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The benevolent stranger immediately sought the dwelling of the sick widow. He entered a little room in which he could see nothing but a few implements of female labour, a miserable table, an old bureau, and a little bed which stood in one corner, on which the invalid lay. She appeared weak, and almost exhausted, and on the bed, at her feet, sat a little boy, crying as if his heart would break.

Deeply moved at this sight, the stranger drew near the bedside of the invalid, and feigning to be a physician, inquired into the nature of her disease. The symptoms were explained in a few words, when the widow with a deep sigh, added, "O, sir, my sickness has a deeper cause, and one which is beyond the art of the physician to cure. I am a mother-a wretched mother. I see my children sinking daily deeper and deeper in misery and want, which I have no means of relieving. My sickness is of the heart, and death alone can end my sorrows, but even death is dreadful to me, for it awakens the thought of the misery into which my children would be plunged if Here emotion choked her utterance, and the tears flowed unrestrained down her cheeks. But the pretended physician spoke so consoling to her, and manifested so warm a sympathy for her condition, that the heart of the poor woman was somewhat relieved.

"Do not despair," said the benevolent stranger, "think only of recovery, and of preserving a life that is so precious to your children. Can I write a prescription here ?"

The poor woman took a little prayer book from the hand of the child who sat with her on the bed, and tearing out a blank leaf,

"I have no other paper," said she, "but perhaps this will do."

The stranger took a pencil from his pocket, and wrote a few lines upon the paper.

"This prescription," said he, "you will find of great service to you. If it is necessary, I will write you a second. I have great hopes of your recovery." He laid the paper on the table and went away. Scarcely was he gone when the elder son returned. "Cheer up, dear mother," said he, going to her bedside, and affectionately kissing her. See what a kind, benevolent stranger has given us. It will make us rich for several days. It has enabled us to have a physician, and he will be here in a moment. Compose yourself, now, dear mother, and take courage."

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"Come nearer, my son," answered the mother. "Come nearer, that I may bless you. God never forsakes the innocent and the good. O may he still watch over you in all your paths! A physician has just been here. He was a stranger, but he spake to me with a kindness and a compassion that were like a balm to my heart. When he went away, he left that prescription on the table; see if you can read it."

Henry took it up, and as he read it through, again and again, a cry of wonder and astonishment escaped him. "What is it, my son?" exclaimed the poor widow, trembling with an apprehension of she knew not what. "Ah, read, dear mother! God has heard us."

The mother took the paper from the hand of her son, but no sooner had she fixed her eyes upon it, than "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, "it is Washington!" and fell back fainting upon her pillow.

The writing was an obligation from Washington, (for it was indeed he,) by which the widow was to receive the sum of one hundred dollars, from his own private property, to be doubled in case of necessity.

Meanwhile the expected physician made his appearance, and soon awoke the mother from her fainting fit. The joyful surprise, together with a good nurse, and plenty of wholesome food, soon restored her to perfect health.

The influence of Washington, who visited them

more than once, provided friends for the widow, who furnished her with constant and profitable employment, and her sons, when they had arrived at a proper age, were placed in respectable situations, where they were not only able to support themselves, but to render the remainder of their mother's life comfortable and happy.

Let the children who read this story, remember, when they think of Washington, that he was not above entering the dwelling of poverty, and carrying joy and gladness to the hearts of its inmates. This is no fictitious tale, but is only one of a thousand incidents which might be related of him, and which stamp him one of the best of men.

"Pure religion, and undefiled, before God and the Father, is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. N. Y. Christian Messenger.

THE INFANT'S PRAYER.

THERE'S music in the grove,

Where the feathered songsters dwell;
There's music in the gurgling stream,
Which murmurs through the dell.

There's music as the thrush

Pours forth his mellow lay;
There's music as the lark upsoars

Toward the orb of day.

But there's a sound more sweet than this,

Which to my heart is dear;

'Tis the lisping of a little one,

As he breathes his evening prayer.

And sayest thou-that gentle sound

Shall ne'er be heard above

This earth's low sphere and narrow bound?
Yes, it is heard in love,

In heaven, where all is pure and bright,
And the Friend of children reigns;

That artless prayer shall find access,
And He an answer deigns.

H. S.

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THE GOOD SEEDS AND THE BAD WEEDS.

THE harvest is now gathered in. But the husbandman does not long rest from his labours. The plough is again brought out to turn up the ground, and soon will the sower go forth to sow his seed for another crop. Now about all this there is something that very much reminds us of the state of our own hearts by nature, and what must be done to clear them of weeds, that the good seeds may be cast into them, in order to bring forth fruits of righteousness.

One day this summer, at Sabden, in Lancashire, all the children and teachers in the Wesleyan, and Baptist sabbath schools met in a field, when Mr. Kirtland delivered the following address. We assure our young friends that they will do well to read it carefully.

"MY DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS,-It is with great pleasure that we meet you on your annual festival. The day is so fine, the scenery so imposing and beautiful, and the occasion so interesting, that I am sure you must all feel very happy. I shall not preach you a sermon from any text in the Bible, but try, by a few plain similitudes, such as you will all understand, to describe the state of the heart before it is made wise unto salvation.

You all know that if the land were not cultivated it would bear little that was fit for food, either for man or beast. Climb the sides of yonder lofty mountain into which the ploughshare is never put, and where the farmer sows no seed, and you will find it barren and unfruitful. Now here we have a picture of the heart that is not brought under spiritual cultivation. Children who are not instructed in the truths of the gospel, resemble the barren mountain, or the neglected garden. This is likewise the case with all who are taught the way of life, but do not receive the word into "good and honest hearts." It is a universal law that neither the ground nor the heart can bring forth "good fruits" without cultivation. If the husbandman were to neglect to plough and to sow his fields, and your fathers to dig and plant their gardens, in a few years the country would be a wilderness; and if there had been no schools, or places of worship, nor any good people to sow the seed of the kingdom in our hearts, we should see none of the 'peaceable fruits of righteousness' which many now yield.

But the ground brings forth weeds without cultivation. So the heart bears the evil weeds of sin in great abundance. They spring up of themselves without the seed being sown. He who knew what was in man,' said, ' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,” Matt. xv. 19. There is no occasion for any one to teach you to harbour vain thoughts, to indulge envious feelings, to cherish proud desires; these, like the weeds in a garden, grow up of themselves. It is as natural for the heart to bring forth evil things as for the ground to produce weeds. Do you ask the cause of this? It proceeds from that dispositon to do wrong which we all inherit from the first man. Adam's heart and the ground became corrupt about the same time. Very soon after he ate of the forbidden fruit and his heart began to bring forth evil thoughts, God said, 'cursed is the ground for thy sake, thorns also

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