drink until he became drunk. In the madness of his intoxication he went home and murdered his wife in the most barbarous manner. He was arrested while drunk, carried to the jail, and kept there through the night. Awakening in the morning, and looking round upon the massive walls, and seeing the iron bars across the window, he exclaimed, "Is this a jail?" "Yes, you are in jail," answered some one. "What am I here for? was the anxious inquiry. "For murder," was the answer. With still greater earnestness and astonishment he inquired, "Does my wife know it?" "Your wife know it!" said a bystander. "Why, it was your wife you killed!"

GOOD NEWS.

دو

YOUNG girl lay on her bed, shaded by pretty curtains; around her was everything that wealth or taste could procure. It was fine summer weather, all brightness and sunshine. Here was enough, you will say, to make a young girl happy. Perhaps so, but she thought of none of these things; her mind was absorbed by some good news she had just heard, and she murmured, "Happy! happy! happy indeed!"

Good news! You may ask, What sort of news was it? Each one may guess what pleases her best. One will suppose that she had heard of a fortune; another, that she had received presents of fine dresses or of jewels; whilst a third may fancy, perhaps she was going to be married. No, none of these things. This young girl had been told that she was dying, and must leave all the lovely things around her, and all the dear friends who loved her so well. This was the good news in answer to which she murmured, "Happy! happy!" They were her last words; in a few hours she was asleep in Jesus.

Parents, if you stood by a child's bed and told her she was dying, would you like to receive such a reply? If so, train up your child as Fanny Bickersteth was trained. Make her the child of many prayers, and of constant pious home influence.

Jesus, Thou wast once a child,
Meek, obedient, pure, and mild;
Such may our dear children be!
Teach them, Lord, to follow Thee.

Thou didst grow in grace and truth,
Up from infancy to youth;
May we, Lord, our children see,
Striving thus to copy Thee.

At Thy heavenly Father's voice,
Thou, in duty, didst rejoice;
Changed by grace, O Lord, would we
See our children follow Thee.

FAR, far away o'er the deep blue sea Lived a man who was kind as kind could be; He loved little children, and spread every day A table from which none went empty away. Poor children came in from the alley and street, With rags on their backs, and no shoes on their feet; Girls and boys, large and small, some naughty and rude, But John Falk loved them all and did them all good. And while they were eating, he often would tell Of the Lord Jesus Christ, who on earth did once dwell How he loved little children-each one of them there He was watching from heaven with tenderest careAnd how happy and blessed would be the child's part Who would let that dear Saviour come dwell in his heart. Each day when the children assembled to eat, He taught them to offer this grace for their meat : "Bless, Jesus, the food Thou hast given us to-day, And come and sup with us, dear Jesus, we pray.' But once when the children had finished this prayer, One poor little fellow stood still by his chair For a moment, then ran to the closet where stood The bright cups of tin and platters of wood. "Now what is the matter?" said Falk to the child. The little one loked in his kind face and smiled:

"We asked the Lord Jesus just now in our grace
To sup with us here; but we've given Him no place.
If He should come in how sad it would be!

But I'll put Him a stool close here beside me."
Then the boy quite contented, sat down to his food;
He was hungry and tired and his supper was good!
But a few moments after, he heard at the door
A knock low and timid, one knock, and no more.
He started to open it, hoping to meet

The Lord Jesus Christ come to look for His seat;
But when it was opened no one could he see
But a poor little child, much poorer than he ;
His face blue with hunger, his garments, so old,
Were dripping with rain, and he shivered with cold.
"Come in!" cried the boy, in a tone of delight,

"I suppose the Lord Christ could not come here to-night,
Though we asked Him to come and partake of our bread.
So He's just sent you down to us here in His stead.
The supper is good, and we'll each give you some,
And tell the Lord Christ we are glad you have come."
From that time, when the children assembled to eat,
There was always one place called "the Lord Jesus' seat."
And the best that they had was placed there each day
For one who was poorer and hungrier than they.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, in reply to their grace,
Sent always some person to sit in His place;
And sweet was the food that the Lord did provide
For the stranger He sent them to eat at their side.
Dear friends, who have read this short story, you know
The words that our Saviour once spake when below:
If we wish for His presence to hallow our bread,
We must welcome the stranger He sends in His stead;
When we set out our feasts, this our motto must be--
"As ye do to my poor, ye have done unto Me!"

E. F.

PEACE:-But what is peace? Peace is holy tranquility, even in the aspect of lost years; peace is a silent Sabbath of the heart at every occurrence; peace is a holy boldness before God and man; peace is a healed conscience, although fully aware of our guilt; peace is a feeling of victory, as opposed to the world, Satan, death, and judgment. Peace is greater than all other treasures, but no philosophy can bestow it; for how can the latter cleanse from sin? Not any works; for how are they able to justify. Descend into whatever mine, shake whatever tree, knock at whatever door in the world thou wilt, the poor world cannot offer it thee. Peace is but one; One only has peace; One only can give it. Know ye Him who says, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." His name is "the Prince of Peace."-Dr. Krummacher.

PARDON AND HOLINESS.-Christ comes with a blessing in each hand-forgiveness in the one, and holiness in the other; and never gives either to any one who will not take both.

THE GERMAN SOLDIER.

OME German soldiers, who had been manoeuvring in the neighbourhood, were about to be quartered in a Silesian village. The day arrived in which with martial music the regiment marched through the streets, and soon the men might be seen in all directions seeking the houses where they were billeted.

In one house the father of the family had prayed that it might please God that no rude profane swearer should come to them, Then a soldier entered-a corporal. After he had laid down his arms and knapsack, and had brushed off the dust, he came down . to the room where the family was assembled. It was dinner-time, and before and after the meal a prayer was made, as becometh a Christian household. This was not displeasing to the soldier. In the afternoon he asked for something to read, and he was given Arndt's True Christianity. He read it, and the reading led to a short conversation. When they went to supper the corporal stood up with clasped hands. Afterwards there were evening family prayers, and then the corporal went to rest. The next day he took his departure.

Some time afterwards there came a letter from the soldier to his former hosts, asking them whether they would allow him to spend a day or two with them. "If so," he added, " he should be quite content with bread and water." As no answer followed this letter, a second came with a still more urgent request. Then the father of the family thought he ought no longer to be silent, so the soldier received permission to come. He soon after arrived. He was ill at ease in his mind, and his conscience evidently was troubled. It was the awakening which preceded true conversion. Christian conversation and reading more and more opened the eyes of his mind. Once he rose up as if he had been thinking over some words, and pointing to the Bible, said, "If all this is true, who then can be saved?" He came more and more to know sin, his own sin particularly. Towards evening they saw him standing at the window, and he exclaimed with tears in his eyes, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" He passed a sleepless night, but in the morning (it was Sunday) he was more comforted, for he could believe in the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. The mother of the family said to him, "When you come into the church read attentively the hymn, 'Ich habe nun den grund gefunden''I have now found the sure foundation."" behold, when they entered the church, what was sung? That very hymn. This made a powerful impression on him, and the sermon seemed as if it were made for him alone, as if the pastor had been told the whole history of his life.

And

During the sermon the corporal could not restrain his tears;

and when he came back to the house he could scarcely believe that some one had not been to the pastor and related to him all they knew of his history. His sorrow was now changed into joy. He went forth on his way rejoicing. What happiness there was in his home when this time he returned thither! His mother soon felt the change which had come over him. And when he answered her inquiries, that mother's heart rejoiced, and she broke forth in tears of joy.

A THOUGHT FOR MOTHERS.

EVERY mother is an historian. She writes not the history of empires or of nations upon paper, but she writes her own history on the imperishable mind of her child. That tablet and that history will remain indelible when time shall be no more. That history each mother shall meet again and read with eternal joy or unutterable grief in the coming ages of eternity. The thought should weigh on the mind of every mother, and render her deeply circumspect, and prayerful and faithful in her solemn work of training up her children for heaven and immortality.

The minds of children are very susceptible and easily impressed. A word, a look, a frown, may engrave an impression upon the mind of a child which no lapse of time can efface or wash out. You walk along the seashore when the tide is out and you form characters, or write words and names, in the smooth white sand which is spread out so clear and beautiful at your feet, according as your fancy may dictate; but the returning tide shall, in a few hours, wash out and efface all that you have written. Not so the lines and character of truth or error which your conduct imprints on the mind of your child. There you write impressions for the everlasting good or ill of your child, which neither the floods nor storms of earth can ever wash out, nor Death's cold fingers erase, nor the slow-moving ages of eternity obliterate. How careful, then, should each mother be in her treatment of her child! How prayerful, and how serious, and how earnest to write the eternal truths of God on his mind !-those truths which shall be his guide and teacher when her voice is silent in death, and her lips no longer move in prayer in his behalf in commending her dear child to her covenant God.

"THOU ART NEAR, O LORD" (Ps. cxix. 151).-Art Thou near? Then may I walk as before Thee, as seeing Thee, in holy fear, in filial love, in simple faith, in childlike confidence. When sin would tempt and solicit indulgence, when the world presents some new allurement, when Satan would take advantage of constitution, society, circumstances,-oh that I may ever remember, "Thou art near!"-HARRINGTON EVANS.