of children's true work.

In the meantime commit to memory and ponder upon the saying of the wise man, who urged his son to "remember his Creator in the days of his youth." You will find it in the eleventh verse of the twentieth chapter of proverbs. "Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right."

THE BLACKBERRY GATHERER;

OR, THE UNEXPECTED FEAST.

T. L.

With

NEVER surely was man more fond of blackberries than I am. all its thorns, the bramble is a favourite with me; it first gives me pleasure with its purple stem, green leaves and white flowers, and then regales me with its delicious fruit.

It was autumn; more than half September had rolled away, and I had not plucked a single blackberry. I set off to a hedge which had often furnished me with a sumptuous feast. There the spiky thorn formed a barrier which cattle could not pass, and there the bramble flourished in all its glory. Alas! I was disappointed of my treat, for not a ripe berry could I find.

"Well," thought Ì, "though I reckoned on my entertainment, I must not take the matter to heart. True it is that I am thirsty, and very grateful would the juicy fruit have been to me, but I can do without it. Let me be thankful that I am not a toilworn pilgrim in the hot desert, overwhelm'ed with the dreadful announcement, ‘The well is dry.'

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Thus endeavouring to make the best of my little disappointment, I walked on, and soon after saw a poor fisherman coming towards me with a basket. The very sight of the basket encouraged both hope and expectation.

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Have you been gathering blackberries?" said I.

I have, sir," replied the man, "but they are scarce enough at present; by-and-by there will be enough of them."

As the man spoke, he removed the lid of his basket, that I might see his store, and a goodly store it was; some of the berries were certainly red, but the great part of them were black.

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Do you sell them?" said I.

No, sir," said he, "I never sell them; I get them for my wife, who is uncommonly fond of a blackberry pudding."

That does not at all surprise me,” said I. "The blackberry is good, eat it how you will. It is good cooked or uncooked, in a pudding or a pie, plucked from the bush, or picked from the basket. May I have a few?"

"As many as you like, sir," was his frank reply; so I set to work picking the tip-toppers from among them, taking as many as I chose, dropping a sixpence into the basket for the man's children, if he had any, and feeling very thankful for so unexpected a feast. "But why have you put these two sprays in your basket?" said I; "why do you not pull the berries off them?""

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'They are for my wife, sir," said he; I never go blackberrying without getting a spray or two of the best I can find for her, she is so uncommonly fond of them. You can't think, sir, how she likes the sprays."

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That is right," said I, "and I hope you will never give up so excellent a custom. That is the way to make a wife love you, for kindness begets kindness all the world over. Those two sprays are worth a whole basket full of blackberries. Of the pudding you will most likely have your share, but the sprays will be your wife's, and hers alone."

For some time the poor fisherman kept shaking up his basket, that I might pick out the best of its contents, while I kept talking to him, not knowing which was the better pleased of the two. me it was a double feast; much did I enjoy the blackberries, but still more the man's affection for his wife.

To

This unpretending, gentle deed, on the part of the poor fisherman, was an occurrence that just suited me. While the Sir Walter Raleighs of the world gallantly spread their costly mantles in the mire that royal feet may not be incommoded, and while such courtier-like actions are handed down to the admiration of posterity, be it mine to record the less questionable kindnesses of common life, that occur in the sphere of my own observation. And forgive me, ye admirers of Sir Walter, if I rank the affection of a poor man for his wife higher than I do the questionable attentions of a courtier to his queen.

At a time when the violence of drunken husbands towards their wives is, alas! so much on the increase, justly calling forth public indignation, it is pleasant to meet with a case of a different kind. It was on the stile on the height above the vale of Ecclesbourne, Hastings, that the poor fisherman rested his basket, while I revelled in the banquet it provided for me. I am not likely to forget the place, the fisherman, the basket, or the blackberries.

FROM OLD HUMPHREY'S PORTFOLIO.

The poor have recourse to intemperance for want of some better, nobler excitement.

TRUE PRAISE.

FATHER! not worth alone men prize;
Not with thy just, all-seeing eyes
Whose searching, awful glances dart,
Into the deep recesses of the heart,
Do men behold their brother men.
Maker and Judge of all! oh, when,
When upon this thine earth
Shall humble, honest worth,
Upright integrity that never swerves,
Receive the honour it so well deserves ?

If all were loyal to their conscience, then

Vileness and pride no more would worshipped be
And we, no more desiring

;

Man's praise, but loyal to our high aspiring,
Should seek alone the praise that comes from Thee.

J. A.

ONLY ONE BRICK ON ANOTHER.

EDWIN was one day looking at a large building which they were putting up, just opposite to his father's house. He watched the workmen from day to day, as they carried up the bricks and mortar, and then placed them in their proper order.

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His father said to him, "Edwin, you seem to be very much taken up with the bricklayers, pray what may you be thinking about? Have you any notion of learning the trade? No," said Edwin. smiling, "but I was just thinking what a little thing a brick is, and yet that great house is built by laying one brick on another" Very true, my boy. Never forget it. Just so is it in all great works. All your learning is only one little lesson added to another. If a man could walk all round the world, it would be by putting one foot before the other. Your whole life will be made up of one little moment after another. Drop added to drop makes the ocean. "Learn from this not to despise little things. Learn also not to be discouraged by great lebours. The greatest labour becomes easy, if divided into parts. You could not jump over a mountain, but step by step takes you to the other side. Do not fear, therefore, to attempt great things. Always remember that the whole of that great building is only one brick upon another."-From Sunday at Home.

How small the difference between mankind and the lowest animal natures, compared with the vast difference between God and Yet we dare ill-treat God's creatures.

man.

MOSES IN MIDIAN,

(Continued from page 208.)

MOSES had wandered with the flocks of Jethro to some distance from their ordinary pasture grounds, and was now among the rocky valleys and bare mountains that lie round the base of Horeb. It was evening. The sun was going down behind the rugged peaks of Mount Sinai. All was still in the valley, and along the hill side where Moses was sitting. The sheep strayed hither and thither in search of their scanty pasture. Suddenly the attention of Moses was awakened by the appearance of a fire, not far from where he sat, He looked towards it, wondering how it came there. He saw that it was one of the low shrubby bushes that are scattered here and there over the desert, and it was burning fiercely. The flames rose bright and high, and sparkled and crackled as if the bush was rapidly consuming. But for all that, the bush was still there, apparently unhurt by the fire that was blazing and raging through it. The attention of Moses was arrested. He rose from the spot where he was sitting, and went near that he might see this strange thing more closely. Still the fire went on burning-and still the bush was there. He began now to feel somewhat strangely. A thrill ran through his frame, as it sometimes does when the sense of something supernatural begins to steal upon our belief or our fears: the unseen presence of some being, whose power, nature, and locality, are unknown to us. As soon as this idea occurred to him, his thoughts rose to God. He would have prayed. But at this moment he heard a sound that made him forget the fire. He could not say from what quarter it came. It did not seem to be here, or there, but it was everywhere-all around him and above him, filling the whole air. Then a voice spoke. It was not like a human voice. He had never heard a voice like this before. Yet it spoke in words that he could understand; and it seemed the voice of one who knew him well. 66 Moses, Moses!" And Moses bowed his head to the ground, and folded his arms humbly across his breast and said, "Here am I." Then again the voice spoke: “Draw not, nigh hither. Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." And Moses did as he was commanded, and stood with his bare feet upon the rock, still bowing down his head in reverence as before. Again the voice spoke: I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses threw the skirt of his mantle over his head, and hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

There was silence for a little space. Then again the voice of God was heard, speaking to his servant; and now God told Moses why He had appeared to him in this manner, and what was the service to which He was now about to summon him. God said that He had looked upon the affliction of His people, and had heard their cry, and knew their sorrows, that the time of their deliverance was come, and that he was now going to bring them forth with a strong hand from out the land of Egypt. Again Moses bowed his head before the Lord. "Now," continued the voice, "I will send thee to Pharaoh, and thou shalt bring forth my people Israel out of Egypt. Then Moses said, "Who am I, that I should go up unto Pharaoh, and bring forth our people out of the land?" He was utterly overwhelmed by such an announcement. He felt that his powers were altogether unequal to such an undertaking. But God assured him of His assistance and protection-promising that He would be with His servant, and that, hereafter, when he had led his brethren forth, they should worship God before this very mountain. But Moses still shrank from the greatness of such a work, and all the difficulties and hazards of the enterprise seemed to rise up, one after another, before his eye:-his own incompetency-the incredulity of his people-the power of Pharaoh,—and he said, in reply to God's assurance of aid, " But when I come unto the people, and say unto them, "The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they say unto me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say unto them?" And God answered: "Thou shalt say, I AM hath sent me unto you. That is my name for ever, and my memorial unto all generations." And Moses bowed his head to the ground, and worshipped.

Then did the voice of the unseen God proceed to give Mosesdirections as to what he was to do, and information as to what he would meet, and how all his announcements and demands would be received, both by his people and by Pharaoh. And when Moses, still fearful and reluctant, continued to dwell upon the difficulties of the undertaking, and his own incapacity for such an office as a leader of such a people, then God showed him that he would give him power above the common power of men, so that he might give proof, both to friends and enemies, that God was at his right hand, and that there was nothing he said, that he also could not do. And because he had lived the life of a desert wanderer, far from the common dealings and business of men, and in hours of solitude and silence had not cultivated the gift of speech, nor learned to move, command, or to persuade the minds of multitudes with the power of eloquence, God told him that his brother Aaron should