not of care. Shall I let you into a secret that will explain how it is that this poor old man looks so happy? Do you see the corner of a book just peeping out of the pocket of his old patched jacket? It is that

little book that makes him

happy.

He

takes it with him to his work; and when the time comes for him to rest for an hour in the middle of the day, and eat his humble meal, he does not waste a minute's time, but puts his spectacles on and reads in that book while seated under the shade of some pleasant tree. And at night, when he returns home, he reads from it again, to his aged wife, and they both rejoice together in the good things which that book reveals to them. You can surely guess what book it is that does this old man and his wife so much good. It is the Bible: the book which teaches the poor to be content with such things as they have, because God has promised that he will never leave nor forsake them, Heb. xiii. 5.

The old man and his wife believe what

that book tells them. They love God for his goodness and care towards them, and for sending his dear Son into the world to die for them, that they may live for ever in heaven. This makes them happy. Though they are poor in this world, they are "rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him," Jas. ii. 5.

And if sometimes the thought crosses their minds that they have but little in this world, and that they may some day come to want, they call to mind the words of their Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who says to them in his word, "Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?" Now, which is the happier of the twothe poor old cottager, or the rich old miser ? But I have been writing about these two pictures as though they were living, breathing men. Perhaps they were drawn from fancy, and were not meant to represent persons who

ever lived. Yet, there are such persons as I have described now living; and though our pictures may not be just like them in the face, they show exactly what they are in charaeter; and, dear young reader, take this for a certain and settled truth, that money alone cannot make any one happy; and the want of it is not enough, of itself, to make any one miserable. True happiness depends upon the state of the heart. If our hearts are right with God, we shall be happy, though we may be poor, and old, and feeble; but while our hearts are full of sin and covetousness, nothing can make us happy in this world, nor in the world to come.

Portraits again; and, this time, portraits of persons who really lived. That elderly lady, and the still older-looking gentleman opposite, were brother and sister. Nearly a hundred years ago, they were unconscious infants twenty years have passed since, decrepit and aged, their spirits returned to God

who gave them. Eighty years seems a long time to look forward to; but to look back upon, how short it appears those only know who have lived to reach that age.

When

Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was, the aged man answered, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been."

"Evil and few,' the patriarch said,

And well the patriarch knew."

This is the experience of all old people; and let the young bear in mind that, should they live to be very old-and this is not very

likely they will say at last," We spend our years as a tale that is told," Ps. xc. 9. "Remember," then, dear young friend, "your Creator in the days of your youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when you shall say, I have no pleasure in them," Eccl. xii. 1.

It was a pretty cottage in which that old gentleman lived; and happy were the children of his nephews and nieces, when they knew they were to spend a day with kind old uncle John and his cheerful, old-fashioned wife. What speculations on the good things they should have for dinner, and what anticipations of the fine fruit to be enjoyed out of his garden! And then, what odd, strange, funny stories the good old pair used to tell of their young days! and how pleased uncle John was to walk with the young folks on to the beautiful sea-beach, which was near his house, and help them to pick up pretty pebbles and shells to take home with them! And then, when evening came, how kindly he would