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HARVEST-TIME.

SEED-TIME and harvest, so the promise

ran,

God's gracious promise given to fallen

man,

Shall never cease, and now we see again The fields are laden with the golden grain ;

And memory leads us to the inspired page,

And harvest pictures of a long past age.

'Twas barley harvest when, 'neath Eastern skies,

A stranger maiden met the reapers' eyes; Go, read the story, full of pathos rare, And find recorded wondrous lessons there;

Like Ruth of old, mayst thou a gleaner be,

And find, like her, some handfuls dropped for thee.

The men of Bethshemesh with glad surprise,

Reaping their harvest, lifted up their eyes To see the oxen coming o'er the plain, Restoring them their precious ark again, Lost long ago, when smitten Israel fled; Well might rejoicing through the valley. spread.

And once through corn-fields on a Sabbath day

The Lord and His disciples took their way; The Pharisees, filled with self-righteous

scorn,

Marked how they plucked the well-filled ears of corn,

And dared approach, with even censuring word,

The Sabbath's Giver and the Sabbath's Lord.

Seed-time and harvest with their gifts unfold,

And never fail us though the earth grows old;

But that which we call time is passing by, And the great harvest surely drawing nigh;

Like wheat and tares we may together grow,

But which we are, the harvest time will show.

Oh, solemn thought, to grow in life's fair field

A useless tare, no golden grain to yield! So like the grain, unnoticed by the eye, Thought to be wheat by many a passer by; Lord, give us hearts to daily ask of Thee That we as wheat may manifested be. DAISY.

HOW SPOOLS ARE MADE.

AT Drummondville, on the St. Francis River, Canada, on the line of the northern division of the South-Eastern Railway, there are large factories for making spools from white birch, which grows in profusion there. The farmers get from two dollars fifty cents to three dollars per cord for the wood, which, after being delivered to the factories, is first sawn into pieces about four feet long, and from an inch to an inch and a half square, according to the size of the spool it is desired to make. These pieces are put into a stove and thoroughly dried, whence they are taken into the factory and given to the roughers, who in a short space of time bore a hole in the centre a couple of inches deep, turn about the same space round, and then cut off the length required for a spool. The machines used for this purpose are revolving planers, in the centre of which is a revolving gimlet or bit, and immediately to the right a small circular saw, with a gauge set to the proper size for the spools. One proprietor ships over two million spools per month to England, and another firm ships over one million to Scotland.

He loves God too little, who loves anything with Him, which he loves not for Him.

THE LITTLE SHIPWRIGHT.

171

THE LITTLE

HE subject of this anecdote was an apprentice to a boat-builder,

who took delight in spending his time and earnings in public-houses. This brought the poor boy at times to feel many hard pinches, but taught him to loathe drink and drunkards. Yet, strange as it might appear, the Lord made it a good school to the poor boy, for it taught him, by what he was made to suffer, to hate drunkenness; it also sharpened his wits, and made him industrious and skilful in the use of means to compass a supply of those wants which his master's love of drink made him oftentimes to feel.

One Saturday morning, the boy went to the boat-yard to begin his day's work; but, on the road, his master turned into a public-house, saying, as he left the boy, that he would have a pint of beer, and that would strengthen him for the labour of the day. The poor lad went into the tool-shop, and, after hanging up his scanty dinner, he said: "Alas! alas! there will be no work done by my master to-day, and this boat will not be finished; and, if the work is not done, my master will not be able to go to the pay-table, and there will not be any money to take home. What shall I do? Instead of tomorrow being a day of rest, peace, and comfort to me, master and his wife will be quarrelling all the day long."

However, the poor boy, nothing daunted, began his work, if possible to finish calking the boat; and, by diligent improvement of his time through the day, about four in the afternoon he had the calking completed. The poor boy now stood pondering and looking upon the boat, inwardly wishing that help might come for it to be launched.

But

no help came. Oh," said the poor fellow, "what shall I do? I shall never be able to run the boat off the stocks into the water. Besides, if I attempt the launch, it may cant, and fall upon me,

SHIPWRIGHT.

and then my life will be sacrificed, and where will my soul go when it leaves the body?" But, according to the statement of the boy, his fears were all removed, and he began to make preparation for the launching. Oh, how wonderful to reflect upon the transaction! for each material that presented itself, and was chosen to be used, fitted its place with so much exactness, that the poor boy's confidence was raised up to a full assurance that in the launch there would be no miscarriage. It is, and must be, to all who are renewed in the spirit of their mind, self-evident that through the whole process there must have been a wise directing Head, and a ruling and overruling Arm. It must have been a marvellous sight to see that boy plotting, plodding, scheming, and running round and under the sides of that great boat, for so many hours, without any harm; and, to close the scene, by the action of a mechanical apparatus of his own invention and construction, for the stays that held the boat upon the stocks to be at the same moment removed; and, by six in the evening, the boat, being set free, ran into her proper element, to the joy, astonishment, and triumph of the poor boy.

After the boat was secured, the boy went to the public-house to tell his master that, as the boat was finished and launched, he could go to the pay-table and receive his money for the work. The master, when he had heard the statement of the boy, considered it impossible to be true, and, rising with several of his potcompanions, went to the yard. To their great surprise, there lay the boat upon the bosom of the water.

When the thing which the boy had achieved was circulated, he was talked about and looked upon as a prodigy : and several boat-builders, both masters and workmen, went to the yard to satisfy themselves as to the truth of the report.

And, when they had seen the boat, and it was explained to them what was the amount of the work which had been done, they confessed that it was a fair day's work of twelve hours for any two men to accomplish.

The writer, having an interview with the boy, questioned him respecting the matter, which was at that time the general conversation among all classes in the neighbourhood; and I will give the substance of his reply as nearly as I can in his own words.

"When I looked at the work," said the boy," and calculated the quantity and time it would take to finish it, I thought, 'Oh, how glad I should be to do it; but alas! that is impossible.' I then reflected upon the confusion at home which I must witness if the money was not received that night, and I was sure that, unless the work were completed, the money would not be received. Well,' I thought, I will go and pray to the Lord;' but not with the expectation that He would do the work for me, but that He would do the work by me. I then began to beg of the Lord that He would bless me, strengthen, direct, and prosper me to finish the calking and pitching of the boat. Afterwards I went to my work, and oh, how sweetly the work progressed! It was as though the oakum rolled into the seams of its own accord. Oh, how light and joyful I was in my soul! I kept on calking, musing, singing, praying and blessing the Lord through the whole day, until I had finished my work at night. It appeared to me that the Lord's invisible hand was present, guiding the whole proceedings of that memorable day."An extract from The Gospel Magazine given in The Regular Baptist Magazine for May.

O LORD, who givest grace to the humble, give me grace to be humble.

THE best shield against slanderers is to live so that none may believe them.

MAGNANIMOUS CONDUCT OF

GEORGE III.

HEN King George the third (grandfather of our Queen) had reigned over England fifty years, a general holiday was observed throughout the country to commemorate the event, and on that occasion Mr. Huntington, who greatly admired His Majesty, preached a sermon from the following words: "God save the king, God save the king" (2 Sam. xvi. 16). In his discourse Mr. H. mentioned a circumstance I will now relate to you. The person who was foreman to the King's carpenters at Windsor was a Dissenting minister. This became known to the King, and one day His Majesty said to him, "So I hear you are a Dissenter, and you preach :" to which the man replied, " No, please your Majesty, I am an assenter." "How so?" asked the King, "you preach in a chapel, how can you be an assenter?" believe," said the man," all the doctrinal Articles of the Church of England." "What is it then you dissent from ?" said the King. "The prayers, please your Majesty. No man has a right to impose on me a set form of prayer."

"I

The King questioned him concerning the Articles of the Church, and finding that he agreed with His Majesty, he replied, "Why you believe as I do." The Queen came into the room during this conversation, and the King called to her, Here, Charlotte, Charlotte, here is a Dissenter." The Queen did not stay, but passed on.

66

Shortly after the master carpenter died, and the King sent for the foreman and asked him if he should like to be appointed, and receiving an answer in the affirmative, said, "Very well, then you must send a memorial to the Board of Green Cloth." The man did so. When the hour came for the King to fill up the appointment, this man's petition for it was not placed before him. His Majesty asked, Are these all the memorials?" He

66

MY CLASS REGISTER.

was told there were no more. "Very well," he said, "I will not make the appointment now; perhaps there will be more applications."

In a very short time he sent a message to the foreman desiring him to come the next morning. When he did so, the King said, "Eh! how is this? you told me you should like to have my work, and you promised to send in a petition for it." "I did so,” answered the man. "Are

you quite certain you did?" said the King. "Quite sure," replied the man. “Oh, oh, I see how it is; send in another," the King answered; and as the man was bowing himself out of the room the King called him back and told him to bring it to him first to look at. The petition was brought to him the next morning. The King signed it directly, saying, “There, there, seal it up and send it to the Board." The good man held the appointment for years.

E.

A BISHOP'S SONG IN THE NIGHT.

RECENTLY, at a social gathering, Bishop Harris was invited to sing. He declined, but told the following incident as illustrative of his talent in that line. During his journey through Palestine, one evening, after he and Mr. Spencer, who occupied the tent with him, had gone to bed, the Bishop began humming a tune of the olden time, called "New Durham." Mr. Spencer joined in, and the two began singing a verse of one of our familiar hymns. Before the verse was finished, a donkey just outside the tent brayed as only a donkey in the East can bray. While the hills of Judæa were sending back the echoes of this most extraordinary and untimely performance of the donkey, he Arab dragoman put his head inside he tent, and apologizing for his donkey, aid, "Ah! you sing one tune he think he now!"

MY CLASS REGISTER;

173

OR, WHAT I TOLD MY GIRLS ABOUT THEIR NAMES.-SECOND SERIES.

No. VI. HEPHZIBAH.

Hephzibah means “My delight is in her.” (See Isaiah Ixii. 4.)

"OUR delight is in her," so your parents exclaimed,

As their love on your infancy smiled, And a name which the mouth of Jehovah had named

They bestowed on their dear little child. Thus protected and tended by kindness and care,

You have travelled to woman's estate, But affection still earnestly bids you beware,

For life's perils are many and great.

The delight of your parents, well-wishers, and friends,

May you always continue to be, For true happiness ever on goodness attends,

And the virtuous only are free.

Be yours the full joy of your mystical name, Loving-kindness and favour divine! For the Church is the endless delight of the Lamb,

Whose affections can never decline. He rejoiced when He viewed her as spotless as snow,

And His love was unchanged when she fell;

So His own precious blood was her ransom

from woe,

And His righteousness covers her well. With what exultation at last He'll behold The unblameable bride of His grace! Precious love! May it ever your person enfold

In its holy and saving embrace!

HEPHZIBAH.

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THOUGHTS.

WONDER how many of our young readers have felt how indebted they are to our great Creator for their reasoning faculties or the thinking powers of their mind? You all know that there are a great many people who are idiots, persons who do not possess all their reasoning faculties. There are some boys and girls that are thus afflicted, and it is grievous to hear and see how some of their naughty schoolmates will teaze and annoy them by calling them ill names. Or they will say, "Oh, he is not sharp," or, "He's got a tile off," or, "He's a button short." I do hope none of our young friends talk like that to any who may not be thought to be quite so bright as they are themselves, but I hope you each pity and help such as you can, and think how much you are indebted to God for the use of your faculties, for we must remember that none of us are more deserving of them than those who are deprived of them.

Now I am going to write a little about thoughts, and you all know they come from the mind. I daresay I shall mention several passages of Scripture in this piece, and I must not tell you where to find them, as I want you each to search the Bible for yourselves, and find in it all you can about thoughts. The text I want to base my remarks upon is this, "That as a man thinketh in his heart so will he act." Now there are such lots of different thoughts that men, women, and children have, that I don't suppose, if they could all be known there could be half paper enough found to write them upon, neither is it fit they should all be known, but I will tell you of a few different kinds of thoughts that both young and old have. The first I shall name are angry thoughts. Now we know that every one has these thoughts sometimes, but how sad it is when they are indulged in. You know that often when people have angry thoughts they say angry things and do

angry deeds; for as persons, young or old, think in their heart so will they act. It is a good proverb that "We ought always to think twice before we act once." If all did this there would not be half the mischief done there is now. If you ever have angry thoughts rise up in your hearts, dear readers, against any one or any thing, do try and think again, and see if you can't get some better thoughts before you either speak or act. Cain had some of these angry thoughts come into his mind, and he acted upon them and slew poor Abel. And many too since his day have done very wicked things through angry thoughts, and have been sorry for them afterwards. The Bible says, "Anger rests in the bosom of fools;" and also, "He that is angry with his brother without a cause is a murderer."

The next thoughts we shall name are disobedient thoughts. How very sorry we are to see so many young people whom we know have these thoughts and acting upon them. Oh, it is sad, when father or mother asks their little boy or girl to do anything, to hear them say "I can't," or "I don't want to do that," and it is still worse to hear them say "I won't." Now, my dear young friends, I do hope that if you have these wicked, disobedient thoughts rise up in your mind you won't act upon them; never disobey your parents or teachers, or any one else that would give you good instruction. I could tell you in several instances of what sad ends disobedient people have come to. You remember the case of the prophet who was killed by the lion; and also of Jonah who was cast into the sea.

The next are deceitful thoughts. It is sad to deceive any one, and the consequences will be bitter. You remember what trouble Jacob got into through trying to deceive his father; and as deception and lying go hand in hand, be sure you strive against them.

The next are foolish thoughts.

Every

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