POETRY.

got a sheepskin, out of which to make the boy a pair of breeches. He took off the wool, rubbed it, and then nailed it to the wagonbox to dry. It was very poorly tanned, but the boy was cased in a pair of sheepskin breeches.

The skin was dry, and rattled like parchment, and owing to the small size of the skin, the breeches extended but a little lower than the knees. In dry weather the breeches rattled; in wet weather they would stretch and become flabby. When they dried they would be shorter and harder than ever. Thus pantalooned and coated, he spent a very pleasant season, until sheep-shearing having come round, he got a pair of woollen pants.

Poetry.

LONGINGS.

I SIGH for a word that has never been spoken,
For a song that has never been sung;
I've a thought in my heart; 'tis love's purest token,
Too grand for this faltering tongue.

And, oh, for the eye of an artist unborn,

And a pencil of marvellous shade,

For a picture is moving, at eve and at morn,

Which no canvas has ever portrayed.

There are fields that are white, by the sickle untouched,

In the glory of Autumn they stand,

There's a work for the heart (and our strength is not much),
Too great for this toil-weary hand.

There's a goal to be reached, there's a height to be gained;
There's a life which is grander than this;

There's a wealth for the soul, which it ne'er hath obtained,
And an age, for this moment of bliss.

Then give a word, and a thought will be ringing,

Like the banner of freedom unfurled,

Oh, teach me a strain, and my heart will be singing,

In the listening ear of the world.

And give me the skill of an artist to warm

The cold lips of the marble or stone;

Or to sketch on the canvas, at eve and at morn,

A language it never hath known.

An arm that can compass the Spirit's desire,
Nor faint in its wearisome toil,

And hands, while they scatter, that never can tire,
But wait for the answering soil.

I long for a life, an exponent of heaven,

A morning that knows not the shadows of even,

A Springtime, with winter forever away,

A summer whose blossoms can never decay.

In the East the ass is highly prized, and not, as with us, undervalued. A man's wealth was once reckoned according to the number he possessed. Thus, among the other portions of the wealth of the patriarchs, Abraham and Jacob, asses are especially referred to. Job had five hundred she asses.

Perhaps one chief reason why the ass is more valued in the East is, that the animals are larger than ours, well-made, light-footed, and hold their heads erect. Deborah, in her song of the prosperity of Israel, thus sings "Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment"Judges v. 10. The white ass was specially valued, and is still a mark of dignity. In Persia the mollahs, and other persons of note, ride on the white ass.

Our picture shows you one of these chief men in Persia, with his strange head-dress, and long streamer, his curly black beard, his tunic, or loose gown, and his sandalled feet. In the distance you will see a Persian chapel, or mosque, and the gateway to the town in which it stands.

You all remember that when our blessed Saviour wished to enter into Jerusalem as a King He rode on the foal of an ass, on which never man had sat; and in order to make this foal tractable he desired the disciples. to bring the dam as well as the foal. The ass had then fallen, as with us, into low repute. While the Jews were in Babylon that had learnt to look upon riding on a ass as a mark of poverty and meanness. This will explain the reason of the prediction of Zechariah in reference to the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem. See Zec. ix. 9.

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

Anecdotes and Selections.

THE CENTRAL CROSS.-I believe that this world is just as bewildering as a maze, looked at from every point except one. I look back upon the records of history; I look upon the speculations of science; I endeavour to gaze into the future of this world's career; wherever I turn I am opposed by the mysteries that hem in and crush me down, until I take my stand at the foot of the cross. Then darkness and discord become light and harmony; the mystery is solved; the night that shut me in becomes radiant with the divine light and glory. At the foot of the cross, art, science, literature, and history become at once a divine, a glorious, and a blessed thing. And so I claim for my Lord His rightful dominion over all the works of His hand! We will gather all the beauties of art, and all the treasures of music, all that is brightest and best in this world, and will lay them down at His feet, for worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive might, and majesty, and riches, and power, and honour, and glory." His is the sceptre, His is the right, His this universal world.-Dr. Manning.

DON'T FROWN.-In the name of weary humanity, allow a plea for cheerfulness to be entered. Why, Christians, will you go among fellow-men with a frowned, draped countenance? Sorrows come, troubles come; but why be so melancholy as though your last hope were blasted? There is a duty which we owe to those about us-to be cheerful. The gloom upon your face throws a shadow on their hearts. It is pitiful to see the effect of one such face upon a family. The children feel it; the wife or husband, as the case may be, feels it. Life is made up of little things which cost nothing, and are worth a great deal. Let the law of kind charity, which underlays the Saviour, be the guiding principle of your life. And let it not stop with faithfulness in great matters, but see to it that this grace attain so high a development that it may beam from every feature. Your cheerfulness will rest the weary; it will cheer the downcast heart; it will give strength to the weak; it will help men to keep brave hearts in this cold, hard world.

ALONE WITH GOD.-We need to be more alone with God, that we may learn, as only in solitude we can learn, the sweet secret of His Fatherhood. Also that we may tell Him there, as we never can tell in the presence of others, all the sad story of our guilt, and shame, and distress. A natural reserve keeps us from speaking of these things in public save in very general terms, or even from letting the signs of them be seen. There is a sort of unseemliness in marring the decorum of public religious worship by the passionate cry of the sad soul, bowed down with the burden of its sins and sorrows. We must needs be grave and decorous, telling to the God of the great congregation only that which the great congregation may hear. It is to our Father which is in secret that our whole sad heart can reveal itself.-Dawson

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

NUMBER SEVEN IN THE BIBLE.-On the "seventh" day God ended His work. On the "seventh" month Noah's ark touched the ground. In "seven" days a dove was sent. Abraham pleaded "seven" times for Sodom. Jacob mourned "seven" days for Joseph. Jacob served "seven" years for Rachel, and yet another "seven" years more. Jacob was pursued a "seven" days' journey by Laban. A plenty of "seven" years and a famine of "seven" years were foretold in Pharaoh's dream by "seven" fat and "seven" lean beasts, and "seven" ears of full and "seven" ears of blasted corn. On the "seventh" day of the "seventh" month the children of Israel fasted "seven" days, and remained "seven" days in their tents. Every "seven" years the land rested. Every "seventh" day the law was read to the people. In the destruction of Jericho "seven" persons bore "seven" trumpets "seven" days; on the "seventh" day they surrounded the walls "seven times, and at the end of the "seventh" round the walls fell. Solomon was 66 seven years building the temple, and fasted "seven" days at its dedication. In the tabernacle were "seven" lamps. The golden candlestick had "seven" branches. Naaman washed "seven" times in the river Jordan. Job's friends sat with him "seven" days and "seven" nights, and offered "seven" bullocks and "seven" rams for an atonement. Our Saviour spoke "seven" times from the cross, on which He hung "seven" hours, and after His resurrection appeared "seven" times. In the Revelation we read of "seven" churches, "seven" candlesticks, "seven stars, "seven" trumpets, "seven" vials, "seven" angels, and a

headed monster.

66 seven"

CASTING SINS IN THE SEA.-A strange scene was witnessed by an English visitor at Odessa on the first day of the present Jewish year. Late in the afternoon a large number of the 50,000 or 60,000 Jews inhabiting Odessa wended their way toward the sea with the purpose of throwing their last year's sins into it, in order to begin the new year with a clean soul. They stood about in groups, closely packed together in some places, looking toward the water, reciting prayers or reading Psalms or a portion of Isaiah. The groups were formed for the most part of listeners, with a man, and in a very few instances a woman-an old woman with spectacles on her thoroughly Jewish nose -reading to them. Some of the people turned their empty pockets inside out and shook them towards the sea. Others merely made a sign of throwing something into it.

MANNERS.-I used just now that word, manners. Let me beg your very serious attention to it. I use it, remember, in its true, its ancient -that is, in its moral and spiritual sense. I use it as the old Greeks, the old Romans used their corresponding words; as our wise forefathers used it, when they said well, that "Manners makyth man;" that manners are at once the efficient cause of a man's success, and a proof of his deserving to succeed; the outward and visible sign of whatsoever inward and spiritual grace, or disgrace there may be in him. I mean by what our Lord meant when he reproved the pushing and vulgar arrogance of the Scribes and Pharisees, and laid down the golden rule

THE FIRESIDE.

of all good manners, "He that is the greatest among you, let him be the servant of all." Next I beg you to remember that all, or almost all, the good manners which we have among us-courtesies, refinements, self-restraint, and mutual respect—all which raises us socially and morally above our forefathers of fifteen hundred years ago-deephearted men, valiant and noble, but coarse and arrogant and quarrelsome-all that, or almost all, we owe to Christ, to the influence of His example, and to the Bible which testifies of Him. Yes, the Bible has been for Christendom, in the cottage as much as in the palace, the school of manners; and the saying that he who becomes a true Christian becomes a true gentleman, is no rhetorical boast, but a solid historical fact.-Canon Kingsley in Good Words.

CHANCELLOR ERSKINE.-To all letters soliciting his subscription to anything, Lord Chancellor Erskine had a regular form of reply, viz., "Sir, I feel much honoured by your application to me, and I beg to subscribe"-here the reader had to turn over the leaf-" myself your very obedient servant."

SCRATCHING OUT.-A minister was preparing his discourse for Sunday, stopping occasionally to review what he had written, and to erase that which he disapproved, when he was accosted by his little son, who numbered but five summers, "Father, does God tell you what to preach ?" Certainly, my child." "Then what makes you scratch it out?"

The Fireside.

TO CURE WARTS.-Oil of cinnamon dropped on warts three or four times a day will cause their disappearance, however hard, large, or dense, they may be. The application gives no pain, nor causes suppuration.

A VAPOUR BATH.-A vapour bath may easily be prepared at home. Place a pail of hot water under a canebottomed chair, or if you have not one, put a narrow piece of board across the pail; on this the patient should sit for half an hour, covered by a blanket reaching to the floor, so as to keep in the steam.

WATER.-More diseases are caused by drinking impure water than are

brought upon us by poor food. Water forms three-quarters of our weight, and before any part of our food can be taken into our bodies it must be dissolved in the fluid of the stomach. Therefore be sure that the water you drink is pure.

VEGETABLES.-All fresh vegetables contain a very large proportion of water. Thus potatoes consist of threequarters, and turnips and cabbages of over ninetenths of their weight in liquid. Dry wheaten flour has fifteen pounds of water in every hundred; this is driven off in the process of baking. Bread contains one-third of its weight in water.