It was a weary way that he had to tread in order to regain anything like the position in society from which a bad book had cast him down. In a large work-room a number of young women were assembled, engaged busily on various articles of fashionable attire. While they worked, an exciting tale was read to them; a practice, we are told, which is not uncommon. Some of these young persons were well acquainted with town life; others had recently arrived from the country. Two of these were especially fascinated with the romance to which they listened. Their path hitherto had been a retired one, and their conduct correct; they had been contented with lowly life, and had not forgotten the lessons learned in early youth; but now a new world opened before them; why should not they shine and be admired as well as others? Henceforth they lived in a world of imagination, and built gay castles, in which they expected to dwell. While in this frame, temptation accosted them, and virtue gave way after a few assaults. They sacrificed character, and all that should have been dear to them, in hope of realising the worldly pleasures of which they had read. They did so for a time, but oh, how short was the gay dream! how terrible the awakening! how bitter the reality which followed! Ah! who can count the number of young women who have first become delirious by drink. ing of these polluted fountains, and have then rushed on to certain and terrible destruction? Surely the Bible, with its vast variety of subjects, and the multitude of other good and useful books which are in sympathy with the Bible, might well satisfy the minds of the young. Dear young friends, be not enticed to read books of another kind, even if recommended to you; waste not precious time on trash; choose not to dwell in a pestilent air; drink not poison because it is sweetened by genius, and served up in a cup made elegant by art. Do not try experiments with your moral constitution. It is said of some enthusiast in 66 science, who was in the habit of trying the effect of various herbs and minerals upon himself, that he had at last to write, "Such and such a herb is rank poison, and the proof of it is, I am dying." There are many books too commonly used which are slow poisons," and work evil in three ways-by implanting sentiments in the mind which are opposed to the spirit and genius of the Gospel; by producing a distaste for the Bible and for solid reading; and by begetting or strengthening a taste for that which is fictitious, imaginative, and not to be found in real life. One of the most dreadful things in human nature is, "man's strange appetite for poisons." We pity the victims of ardent spirits in Britain, and the slaves of opium in China, but we must not overlook the vast numbers who take moral poison, and apply it directly to the soul. Let us by every means warn them, and urge them to study God's Word. It It Concerning that blessed book, good Bishop Jewell has truly said, "The Word of God is the water of life: the more you lave it forth, the fresher it runneth. It is the fire of God's glory; the more you blow it, the clearer it burneth. It is the corn of the Lord's field; the better you grind it, the more it yieldeth. It is the bread of heaven; the more it is broken and given forth, the more remaineth. is the sword of the Spirit; the more it is scoured, the brighter it shineth." Blessed, indeed, are those who have a taste for, and delight in, God's holy Word. is a sad thing to dream away life amidst imaginary scenes, and never feel "the power of that world to come" of which the Bible speaks; to weep over woes which never happened, and have no sympathy with the Man of Sorrows who died to save sinners from eternal woe; to admire a well-got-up dramatic scene, and never wonder at the great scheme of redeeming love. From such folly may the Holy Spirit save the young reader, by leading him to drink constantly and largely of the life-giving fountain of truth. From a Tract by F. Cox, M THE CALCULATING BOY. ANY boys and girls have a great dislike to doing sums, and will often spend a long time scratching and drawing on their slates instead of trying to unravel the difficulties of arithmetic ; and although some boys might be able to work out the answer correctly with the help of pen or pencil, yet few, if any, could work it out in their brains without any external assistance. the following history of a very wonderful boy will show what can be done, and which example, we trust, will fire some of our young readers to try and do likewise. But The boyhood of George Parker Bidder -whose death has recently taken place at an advanced age-is thus spoken of by the World : "At the time when the safety of England lay in her wooden walls, and English folks roared themselves hoarse with the singing of patriotic songs, little George Bidder, who once ran away to sea, but was captured on the road by a friendly carrier, was learning the rudiments of numbers from his brother, who taught him to count up to one hundred. He was the son of a stonemason in Morton Hampstead, a village on the edge of picturesque Dartmoor. The child, at the time he learned to count, did not know one written or printed figure from another; and, without knowing the meaning of the word 'multiply,' taught himself with a bag of shot a sort of natural multiplication table up to ten times ten, beyond which he never went. He arranged the shot in little squares, and on making a square of eight shot on each side, acquired the conviction that eight times eight made sixty-four as a matter of fact and not of theory. Having advanced thus far, little George made the acquaintance of the village blacksmith, a kind old man, who allowed him to run about his workshop and listen to the strange legends and quaint stories of Dartmoor, retailed by village gossips round the forge. In his own words, 'As my strength increased, I was raised to the dignity of being permitted to blow the bellows for him; and on winter evenings I was allowed to perch myself on his forge hearth, listening to his stories. On one of these occasions, somebody by chance mentioned a sum, but whether it was nine times nine, or what it was, I do not now recollect, but whatever it was I gave the answer correctly. This occasioned some little surprise. They then asked me other questions, which I answered with equal facility. They then went on to ask me up to two places of figures.' "The fame of the calculating boy' spread around Morton Hampstead; and, encouragement coming in the shape of pence and praise, he practised continually, so that from two places of figures he advanced to four, five, and six places, and on one occasion to twelve places of figures. This was, it must be remembered, done by a boy of thirteen or fourteen years of age, who had only acquired a very elementary education. However, this was afterwards compensated by a regular course of study at Edinburgh University, and Mr. Bidder was in mature life a man of versatile acquirement. In the great Parliamentary fights, in which the Stephensons were engaged continuously, during the time that railways were being established in this country, Mr. Bidder earned a reputation as 'the best witness who ever entered a committee-room;' and wonderful stories are told of the way in which he posed hostile counsel, using the roughest, readiest repartee, and pouring out long strings of figures apparently without effort, and twiddling a bit of whipcord the while." This is only one instance out of thousands which show what perseverance can do, and seldom, if ever, has anyone honestly mounted the ladder of success in any other way. In youthful diligence POWER OF THE MICROSCOPE.—IS IT YOU? is often found the germ of future greatness. We are told in the Scriptures, "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;" and again it says, "Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings." But there is another passage that many of those who have risen from nothing to be men of whom Englishmen are proud overlook: "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Ah! the kingdom of God is forgotten by them, or, if thought of, put last instead of first; and what will earthly glory avail them in the hour of death? We want to see all our readers persevering, industrious, and seeking to improve themselves in life, but would urge them never to allow earthly success to make them forget that there is an incalculable eternity before them. "If such refined amusements please, As knowledge, arts, and learning, A moment puts an end to these, And sometimes short's the warning." EBENEZER. For POWER OF THE MICROSCOPE. OME years since it was discovered by the authorities of a railway in Germany that a barrel which, on being despatched from a certain station, contained silver coin, had, during the journey to its destination, been emptied of its contents and filled with sand. some time no clue to the perpetrator of the robbery could be discovered; but at length a learned professor having been consulted on the subject, called in the aid of the microscope; and this is how the thief was found out: The professor knowing that, even though in the very minutest degree, there was a distinctive difference in the sand found near the various stations along the railway line, sent for samples of it from each of the places through which the train containing the silver coin had passed. With the microscope he then carefully examined each sample, compared it with the sand 23 found in the barrel, and thus identified the station from which the latter had been procured. Having, in this ingenious manner, found out the station he wanted, little difficulty remained; for the railway servants employed at it, by one of whom the robbery had been committed, were so few in number, that the culprit was readily detected.-Little Folks. [How often have thefts and murders been discovered by simple means like this! Men think to escape detection, but here a few grains of sand tell the tale. All these things are God's servants. He bids them do His will, to bring the offender to justice. "That which is hidden bringeth He forth to the light."] IS IT YOU? THERE is a child—a boy or girl— Who doesn't mind when spoken to, I know a child-a boy or girl- Who struck a little playmate child; There is a boy whose conduct grieves There is a girl-a girl I know— And if I tell what's true, She proves she is both proud and vain; I know a child who hears the Word As though it was not true, Children there are who, seeking, find The Saviour good and true; Who've left for Christ the world behind; I wish it may be you. W THE GIANT CITIES ITH the first dawn of the new morning, I went up to the flat roof of Sheikh Assad's house. The house is in the highest part of the town of Hît, and commands a wide view of the northern section of the mountain range, and of the surrounding plain. The sky was cloudless, and of that dark, deep blue which one never sees in this land of clouds and haze. The rain of the preceding day had cleared the atmosphere and rendered it transparent as crystal. The sun was not yet up, but his beams shed a rich glow over the whole Eastern sky, making it gleam like burnished gold, and throwing out into bold relief a ridge of wood-clad peaks that here shut in the view. From the base of the mountain on the north a smooth plain, already green with young grass, extended away beyond the range of vision, dotted here and there with conical tells,* on whose tops were the remains of ancient fortresses and villages. But on the west lay the chief objects of interest, the wide-spread rock-fields of Argob, the rich pasture lands of Bashan encircling them, and running away in one unbroken expanse to the base of Hermon. Long and intently did my eyes dwell on that magnificent landscape. Now the strange old cities rivetted my attention, rising up in gloomy grandeur fron the sea of rocks. Now the great square towers, and castellated heights and tells along the rugged border of Argob were minutely examined through a powerful glass; and now the eye wandered eagerly over the plain beyond, noting one and another and another of those dark cities that stud it so thickly. On the western horizon rose Hermon, a spotless pyramid of snow; and from it, northward, ran the serried, snow-capped ridge of "Lebanon, toward the sunrising" (Josh. xiii. 5). As I looked on that western barrier of Bashan, the first sunbeams touched the * Hills. OF BASHAN. crest of Hermon; and as they touched it, its icy crown glistened like polished steel, reminding me how strikingly descriptive was the name given to that mountain by the Amorites-Shenir, the "breastplate," or "shield" (Deut. iii. 9). For an hour or more I sat wrapped in the contemplation of the wide and wondrous panorama. At least a thousand square miles of Og's ancient kingdom were spread out before me. There was the country whose "giant" (Rephaim, Gen. xiv.) inhabitants the Eastern kings smote before they descended into the plain of Sodom. There were those "three-score great cities" of Argob, whose "walls and gates and brazen bars were noted with surprise by Moses and the Israelites, and whose Cyclopean architecture and massive stone gates even now fill the western traveller with amazement, and give his simplest descriptions much of the charm and strangeness of romance. So clear was the air that the outline of the most distant objects was sharp and distinct. Hermon itself, though forty miles away, did not seem more than eight or ten, when the sun embossed its furrowed sides with light and shade. I was at length roused from a pleasing reverie by the deep voice of Sheikh Assad giving a cordial and truly patriarchal salutation. "What a glorious view you have from this commanding spot! I said, when the compliments were over. "Yes, we can see the Bedawîn at a great distance, and have time to prepare for them," was his characteristic reply. "What do the desert tribes, then, trouble you here? and do they even venture to plunder the Druses?" "Not a spot of border land is safe from their raids, and Druses, Moslems, and Christians are alike to them. In fact, their hand is against all. When the Anezeh come up in the spring, their flocks cover that plain like |