Reader, bear in mind, it is not what we give, but how we give, that makes the service acceptable. The poor widow's mite was declared by Christ to be more precious than the great man's gold.-Missionary Paper.

SUMMER'S FAREWELL.

WHAT Sound is that? 'Tis the Summer's farewell

In the breath of the night-wind sighing;

The chill breeze comes like a sorrowful dirge
That wails o'er the dead and the dying.
The sapless leaves are eddying round,

On the path which they lately shaded;
The oak of the forest is losing its robe :
The flowers have fallen and faded.

All that I now look on but saddens my heart,
To think that the lovely so soon should part.

Yet why should I sigh? Other summers will come,
Joys like the past one bringing :

Again will the vine bear its blushing fruit;
Again will the birds be singing;

The forest will put forth its "honours" again;
The rose be as sweet in breathing;

The woodbine will climb round the lattice pane
As wild and rich in its wreathing.

The hives will have honey, the bees will hum,
Other flowers will spring, other summers will come.
They will, they will: but ah! who can tell
Whether I may live until their coming?
This spirit may sleep too soundly then
To wake with the warbling or humming.
This cheek now pale, may be paler far,
When the summer sun next is glowing :
The cherishing rays may gild with light
The grass on my grave-turf growing:
The earth may be glad, but worms and gloom
May dwell with me in the silent tomb.
And few would weep, in the beautiful world;
For the fameless one who had left it;
Few would remember the form cut off,
And mourn the stroke that cleft it:
Many might keep my name on their lip,
Pleased with that name degrading;
My follies and sins alone would live,
A theme for their cold upbraiding.
what a change in my spirit's dream
May there be ere the summer sun next shall beam!

Oh

ELIZA COOK.

HAND-MILLS FOR GRINDING CORN.

VARIOUS methods have been used for preparing corn to be used as food for man. In ancient times parched, or roasted, corn was frequently eaten. Corn was also prepared for food by being pounded with a pestle in a mortar ; but the most usual method of preparation has, from the earliest times to which history refers, been that of grinding corn into flour.

The Mills which were used in ancient times, and which are now used in many parts of the earth, are very unlike the Mills by which corn is ground in this country. Our engraving represents a Hindoo family winnowing and grinding corn. Such scenes are frequently witnessed in India and other parts of the East. On the outside of the door is a female cleaning the corn, from the chaff and dirt, by pouring it out, so that the wind may carry away the chaff, and the corn be thus prepared for being put into the Mill. Two men are seen in the engraving sitting and working a mill, grinding the corn into flour. The mill which they appear to be working is of that kind that has been in use from ancient times. It consists of two stones;

one the upper stone, the other the lower stone. In the lower stone is a centre fixed, which passes through a hole in the centre of the upper stone. In the upper stone, near the outside, is fixed a handle. By this the stone is turned about. The corn is put into the hole in the centre of the upper stone, and the corn passes between the stones, and by the friction, made by turning about the upper stone, the corn is broken and ground into flour, which comes out all round from between the stones.

Dr. E. D. Clarke, in his book of Travels, makes the following remarks on the use of such mills. He says, "Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception, when, looking from the window into the courtyard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill, in a manner most forcibly illustrating the saying of our Saviour: Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left.' They were preparing flour to make our bread; as is always customary in the country when strangers arrive. The two women, seated upon the ground opposite each other, held between them two round flat stones, such as are seen in Lapland, and such as in Scotland are called querns. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn, and there was an upright handle for moving the stone. As this operation began one of the women received the handle from her companion who pushed it towards her, who again pushed it back, thus giving a rotatory motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escaped from the sides of the machine."

It is usual in countries where mills of this kind are used to grind the corn early in the morning. The noise of the mills is then so great as to rouse persons from their sleep. They generally grind their corn and bake their bread every day. The prophet Isaiah refers to the practice, of women servants grinding corn, in the following words: "Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground; there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for thou shalt no more be called tender and

delicate. Take the millstones, and grind meal." Isaiah xlvii. 1, 2. The Lord, when describing the evils which He would bring upon the Jews, said, "Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years." Jeremiah xxv. 10, 11.

When Abimelech, one of the wicked kings of the Jews, after having destroyed the men of Shechem, was making an attack upon the tower of Thebaz, a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon the head of Abimelech, and he was so wounded that he knew he should die, and that it might not be said he was killed by a woman, he, at his own command, was put to death, by the sword of his armourbearer. When Samson was taken captive by the Philistines, they put him into the prison at Gaza, and made him grind corn in the prison.

In the time of Moses, it appears that the possession of a mill to grind corn, was deemed absolutely needful to every family. Hence it was declared by the law, "No man shall take the nether (that is the under) or the upper mill-stone to pledge; for he taketh a man's life to pledge." Deuteronomy xxiv. 6. Dr. Adam Clarke says, "Small handmills, which can be worked by a single person, were formerly in use among the Jews, and are still used in many parts of the East. As, therefore, the day's meal was generally ground for each day, they keeping no stock beforehand, hence they were forbidden to take either of the stones to pledge, because in such a case the family must be without bread. On this account the text terms the mill-stone the man's-life."

OLD WINSFORD'S VISIT TO THE GREAT

EXHIBITION.

(Concluded from page 263.)

I Now proceed to give my young friends, the readers of the "Juvenile Companion," some further account of my visit to the Great Exhibition, as I have every reason to believe, that what I wrote last month has given satisfaction. Many persons, I fear, have but an imperfect notion of the character of the Exhibition. I may here observe, that it was an exhibition of the Industry of All Nations. It was an attempt to bring specimens of the productions and manufacturers of all nations under one roof. The idea originated with His Royal Highness Prince Albert; and by the generous assistance of the Public, it has been satisfactorily carried out. The objects exhibited were of a very miscellaneous character; but it was thought that the whole of the products, at least of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, might be classed under a few sections, embracing altogether about thirty different classes. This was attempted, and I shall now give my young friends the result; and as they will probably meet with words that they are not at all familiar with, and of which they know not the meaning, I would urge upon them to consult the Dictionary, until the words are as familiar to them as household words. The articles then of Great Britain were comprised under four sections, and thirty classes, of which the following are the names

Section I.-RAW MATERIALS.

Class 1. Mining and Mineral Products.

2. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products.

4. Vegetable and Animal Substances used in Manufactures.

Section II.-MACHINERY.

5. Machines for direct use, including Carriages,

Railway, and Marine Mechanism.

6. Manufacturing Machines and Tools.