flow me." Then after a time he began to feel warmer, and a sense of comfort took possession of his mind. He remembered the gracious lessons of trust in God which his mother had taught him, and after repeating the words: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me!" He felt a delicious sense of drowsiness descend upon him, and in a few minutes, there, coiled up in the dry stern, lying warm in the fisherman's ample coat, though the night breeze was blowing cold above him, he fell sound asleep, rocked in the cradle of his wavetossed boat.

The sun had risen well up into the sky before young Spence awoke. He looked eagerly around him. He was out of sight of land and not a sail was in sight. How far he had drifted during the night from Cliff Foot Bay he could not guess, but when he thought of the fishing village, of his father, and of the cottage, and his Aunt Martha, and all the fisher-boys with whom he used to play, the full sense of his hopeless desolation came back upon him, and he felt that he was lost to all the world forever. He raised his hands to heaven, and prayed as in storms and perils of the deep he had often done before, and his prayer was answered in the satisfying content that entered into his mind.

But what was now to be done. He had eaten nothing since the morning of the previous day, and he now began to have a giddy light-headed feeling from want of food. He might take the oars and row, but he did not know on which side lay the shore, There was still a fresh wind blowing and a considerable swell on the sea, but without mast or sail, how was he to take advantage of them. To him the ocean was pathless, and he knew not in what direction to turn. He drew forth his Bible and read it for hours. He then tried to sing a hymn his mother had taught him, praising the Watcher of all them that "go down to the sea in ships," but his voice faltered and sank. Weakness overcame him, the ready tears rose in his eyes, and he was fain again to wrap himself up in father's coat, and lie down once more to sleep.

It was early on the morning of the third day, after Alick Spence had drifted out of Cliff Foot Bay, that a Norwegian barque laden with timber, and bound for one of our ports on the west coast was sailing towards the British shores. A thick mist covered the sea, and the haze seemed to be made all the more dense by the warm sunshine of the autumn morning. Preparations for the morning meal were going on in the vessel from Norway, and everything was quiet, till suddenly, and with a voice of alarm, the man on the watch shouted eagerly,—— "Boat on the starboard bow!"

Their was a rapid patter of hurrying feet, and soon the master and all his crew of four hands were leaning over the bulwark and peering into the mist.

66

Boat ahoy! "shouted the master, but no answer came back from the water.

Orders were then given to slacken sail and bear round the course of the vessel, until the barque was slowly moving almost alongside a solitary small boat in the bottom of which lay a figure either dead or asleep.

Lifting a small log of wood, the master ran along the deck till he was almost right above the boat, into which he cast the lumbering timber.

The figure in the boat then slowly moved, and partly rising, waved its arms, and then fell back in a swoon.

"Lower your boat and pick him up," ordered the master of the barque, and soon the castaway boat was taken in tow, and Alick Spence, his thin face as pale as death, and the dews of the night in his matted hair, was carried up to the deck of the vessel.

The master was as skilful as he was kindhearted. He had the boy carried below, and put to bed in his own berth, after giving him a spoonful or two of hot coffee. The simple refreshment had a wonderful effect. The boy opened his eyes, ate a morsel of bread, drank more coffee, and then lay down again to sleep.

That evening the Norway vessel reached her harbour, and young Alick was taken to the Sailor's Home, and a telegram sent to his father at Cliff Foot asking him to come imine-diately. Some little time after this, Alick was

Behold the child among his blisses,
A six years' darling of pigmy size!

See, where 'mid work of his own hand he lies
Fretted by sallies of his mother's kisses,
With light upon him from his father's eyes!
See at his feet some little plan or chart
Some fragment of the dream of human life,
Shaped by himself by newly learned art;
A wedding or a festival

A mourning or a funeral:

And this hath now his heart,

And unto this he frames his song:

Then will he fit his tongue

To dialogues of business, love or strife;

But it will not be long

Ere this be thrown aside,

And with new joy and pride
The little actor cons another part.

This is very true. We read of our blessed Lord watching the children play. And again we read how the children gathered round our Saviour and shouted their loud Hosannas as He entered Jerusalem. The Pharisees were angry with the children, and said "Hearest Thou not what these say?" meaning, "Why don't you stop this foolish outcry." When our Lord replied, "Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise ?" On another occasion, we read, how the Jewish mothers crowded round our Lord, bringing their children that He might bless them. But Peter, and James

Angora Bittens.

FEW months ago we had a short conversation with our readers concerning

cats. We then said that cats belonged to the same class of animals as lions, tigers, and leopards. The wild cat of the European forests is of the same kind as our common domestic cat. And the tame cat when turned into the woods soon becomes wild. The engraving on page 57 respresents two Angora kittens. Angora is one of the most important towns of Asia Minor, situated about 220 miles from Constantinople, and contains about 60,000 inhabitants. Its chief commerce consists in articles manufactured from the bright silk-like wool of the Angora goat. The exports also include goats' and cats'-skins. It is thought that the Apostle Paul preached in this city, and several important Christian Councils have been held there. It used to be called Ancyra, but it is now known as Angora or Enguri; can our young friends fidd it on their map of Asia

Minor.

Hard Snots.

HE spot wouldn't come out.

The more they rubbed it the blacker it grew, and at last they had to give it up in despair. It was too bad. Mamma told them not to touch it, and they didn't mean to disobey; but Susy asked Katy to let her hold it in her hands a minute, and Katy forgot what mamma said.

“O dear! said Katy, "mamma told me if I disobeyed in any way to-day I could'nt go to grandma's to-morrow to spend the day; and I've got to stay at home, and I've got to go and tell mother besides." "'Tis too bad," said the girls. "I wouldn't tell," said Mary Rice; "let us go and wash it off, and she never need know." "But that wouldn't be right," said Katy, "for I really did take it down." Well, of course your mother didn't mean you musn't touch it; she only meant you musn't hurt it," said Mary.

Poor Katy! she didn't feel as if that was just what mamma meant; but she did want to go to grandma's so much, that she thought she would just wash it off first, and then tell mamma afterwards. She did not see just then that this was what Tom Gillies called tying one of Satan's knots in her life, which always have to be untied by confession and forgiveness before the heart can be free and happy again. So they all ran into the kitchen, and rubbed the little statue with water and soap till it was streaked all over.

"O dear!" said Kitty again, "I feel as if I couldn't tell mother." "Hide it," said Susy "and she will never know. I guess I can turn it round so that the mark won't show." So they ran back again and put it on its shelf, and put a vase in front of it, and then went into the garden to play.

Katy forgot her Bible verse that mamma had explained so carefully: "He that covereth his sin shall not prosper;" and she tied another of Satan's knots, and a very hard one too. Her heart was heavy all the afternoon, and not all

the nice plays of her companions could make her forget that she was hiding something from her dear, kind mamma. She couldn't bear to go in to supper, and when mamma kissed her good night, and said, "Has my little girl been good all day?" she thought at first she must tell; but she said, "Yes, mamma," and so tied another knot, and the worst one of all-a lie.

She ran away to bed; but she remembered her verse now, and what Tom had said about Satan's making a harder knot each time we do wrong, and she remembered how bravely Tom untied his knots by confessing.

Katy began to think she must tell the truth, and untie her knots too, and have a happy heart again. So she called mamma to her, and told her about it; and though mamma was very sorry Katy had done wrong, and sorry she would have to stay at home from grandma's, she was glad to forgive her little daughter and explain again to her God's word, that "he that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but he that confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy."

I

The Oak Tree.

REMEMBER my dear good father giving me a lesson by means of a young oak. He

said that whilst it was a sapling, it could be pruned and trained to grow straight in its stem and uniform in its branches, so as to become a tall and handsome tree; but if it was left to its own course it would grow bent, its branches crooked, rambling and awkward. And so it was with children. If parents did not train them from their infancy to grow in straight-up good habits and sound principles, by correcting them when they begin to go wrong, and by pruning all the little tendencies to evil words and actions; they would grow up like the untrained oak. It would be almost as