of any use to his boy. He reckons knowledge just worth what may be got by it, and no more. It all went for nothing to tell him that knowledge was likely to make his son a better and a happier man. 'As for that,' was his reply, I have earned my bread without learning, and Jem already earns three shillings a week without learning, and will earn more as he grows older. He may do very well as I have done before him.' I told him of one and another in our

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