came home if he could; dinner over, they washed up the things and cleared them away, and then there was always something or other for them to do, either helping their mother, or running messages; for they were very early taught to make themselves useful.

They were always gone to bed when their father came home at night, so they saw but little of him, but after breakfast he would often have a good game with them before they separated; that is to say, if the day before had been a "good day," but if it had not, they scarcely dared say a word before him, for he would be short and cross with them and everybody else, and the children would slink off to school as quietly as possible.

At the school they went to, from the tidy though poor way in which they were dressed, and their bright intelligent little faces, which were so much alike that a stranger could not tell them apart, they attracted the attention of a kind rich lady who visited the school, and many times she had given them little useful presents.

Well, one day at the time we are now speaking of, just before the few days' holiday they had at Christmas, Penny answered very well at the examination, and when they had gathered their books and were just going home, this lady called them apart from the rest, and told them to wait until she left the school, as she had something to say to them.

Penny and Polly stood blushing shyly, and waiting in a corner whilst the teachers were busily talking at a table; but so long did they talk that the two little girls, in the distant corner of the great schoolroom, began to think they must be forgotten, and to wonder what mother would say, and whether father had come home to dinner yet, and who had laid the cloth."

239

"And," continued the lady, "you shall each choose your own present."

Now, if that had been said to you, you would not have been at all out of the way delighted, but would have quietly thought over the toys you most coveted, or the prettiest picture-books..

But toys were an unknown delight to them; a pretty picture-book had never been in their hands. Often they had seen ladies and their beautifullydressed children stepping from their carriages, and entering shops which were filled with all manner of delightful things, whilst in every corner of the window appeared the words, "Christmas Presents."

"Christmas Presents! Christmas Presents!" Until now the words had conveyed but a dim impression to the minds of Penny and Polly; they had admired the pretty things spread out to view, and half wondered at the little rosy-faced children, who were to be met all over great London at this time of the year, coming out of the shops hugging big parcels, too precious to be trusted in anybody's hands but their own. Sometimes the parcel was delightfully square and solid, and plainly some pretty book; sometimes the parcel would be of the most incomprehensible shape, but none the less agreeable for its mysteriousness.

Poor little Penny and Polly would follow these children with their eyes as long as possible, but they never even thought about their having presents as a possibility; they could only be thankful that they had a Christmas dinner.

But Christmas presents were coming to them; real, delightful Christmas presents for Penny and Polly! they were to partake of the universal good cheer, and be made glad that white Christmas. (To be concluded.)

"THE QUIVER" BIBLE CLASS. 117. What king offered to covenant with the men of a city, provided he might thrust out their right eyes? 118. A man to whom an angel spake as he stood on a hill-top, at whose foot lay 102 men, scorched to death.

119. What king did God smite with leprosy ?

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON PAGE 208. 105. The prayer of the devils; that of the demoniac; and that of the Gadarenes.

106. When a crowd of sick folk came to be healed on the evening of the day on which he had raised

107. Because every stone was chiselled, every beam sawn, every hole drilled, and every bolt fitted, before being brought to the city (Prov. xxiv. 27).

108. Moses was eighty years in preparing for his work, and the Lord Jesus thirty years for his three years' of public life.

109. "And your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace" (Eph. vi. 15).

STRAY

THE people of the Society Islands believe that there is a distinct heaven for the souls of pigs, which they call "Ofatuna." Every pig has his proper name as regularly as every member of the family.-Ellis, "Polynesian Researches."

DREAMS AND APPARITIONS.-If such an event as the death of a person dreamt of should occur so as to correspond with the nature and period of the apparition, the mere coincidence seems perfect and the evidence complete. But if we consider how often such coincidences must occur, since dreams almost always refer to the accomplishment of the ideas which absorb the mind when awake, we need not experience the smallest surprise.

MEDUSA.—Frequently on the coasts of Greenland the sea is coloured for ten or fifteen miles in breadth, and 150 to 200 miles in length, with tiny medusa. A single cubic foot contains 110,592 of the animals,

and such a streak of colour must contain at least 1,600 billions of them.

A PLURALIST IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY.-John Maunsel, Lord Chancellor in the reign of Henry III., and Provost of Beverley, is said to have held 700 ecclesiastical livings at once, having probably presented himself to all that were in the gift of the Crown. Matthew Paris quaintly doubts "whether he was either a wise or a good man" who could burthen his conscience with the "cure of so many souls."-Lord Campbell's "Lives of Chancellors."

THAT PLEASURE IS MIXED WITH EVERY PAINE.
VENEMOUS thornes that are so sharpe and kene,
Bear flowers we se full fresh and faire of hue;
Poison is also put in medicine,

And unto man his health doth oft renue;
The fire that all things eke consumeth clene,
May hurt and heale: then if that this be true,
I trust some time my harm may be my health,
Sins every woe is joynéd with some wealth.

-Sir Thomas Wyat, 1530.

In an article somewhere-I forget the source, or I would name it-I read recently a very good story that will serve to comfort many a mother's heart when their children are voted tiresome. The subject on which the writer was enlarging was woman's rights; and he took occasion to contrast their position in this country, with that in lands where they are numerically scarce. Ten years ago, a woman in the streets of San Francisco was followed as a curious and pleasant sight. But even scarcer still were children. At the theatre one evening whilst the orchestra were performing, a baby was heard to cry in one part of the house; whereupon a man in the pit mounted on his seat and shouted out, "Stop them squeaking fiddles, and let's hear the baby cry! I haven't heard such a blessed sound for years and

NOTES.

years." And the fiddles did stop, and the baby did cry, and was rapturously encored, to the delight of all, except, perhaps, the young performer himself, who had thus suddenly brought down the house. This little incident serves to show how differently the same things are regarded under different circumstances. This thought, philosophically considered, would help us to put up with many inconveniences that are now barely tolerable.

A THOUGHT, like a sour apple, may seem too crude to be worth gathering; but pluck it, in spite of its crudeness. Like the apple, it may ripen in the closet.

OUR most impatient recollections are of the patience that was not quite patient enough. Like

the Esquimaux, we had watched our ice-hole for hours, but turned our back upon it just before the seal came up, taking with us only our numbed toes and fingers for our pains.

THERE is a curious circumstance, which I should be glad to find any one able to explain, relative to the habits of frogs and toads in feeding. Most persons are aware that they live on insects, and that frogs in particular are great devourers of earthworms. Now, if you go out on a dewy evening, or still more, after dark, with a candle, into a grass plot (in the heat of summer, especially after a shower), you will be likely to see many frogs and toads, sitting still (if undisturbed), and taking no notice of the numerous worms lying out, as their manner is, many of them quite close to their enemies. If you then catch a worm and throw it gently before a frog or toad, taking care not to frighten him, you will most likely see him make a set at it, like a dog at game, and come forward and devour it, though, perhaps, other worms lying around were even nearer to him. Within ten minutes I have fed a frog in this manner with no less than three and even four of the largest-sized earthworms, though all the time it took no notice of those uncaught lying before its eyes. The toad is slower in his motions, and (after earthworms, at least), much less voracious than the frog. Each of them makes a most curious figure pinioning the worm with his fore-feet, to keep it straight, and prevent its curling round the devourer's head. But how comes it that they do not-at least, never, that I saw-make any attempt to seize the uncaught worms? Have they some instinct or reason which teaches them that the worms which are lying out have always, as is well known, their tails in their holes, into which they start back at the slightest alarm? The phenomenon is certainly curious, and the experiment is easily tried.-Whately.

was no unusual oversight, so the little man quietly stole up-stairs into his dressing-room. He had barely time to take his comb and brush from his portmanteau, when the door opened, and in walked Mrs. Mudford.

He was glad to see her, of course, but he looked surprised, and as if he had not expected the honcur of the visit.

"I hope you are all quite well, my dear," he ventured mildly to observe.

I don't know about that, Septimius." (The name Mr. Mudford's parents had chosen as most appropriate to him.) "Of course, I don't expect any sympathy; but the treatment we poor women have to go through is astounding!" and the lady raised her eyes to the ceiling.

“Anything fresh, my dear?” inquired her husband, who was brushing his hair at the glass.

"Yes, it is fresh, sir; as you are pleased to use the word, it is quite fresh.”

"What do you mean, my dear?"

"I mean that your fine friend over there, Horace Vincent, has driven his wife out of house and home."

'My dear, pray speak more respectfully of Mr. Vincent; I assure you he is one of the most excellent young men in the town."

"Of course, because he is exactly to your taste; a man who illtreats his wife is sure to be."

"Why not, pray? Who was to stand by her if I did not ?”

"And when did she come?"

"Yesterday."

She was taken by surprise, and a little frightened. Her husband had never looked at her in that way before.

"And against her husband's consent did she come ?"

He was standing before her, with an expression of annoyance such as she could hardly have imagined that meek, placid face capable of wearing.

"Was it with his consent or without it, Harriet?" She was decidedly frightened. She tried to bluster a little, but he silenced her.

"Harriet, I am ashamed of you! No, I will hear no particulars. The squabbles of a husband and wife are no business of mine. But one thing I insist upon-Mrs. Vincent returns home at once."

"It is like your barbarity," she began, in tears. "Harriet, you are a greater simpleton than I gave you credit for. Where is the girl?"

"Surely, you will let her stay till after dinner." "Yes, I will do that. I don't wish any one to go away dinnerless. But after dinner she leaves the house."

Mrs. Mudford gave a gulp, as if she were swallowShe was in a difficult

position as regarded Ruth.

Ruth, sweet and smiling as ever, was going along the hall to the dining-room, when a large, eager hand closed upon her arm.

Ruth, my love, come here-come here.” "I think dinner is ready, Mrs. Mudford." Ruth's appetite was of the most equable kind.

"That is just like you—just like a man!” cried Mrs. Mudford, lifting up her hands. You would not care if the poor thing had to beg her bread from door to door."

"My dear, you put an extreme case," said Mr. Mudford, with the utmost mildness and urbanity. "No, I don't; and if I had not taken pity on the poor thing, and taken her in--"

Mr. Mudford turned round so hastily that his wife was stopped in the middle of her speech.

"What did you say, Harriet ?" he asked, with an energy and decision that startled her. "Do you mean to tell me that Mrs. Vincent is here in this house ?"

'No, it isn't for a quarter of an hour yet. Step in here, Ruth. I have something very particular to say."

Ruth, rather disappointed, followed her friend into the breakfast-room.

"My dear," said Mrs. Mudford, sinking into a chair, "I have got such a turn! Oh, dear me! what will become of us?"

Ruth looked alarmed, and anxiously inquired what was the matter.

"Matter enough, my dear! He says you are not to stay longer than after dinner. Did you ever hear of such a proposition?"

Ruth knew perfectly well to whom the pronoun le referred. It was the abbreviation by which Mrs. Mudford designated her lord.

Her heart sank within her like a stone. not calculated upon this.

She had

She was not ashamed. There was the look of obstinacy called up on her face; but no blush of shame.

"I won't go back!" said she, resolutely; "nothing shall make me!"