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ings will be rendered the more poignant by the reflection that it was your own unfaithfulness which has caused your ruin. If you would be the happy mother of a happy child, give your attention and your efforts and your prayers to the great duty of training him up for God and heaven."

THOUGHTS FOR A MOTHERS' MEETING.

HE" Mothers' Meeting" is an opportunity given you for quiet thought; you are free from the noise and worry of the children. Loving hands are held out to help you, and some loving heart will lend me her voice to speak to you of the things that belong to the peace of your heart and your home. Perhaps you will receive loving counsel all the more readily, in that it comes from a heart that through its own deep suffering has learned to feel for the weary, the weak, and the most tried among you.

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Now, do you know what I want you first of all to do? I want you to join an association; that is rather a long word, but it means the same as a society. We hear of many benevolent societies, but I have often thought how very many of them would no longer be needed if only we women would form a great central society for the improvement of our homes,-ladies and working women alike; or rather, all of us becoming working women under one Master, Christ, in whom alone "the families of the earth are blessed." "It's all them publics that does the mischief," says one. "It's the drink that's at the root of the evil," says a second. "It's the bad women that lead away the men," says a third. "It's the minister that doesn't visit and look after us as he might," says a fourth. But, oh! my sisters, that I could hear you working women say, "It's our homes that are at fault." can't mend the others, but we can mend our homes; ay, and in so doing, strike nearer the real root of the evil. If there were more good homes, there would be fewer bad houses. If there were more smiling wives, there would be fewer smiling landladies. If there were more cheerful, bright, orderly dwellings, there would be fewer miserable, disorderly ale-houses. I must give it as my solemn and sad experience, that in most cases when the man, after having come out on God's side, has turned back to the old miserable slavery of sin and Satan, it has been the wife and the home that have been at fault. I have never yet known a case of a man with a real God-fearing and gentle wife turning back altogether. I have known him stumble and fall; his feet may have "well-nigh slipped;" but one precious link in the chain that bound him to the Rock never gave way,-his wife's prayers for him, his wife's loving words of entreaty and hope, his wife's holy example; and clinging on to that, ashamed to go back to hell over that loving, praying heart, touched and softened to re

pentance, I have seen him regain his footing in the way of Life, and go on his way rejoicing.

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What say you, then, my sisters, will you join this association for the improvement of our homes? Will each of you that means to be a working member of it, hold up her hand? Why, I think the woman's hand that would refuse to be held up in such a cause, and for such a purpose, must be a withered hand, and certainly must belong to a dead, withered heart. But, oh! that together with your hands, you will silently lift up your hearts in prayer to God that you may "obtain mercy to be faithful" in this thing. Nothing short of coming to Christ yourself will help you really to carry it out. You must possess life yourself from Him before you can be a centre of life and blessing to your home. There is an old fable that tells us of a snake caught in a circle of fire, beseeching a man to deliver it from its danger. "But if I do," said the man, "you'll bite me.” "Oh, no, I won't; I promise faithfully I won't." The man delivered the snake, and it bit him. "Oh !” cried the man, wringing his hand, you promised me, foul reptile, that you would not bite." "True; but what are promises and resolutions when my nature is to bite?" What are promises and resolutions, I say, when it is in your very nature to sin, to be careless, to lose your temper, to be self-indulgent and cross, to love dress more than economy, to be unpunctual and gossiping,—all these "little sins," as they are called, which eat so cruelly into the comfort and peaceful beauty of a human home? Do you not see that it is your nature which needs changing? You want something more than good resolutions; you want the Holy Ghost,—that blessed loving Holy Spirit of our God which He has promised to give to all who ask Him. You want the higher motive of love to some perfect One who loves you. That One is Christ. Your soul will have no rest till He, your rightful Lord and Master, walks upon its restless waves, and you cry, "Lord, save me, or I perish." Then there will come upon you a 66 great calm ;" and " the peace which passeth understanding" will leave you free to be a blessing to others. For this at least I have found,—that in most cases it is the clean heart that makes the clean home; it is the peace of God in the bosom that makes sweet peace in the home; it is the hope of heaven dwelling in the soul that makes the light of heaven shine in upon the earthly dwelling.

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INDEPENDENCE.-Let a child wait very much upon himself; do not let him be waited upon hand-and-foot by servants; it will make him a poor creature if you do. Besides, a child is never so happy as when he waits upon himself, and when he can be useful to himself and others. A spirit of independence should be instilled early into him-it will make him a manly little fellow; he will then truly know "the glorious privilege Of being independent."-Burns.

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PAYING HER WAY.

HAT has my darling been doing to-day
To pay for her washing and mending ?
How can she manage to keep out of debt
For so much caressing and tending?

How can I wait till the years shall have flown,
And the hands have grown larger and stronger?
Who will be able the interest to pay

If the debt runs many years longer?

Dear little feet! How they fly to my side!
White arms my neck are caressing;
Sweetest of kisses are laid on my cheek;
Fair head my shoulder is pressing.
Nothing at all from my darling is due—
From evil may angels defend her—

The debt is discharged as fast as 'tis made,
For love is a legal tender

THREATENING A CHILD.-It is a wrong system altogether to threaten a child with punishment-the mother the while not having the slightest intention of putting her threat into execution. In the first place, the child from experience knows full well that the mother will not punish him; he consequently loses confidence and faith in her truthfulness, which is a grievous state of things. In the second place, her threats have no deterring effect upon him -they only encourage him in his naughtiness. A mother ought never to threaten punishment without, if he persists in his disobedience, executing judgment, and carrying out the punishment to the very letter;- -a child must see that the mother intends what says, and that she does not mean either to trifle or to be trifled with.

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BE STILL IN GOD.

E still in God! Who rests on Him
Enduring peace shall know,
And with a spirit fresh and free
Through life shall cheerly go.
Be still in faith! Forbear to seek
Where seeking naught avails,
Unfold thy soul to that pure light
From heaven which never fails.
Be still in love! Be like the dew

That falling from the skies,
On meadows green, in thousand cups
At morning twinkling lies!

Be still in conduct, striving not

For honour, wealth, or might! Who with contentment breaks his bread

Finds favour in God's sight.
Be still in sorrow! "As God wills!"
Let that thy motto be;
Submissive 'neath His stroke receive
His image stamped on thee.
Be still in God! Who rests on Him
Enduring peace shall know,
And with a spirit glad and free

Through night and grief shall go.

HINTS FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

ARDENT SPIRITS.

"I never suffer ardent spirits in my house, thinking them evil spirits. If the poor could see the white livers and shattered nervous systems which I have seen as the consequences of drinking, they would be aware that spirits and poisons mean the same thing."Sir Astley Cooper.

CHRONIC RHEUMATISM.

Sleep and ease can in some cases be got by rubbing the painful part with Windsor soap for a quarter of an hour, and leaving the soap on afterwards all night. The soap must be just sufficiently moistened to rub off easily on the skin.

Turpentine fomentations are excellent. Have ready a bit of rag wetted with turpentine; lay it on the painful part, bind it up with flannel wrung dry out of boiling water. Keep it on as long as it can be borne without injury to the skin-ten, fifteen, twenty minutes, or even half an hour.

BREAD AND APPLE PUDDING.

Soak a pie-dish full of stale bread in cold water, crust and crumb altogether. When the bread is thoroughly soaked, squeeze it out, but not too dry; have ready a deep pie-dish or tin, well greased. Put a layer of bread at the bottom, then a layer of apples pared and cored, then sprinkle over the apples a little coarse brown sugar and a little spice; put a layer of bread over this, and a layer of apples, and so continue till your dish is full. Cover it up very closely to keep the steam in, and bake for three or four hours in a slow oven. Let it stand till cold, and it will turn

out a beautiful pink, glazed pudding.

This pudding can, of course, be only procured for a family when apples are very cheap. In this case the pudding will cost a mere trifle, as the stalest bits of bread can be used in making it.

LINIMENT FOR RHEUMATISM. GOOD ALSO FOR CHILBLAINS, STIFF NECK, ETC.

Take a large tea-spoonful of flour of mustard, put it into half a pint of spirits of turpentine, let it remain twenty-four hours, shaking it up constantly; then strain it off very clear through a fine piece of muslin, and it is ready for use. You must take great care that no grain of mustard remains undissolved in the liniment, else it will irritate the skin terribly.

AN EXCELLENT PUDDING.

Boil a small tea-cup full of rice, about 6oz., till quite tender; let it stand till it is cool. Have ready a few plums, or an apple chopped up fine, or a little treacle; add three table-spoonfuls of flour, 5 ozs.; mix all well together with a little water and a pinch of salt; put it into a deep dish, and bake for an hour.

The same pudding can be made tied up in a cloth and boiled; an hour will cook it.

This pudding makes a meal for five children. five children. If you like, you can use stale bread instead of flour, having first thoroughly soaked the bread in cold water, and squeezed out the water with your hand. Either way the pudding will cost about twopencehalfpenny.

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