Harry reads. "When Diego de Torres, the Spanish Ambassador, in 1547, first dined with the Emperor of Morocco at his court, he was amused by the customs of the table. Neither knives, forks, nor spoons were provided; but each person helped himself with his fingers, and cleaned his hands with his tongue, except the Emperor, who wiped the hand he took his meat up with, on the head of a black boy, ten years old, who stood by his side. The Ambassador smiled; and the Emperor, observing it, asked what Christian kings wiped their hands with at meals? Fine napkins,' was the reply. What are such things worth?' inquired the monarch. 'A clean one at every meal would cost five shillings, or more,' said the Ambassador. • Don't you think this napkin much better,' rejoined the Emperor, wiping his hand again on the black boy's head, which is worth seventy or eighty crowns ?"

"A fine napkin, truly. This is indeed a singular account, Harry. I don't wonder that it caught your attention; yet there are many things on record of a similar kind, in ancient history. You know that there are various parts of the East, where, even to the present day, people of quality use their hands at their meals, and know nothing of knives or forks."

Give an account of the Spanish ambassador's dinner with the Emperor. What is done at the present day in many parts of the East?

"But do you recollect any thing like the story of the Emperor of Morocco, which I have read this morning?"

"No, Harry, not immediately; but there are allusions in Scripture, of which that account reminds me." "Will you mention some of them ?"

"In the fifteenth chapter of Matthew you will find an account of a woman of Canaan coming to our Lord, and asking his merciful interposition on behalf of her daughter; but he said to her, that it was not meet, to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the dogs;' meaning, that it was not proper at that time to give the privileges of the Jews, or of the people of God, to the Gentiles. Do you recollect what her reply was on that occasion ?"

"She said, 'Truth, Lord; yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.""

"You are right, Harry; and here, I think, we have an allusion to a custom in the East. They did not anciently use napkins, but were accustomed to wipe their fingers and hands with the soft part of the bread, which they afterwards, or at the moment, threw to

What will you find in the 15th chapter of Matthew? What did Jesus say to the woman of Canaan? What answer did she make? What allusion to a custom in the East do we find in this answer?

the dogs. Homer alludes to this custom in his Odyssey.'

'As from some feast a man returning late,
His faithful dogs all meet him at the gate;
Rejoicing round some morsel to receive:
Such was the good man ever wont to give.'

"In the striking parable of Dives and Lazarus there is an allusion, most likely, to the same practice. Do you recollect what the poor afflicted man, who lay at the proud rich man's gate, desired to be fed with, Harry?"

“Yes; 'with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table." "

"True; and no doubt these, in ancient times, were much more than the crumbs which fall from our's, which, you know, would not be worth desiring; no doubt the offal bread, with which they wiped their hands, and which was thrown away under their tables, is alluded to; as this must have been considerable, and would have been sufficient to preserve any poor creature from starving. More than enough is often still wasted in a wealthy family, amply to supply the entire wants even of a poor

What does Homer say of this custom in the Odyssey? What did the poor man wish to be fed with at the rich man's gate? What were the crumbs probably that fell from the tables?

household. How should every one, for the purposes of benevolence, if on no other account, practically obey our Lord's admonition, 'Gather up the fragments which remain, that nothing be lost.' We are sure that he does not feel as he ought, who has no compassion for the poor and the wretched. Surely, in this respect, as in all others, the divine precept, 'Do to others, as you would have them do to you,' should regulate our deportment.'

"Memorable are the lines of one of our own poets,*—

"No radient pearl which crested Fortune wears;
No gem that twinkling hangs from Beauty's ears;
Nor the bright stars which night's blue arch adorn,
Not rising suns that gild the vernal morn,
Shine with such lustre, as the tear that breaks
For others woe, down Virtue's manly cheeks!"

BOOKS AND WRITING.

HARRY, one day, when walking with his father, said, "You have not told me any thing lately about the Eastern customs."

What is our Lord's admonition? Repeat another divine, precept. Repeat some, of Darwins' lines.

* Darwin.

"Have I not? Then it is your own fault." "My own fault, father?"

"Yes, Harry; because I have assured you, that whenever you find any allusion to them in the Bible, I will explain them to you; and you know that this is always a great pleasure to me."

"But there have not been any such allusions in the chapters which you have lately read in the family."

"I think you mistake, Harry; or you have not observed with care. But you should search the Scripture in private for yourself. It is a good plan which some excellent persons have pursued, to commit some interesting verse to memory every morning; this, in a year, would amount to no small portion of Scriptural instruction."

"I often do So, father."

"Well, I had hoped such was the case, Harry. Your ever-dear mother always did so. Yet, as I said, you are mistaken in supposing that there is no allusion to Eastern objects and customs in the chapter which I read at family devotion this morning. There is a very interesting one. Come, let us read a verse or two again. And there was delivered unto Him the

What is a good plan as regards the Scriptures? Repeat some verses from Luke.