being too lazy to climb the cliffs, lingered at the foot of them until the tide came up and drowned him, and so all his dreams of easy pleasure ended. But the companions he scoffed at set themselves bravely to their task, and did not fail in it. Two of the sailors recovered from the fever, and repenting of the wrong they had done, helped to take the ship back to the land from which the young prince had been carried away.

At last it was reached; the ship sailed into the harbour of a splendid city, and the

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news spread abroad that the young prince had been rescued and brought back. And when Louis and Harold went through the shouting crowds of people to the king's palace, while bells rang and trumpets pealed, do you not think that they were glad that such an adventure had fallen to their lot?

The king gave them places of high honour in his service, with titles of rank among his nobles. They did many a brave deed afterwards, and were much beloved.

VERY boy has in him the promise of a man, and while he is very young begins to show what sort of man he is going to be. 'Even a child is known by his doings.' The little boy Samuel was brought to the house of God by his mother. But how did he get there? He was born a long way from Shiloh, and was too young to walk from Ramah. In verse 24 of the first chapter of the first book of Samuel we read, 'And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks'; and in the 25th verse it says,

They slew a bullock.' Very likely, then, it was in a cart, drawn by two of these oxen, that they rode from Ramah to Shiloh.

Samuel's mother was a very good woman, and prayed much for her son, not only before he was born, but all the time she lived. With many a tear she would cry to God to bless the lad she had left behind with Eli. Many of my little readers have mothers who pray daily for them. Your mother prayed for you when you were a

feeble little baby. And she did so when she gave you into the hands of the minister to be baptized. She does so yet. Are her prayers to be answered, as were the prayers of Hannah? Much depends on yourself, whether, like Samuel, you will remain where your mother put you. In baptism, she gave you to the Lord, and you cannot stray away without robbing your future manhood of its beauty and honour.

After Samuel had been living with Eli for a few years, the Lord called him. You may read about it in 1 Sam. chap. iii. It was at night, when the lad was asleep, that the Lord called his name. Poor little fellow, he thought it was Eli who had spoken, and he ran to him. He obeyed the voice, though he did not know who called him. Yes, and those who obey parents and masters learn to obey God. When we keep the Fifth Commandment, we are learning to keep all the others. If I see a lad who does what he is told by his mother, I am pretty sure that when he grows up he will obey God at all cost. Eli, we are told, 'perceived that the Lord had called the child.' How did he know? Perhaps some of the glory came from God upon the face of the boy. The old man said, 'Go, lie down, and it shall be, if He call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for Thy

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few of the people had seen it. Now we all have a copy of God's Word, and can read what God says. At that time there was little or no preaching, but now we have men of God to speak to us from the pulpit or in the Sunday-school. Besides, God can talk to us in other ways. Have you not heard His voice at a funeral? As the minister read the solemn service at the grave-side, and you listened to the gravel as it rattled on the coffin-lid, you seemed to hear some one say, If that were your corpse in the coffin, where would your soul be? That was God's voice. And at different times, when the preacher has been very earnest, you remember, it seemed as though it were the Lord calling you by name to be His servant.

Samuel rose to great honour. He took the first place in the land. It very soon came to be known that the Lord used him as His mouthpiece. I can fancy how the people would talk about the boy-minister. They would say, 'Have you seen the new prophet? He is only a boy, but none of his words fall to the ground.' 'Whatever he says comes true.' 'He has foretold great sorrow for the dear old man. God means to punish those bad sons of his.' Sure enough it all came to pass. One day in battle Hophni and Phinehas were slain. They were not soldiers; but they took to the war the gold-covered chest called the ark, and while in charge of it were slain by the Philistines.

Samuel kept rising. He was a holy man, as he had been a devout child. For many years he was the ruler of the people. It

was an evil day when they desired a king, and set aside the man who had been such a good magistrate and preacher. Though Samuel was now no longer chief, he remained the first man in the land. If you cover a sovereign with a penny, you can only hide it for a time. Sooner or later some one will find it, and say, 'Here is a piece of gold.' Samuel was all his life in great esteem. Upon him God put the honour of anointing the future king, the lion-hearted David. If you read the story, 1 Sam. xvi., you will see that the same voice which the boy obeyed, spoke to the old man, and guided him as to which of Jesse's sons was to be a king.

Through his long life, Samuel remained faithful to his God. When he died, there was a wondrous funeral, for we read: 'All the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him. We can fancy some of the old men would say, 'Ah! we are burying our country's greatest man to-day.' But his work was not done, though he was in his grave! In chap. xxviii. we are told

that he rose from the dead to tell Saul of the doom which waited him, and that the man he had so often tried to kill would reign after all.

All this honour came to the man who, when a child, heard and answered the call of God. My dear young friends, if you would have a beautiful old age to close a well-spent life, let God have all your time. Your life is in your own hands. You can give it to what you like. Shall sin have it? or will you, while young, say, 'Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth' ?

Now let us haste away to enjoy the beauties of Bushey Park. We seat ourselves amongst the ferns at the foot of these limes, to enjoy our picnic, with this fallen trunk serving us as a table, the grand old limes in their loftiness and gracefulness flinging their shadows around us, whilst between the trees

we have glimpses of the glories of the chestnut-blooms, and right before us, at the end of the long avenue, we see the water of the fountain glistening in the sunlight. The three unrivalled avenues of limes and horsechestnuts, over a mile long, are the glory of Bushey. Bushey is always pleasant, but

especially so when the hawthorns are in flower and the air loaded with the perfume of the lime blossoms. Strolling towards Hampton Court, we see the broad circular sheet of water, decorated with a bronze statue of Diana in the centre.

And now we stand before Hampton Court, the palace of Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII., and then of all our Sovereigns in succession from Edward VI. to George II., but now by Royal liberality a Palace open to all. Here a day may be pleasantly spent in examining the Palace and its contents, and in strolling through its well-kept and ornamented gardens. When Wolsey took the manor of Hampton, he was in the height of his power, holding the position of Archbishop of York, and very soon afterwards was made cardinal. He had built at very much expense a grand palace which every one admired, and even the King grew jealous and envious. The Palace itself was not all that excited the envy and admiration of the monarch or his people. We are told that 'every room had hangings of wonderful value, and every place did glitter with innumerable vessels of silver and gold. There were two hundred and fourscore (two hundred and eighty) beds, the furniture to most of them being silk.' To quiet the jealousy and envy of his King, and to keep in his favour, the cardinal was at length almost compelled to offer the gorgeous Palace to the King as a gift. Of course the King accepted the gift, and then made this a very frequent residence and scene of much gaiety.

For a few short years Anne Boleyn presided over the Court festivities, and then the cruel King had her beheaded. A similar fate befell Catherine Howard. Here Edward VI. was born, and a few days afterwards his mother (Jane Seymour) died. Henry added very largely to the building and its decorations. Charles I. spent much time here; partly because of the plague that raged in London and partly for pleasure, and at last as a prisoner. Cromwell lived here, and had an organ erected in the great gallery. William III. had some parts pulled down, and Sir Christopher Wren built statelier

rooms.

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Perhaps more time, money, and thought were spent upon Hampton than pleased the Londoners. And here William III. met with the accident which brought on his death. George II. was the last monarch who lived here. For a long time the place was much neglected, but in November, 1838, it was thrown open to the public.

The Great Hall-a very fine room-was built by Henry VIII. The coloured windows contain the portraits of the King, his wives, and their children, as well as the arms, badges, and devices of the Houses of York and Lancaster. On the walls hang tapestries, which, though faded, must once have been most rich, representing in eight divisions the principal events in the life of Abraham. Horns, arms, and armour decorate the walls, and over all is the grand roof, rich in carving,gilding, and colour. The State apartments are all in the portion of the building erected by Wren, and contain amongst their furniture a very large collection of paintings.

The charming gardens owe their form to Charles II., who laid them out very carefully.

They were extended and improved. by William III. He had the canal dug and bordered with avenues of lime trees, erected fountains and stocked them with gold fish, formed the terraces and broad gravel walks. Then, too, there is the Vine to be seen for a small payment. It was planted in 1769, and is now one hundred and thirteen years old. Its stem is 38 inches round, the leading branch 110 feet long, and it gives about 1,500 bunches of grapes every year; one year there were 1,750 bunches. Then we go a-walking in the groves of that pleasant, shady little retreat named the Wilderness; and before we go home we must go to the Maze. What fun and frolic we have, walking between the high hedges, trying to get to the centre. Laughter rings all around, which of course we join in, when we come to a full stop. But we turn, and try again, and with more blunders and more laughter, after a lot of wandering, we at last reach the centre. Then we make more blunders, and have more fun in getting out; and so ends our visit to Happy Hampton.'