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The Fragment Basket.

BEGIN TO-DAY.

Lord, I do discover a fallacy, whereby I have long been deceiving myself, which is this: I have desired to begin my amendment from my birthday, or from some eminent festival, that so my repentance might bear some remarkable date. But when those days were come, I have adjourned my amendment to some other time. Thus, whilst I could not agree with myself when to start, I almost lost the running

What we are afraid to do before men, we should be afraid to think before God.-Sibbs.

He that would be angry and sin not, must be angry with nothing but sin.-Secker.

If the throne of grace be so delightful, what will the throne of glory be !-Nevins.

THE MORMONS.

German of the Mormons in North A history has been published in Ameriea, from which it appears that America contains 68,700 of that sect, of whom 38,000 are in Utah, 5,000 in New York, 4,000 in Cali

of the race. I have resolved thus to befool myself no longer. I see no day but to-day; the instant time is always the fittest time. In Nebuchadnezzar's image, the lower the members, the coarser the metal.fornia, 5,000 in Nova Scotia and The farther off the time, the more unfit. To-day is the golden opportunity; to-morrow will be the silver season; next day but the brazen one; and so on, till at last I shall come to the toes of clay, and be turned to dust. Grant, therefore, that to-day I may hear thy voice. And if this day be obscure in the calendar, and remarkable in itself for nothing else, give me to make it memorable in my soul, hereupon, by thy assistance, beginning the reformation of my life.-Fuller.

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Canada, and 9,000 in South America and the islands. Europe contains 39,000, of whom 32,900 are in Great Britain and Ireland, 5,000 in Scandinavia, 1,000 in Germany and Switzerland, 500 in France, and 500 in the rest of Europe. In Asia there are said to be 1,000, in Australia and Polynesia 2,400, in Africa 100, on travel 1,800. There are, besides, 8,500 schismatics, including Strangnumbers amount in the aggregate to ites, Rigdonites, and Wightites. The 116,500, and it is supposed that the whole sect cannot exceed 126,000.

PUBLIC-HOUSES.

There are more persons in the public-houses and beer-shops of Marylebone (evidence of the London City Missionary) during the hours of Divine service, on the Sunday evening, than there are in all the churches and chapels in the parish. on the night of the census of 1851 there were 17,805 persons in those places of worship; and from nine to eleven o'clock, there would be 20,000 persons in the public-houses and beer-shops.

There are, in England and Wales, 89,866 public-houses, and 41,547

houses licensed under the Beer Acts, beside many places where beer is sold without a licence.

SIN BEFORE AND AFTER COMMISSION.

Lord, before I commit a sin it seems to me so shallow, that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness; but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep, that I cannot escape without drowning. Thus I am always in the extremities; either my sins are so small that they need not my repentance, or so great that they cannot obtain thy pardon. Lend me, O Lord, a reed out of thy sanctuary, truly to measure the dimensions of my offences. But oh! as thou revealest to me more of my misery, reveal also more of thy mercy; lest if my wounds, in my apprehension, gape wider than thy tents, my soul run out at them. If my badness seem bigger than thy goodness, but one hair's breadth, but one moment, that is room and time enough for me to run to eternal despair.

HEALTH AFFECTED BY THE MIND.

In the work of Dr. Metcalf on the subject of caloric, he lays down the proposition that nothing contributes so much to health and longevity as a happy and tranquil state of mind, which is to be sought for in a temperate exercise of all the physical, intellectual, and moral faculties. 'Benevolence, friendship, love, a good conscience, with tender, refined, and elevated thoughts, are neverfailing sources of health and delight; whereas pride, envy, jealousy, covetousness, and all the passions, habitually indulged to excess, not only embitter our happiness and that of all around us, but sap the foundation of health, and shorten the period of existence."

LIFE'S IRRITABILITIES. What's the use of it? Don't worry yourself to death on account of what other people may say of you, as long

as you know it is not true. Take care of the truth, that's your business. All falsehoods go to the bosom of their father the devil, and their framers soon follow. So much as to falsehoods of you. As to falsehoods to you, and as to every tale the most remotely prejudicial to another, treat it and the narrator with the utmost possible indifference, until you hear the story of the other party; this only is just, and wise, and kind.

METHOD.

All things in us and about us are a chaos without method; and so long as the mind is entirely passive, so long as there is an habitual submission of the understanding to mere events and images, as such, without any attempt to classify and arrange them, so long the chaos must continue. There may be transition, but there can never be progress; there may be sensation, but there cannot be thought; for the total absence of method renders things impracticable, as we think that partial defects of method proportionally render thinking a trouble and a fatigue.-S. T. Coleridge.

THE DEAF AND DUMB
CHILD.

A gentleman in Paris, superintendent of an institution for the instruction of deaf and dumb children, was asked by a friend permission to propose an inquiry to the children under his care, with a view to ascertain the extent of their mental improvement. Having received permission, he wrote the question on the wall, "Doth God reason?" One of the children immediately wrote underneath, "God knows and sees everything. Reasoning signifies doubt and uncertainty; therefore God doth not reason."

THE SABBATH-BREAKER.

The Sabbath-breaker neither fears God nor regards man. He loves pleasure, but not the pleasure of God's house, word, and service. He remembers the Sabbath-day, but not to keep it holy. The world and

worldly things-the news, markets, business, and politics of the day fill his head, heart, mouth, and hands, to the neglect of God, religion, and his soul's salvation. Thus he destroys himself by his sins, and others by his pernicious example.

Woe unto the Sabbath-breaker. See Exod. xxxi. 14; Jer. xvii. 27.

AN EARLY HEARER OF DR. CHALMERS. "Well," said one of the merchant

friends of Mr. James Chalmers to him one day, wholly ignorant of his relationship to the doctor (whom he had never gone to hear), "have you heard this wonderful countryman and namesake of yours?" "Yes," said James, somewhat drily. "And what do you think of him?" "Very little indeed," was the reply. "Dear me!" said the astonished inquirer, "when did you hear him?" "About half an hour after he was born."Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers.

Poetry.

THE ABUNDANT ENTRANCE. HARK! what songs of joyous greeting Ringing through the courts above; Songs of loving, rapturous meeting, Mingled notes of praise and love.

Angel spirits, gently calling,

Guide our sister to their King; And with joy her path attending, Thronging round, they sweetly sing.

"Hand in hand," they lead her onwards,
Through the streets of shining gold,
Loving, to her ransomed spirit,
Joys celestial to unfold.

Jesus smiles to see her comingAt his feet she casts her crown, Clad in robes of purest. whiteness, Bowing low before his throne.

Lovingly he draws her near him, Bids her lean upon his breast, And, in peace and love abiding, Enter on an endless rest.

Gazing on her Saviour's glory,

Now his brightness she beholds: Lost in wondrous love, she praises, All his beauty she unfolds.

Never more can grief intruding
Cast a shade upon her face;
All her sorrows are forgotten
In the glories of that place.

Joining with the angelic songsters, Loud her Saviour's praise she sings, Lovely in the attire of heaven, Flitting on her radiant wings.

Blessed spirit! can we mourn thee, Freed from sorrow, pain, and woe? May we rather learn to follow

In thy patient steps below.

Thus at last united with her

In the realms of bliss above, May we, Saviour, dwell for ever In the sunshine of thy love.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
JESUS is our Shepherd,
Wiping every tear;
Folded in his bosom,
What have we to fear?
Only let us follow

Whither he doth lead,
To the thirsty desert
Or the dewy mead.
Jesus is our Shepherd,

Well we know his voice;
How its gentlest whisper
Makes our heart rejoice!
Even when he chideth,

Tender is its tone;
None but he shall guide us,
We are his alone.

Jesus is our Shepherd,

For the sheep he bled; Every lamb is sprinkled

With the blood he shed. Then on each he setteth His own secret sign: "They that have my Spirit, These," saith he, "are mine."

Jesus is our Shepherd,

Guided by his arm,

Though the wolves may raven,

None can do us harm.

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The Children's Gallery.

DEATH OF TWO LITTLE GIRLS.

LATELY our hopes were much encouraged by a kind gentleman sending to our schools in Benares, India, at different times, seven little girls and four boys. It was the sudden death of two of the girls that suggested the idea of my writing. One Saturday they were with me as usual, and all seemed well and happy. Two of the children had been ill, and were still delicate, but we thought they seemed to be getting better. Next morning little Rachel, one of the healthiest girls, complained of not being very well, just as all were about to go to chapel. She remained at home, and, on my return, I sent to see how she was, and was informed she was merely a little feverish. This is so common in India, that, after knowing she had got the proper medicine, we felt little anxiety about her. In half an hour we were as much surprised as distressed to hear that Rachel was dead! She did not seem to get worse; but

cholera, unattended by its usual symptoms, had been doing its work silently. She was laid in her little grave only a few hours after she seemed to be as well and healthy as any of you. What a lesson to children! We sought to commit the others to God, but felt, both in regard to them and ourselves, that there was but a step between us and death, as cholera generally takes more than one. We knew, however, in whose hands we were, and sought to put our trust in God.

On the Monday morning, between three and four o'clock, we were awoke by a servant, saying that little Mary was ill. She, too, was one of the healthiest, and by far the most interesting, of the children. We hastened to see her, seeking to commend her soul into the hands of God. It was a lovely morning, and the brilliancy of moon and stars seemed loudly to proclaim His mercy and power who neither slumbers nor

sleeps, and without whom a sparrow cannot fall to the ground. We found that Mary had been seized by the fatal disease in its more usual form, and we indulged from the first but little hope of her recovery. Every remedy was tried, and for a few hours the struggle continued, but then death closed the scene. Mary had been with us about four months, and, though apparently not much above three years old, she showed the greatest interest, so far as a child of her years could be expected to do, in all that was taught her. She ever seemed glad to hear of Jesus Christ, and could answer a great many little questions in regard to sin and salvation. With a set of Scripture prints she was very familiar and much interested. So far as can be recollected, Mary never on one occasion needed to be reproved. It is very pleasant to think of this now that she is gone. We indulge the hope that the Saviour has washed her in his own blood, and granted her a place among those little ones "of whom is the kingdom of heaven." Happy, happy are those little ones who, in the morning of life, are enabled to give themselves up to the Saviour.-Mrs. Kennedy.

INDIAN JUGGLERS. ONE of the men, taking a large earthen vessel, with a capacious mouth, filled it with water, and turned it upside down, when all the water flowed out; but the moment it was placed with the mouth upwards it became full. He then emptied it, allowing any one to inspect it who chose. This being done, he desired that one of the party would fill it: his request was obeyed; still, when he reversed the jar, not a drop of water flowed; and, upon turning it, to our astonishment it was empty. I examined the jar carefully when empty, but detected nothing which could lead to a discovery of the mystery. I was allowed to retain and fill it myself, still, upon taking it up, all was void within, yet the ground around it was perfectly dry, so that how the water

had disappeared, and where it had been conveyed, were problems which none of us were able to expound. The vessel employed by the jugglers on this occasion was the common earthenware of the country, very roughly made; and in order to convince us that it had not been especially constructed for the purpose of aiding his clever deceptions, he permitted it to be broken in our presence; the fragments were then handed round for the inspection of his highness and the party present with him.

The next thing that engaged our attention was a feat of dexterity altogether astonishing. A woman, the upper part of whose body was entirely uncovered, presented herself to our notice, and taking a bamboo, twenty feet high, placed it upright on a flat stone, and then, without any support, climbed to the top of it with surprising activity. Having done this, she stood upon one leg on the point of the bamboo, balancing it all the while. Round her waist she had a girdle, to which was fixed an iron socket; springing from her upright position on the bamboo, she threw herself horizontally forward with such exact precision, that the top of the pole entered the socket of the iron zone, and in this position she spun herself round with a velocity which made me giddy to look at, the bamboo all the while appearing as if it were supported by some supernatural agency. She turned her legs backwards, till the heels touched the shoulders, and, grasping the ankles in her hands, continued her rotations so rapidly, that the outline of her body was entirely lost to the eye, and she looked like a revolving ball. Having performed several other feats equally extraordinary, she slid down the elastic shaft, and raising it in the air, balanced it upon her chin, then upon her nose, and finally projected it to a distance from her without the application of her hands. She was an elderly woman, and by no means prepossessing in her person, which, I conclude, was the reason that the rajah, though he applauded her

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