The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair, And its soul, full of music, breaks forth on the air When the song of the angel is sung.

It is coming, Old Earth, it is coming to-night,

On the snow-flakes which cover thy sod;
The feet of the Christ-child fall gentle and white,

And the voice of the Christ-child tells out with delight, That mankind are the children of God.

On the sad and the lonely, the wretched and poor,
That voice of the Christ-child shall fall;
And to every blind wanderer open the door

Of a hope that he dared not dream of before,
With a sunshine of welcome for all.

The feet of the humblest may walk in the field,
Where the feet of the holiest have trod;
This, this is the marvel to mortals revealed
When the silvery trumpets of Christmas have pealed,
That mankind are the children of God.

A

-Phillips Brooks.

A CHINESE TESTAMENT.

CHINESE merchant came into the American Baptist Mission Chapel in Shanghai, and, after talking with him for a short time, Dr. Yates sold him a copy of the New Testament. He took it home 300

miles away, and, after about three months, appeared again in the chapel. He came back to say that he was under the impression that the book was not complete, that it must surely have other parts, and so he came to get the Old Testament as he read and studied the New. What had he done with the New Testament? He had taken it to his home and shown it to the schoolmaster and the reading people. They said, "This is a good book. Confucius himself must have had something to do with it." As there was only one copy, they unstitched this one and took it leaf by leaf, and all those who could write took a leaf home. They made twelve or fifteen complete copies

It was

of the New Testament, and introduced it into their schools without any "conscience clause." introduced as a class-book throughout that district for heathen schools.-Episcopal Recorder.

DID you ever think why we call the cat puss? A great many years ago, the people of Egypt, who have many idols, worshipped the cat. They thought she was like the moon, because she was more active at night, and because her eyes change, just as the moon changes, which is sometimes full and sometimes only a little bright crescent. So these people made an idol with the cat's head, and named it Pasht, the same name they give to the moon; for the word means the face of the moon. That word has been changed to pas or pus, and has come at last to puss, the name which almost everyone gives to the cat.

WORTH STUDYING.

Few people realize fully that many a little makes a mickle when applied to systematic benevolence. In connection with the "offertory calendar," which we have already commended, the following table has been compiled. It is easy to see how, in this way, large sums can be given in very small amounts. These figures are worth studying:

$65 per year. 91 per year. 130 per year. 325 per year. 130 per year. 182 per year. 260 per year. 650 per year. 260 per year. 365 per year. 520 per year.

25 people giving 5 cents a week give 25 people giving 1 cent a day give 25 people giving 10 cents a week give 25 people giving 25 cents a week give 50 people giving 5 cents a week give 50 people giving 1 cent a day give 50 people giving 10 cents a week give 50 people giving 25 cents a week give 100 people giving 5 cents a week give 100 people giving 1 cent a day give 100 people giving 10 cents a week give 100 people giving 25 cents a week give 1,300 per year.

THE STAY-AWAYS.

Plenty of them everywhere, little and big, old and young. Here are some of their reasons:

1. "Don't like the preacher." Well, my friend, Strange to say, some don't like Christ. if you were a preacher somebody wouldn't like you. Read II.

Thess., iii, 1, and I. Tim. v., 17.

2. "So and so is a hypocrite; I won't go where he goes." Then you should by all means prove that you are not. "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

3. Wife won't go; husband won't go; don't like to leave wife or husband home alone." No husband or wife has the right to be a bad example to the other. Marriage is "in the Lord." God never meant marriage to justify a bad example.

4. "I've been snubbed." Then why not quit all business? If being snubbed is a valid reason for quitting the Lord's business, it is an equally valid reason for quitting your own. Why don't you close your shops and stores, and leave your offices, and throw down your tools? The world is full of snubbers and the snubbed. Christ endured the contradiction of sinners; so must you and I. Kindle anew hot fires of love to God and men.

5. "The church isn't sociable; they are all icebergs." Be sociable yourself, then. Their sin is no excuse for yours. Don't run like a coward to another church, because the battle is hard in your own.

6. "Don't like rented pews; don't like free pews." Perhaps the real difficulty is that you don't like to support any system. You are always welcome at the house of God, free pews or rented pews. And you will be there if your heart cries out for God.Selected.

DON'T

How swift and sure one word can go,
How would we weigh with utmost care
Each thought before it sought the air,
And only speak the words that move
Like white-winged messengers of love!
-I E. Dikenza.

FAULT FINDING.

ON'T get into the habit of fault-finding, says a writer in the Ladies' Home Journal. It's the easiest thing to do and the hardest thing to stop in the wide, wide, world. It ruins your temper and spoils the shape of your mouth. Try and see the good rather than the disagreeable in the people and your surroundings. You wouldn't go into a friend's house and find fault with what she does and with what she has, and her way of living; what right have you then to find fault with those who are more than friends to you,-the people of your own blood? If there is a grace we are all stingy with, it is that of giving praise, and yet is one which we ought to lavish.

your

Why should you tell friend that her bonnet is becoming when you have never said this to your sister? Why should you go out to tea and praise your neighbor's muffins when you have forgotten to tell mother how good hers were? Why should you announce how much Mr. Wilson over the way knows, when father is a deal better informed man, and it has never entered your little head to whiper quietly to him how much you appreciate his wisdom. You keep your ability to discover faults, for the home, while the eye that should look for virtues is closed tightly until you go out. Don't wait until someone has gone to tell of their virtues.

Don't wait until sister is far away in another land to tell her how helpful, how pretty, or how courteous she is, and don't wait until the weary hands are crossed and the long sleep has come before you make mother know what a beautiful blue her eyes are, how tender is her heart, and how dearly you love her. Tell it all now-now when the walk through life is hard, and the sunshine of praise is yearned for to brighten it, and to warm and encourage the pilgrim by the wayside.

MR. SPURGEON AND THE DYING BOY.

orphanage, and in it was a dying boy. Mr. Spurgeon sat down by the little cot, and in a voice full of tenderness said to him:

"My dear, you have a great many precious promises all around this room, and do you know you are not going to stay with us long? Do you love Jesus?'

"'Yes.'

"Jesus loves you better than you love Him, and He is going to take you to Himself. There will be no suffering there. Did you have a good night?' "No, sir; I coughed all night.'

"Ah, my child, coughing all night and weary all day. Here, outside are the boys overflowing with health, and you coughing all night, weary all night -but Jesus loves you; and He is going to take you to Him, and then He will tell you all about it, and then you will be glad you waited here so patiently.' "And without any formality he said:

"Jesus, Master, this little child is coming; give him a warm grasp of Thy hand. Love him, and guide him through the dark waters. Lift him up as

a mother lifts and comforts her child.' "Turning to the boy, he said, 'Are you quite happy here? Nurse, can we not get something to please him? Something that will gratify him? My dear, would you not like to have a bird in a little cage? We will hang it up by the bedside, and in the morning you shall hear the bird sing. Good-bye. will be in heaven before I see you again.'

You

"In such simplicity as this," says Mr. Gough, "did Mr. Spurgeon preach the Gospel."

"PEACE with heaven is the best friendship." WHAT is resignation? Placing God between ourselves and our trouble.-Madame Sevetchin.

THE crosses we make for ourselves by anxiety as to the future are not the crosses sent by God.Fenelon.

BE happy, because God's face is shining down upon you every minute of your life, full of tenderness and love. Be happy, because you are preparing to take a far journey past this "vale of tears" into a heavenly home, to meet God, and to meet those you have loved on earth.

You can train the eye to see all the bright places in your life, and to slip over the hard ones with surprising ease. You can also train the eye to rest on the gloomy spots, in utter forgetfulness of all that is bright and beautiful. The former is the better education. Life is too short to nurse one's misery. Hurry across the lowlands that you may linger on the mountain tops.-The Parishioner.

་་

"I have strength for the work of a million of men.
Your ships I will carry; your carriages draw
(Jamie looked in surprise, but no giant he saw).

"I can print all your books, and your cloth I could weave;
Your grain I will grind, if you'll but give me leave ;
Great weights I can lift, as you quickly will see,
Only give me more room. Come, my lad, set me free."
Just then grandma awoke, and she cried: "Lazy thing,
Have you nothing to do but hear tea-kettles sing?"
But he answered her gently, and told her his plan--
More room for the giant to do all he can.

Just a dream? No, indeed! You will own it was not,
When I tell you the name of the lad was James Watt.
'Twas the giant who's working for you and for me,
Aren't you glad that he listened, and then set him free.
-S. E. Eastman.

A LETTER WRITTEN BY MARTIN LUTHER TO HIS LITTLE SON HANSCHEN.

"G

RACE and peace in Christ to my heartily dear little son.

"I see gladly that thou learnest well and prayest earnestly. Do this, my little son, and go on. When I come home, I will bring thee a beautiful fairy. I know a pleasant garden, wherein many children walk about. They have little golden coats, and pick up beautiful apples under the trees, and pears, cherries, and plums. They dance and are merry, and have beautiful little ponies, with golden reins and silver saddles. Then I asked the man whose the garden is, whose children those were. He said: These are the children who love to pray, who learn their lessons and are good.' Then said I: 'Dear man, I also have a little son: he is called Hanschen Luther. Might not he also come into the garden, that he might eat such apples and pears, and ride on such beautiful little ponies, and play with these children?' Then the man said: 'If he loves to pray, learns his lessons, and is good, he also shall come into the garden. Lippus and Jost also (the little sons of Melancthon and Justus Jonas); and when they all come together, they also shall have pipes, drums, lutes and all kinds

of music; and shall dance, and shall shoot with little bows and arrows.'

rows.

"And he showed me there a fair meadow in the garden, prepared for dancing. There were many pipes of pure gold, drums, and silver bows and arBut it was still early in the day, so that the children had not had their breakfasts. Therefore I could not wait for the dancing, and said to the man : 'Ab, dear sir, I will go away at once, and write all this to my little son, Hanschen, that he may be sure to pray and to learn well, and be good, that he may also come into the garden. But he has a good aunt, Lena; he must bring her with him.' Then said the man, 'Let it be so; go and write him this.'

"Therefore, my dear little son Hanschen, learn thy lessons and pray with a cheerful heart; and tell all this to Lippus and Justus too, that they also may learn their lessons and pray. So shall you also come together into this garden. Here with I commend you to the Almighty God; and greet Aunt Lena, and give her a kiss from me. Thy dear father,

"MARTIN LUTHER."

"Some who have seen this letter say it is too trifling for such serious subjects. But heaven is not a grim and austere, but a most bright and joyful place, and Dr. Luther is only telling the child in his own childish language what a happy place it is. Does not God, our Heavenly Father, do even so with us?" -Schonberg-Cotta Family.

AN OLD DITTY EXPLAINED.

You all know the old "Sing a Song a Sixpence." Have you ever read what it means? The four-andtwenty blackbirds represent twenty-four hours. The bottom of the pie is the world, the top crust is the sky that overarches it. The opening of the pie is day dawn, when the birds begin to sing, and surely such a sight is "a dainty dish to set before the king." The king who is represented as sitting in his parlor counting his money is the sun, while the gold pieces that slip through his fingers are golden sunshine. The queen, who sits in the dark kitchen, is the moon, and the honey with which she regales herself is the moonlight. The industrious maid who is in the gar den at work before the king-the sun-has risen, is the day dawn, and the clothes she hangs out are the clouds, while the bird which so tragically ends the song by "nipping off her nose" is the hour of sunset. So we have the whole day in a pie.

THERE never did, and there never will, exist any thing permanently noble and excellent in the charac ter which is a stranger to the exercise of resolute self-denial.

The next day just the same thing happened. The like inquiry was made and the like response received. So it was the night after, and all through the year. The other young man would smile, and ask "What was the good of it;" but at last he took it as a matter of course, and said no more. In ten years, one fact a day had made more than three thousand facts, and when they were given to the public in a work called "Chamber's Encyclopædia," the world got the benefit, and the young man became famous. But few people thought of the patience and perseverance which the compiler had exercised through those ten long years which went before; nor did they know that all was the produce of spare moments in a life taken up with ceaseless toil.

One fact a day! It does not seem much, but see what it comes to! One flake of snow-how small! -but one flake upon another, and the whole face of the earth is changed. Take the lesson, and try and learn something fresh every day; at the end of the year take stock, as it were, of your gains, and you will be surprised at your store. For "many a mickle makes a muckle." That was what Robert Chambers found. Child's Companion.

THE PRESENT TIME IS THE ONLY TIME.

A ferry steamer plying between Cheshire and Liverpool struck against a large anchored vessel with an alarming crash.

Some of the passengers leaped into the water in terror, but the greater number were saved.

That evening some boys on the main deck of a training ship heard a voice through the fog, saying faintly, "Save me!" They told the officer, but he doubted. They returned on deck and heard the thrilling cry again, "Save me!" The boys gave the alarm a second time, but were put off. When the - cry was heard a third time, as from some one near at hand, the officer cried: "Is there anyone there?" And through the fog there came back a very faint answer, “Yes, yes." A boat was instantly lowered, but nothing was found. That "Yes" had been the last effort. The most important events that can possibly happen in a lifetime may depend upon our remembering that the time to help is "Now," and that "Now" means "Now"-for everything.

A man from Woonsocket, obliged to visit Boston on business, timed his trip so as to be able to hear Mark Twain lecture at Tremont Temple. By some misunderstanding he mistook the day and happened in on one of Mr. Cook's lectures. He listened to the long discourse without discovering his mistake, thinking all the time that the lecturer was the famous humorist. On his return to Woonsocket, his family questioned him as to the lecture. "Were it funny?" was asked. "Wall," slowly replied the traveller; "it was funny, but it warn't so desperate funny !”— Exchange.

A HINT TO GRUMBLERS.

"What a noisy world this is !" croaked an old frog, as he squatted on the margin of the pool. "Do you hear those geese, how they scream and hiss? What do they do it for ?" "Oh, just to amuse themselves!" answered a little field-mouse. "Presently we shall have the owls hooting; what is that for?" "It's the music they like the best!" said the mouse. "And those grasshoppers; they can't go home without grinding and chirping; why do they do that?" "Oh, they are so happy they can't help it!" said the mouse. "You find excuses for all. I believe you don't understand music, so you like the hideous noises." "Well, friend, to be honest with you," said the mouse, "I don't greatly admire any of them; but they are all sweet in my ears compared with the constant croaking of a frog."-Christian Commonwealth.

THEY LISTENED.-A young divinity student from Harvard, who was passing a portion of his vacation in West Gouldsboro, occupied the pulpit of the quaint little chapel there on a recent Sabbath morning. Waxing eloquent with his theme he sought to embellish his discourse with numerous flights of poetic fancy and allegorical illustrations. Pausing a moment after one of these supreme efforts, he continued: "And now, my friends, let us listen to the low, sweet prelude." At this juncture a cow beneath one of the windows launched forth into a series of such vigorous, discordant bellowing as would have made the trombone player of a German street band green with envy.-Lewiston (Me.) Journal.