One morning little Pannachi was taken ill: in the afternoon she became much worse; at night she was in great danger; and at day-break next morning she was dying. When she was first seized with the illness, she seemed afraid, but soon became calm. Turning to her school-mistress, she said, "Do not be troubled about me; I am not afraid now the Lord lives, and I trust in him." As Pannachi appeared to be in great pain, she was asked how she felt; when she said, "I am trusting in the Lord Jesus;" and added, "The Spirit of God is mighty in me." When the kind mistress saw the little scholar close her eyes in death, she wept, and said, "That was a dear child; a child that loved the Bible, and dearly loved the Saviour." The history of this little Hindoo girl is a call on the young. "Be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh." (Matt. xxiv. 44.) He comes to call you to give an account of how you have lived; how you have improved your privileges; and whether or not you have loved him. Prepare! You may die young; you may die soon; you may die after a few hours' illness. Take care then, like Pannachi, to improve the days of your youth; seek to understand the Bible, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that you may obtain the forgiveness of your sins, through the riches of his grace.-Missionary FirstFruits.

THE UNKNOWN BENEFACTOR.

Ar the time the Duke of Marlborough was appointed to the chief command of the British forces on the Continent, a Clergyman of the name of Stewart was Chaplain to a regiment in his army.

Shortly after one of those victorious battles in which the British arms shone with such resplendent lustre under His Grace, a General, high in command, invited Mr. Stewart to dine with the Duke, Prince Eugene, and himself. Mr. Stewart declined the invitation, imagining the General was not sincere. Being, however, informed that he was really in earnest, and that it might prove advantageous to him, he complied with the request. He was much gratified at the attention paid to him by all present during dinner. After it was over, the same person requested him to take a walk. Some little altercation having passed, the General turned round, and, addressing him in a very familiar tone, said, "Sir, do you know me?" Mr. Stewart

answering in the negative, he replied, "Look again." Mr. Stewart now surveyed him from head to foot with eager curiosity, but still remained ignorant of him, in the sense he meant. "You know me not, then," said the General; "and yet I was one of those little boys that often received of the bounty dispensed at the castle of Ballintoy;" (the residence of Mr. Stewart's father;) "and the old shoes you then gave me, to cover my sore feet, shall not now be forgotten. Call on me to-morrow, and whatever is in my power shall be done for you;

but as to any inquiry farther concerning me, it shall be for ever fruitless."

Mr. Stewart waited on him according to appointment; and, through his agency, he was afterwards made Rector of the parish of his nativity, and received a pension of £700 a year.

This anecdote Mr. Stewart often related with great pleasure, but never came to a knowledge of his benefactor. M. B.

SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATIONS.

No. II.

EASTERN BOTTLES.

"WHAT on earth is this ugly thing?" we think we hear some of our juvenile readers say. We will tell you. It is a bottle very much used in the East, made of the skin of a goat or kid, stripped off the animal without opening the belly; the apertures made by cutting off the tail and legs are sewed up; and, when filled, it is tied about the neck. The Arabs and Persians never go a journey without a small leathern bottle of water hanging by their side like a scrip. These skin bottles preserve their water, milk, and other liquids in a purer state than any other vessels they can use. Bottles such as these were not confined to the countries of Asia: the roving tribes which passed the Hellespont soon after the deluge, and settled in Greece and Italy, probably introduced them into those countries. We learn from Homer that they were in common use among the Greeks at the siege of Troy. On receiving the

liquor, a skin bottle must be greatly swelled and distended; and still more by the fermentation of the fluid within, as that arrives toward maturity. In this state, if no vent be given to the liquor, it may overpower the strength of the bottle, or it may penetrate by some secret crevice, or weaker part. Hence arises the propriety of putting new wine into new bottles, which, being strong, may resist the expansion, the internal pressure of their contents, and preserve the wine to due ripeness; while old bottles may, without danger, contain old wine, whose fermentation is already past. (Matt. ix. 17 Luke v. 38.)

ALPHABETICAL AMUSEMENTS.

No. II.

KIND KATE AND UNCLE CARLOW.
EXERCISE IN C HARD, AND K.

“WHAT are you scanning so carefully, cousin Clara?" cried Caroline King from the corner of the couch, where, according to custom, she had collected the cat and kittens upon a cushion, and covered them with a scarlet cashmere shawl. "Is it a sketch of cranes and screaming curlews? or cod and carp? or the comical creatures Captain Crosby discovered near Mocha, and between the Laccadives and Cape Comorin?"

"It is a coloured copper-plate," said Clara kindly, “that I have with difficulty procured, of kind Kate and her uncle Carlow, and considered a curiosity, on account of the most complete contrast that can be conceived between their countenances. If you will curb yourself, and not climb up, nor crush nor crumple the copper-plate, I will make you understand it as clearly as I can." "I am coming! I am coming! That will be capital! I will neither climb up, nor crouch down, nor crush nor crumple the copper-plate, nor even kiss you for your kindness," answered little Caroline King, caressing her cousin.

"I shall commence my communication," said Clara, "by telling you that this is the comfortable kitchen of a commodious cottage on the Cornish coast, belonging to crabbed Carlow, as the country people declare he ought to be called.