taken for their morning's talk only a day or two before she left Feversham; and Ethel could not but remember something of what her uncle had said about it. Ah, dear reader, a tiny hand may often ease the burden that lies heavily upon the heart of another. Ethel's arm was round May when she ended, and she said gently, 'It would have been better if you had told them, dear May; or at least told Mrs Morson. It was not right to take the prize when you knew you had not fairly gained it; and I am sure you think so now.' 6 May looked up; her tears stopped by surprise. Ethel, I thought you would be so vexed, I hardly dare tell you.' 'It is not for me to be vexed, May. I am very sorry; and you are sorry too, now, I think.' At that moment Gertie's voice was heard calling, 'May, May, what in the world have you done with yourself? papa wants to see your prize.' Oh, what shall I do? I cannot go!' exclaimed May. 'You must go, May; you must tell papa all about it. I will bring the box out of mamma's room for you, while you bathe your face; and then you must go to papa. May is coming directly, Gertie,' Ethel said, as she met her little sister outside. Mr Linton was in the tiny room at the back of the house, called by courtesy his study, | though its uses were manifold. May was there for some time. Ethel waited rather anxiously for her return. At last she came, carrying the box which had been such a source of trouble. She put it on the table, and threw herself into a chair, without speaking. Well, May, Ethel said, when she had waited a little while, what did papa say? you have told him of course.' 'Yes; and he says I must take the box back, and tell Mrs Morson all about it. I don't want the box, I am sure; I hate the very sight of it. But as for telling Mrs Morson; I can't do it, Ethel.' It is just the very thing you must do, May, before you can be right and happy again: you would not have her think you had gained a prize when you have not. Besides, it belongs to Louisa Thompson.' 'Well, I suppose if I must, I must,' replied May, disconsolately. Ethel did not answer; she stood for a few minutes thinking; then she went up to May, and kneeling down by her, drew her head till it rested on her shoulder. 'May darling, I think aunt Ethel would say we ought to look less at what papa and Mrs Morson think than what God thinks,' she said, in a low grave tone. May started, but did not speak. 'Perhaps you never remembered, May, that when you copied Mary's theme and passed it for your own, God was looking down and saw it all: you took care that none of the girls were present, but you could not help God being there; and it was a lie in His sight, May.' 'Oh, Ethel, I never once thought of that!' exclaimed May. 'Ah, well! I don't suppose I should, if it had not been for aunt Ethel. But I think we ought to be more sorry for having grieved Him than for anything else, May.' 'I will tell Mrs Morson,' said May, earnestly, if only you will go with me, Ethel.' 'I will go if you wish it, May, and it had better be done this afternoon.' Mr Linton did not in the least allude to what had passed between him and May, but his children thought him more than usually stern during dinner. Ethel went with her sister to Mrs Morson's, and May was heartily glad to return the workbox into her hands. Mrs Morson spoke gravely but kindly to her of her fault, and told her she was very glad that she had confessed it at once. The prize could not in justice be hers-that it must be Louisa's—but Mrs Morson hoped she would be fairly entitled to one the next half year, if she could only overcome her indolent habits: that was at the bottom of her frequent failures. 'I forgive you, May,' she said in conclusion, but do not forget that you need a far higher forgiveness; seek for that, my child, and for grace to be more watchful in the future.' It was with a much lighter heart than May had known for the last three days that she left the house; and Ethel was quite pleased with Mrs Morson and her kindness. Gertie wondered what had become of them: she wanted May to display the beauties of her prize, which she had not yet examined; and her surprise and dismay were unbounded, when she learnt that they had just taken it back to Mrs Morson. Indeed she burst into tears at the loss; nor would she believe that what the girls had said was true-not even when May sorrowfully told her the whole story; and it was some time before she would admit that her darling May was not so faultless as she had thought her. (To be continued.) A MODERN PILGRIMAGE. In the early part of the last year India presented a spectacle such as the world has not witnessed since Xerxes with his hosts invaded Greece. We refer to the fair at Hurdwar, where nearly three millions gathered from all parts of the country to bathe in the sacred Ganges. Imagine a multitude so great as to | require for its encampment an area of twenty square miles, and you can form an idea of the extent of this pilgrimage. The one spot in the river to which every pilgrim of this host turned his steps, can only be approached by two roads. the wider being about twenty feet broad. Through these two openings the mighty tide of devotees rushed. Such were the precautions used, that this vast volume of human life was controlled, its passions and its fanaticism restrained, health and order preserved, and the outlets through the prescribed line of boundary were successfully guarded. To avoid collisions strong barricades were erected, which led the bathers to the stream. They entered an esplanade, which led to the river. After bathing they were promptly moved on to the opposite esplanade by means of bridges, from which they made their way back to the encampment by another route. With a crowd of more than two millions this was no easy task. A portion of the bathing place was barricaded for the safety of the bathers, heavy barricades were erected bounding the esplanades and the avenues to the gates, ten temporary but strong bridges were thrown across the stream, and a large body of police distributed over the area to enforce all preconcerted arrangements. Their success may be reckoned by the fact, that only one life was lost, and that by the fall of a house which supported a heavy barricade, against which, owing to some passing cause, there was unusual pressure for the moment. The difficulty of controlling the multitude of pilgrims who swarmed the road, was increased by the passions and rivalries of sects. There were large bands of fanatical fakeers, some of them numbering more than ten thousand men, each of which claimed the right of passing in procession, and at first evinced an inclination to resist authority. Each band possessed a number of elephants; and would have formed a nost serious obstruction and source of danger if allowed to pass along the roads and bridges provided for the people. Besides this, these bands were infected with the spirit of rivalry, which generally manifests itself and sometimes proves so disastrous on such occasions. The authorities, by their admirable arrangements, kept the crowd in order. Admirable sanitary and hospital provisions were also made. European physicians, aided by native practitioners, daily visited every part of the encampments, and the police kept watch with a vigilant eye. Notwithstanding the ignorance and filth of the native devotees, the whole encampment was remarkably free from sickness.' No offensive smell could be perceived throughout the length and breadth of this camp. The natives greeted the Europeans with vociferous applause, and were load in their praises of the government for its care and protection. The people, as they moved about the grounds, were cheerful and happy. They performed their sacred duty of bathing in the Ganges, and left for their homes. These facts, given by the Calcutta papers, on the latest report from officials, are interesting because they illustrate the popular superstition. Unfortunately the government could not follow this motely crowd on their journey, or force them to take sanitary precautions after they separated. Hence they carried the seeds of the cholera far and wide; and this pestilence swept over Northwest India like a tornado. Thousands of lives paid for this sacred pilgrimage, and, although there were incidental advantages in this great gathering, it proved a terrible scourge to entire districts. As superstition yields to the light of the Gospel of Christ and education drives out ignorance, a better life will come to India. THE OLD BROWN SILK DRESS. MRS SMITH at such a grand wedding and in her old brown silk dress! She has had it for the last six years." 'I know it. The idea of a person as well off as she is, keeping a dress that length of time! But she looked well. The dress was altered to suit the present fashion. 'But such meanness! I do not call it economy, but meanness. I am tired of seeing her wear that dress. If she were not able to get a new silk, it would be different. I wish I had the money she has, I would show people how to dress.' 'Girls,' said grandma, 'I am afraid that you are not cultivating very charitable dispositions. As the brown silk dress seems to interest you, let me tell you a little affair connected with it. About two weeks ago Mrs Smith called on me. I had just prepared to go out to do some shopping. She proposed to accompany me. On our way home she informed me that she intended to purchase a new dress. While we were in the shop examining some rich silks, Mrs Winslow came in. Seeing Mrs Smith, she One informed her of the destitute condition of a family she had just visited. The father had been sick and unable to work. The mother had been toiling to support her family. She was now sick, and three of her children. was lying dead in the house. They were so poor that they had not a sufficiency of fuel or food. Their rent should have been paid in advance, but on account of sickness the father had been unable to do so. The landlord had consented to wait until the end of the month. The father was still unable to pay, and the family were threatened with being turned into the street that very day. Mrs Smith asked if they were worthy people. Mrs Winslow assured her they were, and giving their address, she urged Mrs Smith to visit them. Mrs Smith had just decided to purchase a dress pattern from a costly piece of silk. "I will not purchase the dress now," she said to the clerk. And turning to me, she remarked: "I feel it my duty to visit these poor peeole and supply their necessities before purchasing anything for myself. Will you accompany me?" 'I did so. We found the family in great distress. They were Christian people, and had been praying to God to send them help. Mrs Smith immediately paid the rent then due, and another month in advance, besides ordering fuel and food. She has since sent them many little articles of comfort. "I feel better," she said, "than if I had bought a new dress. I will make over my old one and will wear it at the wedding." And this is why Mrs Smith wore "that old brown silk dress." She is not mean, but a noble self-denying Christian woman. And I can safely say there is no one that I am acquainted with who gives so freely as she does.' 'I had never heard of her being benevolent before.' She gives quietly, not noising it abroad. There are many families who owe the necessaries and comfort of life to her bounty.' 'I am glad you told us, grandma. The old brown silk dress will look beautiful to me hereafter. And it will preach me a lesson of charity charity in judgment, and charity which is love, towards the poor.'-American Messenger, Miscellaneous. Christian Growth.-Christian growth is slow, painfully slow. Don't be discouraged, therefore. If you cannot advance as fast as you think others advance, keep your own pace in peace. Be a snail, not in appearance, but in motion, if you must but keep moving. I would rather be a snail in the kingdom of Christ, than a swift-winged eagle outside. Conscious that you are in the right way, do not allow yourself to be alarmed or dis slow creature. Be sure, by diligence and pluck, to hold your own;' use the means; fight, watch, pray! Conscience. Brethren, you all possess that mysterious power called conscience, and its testimony is always on the side of truth and righteous- | ness. In the great conflict, with sin and unbelief, conscience is ever on the Lord's side, notwithstanding the vain attempts that are made to silence it. Hence we meet with the troubled conscience, and the accusing conscience, and the guilty conscience; the conscience which can render the most gay and attractive scenes miserable and unbear-couraged because you appear to be a weak, puny, able, and the conscience which disturbs the bed of down, and adds so many terrors to the approach of death. Thus conscience is that spirit in man which is as the candle of the Lord, and which searcheth the thoughts and intents of the heart.' Beware, then, of trifling with conscience. Listen to its still, small voice; obey its dictates. It will give you its cheering approval as you humble yourselves for all your sins, and seek that repentance that needeth not to be repented of. It will speak peace to you, as you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and take up your cross to follow Him. It will ever smile upon you as you seek to walk in the paths of righteousness, and to keep the commandments and ordinances of God blameless.-NIVEN'S Plain Sermons for Perilous Times. Books. Books are the windows through which the soul looks out. A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up his children without surrounding them with books, if he has the means to buy them. It is a wrong to his family. Children learn to read by being in the presence of books. The love of knowledge comes with reading, and grows upon it. And the love of knowledge in a young mind is almost a warrant against the inferior excitement of passions and vices. Let us pity these poor rich men, who live barrenly in great, bookless houses! Let us congratulate the poor, that in our day books are so cheap that a man may every year add a Brotherly Love.-We greatly fear that our hundred volumes to his library for the price of Lord's new commandment has not that place in what his tobacco and his beer would cost him. the hearts of His people in these times which it Among the earliest ambitions to be excited in clerks, ought to have. There is indeed much to be thank-workmen, journeymen, and indeed among all that ful for. The gospel is widely preached, religious knowledge is being rapidly increased, and many persons are devoting themselves to works of true philanthropy; but notwithstanding this, there is room for a large increase of brotherly love. There are divisions amongst us which cannot be justified; there is a disposition to disregard each others feelings, and to ignore each others efforts in the cause of religion, which is inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel. There are religious men who are too obviously lovers of their own selves, when a very slight attention to the precepts of Christianity would teach them that, in lowliness of mind, each should esteem others better than themselves. Hence men give an undue prominence to their own views and plans, which is unbecoming in itself, and which certainly does not fulfil the law of Christ.-Ibid. Two Drops of Oil.-A lover of Jesus had led many into the Sabbath School 'from the broad highways.' After the day's duties were done, many thronged to him for advice and relief of one kind and another. Among them came a sinhardened youth, not for vesture or encouragement, but for relief from a painful wound he had received in a street revel, and which, from neglect, was growing serious. The kind man gently poured two drops of oil on the surface of the wound. The pain subsided. The wound was finally healed. The wild boy never forgot the act. He could not dismiss the thoughts it occasioned. That small act of kindness was the means of leading him to Jesus, the Great Physician, and to-day that boy stands as an ambassador of Jesus Christ. Are there not comforting words for you to speak? Can you not pour oil on some wounded spirit? or can you not lead some soul to the balm of Gilead? Now is the time to do it. Do it!-S. S. Times. are struggling up in life from nothing to something, is that of owing and constantly adding to, a library of good books. A little library, growing larger every year, is an honourable part of a young man's history. It is a man's duty to have books. A library is not a luxury, but one of the necessaries of life.-Episcopalian. 'Tell me no More.'—A young Christian, who recently died of the typhoid fever, just before she sunk into that state of total unconsciousness which this disease often produces, being in great distress of mind, as she tried to find a resting-place, said to her mother, 'it looks dark.' 'When it is dark,' replied her mother, 'you must look to Christ.' 'Tell me no more,' she joyfully exclaimed, 'I can remember that.' Truly Christ is sufficient. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.' -Watchman and Reflector. Do Questions for Parents.-Do you pray for your children earnestly, constantly, believingly? you teach your children perseveringly, unweariedly, lovingly? Do you watch your children tenderly, patiently, solemnly? Do you make companions of your children, that they may walk in your ways, as you are walking in the ways of God? The Atonement.-It is of vast importance for the Christian teacher to be himself clear on the great doctrine of the atonement. He who is defective on that cardinal point cannot but fail in his ministry. No sheep will be gathered or brought home to the fold by his labours; no resurrection of the dry bones will take place under his ministry. This is the only preaching that really tells upon the heart. Other preaching may attract and win applause; it may lead men to give up certain sins, and engage in certain duties; but this alone wins Fouls.-Oxenden. T Words in Season. BIBLE THOUGHTS. BY THE EDITOR. HIS is one of a great cluster of passages, a constellation of bright texts, that declare the infinite glory of that God with whom we have to do; the God who spared not His own Son; the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (See 1 Kings viii. 27; Isa. lvii. 15; lxvi. 1, 2; John iv. 21-24; Acts xvii. 24.) In these we find such things as these, (1) The infinite greatness of God; His greatness is unsearchable and boundless. (2) The glorious majesty of God; His is the throne of heaven, the royalty of the universe; King of kings, and Lord of lords. (3) The exceeding power of God; He created the heavens and the earth; and yet these are but particles of dust, the Lord God Almighty is his name.' (4) The eternity of God; He only hath immortality,' the 'king eternal, immortal, and invisible,' 'from everlasting to everlasting God.' (5) The nearness of God; He is not far from any of us; in Him we live and move and have our being; He is the nearest of all near beings; nothing can come between us and Him. (6) The condescension of God; He looks to man, thinks on man, stoops to man, longs to make man His dwelling, as if a human heart were a nobler temple and throne than the heaven of heavens. (7) The love of God; it is not mere condescension, it is love, true, pure, and pitying love; His desire is to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones. · I. Does God want a throne? If so; He must provide it Himself. Man cannot. No throne that man ever built or conceived is glorious enough for the infinite Jehovah. He has provided it. He has built the heavens with all their glory and splendour; both these heavens above us, and the heaven of heavens beyond; all are His erection, His adornment, His upholding. All these things have my hands built, saith the Lord.' On that glorious high throne' He sits; from that He rules the universe. It is the throne of thrones, as He is the King of kings. Let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker' (Ps. xcv. 6). 'Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne' (Ps. lxxxix. 14). Let us cherish reverence and godly fear towards such a God; and put away all levity, all vanity, all pride in approaching such a throne! It is we know a throne of grace; yet it is a throne of majesty and glory. Let us stand in awe. Let us be solemn. Let us be earnest. Whilst we draw near with a true heart, in the full assurance of faith let us also approach with reverence and godly fear. It is a mercy-seat; but it is the mercy-seat of the Holy One. must make it Himself. Even a footstool for so glorious a God is beyond man's power to create. But He has built a footstool for Himself with His own hands,- -a place for the soles of His feet,-a place under which His enemies shall be thrust, around which His subjects shall gather in loving adoration, in happy praise and prayer. Earth is His footstool; and here are we, living upon that footstool of God. Do we remember this? Do we avail ourselves of this? Do we use it as He wishes us to do, and as our need requires? Is it not an honour for this globe of ours to be called the footstool of God? And does not this make us feel His nearness; and awaken in us the reverence which such a nearness ought to produce. We will go into his tabernacle, we will worship at his footstool.' (Ps. cxxxii. 7). III. Does God want a house ?-He must build it for Himself, man cannot. His own hands must build His dwelling. That dwelling must correspond in glory and greatness with the throne and the footstool. God wants a temple, a habitation;-not merely a tabernacle like that of Moses, or a marble edifice like that of Solomon,-but a habitation which will last,-a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This temple is the Church of God, which is the temple of the Holy Ghost; nay, we ourselves, individually, are the temple. 6 Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. (1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19.) Thus He spoke of old by His prophet (Isa. lvii. 15): 'I dwell in the high and holy place. (Yes, He inhabiteth eternity'); but it is with the spirit of the contrite and humble that He specially makes His abode. As if looking all around through the universe for a habitation, He finds none so suitable, none so glorious as the broken heart of one of the creatures which He has made. Give Him then a house, O man; the house which He wants. Let Him dwell in you. Let Him make a temple you. Let Him manifest His presence and His glory to you. IV. Does God want a rest?—If so, who can provide it? Not man. He cannot give himself rest. Only God himself. He found rest on the seventh day in the new creation, which He had pronounced very good. That rest was disturbed by man's sin; and not till the coming new creation will God's full rest be obtained, in a world ransomed by blood, and restored by His power. But meanwhile He is seeking a rest. And where sin is there can be no rest for a holy being. Only where the blood is that cleanseth sin can He rest. Hence the altar from the beginning was His place of rest; and afterwards the tabernacle and temple, where that altar stood. That altar is represented by the Cross of Christ, so that we may say, the cross II. Does God want a footstool?-Then He is the resting-place. There God has found rest. |