PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCES. give. I cannot help thinking, perhaps these very acts will give direction to their whole future course. Ged grant that it may be so !" Youth's Dayspring. PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCES "WHEN Charles Winslow was not far from six years old, his life was in imminent danger, at Oodooville, near Jaffna Missionary mothers in India, because they fear to leave their chil dren at home in the care of native servants, lest they should teacha them some evil, are accustomed, when they go to another station to attend a meeting, to take their children with them. "One evening Mrs. Winslow, going to a meeting at Manepy, a mile and a half from Oodooville, took little Charles with her; and when he grew tired and sleepy, she laid him on the Boor, putting a pillow under his head that he might sleep. The meeting was concluded, and Mrs. Winslow, having stood up with the little circle to sing the last hymn, turned to sit down, when she saw a very poisonous snake (a beaver snake, whose bite occasion almost instant death) on the floor, just at her feet. This, though startling and alarming, is not a very unusual incident, as several species of deadly snakes abound, and are often found in and about the houses of the Missionaries, so that they often speak with gratitude to God of the providence which keeps them from death by their means. But what shocked Mrs. Winslow at this time was, to see that the snake glided directly towards her dear sleeping boy, who lay about a yard from her. In such a moment: of terror it would have been most natural for the mother to have shrieked, or jumped, or attempted to drive away the deadly reptile: but Mrs. Winslow was a woman of great presence of mind and, knowing if she did anything to startle the creature, it would be sure to bite, she held herself in breathless stillness while the snake passed over the whole length of Charles's body, under his pülow, then back over his face. She knew that if Charles should be roused, and move but a little, the snake, as its mature is at the slightest alarm, would bite him, and the suspense while it moved about him was agonizing; but when at length it passed away, and left her dear child unharmed, the transition to joyful emotion was quite overwhelming. "At another time at twilight something fell from the roof into 84 A PROVIDENTIAL DELIVERANCE. the chair in which his mother was accustomed to sit at that hour. Supposing it was a stick, Charles ran to see, and put out his hand to lay hold of it, when it showed itself to be a serpent. At another time one fell on him from the roof. "Here I must explain to you that the houses of the Missionaries in Ceylon are without ceilings, the rooms, till within a few years, being all left open to the roof. In consequence of this, the reptiles which abound in that climate, and which frequent the roofs of houses,—as white ants, lizards, snakes, centipedes, rats, &c., &c.,-not unfrequently drop from their retreats among the 'tiles,' or olas, with which the house may be covered, upon the floor, upon the inmates, or on the table where the family are sitting at their meals. This is no trifling annoyance, especially as the reptiles are, many of them, poisonous as well as offensive. Within a few years some of the Missionaries have provided themselves a covering of mats or of cotton cloth, spread from beam to beam over their rooms; others, considering the cost too much, continue to suffer the annoyance referred to, besides that of having the water in the rainy season constantly drop through the roof." The above extract I have made from the "Memoir of Charles Winslow." In our early days we lived a few miles from each other, and often played together in that land of danger. The principal fact I well remember, and the sensation it produced on the whole Mission-party. Charles was ever afterwards consisidered as given a second time to his parents. The beaver snake is very courageous, and will spring at any one if he anticipates an attack. Hence none dared to meddle with that snake, so many individuals being in the room, until he chose to leave it. THE WESLEYAN JUVENILE OFFERING AUGUST, 1857. KAMASTONE, SOUTH AFRICA. In the picture you see a new chapel, which has lately been built for the native Christians at the Mission-station, Kamastone. This chapel is built of stone, measures fifty-four feet by twentyfive, with a gallery at one end for the children, AND IS FREE FROM Debt. The natives have subscribed about £140 towards this chapel; and it is worthy of remark, that in scarcely any instance was it necessary to call upon a native to pay his suba, scription: they all brought their money to the Missionary. This is a good example for us English people. Now, perhaps it does not seem very surprising to you that these Africans should have such a nice stone chapel, which they have partly paid for themselves; but you will think it very wonderful when you know what these people were a few years, ago: they were savages, naked, or clothed in the skins of wild beasts, without houses or property or money, Heathens-living without a knowledge of God. Now they are Christians, religious, prosperous, industrious; so their Missionary, Mr. Shepstone, says. They cultivate the ground, and God has blessed them with abundant crops. They have only just begun to cultivate wheat g and those stacks to the right of the picture, in front of the chapel, are the first wheat-stacks they have ever had, and very proud the people are of them. Of Indian and Kaffir corn they raise more than they want for themselves, and they sell it to their neighbours, at good prices. Do you think that anything but a knowledge and experience of true religion would have made these Heathen savages what they are? If a man had gone to them and told them they would be much more comfortable and respectable if they would build themselves houses and cultivate the ground,da |