are the chief constituents of winter. Very thin ice is sometimes observed; snow is scarcely seen except on the tops of distant mountains. The rain begins about the end of September, and falls at intervals till about the end of May, when it entirely ceases, with very few exceptions, until about the end of September following. A Missionary Story. YOUNG readers are generally fond of stories. Those who read this little paper I hope, however, have no fondness for idle, silly stories. They prefer something instructive and useful-such is the character of the story I am about to relate. It is a missionary story-an account of some missionaries who lived a great while ago, long before any one now living was born. They went to a little island situated in the Atlantic ocean. There they found a very rude savage tribe of people. In some respects they were even more savage than the wild Indians in our country. Many of them lived by hunting and fishing; some were clothed in the skins of wild animals, others painted their bodies and went almost or entirely naked. They were poor and miserable. Their huts were small, filthy, and comfortless. Education they had none. Their religion was a terribly cruel idolatry. Human sacrifices were often made to their hideous idols. The poor missionaries must have felt greatly discouraged when they began their labours with this people. They found them in a terribly wretched condition; but they thought if they could only teach them to read the Bible, and get them to cast away their filthy idols and worship the true God, their condition would soon be improved. So they went to work, to endeavour to instruct them. The first thing was to learn the language of this singular people. This was no trifling task. When this was accomplished, they translated the Scriptures for them. Then they collected the children and taught them to read. They told them all they knew about God and the Saviour, and the way of salvation. They now began to forsake their idols. Many embraced the gospel; and, as they forsook their false and cruel gods, their condition began to improve. They cast off their shaggy skin coats, and ceased to paint their bodies. They now learned to clothe themselves in a more decent and comfortable manner. They also built more comfortable houses, and began to cultivate the land, to raise flocks and herds, and ceased to chase the wild animals to obtain food. They established schools and colleges, they built towns and cities, procured ships and navies, and have now become one of the most intelligent, refined, wealthy, and powerful nations on the globe! Can you tell, now, where that little island is? and what is its name? Yes, you will reply, it is England. England! then those heathen people were our ancestors. We are their posterity, their children. Thus we learn that we all have a heathen ancestry. That our forefathers and mothers were just as ignorant and wretched as any of the present heathen. We see also that we are indebted to missionaries for the gospel, with all its rich blessings. Are we not bound, then, by the most solemn obligations, to do all we can to send the same gospel to others which has done so much for us? We see also from this what will be the result of our missionary efforts. What the gospel has already done for our pagan ancestry and their descendants, it is now doing for many other heathen nations; and what it is doing for these, it is able and destined to do for all, when it is sent to them. Who, then, would not do all he can to speed the gospel? Who would not even deny himself to supply the millions of miserable heathen with the same Bible that has conferred so many and such inestimable blessings upon us? W. S. R. SABBATH-SCHOOL FUNDS. Ar a meeting of the Sabbath-school Committee, appointed by the last General Assembly, it was unanimously resolved that there should be a regular monthly meeting of the Committee on the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month, at one o'clock. All interested in Sabbath-schools are invited to attend this monthly meet ing. We understand that the Committee feel the necessity for doing more for the young than has yet been done, in extending and improving the Sabbath-schools of Scotland. One difficulty felt by the Committee was the want of funds. It has nothing, yet it cannot teach without money. It is requisite to pay for ministers' travelling expenses, printing, postages, &c. Yet the Committee has ventured to begin, trusting that those interested in the extension and improvement of Sabbathschool teaching, and that the Sabbath-school scholars of Scotland, will put the Committee in a position for carrying the wishes of the General Assembly fully into effect. In this hope it has requested the following ministers to visit different parts of the country, to promote the cause of Sabbath-schools. Rev. Alex. N. Somerville, Anderston, Glasgow. John Renton, Auchtermuchty. W. Hewitson, Dirleton. John Milne, Perth. Three objects were suggested to them by the Committee to be kept in view in their visitations. 1. That they preach sermons to children collected to hear them, either in doors or out of doors, pressing on them the acceptance of the gospel in their youth. 2. That they should impress on the Sabbath-school teachers and others in any parish, the importance of having a census of the parish taken up (by subdividing it, and then going from door to door), and getting the untaught of whatever denomination brought to the existing Sabbath-schools, or to others to be opened. They were likewise requested to urge on Christians the duty of coming forward as teachers. 3. That they should take such steps as might seem necessary to them when on the spot for improving the existing Sabbath-schools. The Soldiers' Missionary Meeting in Endia. Nor long ago, on the banks of the Indus, on their way to the Punjaub, and in the midst of all the confusion and excitement attendant upon a march, several pious soldiers of the army in India held a meeting together in an officer's tent, for the purpose of celebrating, by prayer and reading of the Scriptures, the jubilee of one of our missionary societies at home. How excellent an example, and how loudly does it testify against the cold indifference and neglect of many professors, who, amid all the comforts and attractions by which such meetings are surrounded here, habitually refuse to countenance the great cause which they are designed to promote ! CHILDREN'S MISSIONARY RECORD OF THE Free Church of Scotland. VOL. V. By authority of the Board of Missions and Education. SEPTEMBER, 1849. Letters about the Highlanders. PRICE d. Y DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-It is now some months since the first letter about the Highlanders was addressed to you. In hopes that you found it interesting, and are now wishing to hear something more about them, I sit down to write you a second. Most of you are aware that there are a number of islands scattered to the north and west of Scotland, which contain many thousands of inhabitants. There, as well as in some of the barren districts of the mainland, the people are very poor. Hundreds of families, when they rise in the morning, do not know where they are to find a breakfast. Some of the men go to fish; the children go to the rocks and the sea-beach to look for shell-fish, and a particular kind of sea-weed which they use for food; whilst the women spin wool, by which they earn a few pence in the week to buy meal. Notwithstanding all they can do, they are often very hungry; still they do not complain, but patiently submit to the will of God. What we have principally to set before |