defect! What, sir?" asked the miller, with a great deal of surprise in his tone. "A very serious defect." "What can it be ?" asked the miller. "A defect which will be likely to damage the mill," continued the minister, "and some day ruin the owner.' Can't you tell quick?" cried the impatient miller.

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"It grinds on the Sabbath-day!" said the minister. The miller did not expect that, or the solemn and faithful talk which followed; but it went straight to his conscience, wrought by the Holy Spirit a saving work there, and after a while, to the great joy of the neighbourhood, the defect was remedied, and the Sabbath-breaking mill never put another grist in its hopper on the Lord's day.

INDIA.

MADRAS.

Rev. A. Venkataramiah.

DURING the last few years, Mr. Venkataramiah has been placed in Nellore, an important Telugu centre, about a hundred miles north of Madras. There he conducts a branch school, and preaches to the men of his own nation, sometimes in a hall erected for the purpose, and sometimes during evangelistic tours. From the last annual report it appears that about 125 meetings were held in the preaching hall, the audience ranging from fifty to two or three hundred, when the gospel was faithfully preached in the Telugu language to old and young, male and female. Sometimes the hall was quite full. On the morning of the Lord's Day a Sabbath-school is held for the week-day pupils, before the preaching begins. In addition to these meetings for the benefit of Nellore and its 20,000 inhabitants, about twenty of the surrounding villages were visited for preaching, and two great centres of idolatry at festival seasons.

PUNA.

Nor merely is the gospel preached in Marathi and Hindustani; tracts and books, both English and vernacular, are circulated; the word of God has been translated, partly by the help of our missionaries; lectures and discussions, sometimes in the native tongues, are held; private classes; preaching tours, in which some of the converts are employed, are all enlisted in the work: and distant as seems the day when India shall be reclaimed, the means which are sure to reclaim it are here in wide operation. Tens of thousands of youth trained in Christian knowledge, have gone forth from the Puna seminaries, and the others in India; and, in spite of all opposition, their influence on its dark idolatries must slowly take effect.

Most of the pupils at Puna are pure Brahmins. In that Brahminical city their ascendency is still great; and pervaded as their education is by Christian truth and principle, who will limit the result? Girls of the highest castes are now freely taught even there; in short,

the cloud is no longer "like a man's hand"-it is promising to cover the sky. A Sirdar, for example, who lately opened a seminary at his own cost, has transferred it to the missionaries to be taught upon their principles, even with the Bible for the basis of all, while he maintains the teacher.

We love to dwell upon the fact that there is progress even in the dull strongholds of Hindustan. The press there is free. A native literature is springing up. In Calcutta alone there are forty Bengali printing presses. Slavery, too, is abolished. Suttee, infanticide, and human sacrifices, are all now unlawful. A man may become a Christian without losing his property. Railways are pervading the country, and steamships the rivers. Law is enforced by native judges, or even framed by native legislators; and though these are only secondaries to a missionary, for they do not convert, they open the way for the truth to run to and fro, and it converts when the Spirit is pleased to bless it.-Monthly Record.

CAFFRARIA.

Baptism at Burnshill.

ON the 23d of March, ten adults-six men and four women-were admitted to the communion of the church at Burnshill by baptism. Six infants, the children of some of them, were baptized at the same time. One of the men baptized is the son of a Fingo chief in the neighbourhood. His name is William Jikelana. He has made good attainments in knowledge, and is possessed of not a little decision of character. We have known him long and intimately. Some years ago he lived in our house, and at that time learned to read the Caffre New Testament. His father, who is a heathen, came from his residence, four miles distant from the station, on the day of the baptism, and was a spectator of it; but I did not learn what his object was. Numbers of the principal men seem to give their countenance to heathen customs, in order to obtain popularity; and it may be supposed that right principle must be strong when it induces the son of a chief to join himself to the people of God.—Rev. J. Laing.

A MOTHER'S love! There are few of our readers, from three years old to grey-haired threescore and ten, who could not tell us something of a mother's love, except those who were so young when she died, that they never knew what a mother's love was. Here is a little story—a true story-taken from a newspaper published last month in England, the Sussex Express. It will help to show what a mother will do for her child.

"On Wednesday morning last, George Lock, a child aged seventeen months, was playing with his sister near a well, a few feet distant from the back door of their

mother's house at Broadwater, Worthing.

The child

trod on the lid, which gave way, and precipitated him into the well, about eighteen feet in depth, and nearly half filled with water.

"The sister called out for her mother, who was up stairs. On hearing that the child was in the well, Mrs. Lock rushed to its mouth, and saw the child's feet just beneath the surface, its head being downwards. She immediately jumped after it, and plunging beneath the water, caught the infant by its leg, and brought it to the surface. She then placed her back against one side, and her feet against the other side of the well, and thus supported herself, while with great presence of mind she placed the child on her knees and ejected the water from its stomach. A pail was then lowered for the purpose of bringing up the child; but, as it was not large enough, the mother suggested that the table-cloth should be thrown down to her; which being done, little George was safely secured by the tying of the four corners together, and, by means of a rope, drawn to the surface.

"Mrs. Lock could not bear to wait with patience till a ladder was brought, but commenced ascending in the same manner as the chimney-sweep ascends our flues,by pressing against the sides with her back and feet, and raising herself by degrees, till she came within reach of some men who had by this time come to her assistance. The child was promptly attended to, when it soon fell asleep, and after some time awoke, apparently none the worse for its recent adventure."

GODLINESS AND THE PROMISE.

THE things of this life have not the promise of godliness, but godliness hath the promise of the things of this life. -Dyer.