THE WORSHIPERS OF VERTUMNUS.
THE Romans before their conversion to christianity, and while yet blindly wedded to their pagan superstitions, had in their mythological calendar a divinity whom they called Vertumnus. They so named him because he was imagined to be the god of change—from their verb verto, which meant "to change." This single attribute gave him all his attractions, and the oftener he changed his own form the more graceful they fancied him to have become! Silly as these heathenish fancies were, and ready as we moderns are to sneer at them, what better are the masses of mankind now, practically considered? We fear they have nothing to boast of in this respect. "Change" seems to be the order of the day. It is being written, constantly, on almost everything around us. Especially is this the case in this country. Think of the customs and habits of our grand-parents, and then of our own. Behold the modern built dwelling as it stands beside the "old house." Contrast in the same way, the old warehouses and workshops with the new ones. Nay, contrast the furniture or the tools found in them respectively, to say noting of laborsaving machinery. What words, but "change—wondrous change!" rush to the lips for utterance! Then again look at our fashions! Who can contemplate their rapidity of change without coming to the conclusion that the worshipers of Vertumnus, fools though they be, are not all dead yet! No devotee among the pagans of either Greece or Rome, ever could have shown a more enthusiastic interest at his mind and soul debasing shrine than thousands of our people now-a-days, do at the shrine of the insatiable goddess of fashion.—Sel.