years of age, in deep mourning, and the sorrow of his heart indicated by the air of sadness on his countenance. He was quite a subject to awaken the interest of Mr. M—, who was busy writing down the particulars of the case which had occasioned his present absence from home, in order to make them the subject of a lecture to his students on the following afternoon.

"After a deep silence, interrupted only by the howling of the storm, and the occasional deep-drawn sighs of the mourner, Mr. M- thus accosted his companion.

"Pardon me, sir, for thus obtruding on your notice, but I see you are in deep sorrow, and having had no little experience of the ups and downs to which all are exposed in this life, as well as of the consolations which the word of God affords, let me express the hope that you have found that while ours is a life of sorrow, ours is a religion of hope.'

"No apology is needed,' said the youth. I thank you heartily for breaking a silence which I in vain endeavoured to do, recognising in your countenance that you are one not unaccustomed to sympathize with the afflicted. I am in deep distress. Within the last few weeks both of my parents have been cut off by cholera, and I have had to stand by the deathbed of my eldest brother, who has fallen a victim to malignant typhus fever. I am now cast friendless on the world. I came here to enquire after a vacant situation, but have been disappointed. I feel as if I had none to care for me, and must return home to-morrow to brood over my desolate condition.'

"Your case,' said Mr. M—, 'is indeed trying. But let me remind you of One who has emphatically revealed himself as the "Father of the fatherless." If you make him your refuge, you will no longer need to say that you have none to care for you.'

"But,' replied the mourner, my present trials are so great, and the disappointment I have now met with so vexatious, that I feel as if He of whom you speak, and to whom my dying father, ere he fell into a state of collapse, committed me, had altogether forsaken me. And perhaps the heaviest of all my trials is that, under the pressure of affliction, I have been led to question the truth of his promises, and to doubt his providence altogether.' "Your present experience,' rejoined Mr. M-, 'is no It is Satan's grand policy from present

uncommon one.

trials and emergencies to make faith in God's word stagger, and to conceal the truth that oft-times

'Behind a frowning providence
God hides a smiling face.'

What you now feel to be against you, may yet, and that at no distant period, turn out to be for your good.'

"But I feel,' said the orphan,that there never was any one so much tried as I am, and my case seems to be beset with inextricable difficulties. All this proves staggering to my faith.'

"Not quite so fast, my young friend,' replied Mr. M—. I too was once an orphan, and hemmed in with the darkest difficulties, yet the Lord delivered me. I can speak from deep personal experience, when I say that God will be true to his promise. The Scripture cannot be broken." Resist the whisperings of Satan, and in spite of your present darkness still trust in the Lord.'

66

"Would it be presuming too much on your kindness,' asked the young man of Mr. M-, ' were I to request you to give me a narrative of your experience in your days of orphanage? I begin to feel that especial providence has brought us together this evening, and it may be that our meeting in this hotel may be the means of raising me out of the Slough of Despond into which, through unbelief, I have been plunged.'

"Kindly complying with this request, Mr. M-recounted many thrilling incidents in his early days, which strikingly illustrated the ever wakeful providence of our heavenly Father, and the fulfilment of his promises to all who trust in him. When he had concluded his statement, his young companion thanked him warmly, and assured him it had read him many a useful lesson.

"I already,' he remarked, see it is for my good that I have lost the situation in quest of which I came here. It was one in which I should have had good emoluments, but few spiritual advantages. I am now satisfied that the Lord has something better in store for me.'

"It may be,' said Mr. M-, 'that our providential meeting here to-night may lead to your appointment to "something better." An intimate friend of mine in the city is looking out for a confidential clerk. Here is my card with my address. As soon as you get home to-morrow, forward me your testimonials, and I will bring your case

before my friend. He is a Christian man; and if you succeed in securing a place in his employment, you will be surrounded with influences which will all tell for your good.'

"The two travellers parted for the night. Next morning saw them borne in different directions by their respective trains. The situation referred to by Mr. M- was obtained by the young orphan, who was enabled by God's grace to discharge his duties to his employer with such fidelity that he was at length taken into the partnership of a flourishing and lucrative business.

"The young man referred to in my narrative," said Mr. Stewart, was none other than myself. And if you and I," he continued, addressing Mr. Tweedie, "have had cause to mark God's hand in those unexpected meetings in our early days from which so much has accrued to each of us, have we not occasion to trace and admire the same in our having been thrown into one another's society at this time, and in our being privileged to stir up one another's minds by way of remembrance in reference to those early steps on which so much of the future happiness of young men depends."

When the furlough of the two merchants was expired, they were sorry to part. To the watering-place where, by God's blessing, their health was re-established, they often looked back as the spot where a sweet Christian friendship was cemented; and each loved, when again amid the toils of business, as he thought of pleasant hours spent in Derbyshire, to recall the lines of Pollok

There is little or nothing uncommon in this true and simple narrative of facts. Doubtless most readers into whose hands it comes, might relate similar instances from their own experiences. Matthew Henry quaintly, but truly, says, "He who will look for providences shall have providences to look for." If we will but look into our lives we shall assuredly find that God has led us hitherto. Thus shall we learn two most important lessons: 1. Gratitude for the past; 2. Cheerful trust for the future.

OLD SIMMONS; OR, INTEGRITY.

"AND I say, Thompson, send me old Simmons, because I know he'll give his fair day's work, and do it as well when I'm away as when I'm there."

The speaker was a man of portly presence, as if conscious of being well off in the world. He had just been giving Thompson the builder orders about some alterations in his stables, and these were his last words as he turned to get into his pony chaise, which was standing at the entrance of Thompson's yard.

I knew old Simmons well. He was an old man when I was a boy, but even then his manners and his character made an impression upon me, and I always felt a sort of reverence for him though he was only a journeyman carpenter; and I believe this was the feeling of all who knew him. Squire Thorpe might have had younger men, and men who would, perhaps, have done their work quicker while their master was by, or while he was about; but he knew he could depend on old Simmons. He knew that he would work as steadily and faithfully if nobody was by as he would if he were working for a wager. He knew that every scrap of time as well as timber would be turned to good account. He knew there would be no sneaking off to the beer shop for "elevens" or "fours." He knew that when the clock struck the hour he should find him ready for work, and that come in when he would, he would always find him working steadily on. Moreover, he knew that old Simmons never scamped his work. What he did he did well, for he used to say to himself, "Well, master may never see it, but God sees it, and I'm bound to work as well for him to see, as for my earthly master." He did not think, as some do, that God cares nothing about how we do our work, but he thought he was bound to do everything to please him; and he would have been unhappy if he had left anything badly done, because he would have felt it wrong in the sight of God as well as of man. He did not want keeping up to the mark by constant looking after, as some do who will shirk everything they can, and do as little as possible; but his aim was to be faithful always and in all things. "They are no workers to my mind," he used to say, "who can only work when the master's about." He was a good man-a man who loved and served God; a man whose hopes of salvation rested on Christ, and Christ

alone; a humble-minded man, who never thought of himself more highly than he ought to think; an upright, honest man, faithful in all things; a man who walked in his integrity.*

Now I do not mean to say that old Simmons was faultless. He would of all men have been horrified if you had told him that. I have heard him pray with, the deepest expression of self-abhorrence, and evidently feeling what he said, confessing himself a sinner in the sight of God. He knew that "if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." It always looks suspicious when people boast much about their integrity, and a man who does so is the last man to be trusted without trial. But although in the sight of a holy God none of us can be perfect, yet we may attain many excellences of character which will glorify him, and be of benefit to our fellow men. And one of these excellent qualities is integrity.

Many a man and woman too, who would scorn to wrong their master or mistress of a single penny, yet rob them every day by their carelessness, and neglect, and waste. If we would have this noble quality of integrity, we must be honest as to everything, and in everything, and always. And first of all, a man (or woman either) of integrity will be honest as to the use of their time. My old friend used to say, "This time is not mine, it is my master's, and therefore I am bound to use it for him." And is not this a right principle? Why, if your master gave you a pound to lay out for things he wanted, you would not think it right to spend a sixpence here, and a shilling there for yourself, and put the odd coppers in your pocket. And yet many an otherwise honest servant or workman will use a minute or two here, and five minutes there, and ten minutes in another place for his or her own advantage; or will be a minute or two late in coming to work, or a minute or two earlier in going away, without thinking that all this is the master's loss. "Time is money," says the proverb, and the waste of a few minutes occasionally would soon mount up to many shillings. If one man enters into covenant with another to give him so much time for so much money, he is as much bound to give him every minute of that time, as he would be bound to give him every penny of money that he owed him. Minutes