HOW HARRY WAS MADE HAPPY.

LITTLE Harry Mayland stood at the window, looking out at the snow-flakes silently descending, and pouting because he had no one to play with. Suddenly his mother looked up at him, and said,—

"Harry, will you go and carry a few things to poor widow Miles for me, she will be so cold and hungry, now that her son Walter is gone to sea, and she has no one to work for her."

"Yes, indeed, mother," said he; and he ran off to ask nurse to get him ready. Soon he came back, ready to go, and found his mother standing at the table, busily putting some bundles into a basket, which she gave him, with a note, saying, as she did so,—

"You may stop at Mr. Brown's on the way there, and give him this note."

Harry kissed his mother, and started off. He left the note at Mr. Brown's the coalman, and then went on. Soon he stopped at a little one-storey house, and knocked at the door. It was opened by an old woman, dressed in mourning, with a neat white apron tied around her waist. When she saw Harry, she stooped down and kissed him, and taking him by the hand, led him to a seat, and sat down near him. After they had talked for some time, Harry handed her the basket, and said that his mother had sent it to her.

She took the things out of the basket one by one, and laid them on the table, then she gave the basket to Harry, and after heartily thanking him, she went to her cupboard, and brought out a large rosy apple, which she gave him, and said,—

"There is something I have been keeping for a little friend of mine."

Little Harry went home that day with a joyful heart.

He had learned that it is "more blessed to give than to receive." Harry was happy all the rest of the day; there was no more pouting, and his mother thanked God in her heart for such a son.-Tiny.

RESIST TEMPTATION.

In the quiet village of M―, which is situate on the seacoast, resided a pious though poor family. The eldest son, Charles, a fine-looking boy of fifteen, was apprentice to a cabinet-maker, in whose shop he made the acquaintance of several young men who were employed by the same person,

Among these was a very bad boy, named Robert. This boy persuaded Charles to go to the tavern with him. At last he began to drink, and then to play cards, and finally Robert tempted him to steal from his employer. He at first refused, but afterwards consented. When he had stolen the money, he did not dare to spend it for a considerable time; but after a while, when he supposed that every one had forgotten the theft, he did so. he was found out, and condemned to six years imprisonment. His mother, although she knew that he was accustomed to visit the tavern, and to associate with very bad persons, was not prepared for this trial, and it almost killed her.

But

Nine years after, while on a visit to the village of of M, I was requested to visit a man who was about to be hung. What was my surprise on recognising in that man Charles, the apprentice boy. If Charles had taken warning from this text, "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not," he would not have come to sc dreadful an end.-S. S. Visitor.

OLD Mrs. Betts was walking very slowly home, across the moor to her own cottage, grumbling, and shivering as she went, about the cold and the high price of food, and her dreary home, when she heard a little voice sing

ing that beautiful verse in the twenty-third Psalm,

'The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want."

The little girl who was singing so cheerfully was much worse off than Mrs. Betts, for she had no home at all. Her father and mother were dead, and her only sister had married a soldier and gone far away, and little Annie lived with a cross old woman, who beat her and half starved her. But Annie's father had been a good man, and he had taught his little girl to love the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in him; so little Annie had that peace which the Lord gives and the world cannot take away, and she was cheerful and trustful when many would have been miserable.

Old Mrs. Betts was so pleased with the child's happy spirit, that she took her home with her, and forgot her own troubles in trying to make little Annie happier; for there is no such sure way of forgetting our own miseries, as trying to help others who are worse off than ourselves.

The Lord never forsakes those who trust in him. Little Annie had a sure Friend, who never forgets or forsakes. She was comforted in all her sorrows, and helped in all her troubles; and in childhood and youth, and up to old age, she was always able to say,

"The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want."

-Children's Paper.

THE SOURCE OF SUPERSTITION.

A LONGING to be saved, without understanding the true way how, hath been the cause of all the superstitions in the world.-Hooker.

ONE OF THE JEWELS.

BE frugal of your time; it is one of the best of your jewels.-Sir M. Hale.

READ THE BOOK!

BY J. H. MERLE D'AUBIGNE, D.D., Geneva.

Ir was early spring time; all was calm. The silver moonlight streamed into a spacious hall, lately resounding with the voice of song and laughter; graceful forms had glided through the dance there, and sounds of deep melody had floated on the evening air. But the gay groups had separated; the silence of night had succeeded to the confused murmur of the festival; and thought awoke. The hearts of some amongst them said, "This is not happiness; we need something beyond this. The period of our life is as nothing in God's sight. There is a higher, an eternal happiness. Who will give it to us? who will show us the way to it?" And I seemed to hear a voice from heaven answering-"THE WORDS OF YOUR GOD! O sons and daughters of men! behold the guide to that better land-READ THEM.'

It was summer; all was activity in city and field. The merchant was busy in his counting-house, the workman in his shop, the mother in her household, the soldier at his post, the labourer in his field.

There was a murmur, like the humming of insects in the heat of the day, but vast and deep-for it was the busy hum of men. And numbers among them said, with hollow eyes and mournful voice, "Alas! true happiness is not found in the whirl of business. Who will tell us where to seek it?" And again I seemed to hear a voice from heaven answering-" THE WORDS OF YOUR GOD, O children of men, will show you the path of happiness-READ THEM."

It was a day in autumn.. The wind had stripped the trees, their dry leaves carpeted the earth; old men and women were reposing in the faint sunshine before their houses, while their children were at work; and each one