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Do they love Jesus? Then let this be seen. them be gentle, loving, and true, in imitation of Him, Let them be ready to forgive those who injure them, for his sake. Let them be self-denying, because "He pleased not himself." Let them show their love to the Bible, to prayer, and to the house of God. Thus, even without words, many messages from God will be borne to the minds of others. Kind words, forgiving smiles, acts of self-denial, and proofs of love to Jesus, will be means of arousing many who before were careless to think of him, and to seek his salvation. So may we all carry forth some precious leaves of that Tree of Life which is "for the healing of the nations."

B. Y.

THE PALM-TREE.,

EVERY reader of the Bible knows something of the palm-tree. Almost every visitor of the Crystal Palace, at Sydenham, has admired the beautiful palm standing there in the great avenue of Sphinxes and near to the temple of Nineveh. The first resting-place of the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness was at Elim (Exodus xv. 27), where there were twelve wells and seventy palm-trees. Jericho was called the city of palm-trees, (Deut. xxxiv. 3; Judges i. 16,) from their abounding there. The city that Solomon built in the wilderness (1 Kings ix. 18), he called Tadmor, from the word signifying a palm; and its ruins are now known by the name of Palmyra.

Often, as in our picture, the palm-tree is found in

the midst of the barren desert, and seemingly rooted only in the burning sand; but the traveller digs down beneath the surface, and there he finds a secret spring of water that has never gushed up into the light, but there has spent itself on the beauty, greenness, and strength of that solitary tree. How glad a sig

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nal must its waving branches often be to the thirsty pilgrim! The fruit is the date, often the Arab's only food. The leaves grow at the top out of the pith, which is continually pushing itself outwards, and hardening so that the outer part of the stem is

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

27

always hard, its centre always soft; and as the tree grows tall there are left protuberances or knobs upon the bark where former leaves have fallen off. Sometimes the leaves grow to the length of seven or eight feet before they drop. They are gathered, however, in great quantities, to cover the roofs or sides of houses, for fences, framework, mats, and baskets. In some places they are used for writing on with a sharp point, and last a long while. Some very pretty letters have been sent from children in mission schools at Ceylon to children in England, scratched thus upon broad palm-leaves.

When the Romans conquered and destroyed Jerusalem, they pictured the Jewish people as a female sitting sadly under a palm-tree, refusing to be comforted. Underneath was the inscription, JUDÆA CAPTA: "Judæa made captive."

In the 92nd Psalm it is said, "The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree." It is a true and beautiful comparison. Our young readers will be able, from what we have said, to find out several points of likeness. It will be a pleasing and instructive exercise, and we leave it in their hands.

L. L. N.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR.

MR. EDITOR,-I am glad to see that our JUVENILE HERALD has appeared in a new and prettier shape, and that you mean to tell us, month after month, what the dear Missionaries are doing in heathen lands; if you do so, I am sure we shall all be very glad, and will try to get a good many more to read the HERALD, so that

others may know about the black children as well as ourselves.

I have often thought, Mr. Editor, that the children in our Sunday-schools could do more to help the Mission than they have done; and I hope your readers will commence this new year, intending to give “a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together," in giving and getting money to send the Bible and the Christian teacher into the dark parts of the world, which are still full of cruelty.

I have lying before me a large book full of figures, called "The Census Returns," and from it I learn that there are in England and Wales 1767 Sunday-schools, connected with Baptist chapels, containing 186,510 scholars and 28,500 teachers; now, I should like all this large number to help our Missionary Society, and I know they can, if they only try; last year more was collected in our Sunday-schools for the Baptist Missionary Society than had been in the previous year, but it is so small a sum, Mr. Editor, that I fear your readers will hardly credit it; but they must, for it is true the sum is only £1115 9s., which is equal to 12s. 7 d. each school, or less than 14d. each scholar; but many schools did much more-Lewisham-road School and New Park-street School gave each of them more than did the whole of the schools in seventeen counties; and three schools in the south of LondonLion-street, Walworth; Maze Pond, and New Parkstreet, Southwark, subscribed a larger sum than the whole of the Baptist schools in Manchester. Now, Mr. Editor, I very much wish our Sunday-school children and Sunday-school teachers to do more for the Mission; and I have just done a multiplication sum, which I wish all the boys and girls to work out, and if

YOUNG MEN'S MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

29

my result is wrong they must be sure and tell you. It is this

If each scholar in the 1767 schools gave one farthing a week, and each teacher gave one penny a week to the Baptist Missionary Society, what would it amount to at the end of the year? I make it, that the scholars would give the noble sum of £10,102 12s. 6d., and the teachers £6175, or £16,277 12s. 6d. together. Who cannot give so small a sum as one farthing a week? Well, perhaps some of the very poor children cannot; therefore, those who can give more, of course will; and if teachers and scholars all give out of love to the Saviour, feeling how much he has loved them in dying on the cross for them, and how many blessings we all enjoy through his death, then we shall be happy in giving and earnest in praying,

"That every heathen child may know,

What blessings Jesus can bestow."

New Year's Day, 1855.

UNCLE EDWARD.

YOUNG MEN'S MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

LETTER II.

DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-If you had heard Mr. Phillips, the Missionary, deliver the lectures on India that I mentioned in my last letter, (and I wish you had,) you would have thought it very sad, that a country so extensive, so fertile, and beautiful, should be filled with idolatry; and if you had heard his description of the people-the different races and tribes-it would have made your heart bleed to think that so many, many millions of human beings, with immortal souls, bow down and worship idols, which they believe to be gods that hare done the most wicked, cruel, and abominable things.

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