minister taught, and to him they would give themselves up when they went to live there next spring; and when spring came they did so: After two or three years of merely outward profession of the Gospel, the old woman became a new creature in Christ Jesus; old things passed away, all things became new, and from thenceforward her great desire was for the spiritual good of those around her. When her husband rejected the religion of the Romish priest, three of their grown up sons embraced it. One of these had a child named William, and as his father had become a very bigoted Romanist, his children were brought up in that communion; but the family often came to reside near the old people, and when there, as there was no priest or Romish school, little William attended the Protestant Sunday-school. When there he was quiet, attentive, and willing to learn. He tried to store up in his heart the texts of Holy Scripture which he was taught.

One day, this Indian boy was missed from Sundayschool. His grandmother met him, and asked him why he had not been at school for the last two Sundays. He said his father had forbidden him to go, as the priest was angry about it. His grandmother said, "We are told that every one must search and know the Scriptures; you cannot read; you have no other way of knowing the Bible except by going to Sunday-school; and we are told to obey God rather than man." The little boy looked up, and said, "Grandmother, I will never be absent again." And he kept his word until a few months afterwards, when his father left the place to be absent all the winter. But, as the cold weather came on, this child became so ill that they had to return for medical aid; but they came too late. A fever had brought his strength very low, and after lingering for a week or two, he died. From the beginning of his illness he was constantly watched by bigoted Romanists. The room in which he lay was never without some person from the priest, so that, even if the boy had been able, it would have been difficult to have had much conversation with 'him; but at length the Protestant minister was able to see him, and he seemed comforted by the passages of Scripture

repeated to him. He said, he did not now forget what he had been taught in Sunday-school. At the beginning of his illness, the priest visited him. What then passed is not known, for no Protestant was allowed to be present; but, when the priest left, the wall near the boy's bed was found to be covered with pictures of saints. It was remarked that from that day, little William never would lie with his face turned that way. His grandmother watched by his bedside by night and by day, and often spoke a word in season; and, when she could not speak to him, employed herself in committing him to the Lord in silent prayer. A short time before his death, while all around had fallen asleep, she said to him, "William, you hear a great deal from these people of the virgin Mary, and of dead men and women; I hope you do not trust in them." "Oh no, grandmother," quickly replied the dying boy, "never; there is but one Saviour in whom I trust-the Son of God, who came down from heaven, and died upon the cross to take away our sins." This was the dying hope of an Indian boy of little more than seven years of age; but it is a hope that maketh not ashamed, a hope which is able alike to support the child and the aged Christian, the learned nobleman, and the wandering savage.

And now, dear young friends, there are three points which I would wish you to consider. First, I would entreat you to make as good use of your many advantages as the Indian boy did of the few he possessed. Secondly, I would have you inquire, What is your hope? Does it rest on Jesus Christ? Are you looking to him as your Saviour, and seeking through his precious blood to obtain pardon for your sins? Thirdly, Try in every way you can to strengthen the hands of those who, in far distant lands, are preaching the Gospel to heathen nations. They have often a more dangerous enemy to contend against than heathenism. Romanism, or Popery, with the profession of being a Christian religion, brings with it so much that is pleasing to man's fallen nature, that it often proves a sore hindrance to the spread of Gospel truth, But the word of God is stronger even than Popery; therefore, I would

say, by your prayers and by your offerings, seek to spread the knowledge of that word among the nations of the earth.

THE INFLUENCE OF SINGING SALOONS ON THE YOUTH IN LARGE TOWNS.

The demoralising effect of Singing Saloons in London has often been shown in the lamentable career and end of too many of the youthful population of the metropolis, and the same melancholy consequences may be traced to similar causes in most of the large towns in the kingdom. The report just made of the Inspector of Prisons in the north of England discloses the baneful effects of singing saloons among our toiling operatives in the busy towns of Lancashire. The Inspector says, "Of eight boys committed for trial, charged with felony at the Bolton sessions, all had been in the habit of frequenting a notorious singing saloon in that town. The price of an admission ticket was twopence, and it entitled the holder to some refreshment. At this place all the thieves and bad characters of the town are to be found, and it is here that the first lessons in crime are taught, and the seed sown that yields an abundant crop. The eight boys above referred to, went direct from the saloon to the commission of the crime with which they were charged. Six of the eight were convicted and sentenced for various periods. One of the two acquitted (though he admitted his guilt in prison) went to the saloon on the night of his acquittal (Saturday), and was again committed on the following Monday for a felony, for which he is now serving a long term of imprisonment. The other acquitted boy has been again tried at the sessions, and again acquitted." To show the feeling of those who had been frequenters of one of these saloons, and witnessed its destruction by fire, it may be mentioned that some said "They were fain to set it in a blaze, as it had destroyed thousands." Another said, "If he could put the fire out by spitting upon it, he would not have done it." In that saloon may be found, on Saturday night, not fewer than

500 boys under or about the age of fifteen years. “I regret to state," says the Chaplain of the Bolton prison, “that there is not a large town in this neighbourhood which has not similar snares open for the seduction of the young. The proprietors have set at nought the remonstrances of the local clergy, and most of the remonstrances and threats that have been hitherto employed against them by the authorities; and it is said that the powers of the Bench to restrain them are insufficient."

How important our juvenile reformatories must be to repress and diminish juvenile crime, so long as it is allowed to generate in hot-beds of vice, actually licensed by benches of magistrates. The temptations of singing saloons are not recent corruptions. The Rev. Mr. Clay, the painstaking Chaplain of Preston gaol, bore testimony to their depraving effects years ago. After showing, from a careful perusal of fifty-four narratives of the crimes of juvenile offenders, that 75 per cent. of the sad catalogue was caused by ignorant, negligent, drunken, and brutal parents, he adds: "Laying metaphor aside, the child neglected or outraged at home, soon finds in the streets or fields companions in misery and idleness. Petty thefts are ventured on, bolder ones planned and effected; then arises the inclination for debasing excitement, and it is plentifully supplied by low theatres and singing rooms. As manhood succeeds youth, grosser indulgences are sought, and playhouses and singing rooms are exchanged for alehouses, brothels, and beershops." This faithful picture is painful to contemplate, and will show that, however much has been recently done to diminish juvenile crime, still more has yet to be effected. The singing saloon is doubtless a giant evil, and the philanthropic friends of our juvenile population must never rest in their benevolent labours till it be utterly destroyed. With Howard, they must still ask-"How can the child in years and crime be free from the deeply corrupting influence of criminal association ?"

*

VARIETIES.

PLANTS IN SLEEPING ROOMS.

There are two distinct and apparently opposite processes going on in the plant:-1. The decomposition of carbonic acid-the fixation of the carbon for the purpose of building up its own tissues—and the liberation of the oxygen. This constitutes vegetable nutrition. 2. The exhaling carbonic acid, the result of the union of the oxygen of the atmosphere with the carbon of the vegetable tissues. This is analogous to respiration. The first of these processes is not only beneficial to animal life, but absolutely essential to its existence, for the animal inhales oxygen and exhales carbonic acid in the process of respiration, if some agency did not work out the reverse change, the whole of the oxygen in the atmosphere would be used up in a certain length of time, (800,000 years according to Professor Dumas), and animal life consequently disappear. But, as it is, animals and plants are thus mutually dependent upon each other; and this is the case, not merely with regard to carbonic acid, but also some other compounds, such as ammonia, water, &c., which are formed in animals and decomposed in plants. So far, then, it is healthy to have plants in rooms. But there is the second process-a kind of decay, or by some looked upon as true respiration; and as this is precisely what occurs in animals, it must, of course, add to the carbonic acid of the atmosphere, and thus produce an effect prejudical to animal life. If both these processes were carried on to the same extent, the one would, as a matter of course, counteract the other, and neither would produce either good or evil as to its effects upon the atmosphere. But as the former, under general circumstances, preponderates excessively over the later, it is on the whole healthy to live amongst plants. There are circumstances, however, in which the respiratory process in active, and the nutritive at a stand-still, and here the influence of the vegetable upon the atmosphere will be injurious to animal life. One