Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

so that they will be saved a great deal of time, and enabled to visit many villages and towns, where no preacher of the gospel has yet been able to go." Very true, and therefore let us be glad and thankful to hear of railroads in India. But there are other reasons.

Railroad-makers and railroad-travellers, we may be very sure, will soon leave off to be idol-worshippers. For everything which helps men to be clever, and leads them to be busy about useful things, will make them ashamed of their foolish idolatries. Why, even in England, very many people who had lived all their lives in little country villages, scarcely ever seeing anybody fresh, or hearing anything new, have had strange thoughts put into them by the railroad, with the electric telegraph, and other wonders that have come down their way. These things really help to make the world wiser; and we hope they will make people in India wiser too.

The trains will be teachers in one way, which, perhaps, some of our readers have already thought of. We often read of the number of castes in India, as the Brahmins, Soodras, and others. Now, the men of one caste will not eat with, or sit with, or even touch those of another, if they can help it; and this, they think, is pleasing to their gods. But in the railway carriages they must be together. There cannot be a "Brahmin Class," a "Soodra Class," besides a "Mussulman Class," and an "Englishman Class." That will never do. The higher caste people may not at first like to keep such close company with others, but it cannot be helped, and by-and-by that foolish prejudice, which has done so much to keep them in their idolatry, will be in great part taken away.

A railway-train in India must have some curious

THE OLD TIME AND THE NEW.

11

sights connected with it. Let us go to the Tannah station, on the Indian Peninsular railroad, and wait for the train. There are rich natives in their long white robes, with their dark grave faces, and turbans on their heads; poor people scantily dressed, meeklooking-almost frightened at the strange scene, and wondering most of all what the wire, stretched from post to post above their heads, can mean.* Proudly by themselves stand two or three tall officers, with their swords by their sides, and one of them has just said, "No, thank you"-but with a kindly smile— to that earnest gentle-looking Englishman in black, who just offered him a little book. This last must surely be a Missionary. But here comes the train! We are all in, but not so quickly as in England, for the black porters are not brisk like ours. Now, away! What kind of journey shall we have, not between hedges and corn-fields, but beside groves of banana, with here and there the tall palm-tree. Bright birds with splendid plumage will look at us, but will not give us a song. Monkeys, perhaps, will chatter to us from overhead, as if they too had their thoughts about the swift rushing train; and, perhaps, as we pass yonder jungle some terrible tigress will crouch for a moment as if to spring, then feeling it to be of no use to try to seize the train, will give a low growl and retire to the hungry cubs in her den. We almost fancy we see her fierce eyes peering through the thick bushes, and are quite glad when, for a minute or two, we rattle underneath a tunnel, and then come out upon a broad sunny plain, from which we catch a distant sight of the deep blue sea.

The Electric Telegraph is not in the picture, which is taken from another part of the line.

HOW EMILY BEGAN THE DAY.

EMILY arose very early one May morning. The light of day shone in through her curtains, though the sun was not yet risen. Robins and blue birds were at their morning songs, and the sweet smell of spring flowers came into the chamber. Emily's first thought was, Oh! how good God is! And even before she dressed herself she looked up to heaven and gave thanks. While she was dressing herself she kept thinking of the goodness of her heavenly Father. But when she had finished putting on her clothes, she went to a private corner of her little room, kneeled down, folded her hands, and prayed to God. She thanked him for preserving her during the night, and for giving her good friends and a sweet home. She confessed her sins, and asked forgiveness for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. She prayed for the Holy Spirit, to teach her and purify her heart. She begged that God would be with her, to bless her all the day long. She also asked for blessings on her dear parents and her little brother, and all her friends.

After rising from her knees, Emily sat a little while at the open window, to breathe the fresh air, and to see the green trees and meadows, the beautiful flowers, and the numerous animals, great and small. She enjoyed all these things the more because she had been think. ing of the blessed Creator, and because she loved Him. Then she sang a little hymn which her dear mother had taught her. After which she took her own Bible and read a chapter with great attention. There were two verses in the chapter which she committed to memory.

Emily next put on her bonnet and went out to take a short walk; for she knew that it was her duty to

HOW EMILY BEGAN THE DAY.

13

take care of her health. The sun was now up, and everything looked very beautiful. She strolled down the green lane, and admired the blossoms of the trees. She saw the cows going in a long row to the pasture, and the sheep nipping the grass on the hill-side. She drank out of the spring at the end of the lane, and laughed to see the frogs leaping into the pond. Then she returned to do a little sewing in the porch, while her little brother played at her feet.

Presently her father called her in to family worship, where she was serious and attentive; and then the bell rang for breakfast. She went to the table with sparkling eyes, rosy cheeks, and a fine appetite. These are the effects of early rising and a good conscience. There was a little time for play before the school-hour came, and she made herself ready before her companions came along. Then she tripped off to school with a light heart, and found the whole day happier because she had begun it aright.

Every little reader must own that this was a good way of beginning the day. But there was nothing which every little reader may not imitate. All children may attend to early rising, neatness, prayer, scripture, and exercise; and those who begin every day in this manner will be apt to find every day happy. Those who spend their days properly when they are young, are the persons who will be useful and pious when they are old. It is a blessed thing when little children are taught from their infancy to begin every day with God; and if any boy or girl who reads this knows that he or she has not done so, it is a good time to begin. Let to-morrow be the day for getting up early, for secret prayer to God, and for reading the Holy Scriptures.

TWO KINDS OF RICHES.

A LITTLE boy sat by his mother. He looked long at the fire and was silent. When the deep thought passed away, his eye grew bright as he spoke: "Mother, I wish I was rich."

[ocr errors]

Why do you wish you were rich, my son?" The child said, "Because every one praises the rich, every one inquires for them. The stranger at our table yesterday, asked who was the richest man in the village. At school there is a boy who does not learn; he takes no pains to say his lessons well. Sometimes he speaks evil words. But the children don't blame him, for they say he is a wealthy boy."

The mother thought the child in danger of believing wealth might take the place of goodness, as an excuse for indolence, or cause them to be held in honour who led unworthy lives. So she asked him, "What is it to be rich ?"

He answered, "I do not know. Tell me how to become rich, that all may ask after me and praise me." "To become rich is to get money. For this you must wait until you become a man."

The boy looked sorrowful, and said, "Is there not some other way of becoming rich, that I may begin now?"

She answered, "The gain of money is not the only nor the true wealth. Fires may burn it, the floods drown it, the winds may sweep it away, the moth may eat it, rust waste it, and the robber may make it his prey. Men are worried with the toil of getting it, but they leave it behind at last. They die and carry nothing away. The soul of the richest prince of the earth goeth forth, like that of the way-side beggar, without

« ZurückWeiter »