committed to memory, in one week, 517 verses in the New Testament, and on the following Sunday recited them well. This scholar is sixteen years of age, but has hitherto had only limited opportunities. He is a labourer, and has to work during the week, earning his bread by the sweat of his brow. He, however, redeems his moments of leisure; and by doing so, makes a proficiency that may at once serve as a rebuke and encouragement to all who are anxious to learn. It is with much pleasure that we learn from his superintendent in the Sundayschool, that he does not recite his lessons mechanically without understanding them, but that he comprehends the Scriptures he commits as well as could be expected of one in his circumstances.

THE LESSONS OF LIFE. THE difficulties of life teach us wisdom; its vanities, humility; its calumnies, piety; its hopes, resignation; its sufferings, charity; its afflictions, fortitude; its necessities, prudence; its brevity, the value of time; and its dangers and uncertainties a constant dependence upon a higher and all-protecting Power. HEALTH.

HEALTH has been called a third blessing of life; a good conscience and a happy temper being the other two.

THE CHURCHES

A CONTRAST.

THE church of Christ is built on him, Its stones are human souls;

"T was his own blood it did redeem, His spirit them controls.

But human churches take their stand On acts of human will;

They must succumb to man's demands, They rest on human skili.

All human churches long have stood
By swords of tempered steel,

Those swords which draw forth human blood,

That make the body feel.

But Jesu's church disowns all swords, But that by Jesus given,

The Spirit of the written word,

Which guides the saints in heaven!
All human churches, they must fall,
When earthly things give way;
For earth and forms to them are all,
They are their only stay.

But Jesu's church, that's built by love,
And is in Christ made one,
Is destined to be built above,
When earth itself is gone.

If you would be in safety found,
When earthly churches fall,
You must forsake all earthly ground,
And build on Christ the "ALL."
W. WOOD.

SPEAK KINDLY.

BY SOPHIA WEBSTER.

SPEAK kindly, speak kindly; ye know not the power

Of a soft and gentle word,

As its tones, in a sad and troubled hour,
By the weary heart are heard.

Ye know not how often it falls to bless
The stranger amid his weariness;
How many a blessing is round thee thrown
By the magic spell of a soft low tone.
Speak kindly, then, kindly; there's no-
thing lost

By gentle words-to the heart and ear Of the sad and lonely they're dear, how dear!

And they nothing cost.

Speak kindly to childhood. Oh! do not fling

A cloud o'er life's early sky; But cherish it well-a holy thing Is the heart in its purity. Enough of sorrow the cold world hath, Enough of care in its later path; And ye do a wrong if ye seek to throw O'er the fresh young spirit a shade of woe. Speak kindly, then, kindly; there's nothing lost

By gentle words-to the heart and ear Of joyous childhood they're dear, how dear!

And they nothing cost.

Speak kindly to age-a weary way

Is the rough and toilsome road of life; And one by one its joys decay,

And its hopes go out 'mid its lengthened

strife.

Oh! how often the word that is kindly spoken

Will bind up the heart that is well nigh

broken.

Then pass not the feeble and aged one
With a careless and slight cold tone;
But kindly, speak kindly; there's nothing
lost

By gentle words-to the heart and ear Of the care-worn and weary they're dear, how dear!-

And they nothing cost.

Speak kindly to those who are haughty and cold,

Ye know not the thoughts that are dwelling there;

Ye know not the feelings that struggle untold:

Oh! every heart hath its burden of care. And the curl of the lip, and the scorn of

Of the proud and haughty they're often dear

And they nothing cost.

Speak kindly ever-oh! cherish well
The light of a gentle tone;

It will fling round thy pathway a magic spell,

A charm that is all its own.

But see that it springs from a gentle heart, That it need not the hollow aid of art; Let it gush in its joyous purity,

From its home in the heart all glad and free.

Speak kindly, then, kindly; there's nothing lost

By gentle words-to the heart and ear Of all who hear them they're dear, how dear!

And they nothing cost.

THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL.
GOLD! gold! gold! gold!
Bright and yellow, hard and cold,
Molten, graven, hammer'd, and roll'd;
Heavy to get, and light to hold;
Hoarded, barter'd, bought, and sold;
Stolen, borrow'd, squander'd, doled;
Spurned by the young, but hugged by the
old,

To the very verge of the churchyard mould;
Price of many a crime untold,
Gold! gold! gold! gold!
Good or bad a thousand fold.

How widely its agencies vary;
To save, to ruin, to curse, to bless;
And even its minted coin express-
Now stamped with the image of good
Queen Bess,

And now of bloody Mary. THOMAS HOOD.

A CHILD CONSECRATED TO
IDOLATRY.

THE Rev. T. Boaz states that a mis

sionary was once standing near the temple of a very celebrated and cruel idol, when a father approached the shrine of a goddess. He led by the hand an interesting little boy, his son, probably his first-born, and it may be his only son. The little fellow was very much alarmed; for there was a great crowd of worshippers; and the musicians were beating their shrill drums, and sounding their hoarse trumpets, and crying aloud in honour of the goddess, and they were bowing frantically before the altar. The blood of goats and other animals was flowing near him, which had just been sacrificed to the goddess. Amidst all this confusion, the little fellow was afraid, and he clung fast to his father, now looking round at the people, and then at the goddess, and then at his father, as much as to say, "Do, father, save me from these cruel people!" But no: his father had brought him to consecrate him to the service of the goddess; and to do this, he put into the poor boy's hand a piece of silver. This the boy handed to the priest; and then the father handed to the priest two sharp-pointed pieces of iron, which the priest sprinkled with the sacred water of the river Ganges, and returned to the parent. They were then handed to a cruel man, who (while the poor boy was gazing in wonder and horror around) plunged one, if not both, into his naked side! The boy shrieked, and clung to his father. The musicians beat their drums

and sounded their trumpets; the priests raised their voices to drown the crying of the boy; and he was borne away, bleeding and terrified, from the scene, by his deluded but now happy father, who supposed that his son was consecrated by the goddess in this most cruel act. Verily, is it not true that the dark parts of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty?

A BIBLE-CLASS PUPIL.

IN the city of New York lived a little boy who appeared to take little or no interest in learning, so that he was pronounced by his teacher a very dull scholar. He learned to read but very slowly, and finally neglected the school, thinking he should never succeed. There was a Bible-class organized, which he was induced to attend. And here he soon began to manifest an interest in the study of the Scriptures. He learned to read well, which much astonished his father, who was a very wicked man. One Sabbath his father took some nails and a hammer to nail up a fence, when he was reproved by his little son, who spoke about working on the Sabbath-day, and invited him to attend public worship. The enraged father drove him from his presence, and threatened to punish him if he ever talked so again. The child went away sorrowful. Not long after this, as the little boy returned from public worship, he went and looked over his father's shoulder, and observed that he was reading Hume's History of England. He went into the middle of the

to heaven is because God and Christ are there. Is this the reason why you wish to go there? Or do you think of heaven only as the place where there will be no more pain, sickness, or sorrow; and where you may enjoy streets of gold, gates of pearl, honours, and pleasures? If there were some other world where you could have all these, away from the presence of God, would not the thought of it be quite as pleasing?

THE LAST MEANS.

AN old teacher at Osnabruch, long since dead, had once in his school & very wicked boy, with whom all kinds of punishment, entreaties, admonitions, threats, keeping after school-time, can

THE LOST CHILD.

C.

ONE day a shepherd in Scotland took his little boy with him as well as his dog. The child was only three years old. The father left him alone while he looked after some sheep, when suddenly a thick fog came on. The poor man could not find his child; he hoped he had gone home, but when he inquired he found his wife had not seen him. Both father and mother searched round, but no child was seen. Next morning they gave their dog a piece of bread for breakfast, as usual. As soon as the dog received it, he ran off with it very quickly. The next day the dog did go again. On the third day the shepherd thought, "I will go and see what the dog does with his bread." He followed him down many a difficult path, till at last he came to a steep waterfall. The shepherd, stepping from crag to crag, crossed the roaring stream.

On the other side, in a little hole in the rocks, sat a little boy eating a piece of bread, while the dog lay beside him, watching his young master, with love and pleasure in his looks. Oh how much delighted was the shepherd to find his child! The poor dog had gone without his breakfast for two days. The little boy had been afraid of cross

and so on, however often they had been inflicted upon him, had proved utterly useless. One day he committed another offence, and his fellow-pupils were in great expectation of the new punishment the teacher would assign to him. Then the venerable man spoke: "My children, you all of you know that I have tried every possible means to bring this offender into a better way; and you see every day that all my care, all my endeavours are in vain. Now, only one means is left to me, and if that too prove useless, the unhappy boy is lost for this life and eternity. Well, then, my children, kneel down, let us unite in fervent prayer for your poor fellow-pupil. NoThis all the chilthing else is left us." dren did. The wicked boy was startled; he was moved by the earnest prayer which the teacher offered, and mended his manners from that very hour.

RULES FOR THE YOUNG. DEAR children, while you sojourn here, Be these three rules your guide: Your great Creator love and fear,

And nothing fear beside.

Do unto others as you would

That they should do to you:
For evil rendering only good;

For railing, blessings too.
No action do, howe'er concealed,

Which you would blush to own;
Remembering all shall stand revealed
Before the judgment throne.
Thus pure and bless'd your lives shall
prove,

And, through eternity,
A God of holiness and love

Your great reward shall be.