THE

A CHINESE DOCTOR.

THE Chinese are great smokers. Almost everybody smokes in China. And the worst of it is, the smokers don't in very many cases content themselves with tobacco. There is a great deal of opium-smoking in China. Tobacco-smoking is bad enough, and hurtful in many ways; but opium-smoking is a great deal worse. It is even worse than dram-drinking. But we are now speaking of tobacco-smoking. The Chinese doctor pictured over-leaf is fond of tobacco. Even when seated, as we see him in the picture, to get his portrait taken, he must have pipe in hand as an ornament. He is a fine-looking man, but he would look quite as well without his pipe.

Have you heard the funny song an English writer once wrote of a Chinese doctor who wished to find out how his pigtail always hung behind him? If not, here it is :

Says he,The mystery I've found

I'll turn me round!' He turned him round.

But still it hung behind him.

Then round and round, and out and in,

All day the puzzled sage did spin,

In vain, it mattered not a pin-
The pigtail hung behind him.

And right and left, and round about,
And up and down, and in and out,
He turned; but still the pigtail stout
Hung steadily behind him.

And though his efforts never slack,
Although he twist, and twirl, and tack,

Alas! still faithful to his back,

The pigtail hangs behind him.

THE NEW YEAR.

YES, the New Year has come, and it has come to stay a good long twelve months. Or, will it grow to be an old story by and by, and the new plans, the new hopes, and new resolutions, with which we started out so bravely, get old and die as the leaves and the flowers do There is but one thing needed to keep the New Year fresh and bright, and that is the new heart, which loves God and all that He

sends, and which takes every new day and every new gift as right from His hand. But where is the new heart to come from? The old heart of sin which every one has by nature does not see or believe that God's hand is upon everything, and so it is often fretful and troubled. Rainy days seem dark and gloomy to such a one, and little troubles and bothers look very big. Sometimes life seems a real burden, even to little people, and days are long because there is so little brightness in them.

What then? Why, there is just one thing to do, and that is, to turn right around, and begin to believe and to act as if God is in every thing, moving and directing it, as, indeed, He is. That is, to get the new heart, and no one but God can give it! He will give it for the asking, and so any girl or boy who reads these words, and who wants the happy New Year to last, may make sure of it by just asking for the new heart, which makes new and glad life all the year around.

What will it do for us if we begin the New Year and continue it in this loving spirit of trust in a Father's love and care?

It will make us satisfied with our place in life, whatever that may be. It will make us eager to do our work well, however hard and unpleasant it may be. It will make us thoughtful of others, because we have so little care about ourselves. In short, it will make us 'children of our Father who is in heaven.'

And now, this is not above and beyond even little children. Whoever is old enough to feel the need of a new and a true heart, is old enough to ask for it and receive it! Isn't it so, dear children? That this may be the best and happiest of all your years thus far, all your friends wish for you when they say A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

MARY'S INFLUENCE.

A TRUE INCIDENT.

ONE Sunday afternoon last summer when the service was half over, a stranger entered 'our village' chapel.

I recognised her as Mrs. Mayne, the mother of one of our scholars. As we came out I shook hands with her, and then we walked away together along the shady lane.

'Wasn't I late?' she said, abruptly.