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SECURING SLEEP.

MOST people have their own patent prescriptions for falling asleep. Some in imagination watch sheep jumping one after another through a hedge; others fancy they see ships sailing out to sea. Dr. Wilberforce used to repeat, very slowly, "A, E, I, O"-a vowel at each inspiration and expiration: he never included the fifth vowel, for it requires too much muscular exertion of the lips. And many, doubtless, have heard of the midshipman who, when he could not sleep because there were no waves beating against the sides of the ship, got his mother to imitate the familiar sound by dashing pailfuls of water against his bedroom door. A safe remedy for want of sleep-less original, perhaps, than any of the above, but suited to almost everybody-is nothing more nor less than eating onions. Common raw onions should be taken, but Spanish onions stewed will do. The late Frank Buckland, writing on this question, said: "Everybody knows the taste of onions: this is due to a peculiar essential oil contained in this most valuable and healthy root. This oil has, I am sure, highly soporific powers. In my own case it never fails. If I am much pressed with work, and feel I shall not sleep, I eat two or three small onions, and the effect is magical."

THE GREAT PHYSICIAN.
I'LL trust my great Physician's skill,
What He prescribes can ne'er be ill;
No longer will I groan or pine,
Thy pleasure 'tis-it shall be mine.

Thy medicine oft produces smart,
Thou wound'st me in the tenderest part;
All that I prized below is gone;
Yet, Father, still Thy will be done.

Since 'tis Thy sentence I should part
With what is nearest to my heart,
My little all I here resign,
And, lo! my heart itself is Thine.

Take all, great God: I will not grieve,
But wish I still had more to give;
I hear Thy voice, Thou bidd'st me quit
This favorite gourd, and I submit.

PROVIDING FOR SICKNESS.

Ir is customary at the present day for those about to commence housekeeping to provide, as far as their means will allow, everything which may increase the comfort and contribute to the health of a family; and judging by the tempting display made in every furnishing store, there is no lack of material. But there are many nameless little comforts and conveniences which cannot be purchased with money, although invaluable in time of necessity, particularly certain appliances adapted to sickness. Every housekeeper, especially the young and inexperienced, should remember that in time of health we must prepare for sickness, and a neglect of this duty may result seriously to our dearest ones.

First, then, a word of advice in regard to that most important agent in the comfort of an invalid, the bed. Let the patient have the best one you can give, and the one on which he is most comfortable; for, except in rare cases,

no injury can come to it if well protected, as all beds should be, by a rubber blanket. The best kind is pure rubber, light and cleanly, and although rather expensive, is far above the ordinary rubber cloth, having none of its disagreeable odor, and retaining the warmth of the body to such an extent that the patient can be slipped upon it, if necessary, while changing sheets, without danger of taking cold.

Be careful not to let your bed linen get beyond repair. A sick person is nervously susceptible to untidiness or negligence of any kind, and a ragged sheet may be a silent source of irritability. It is well to save sheets for such an emergency, keeping them in ordinary use only until worn thin, and then as often as used in sickness mend neatly and lay aside for future use. Pillow-cases, towels and napkins may also be reserved, for it is desirable that all these articles should be of the softest material.

There should be a suitable garment provided for each member of the family to wear in hours of temporary indisposition or upon first sitting up in convalescence. It does not require any elaborate trimming, and need not have a faultless fit; but it does need to be warm, light and comfortable. And, in passing, I would remark that these qualities should apply also to the coverings of the bed, and in most cases to the room itself. The garment mentioned should be accompanied by a pair of soft slippers. Such a gift would be far more useful than many articles requiring more time and expense in manufacture. By all means keep on hand a supply of old and new flannel, linen and cotton pieces for bandages, etc., and treasure your worn handkerchiefs for use upon wounds, bruises and cuts.

To the thoughtful and provident housewife the suggestion for setting apart a certain place for the reception of articles used in sickness will meet with favor; for at such a time, if ever, we have occasion to test the value of the motto "A place for everything, and everything in its place."

Remember that much needless suffering has been caused through ignorance of administration; therefore, as some one has wisely said, choose your physician while in health, and then, having once intrusted yourself to his care, have confidence in him, and do not imperil your own health or that of your family by continually changing. Give yourself and your dear ones to the Lord; and having, so far as you are able, provided against that to which we are all heirs, trust in Him for the issue.

"ABBA, FATHER."

AFFLICTION and trial, cares and anxieties, of one kind or another, are the common portion. Various are the remedies man proposes to mitigate the sorrow and lessen the burden. But acquaintance with God, as the God of cov enant grace, enabling us by faith to cry "Abba, Father, my Father, my God," can alone convey that assurance of a particular Providence which keeps the mind in "perfect peace," in the full confidence that "all things "are" working together for good." The Apostle argues conclusively on this point when he says, "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things ?" (Rom. viii. 32.) Can we make that argument our own? If we can, if we can take our place under the shadow of the cross, and

each for himself realize the wondrous truth, "My God is a Father to me in Christ: yea, He is a Father who hid His face from Christ, that He might not hide His face from me," then our faith in the God of Grace reveals Him also to us as the God of Providence.

The soul thus acquainted with God is relieved-not from the burden, but from the aching burden of worldly anxieties, as well as from the burden of unpardoned sin-from the sting of bodily sufferings, as well as from the sting of an accusing conscience. The greater absorbs the less. Seeming evil becomes a blessing in disguise. The dispensation that looked like-judgment is found to be a visitation of gracious and loving discipline. In very truth, "mercy embraceth on every side"- on the side of adversity as of prosperity, of sickness as of health, of death as of life. Happy portion! May it be increasingly our own! In realized communion with our Covenant God, may we find pardon for our sins and strengthening grace for our spiritual conflicts with "the world, the flesh, and the devil." And then, though our path be sometimes through the desert, and by the lonely brook, Elijah's God will ever be with us, to shield us from danger, to raise us when we are cast down, and support us when "heart and flesh are failing."

In that last hour of nature's weakness, even as the terrified child clings to its mother's bosom and is comforted, so may we find in the merciful arms of the everlasting One a place of sure and undisturbed repose.-Rev. Charles Bullock.

THE HEALER.

"And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped Him, saying,

Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”—MATT. viii. 2.

STRICKEN one! what earthly cure
Could suffice to make thee whole ?
Who can make the spirit pure,
Save the Healer of the soul?

As the kneeling sufferer prayed, Doubting not Thy power to heal, So may I, O Lord, be stayed

On Thine arm in woe or weal.

"Lord! Thou canst," his only ory, "Naught the leper-stain to Thee": And "I will," Thy swift reply:

"From defilement thou art free."

Jesus! Thy dear blood alone

Can wash out my bosom's stain; All my hope Thy cross I own,

All my strength from Thee I gain.

To Thy love and grace I flee,
On Thee only I rely;
Refuge Thou and help for me,

Turn not from my heart's sad cry.

BLUE SKY SOMEWHERE.

CHILDREN are eloquent teachers. Many a lesson which has done our hearts good have we learned from their lisping lips. It was but the other day that another took root in the memory. We were going a holiday expedition, and of course the little ones had been in ecstasies for several days. But the appointed morning broke with no glad sunshine, no songs of birds, no peals of mirth. There was every prospect of rain; even Hope hid her face and wept.

"If it clears off."

"But how shall we know?"

"Oh, look out for the blue sky."

And so he did, poor fellow, but never a bit of blue sky gladdened his eyes.

"Well, I don't care, mother," said he, when the tedious day had at length numbered all its hours. If I haven't seen it, I know there is a blue sky somewhere !"

The next morning there was a blue sky, a whole heaven full of it-clear, glorious, blue sky, such as is often seen after a heavy storm.

"There, mother, didn't I tell you so ?" cried a joyous voice. "There is blue sky."

Then the little head dropped for a moment in silent thought.

"Mother," exclaimed the child, when he again looked up, "there must have been blue sky all day yesterday, though I never saw a bit of it; because you see there isn't any place where it could have gone to; God only covered it up with clouds-didn't He ?"

Happy faith, that is sure of a blue sky overhead, though the clouds of affliction may hide it for a season. "Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take,

The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
In blessings on your head."

MARIA FRY, THE SOLDIERS' FRIEND.

MANY a sunburnt soldier in India, many a stalwart constable in Ireland, many a drummer-boy in various barracks, will exclaim as his eye lights on our engraving, "Why, there's our friend, Miss Fry!" and many an eye will fill with tears as memory recalls the loving counsels of the voice never again to be heard on earth, and of the hand that has for ever laid down the pen.

As sacred to many a soldier's heart will be the memory of Maria Fry as to many a prisoner's heart was that of Elizabeth Fry fifty years ago. Very unlike the dignified and venerable Quakeress in some respects was this simple, earnest young evangelist, yet very like in others. The love of Christ constrained both to take care for the souls of their fellow-men; both succeeded in influencing, by holy gentleness and loving presentation of the truth as it is in Jesus, those too often deemed inaccessible by such means; and each will have multitudes of souls for her crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ. Though the one lived beyond the term allotted to man, and the other was still in the early Summer of her days when she passed away from the ranks of the Church on earth, yet each devoted HER LIFE to God. From the time of her conversion, at twelve years of age, to the day of her death, twelve years later, the one great object and interest of Maria Fry's life was the salvation of souls, and especially of the souls of soldiers.

With a perseverance and steadfastness singular in one so young, she kept her life-work continually before her; in the hours of happy childhood her greatest gladness was in talking to others about the Saviour she loved; throughout her girlhood-that period so often filled with trivialities and vain imaginations—she had this as her one engrossing interest, an interest which preserved her from feebleness and folly, and brought her more into sympathy with earnest servants of God than with young people of her own age. As she grew on, her expanding heart only embraced the spiritual interests of others more warmly and more deeply,

soldiers was still constantly before her. She would dictate

Each day brings us nearer home; and oh, think of the rest and joy of that home! It says, 'There shall be no night there.... for the Lord God giveth them light.' We shall dwell for ever and for ever with the Lord; all sin and sorrow will be put away; and as your Lord looks upon you and smiles, you will rejoice that you tried to spend your life for Him down here, and only wonder that you did so little for such a loving Saviour. Yes, the sweet love of Jesus shall endure for ever, and shine in our souls throughout the countless ages of eternity. No wonder the redeemed in heaven sing so much about this love: it seems the principal note in their song. 'Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood' (Rev. i. 5). It is a note no angel voice can ever reach; they must all sing second to the ransomed ones. Oh, how long, loud, and rapturous will be our note of praise to Him who washed all our sins away, lifted us up out of our low estate, and set us in the highest place in heaven, to be His companions for ever, and sharers of His eternal throne! And now I want you all to grant me a request: it is to be kind to the drummer-boys! When you have the opportunity, tell them of Jesus' love, and try to win their precious souls for. His glory. The Lord bless you, my dear friends, and grant that not one of your little band be missing in that great day when we shall all stand in His presence, but may you, with us, be found watching and ready to welcome our Master. From my heart I thank you for all your kindness and your prayers. The Lord keep you all, my dear friends, is the unceasing prayer of your friend,

MARIA FRY."

HOW TO SPEAK.

WHAT is the key to all eloquence and oratory? It has two branches: 1. The man must be alive with his subject; and, 2. He must speak in a natural manner. No arts of the schools will compensate for lack of these requisites. The highest art is to attain these, or to simulate them. To succeed, speak with belief and earnestness of soul; and act as if all that is said

Leicester. For some years prior to his settlement in the latter town the Baptists sitting under the ministry of the magic intellect of the great Robert Hall had been fighting the battle of religious liberty in the question of Close or Open Communion. The Open Communionists won a glorious victory-a small number of non-contents retiring from their almost lifelong religious homestead, and forming themselves into a small community of "Particular Baptists" "Particular enough, God knows !" was Mr. Hall's remark at the time. Coincident with this struggle was the agitation in favor of the Reform Bill, which became a law in 1832, of the enactment of the Municipal Corporations Act in 1834, and of the removal, for ever, from England's escutcheon of that big, foul blot-Slavery. The walls of Robert Hall's old Baptist meeting-house had resounded

with verbal anathemas against Close Communionism and the iniquity of slavery, only soon to resound again with pæans of praise to Him who gave the victory.

The first municipal election in Leicester, under the new Act, had been fought just prior to Mr. Miall's advent in that town. He came upon the battle - field

after a desperate but not altogether bloodless municipal political fight

a victorious fight, however, that rung not only the death-knell of the rampantly proud aristocratic Toryism of that borough, but also cradled a national Radical and Anti-State Church Party which became the backbone of the past and present opposition to Toryism and State Churchism, and of the Jingoism of the present day.

It was in 1826 that the Radical Dissenters of Leicester unfurled their banner of Civil and Religious Liberty, and it

THE LATE EDWARD MIALL.

THE grave has closed over the mortal remains of England's most celebrated Nonconformist-EDWARD MIALL, plebeian, who died on Saturday, April 30th. He was born in Portsmouth in 1809, and was one of seven sons who had to make their way in the world by the cultivation of an inherited intellectuality which was more marked in Edward than in any of his brothers, two of whom, as well as himself, were educated for the ministry as "Independents" or Congregationalists." After graduating from the Protestant Dissenters' College at Wymondley, Herts, Mr. Miall officiated as a "Dissenting" minister-first, at Ware, Herts, and then at the Independent Chapel, Bond Street,

66

ing two Liberal members of Parliament.

The radical and dissenting element being entirely unre presented in the "Press," the victors induced a Radical bookseller and printer in the town to start a weekly news. paper. Thus it was that the Leicestershire Mercury first saw the light in 1837, and it was for that paper that the late Edward Miall wrote his first political articles. Then ensued in Leicester the opposition to the payment of church-rates, and the question was taken into the Ecclesiastical law courts by a member of Mr. Miall's church-Mr. William Baines-who for "conscience' sake," the decision of the courts being against him, was incarcerated in Leicester jail. This outrage led to the establishing of the Nonconformist newspaper, and caused Mr. Miall's removal from the ministerial pulpit in Leicester to the editorial chair in London in 1841.

Then followed the organization of the Anti-State Church Association, of which Edward Miall was the foundationstone. The principles of that Society soon became a power in the land-a power that will yet free the Protestant Episcopal Church of England from all state control; and not only did Edward Miall live to see, as the result of his labors in ecclesiastical affairs, the breaking-up of the Bible-printing monopoly, the disestablishing of the Irish Church, and the thorough grafting of the voluntary principle in matters of religion; but, in political affairs, he was the stanch advocate of the repeal of the Corn Laws and of the Taxes on Knowledge, the extension of the suffrage, and the education of the people. He was, too, an ardent supporter of the Peace and Anti-slavery Societies, and the firm friend of Kossuth, Lamartine and Garibaldi in their struggles for the freedom of the nationalities they represented.

From Mr. Miall's public career it may safely be said that he was a remarkable man. He was. Though of apparently effeminate physique, he possessed a very wiry constitution, was a great worker and a great thinker. His was a ponderous brain, its every tissue permeated by the unerring principles of the Christian religion, as may be seen in his great work, "Bases of Belief"; and certainly if any man, in his poor humanity, personated the full power of Christianity, that man was the subject of this sketch.

He was a brilliant conversationalist, faultlessly courteous and unassuming, a wise counselor and friend, a kind husband and father, but, withal, an inveterate smoker. Indeed, so wedded was he to his "dry pipe"-a “yard of clay "— that, as a rule, all his brain-work was wafted into print under the influence of the enchaining weed.

He was a remarkably concise writer. In revising his manuscript he would rarely alter a word or change the punctuation, and, as he wrote closely upon letter-paper, the printer could tell to a line what each page of his manuscript would make when in type.

Whenever he could he availed the services of one of his daughters as his amanuensis, and so accustomed was she to his nicely-poised dictation, that she could tell by the duration of his pauses where to put a comma, a semi-colon, a dash (—), a period, or an exclamation point. He paced the room, and smoked, all the time he was dictating.

As a preacher he always read his sermons, and the one that he most often delivered, "by request," was entitled "The Perfect Law of Liberty.' On the platform he spoke extempore, but every sentence had been carefully thought out and committed to memory, under the influence of his favorite weed, before he entered the place of meeting. Though of weak voice, his enunciation of every word was so clear and distinct, and his syntax so thoroughly Addisonian, that his audience would be perfectly spellbound-often for an hour or more-in listening to the great truths to which he gave utterance.

When Pope Pius IX. issued his "Bull" creating an "Archbishop of Westminster," the "Exeter Hall" StateChurch Party and the Prelates "howled" and sent a powerful deputation to the Premier-Lord John Russellurging the enactment of a Government measure declaring such an appointment illegal. In response "Lord John" introduced in the House of Commons his "Ecclesiastical Titles Bill." To this Miall threw down the gauntlet of opposition. In the Nonconformist he wrote a scathing, but facetiously satirical article entitled "The Pope and the Prelates," which was reprinted and scattered broadcast, in pamphlet form, throughout the land.

Mr. Miall stood several times for Parliament, but did not gain a seat until 1852, when, in July, he was elected for Rochdale. In 1859 he was again returned-this time

for the borough of Bradford, which he represented until 1871. While a member of the House of Commons he spoke on all the important political questions of the day, and whenever he had given notice of a "motion" and commenced to speak, and the words "Who's up?" and the reply "Miall,” had run along the lobby of the House, the members would flock in to their seats to listen to one of England's great champions of Radicalism, and to the greatest champion of England's Nonconformity.

Thus it was that for nearly fifty years Mr. Miall was occupied as a writer, a public speaker, and as advisory counsel; and, as if such work were not enough, he frequently attended, and spoke at, the most exciting political gatherings in England and Scotland.

On more than one occasion, prior to 1873, his admiring friends marked their appreciation of his career by subscribing for, and presenting to him, handsome pecuniary testimonials; but in the last named year they capped the climax of their approval by inviting him to a public dinner at the Sydenham Crystal Palace, and by supplementing the déjeuner with a purse containing ten thousand guineas. Earl Beaconsfield, the aristocrat, the Tory, the nondescript in religion, will have his sculptured monument among the illustrious mortalities in Westminster Abbey ; but Edward Miall, the plebeian, the radical and celebrated Nonconformist, a man whose life was a continual baptism in the baptistery of the Christian faith, will have his monument among the illustrious immortalities enshrined in the House not made with hands eternal in the heavens !

The power of Mr. Miall's great life-work will be felt in England long after Old Father Time has closed the portals of the Nineteenth Century.

THE CHIMNEY'S SONG.

OVER the chimney the night wind sang,

And chanted a melody no one knew;

And the woman stopped as her babe she tossed,
And thought of the one she had long since lost,
And said, as her tear-drops back she forced,
"I hate the wind in the chimney."
Over the chimney the sight wind sang,

And chanted a melody no one knew; And the children said, as they closer drew, "Tis some witch that is cleaving the black night through'Tis a fairy trumpet that just then blew,

And we fear the wind in the chimney."
Over the chimney the night wind sang,

And chanted a melody no one knew;
And the man, as he sat on his hearth below,
Said to himself, "It will surely snow,
And fuel is dear and wages low,

And I'll stop the leak in the chimney."
Over the chimney the night wind sang,
And chanted a melody no one knew;
But the poet listened and smiled, for he
Was man, and woman, and child, all three;
And he said, "It is God's own harmony,
The wind that sings in the chimney."

JUMP !

Ir was rather an unfortunate thing for poor Toby, Dr. Bindwell's little house-dog, that a traveling showman with a small company of performing curs had lately passed through the village, greatly amusing and amazing the younger portion of the population, among whom were the four children of Toby's master, the only physician in the town, and deservedly loved and respected.

Poor Toby! he was getting old, and fat; and heavy, and besides, his form had neither the grace nor the activity necessary for a performing dog, to say nothing of the