Paul teaches us, by this favorite allusion of his to a contest, a race, that we too must practise real selfgovernment, real self-denial.

God grant that we may with patience run our appointed race! May we fix all our hopes, all our hearts on the great prize the eternal reward of heaven-to be granted after a trial, an examination of the works done in the flesh. Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be."

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ANDREW JONES.

I hate that Andrew Jones: he'll breed
His children up to waste and pillage :
I wish the press-gang, or the drum
Would with its rattling music come-
And sweep him from the village.

I said not this, because he loves
Through the long day to swear and tipple;
But for the poor dear sake of one,
To whom a foul deed he had done,
A friendless man, a travelling Cripple.

For this poor crawling helpless wretch,
Some Horseman, who was passing by,
A penny on the ground had thrown;
But the poor Cripple was alone,
And could not stoop-no help was nigh.

Inch-thick the dust lay on the ground,
For it had long been droughty weather:
So with his staff the Cripple wrought
Among the dust, till he had brought
The halfpennies together.

It chanced that Andrew passed that way
Just at the time; and there he found
The Cripple in the mid-day heat
Standing alone, and at his feet
He saw the penny on the ground.

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He stooped and picked the penny up:
And when the Cripple nearer drew,
Quoth Andrew, Under half a crown,
What a man finds is all his own;
And so, my friend, good day to you."

And hence I said, that Andrew's boys
Will all be trained to waste and pillage;
And wished the press-gang or the drum
Would, with its rattling music, come―
And sweep him from the village.

Wordsworth.

AN IRISH "HEDGE SCHOOL."

In the western parts of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, to say of people that they cannot even speak English, is intended to mark the extreme barbarism in which they live. All endeavour to learn the English language, as without it they are quite helpless the moment they leave their native hills. I had an opportunity by the road-side of seeing a genuine Irish hedge-school, and truly an interesting and affecting spectacle it was. The school-house was a clay cabin, roofed with sods, and without so much as a window. The smaller of the ragged scholars sat as close as they could to the entrance, towards which they turned their books, to catch as much as possible of the light from without. Some were lying on the ground; behind these were a few seated on a board; and behind these were the taller boys, leaning over those in front, likewise to catch the light. The teacher was seated in the middle of the group, and

was clad in what I have already described as the national costume of the country-rags. In front of the school-house lay as many pieces of turf as there were students within, each boy having brought one as a tribute to his teacher. As I entered through the narrow entrance, the dominie (master) rose from an inverted 2 butter-cask, on which he had sat enthroned. “Indeed, I am very sorry, your honour," said he, "that I have not the opportunity of offering you a chair." He was teaching his pupils the English alphabet, and they all looked fresh and cheerful, notwithstanding their poverty, as indeed most Irish children do, in the country at least, in spite of their ragged attire and their scanty food. Both children

and teacher lived some miles away from the schoolhouse, which stood by the side of the road. When the hours of study are over, the boys thrust their spelling-books into their pockets, and the master, after having fastened the door of his college, collects the tributary turf into a sack, throws the burden over his shoulder, and having grasped his staff, trudges away to his cabin on the other side of the bog.-Ireland, by J. G. Kohl.

If the queen bee in a swarm, following after the company, but because of the weakness of her wings or tenderness of her constitution (being never abroad before, and so not able at first to endure the cooler air) fall down; they that be her present attendants, and saw her fall, stop with her, encircle her, and, if she rise not and return to the hive, or go to the main body of the swarm (settled perhaps a little distance with longing and trembling expectation of her presence), stay with her, and starve with her, rather than forsake her, contenting themselves with the condition of their leader.-And shall afflictions be the way that the Master enters into glory, and the memTurned upside down.

bers find fault with them? Shall the head be crowned with thorns, and the members wrapped in softness? This is an unhandsome indecency, and a disunion too near an antipathy. Whoever will be Christ's disciple must take up his Cross, deny himself his own fonder appetites, and trace his Master's footsteps, though marked out with blood that He shed for our redemption; for he that will save his life shall lose it, and he that will lose it shall save it to all eternity.— Purchas's Theatre of Political Flying Insects.

LETTER FROM PARIS TO TWO LITTLE GIRLS. Paris, Dec. 9.

MY DEAR LITtle Godchildren,

I think you may perhaps like to hear something of old aunt and uncle, and what they see at Paris. The first thing I see in the morning, whilst I am dressing, is a baker's shop opposite our window, where crowds of poor people come to buy bread, which bread is made in loaves about a yard and a quarter long, and a quarter of a yard in circumference; and many a little girl carries home a loaf much taller than herself. Our rolls for breakfast look exactly like two rolling-pins: they are rather hard to break, but by pulling them against our knees we can break them, just as you would a stick.-The next thing I see, is about a dozen oldish women, with immensely large coarse straw hats on their heads, short petticoats, and wooden shoes, and brooms in their hands, and another broom and wooden shovel tied to their backs. These all set to work to sweep the street, and a man with a great stick follows them, to see that they do their work properly.

K- and C- would be the variety of Omnibuses here. much by their colour as their

much amused with

They are known as name: there is the

green Omnibus, the coachman of which wears a white hat; there is the yellow one, the coachman's hat green; there is a red one, the coachman's hat yellow; and by means of these colours you can tell, when you see an Omnibus a long way off, whether it is the one you want.

Instead of the nice coal fires you have in England, here we burn nothing but wood: when you buy wood the cart-load is thrown down in the street at your door, and a man sets-to to saw it up into little pieces but as the French like to do every thing differently from the English, the man see-saws his wood upon the saw, instead of see-sawing the saw upon the wood. Wood-smoke is very bad for the eyes, and indeed it seems to turn many of the ladies here blind, for they are obliged to be led about by a little dog, which they hold by a string, and we have nearly been thrown down sometimes by these strings of the little dogs coming across our path. I think there must be some other use though in these little dogs, because the fine ladies, instead of being led along by their little dogs, carry them very kindly in their muffs.

The houses opposite to ours are about eight stories high, and a separate family lives in each story. They keep their windows shut and blinds drawn all day, except about nine o'clock in the morning, when the military band passes down the street; then every window is thrown open, and every body hangs upon the balcony to stare. In one you see three or four little children, with an Italian nurse, who wears a white-lace veil, fastened with her comb, and flowing down her back: at another a young man in a scarlet dressing-gown, and his wife by his side in her night. cap. Higher up you see two long fellows, who look as if they had popped out of bed at the sound of the music. A little higher is an old man in a velvet cap and tassel, with a long pipe in his mouth, and his wife-so smart-smoking too; for you must know