A CHINESE CANISTER.

YOUNG people are very fond of hearing about China and the Chinese. They have often heard that it is a very remarkable country, and that they are a very curious people. All this is true; for there is not perhaps on earth a more singular country or a more singular people-its lands, its buildings, its trees, its flowers, and their dress, their language, their writings, their customs, and their appearance, are so different from nearly all other nations of the earth. In fact China is such a world of wonders, that it is as if a stranger had some how or other found his way among the inhabitants of another world when he arrives amongst them. When visiting the Chinese Exhibition in Hyde Park some time ago, we had some such feeling as this when we looked at the wonderful curiosities that were there exhibited, all arranged in beautiful order. So well was this managed that we

had ladies and gentlemen sitting in their parlours, with servants waiting on them, all dressed in such garments as the people wear. The parlour window on the other side was open, and there were such magnificent flowers blooming, with a grand prospect of waters and mountains. Then there was a shop and a draper selling silk to a customer, and his wife peeping in at a slide of the door to tell him that dinner was ready. And then there was an old cobbler with large spectacles on, sitting on his stool mending shoes, and a travelling tinker mending pots and pans-all dressed as such men are in that country. What amused us most was to see the little chubby Chinese boys and girls dressed in such curious dresses. Then there' were all manner of tools which they use in their trades, and all kinds of furniture and cooking utensils; and an amazing variety of sea-shells, and insects, and flies, and birds, and fishes, such as we had never seen before. You know that tea comes from China, and there were tea-cups and saucers, and tea-pots, and tea canisters, in abundance-we have given a picture of one of the canisters above-all made, and wrought, and ornamented very curiously.

One other thing I must mention: there were three great golden gods or idols, as big as three big men, and to such senseless golden images as these the people pray in China, and teach their children to pray. Hundreds of millions there have no sabbath-day-no bible-no worship of God-no knowledge of Jesus Christ who died for our sins. But missionaries are gone to teach them. Pray for them, and always help them all you can, both now and when you grow up.

From East to West, from South to North,

May Jesus be adored;

China, with all her millions, shout,

Hosannah to the Lord!

THE PEAKL-DIVER.

Ir is usual for rich and fashionable ladies who are fond of dress, to wear pearls along with their other finery; but, probably, few who wear them think much about where they come from, or the danger and difficulty of procuring them. Pearls are fished up from the bottom of the sea, and are found inside the shell of a kind of oysters, which are often spoken of as pearl-oysters. The pearl is the result of disease in the oyster; so that those who wear them, only wear a row of glittering fish-bones, or ripened diseases.

Darkin had been trained from his infancy to all the danger and the daring of pearl-fishing. When he was quite a child, his father took him with him in the little vessel in which he and several others pursued their calling. At this tender age, when the sea was smooth, Darkin's chief amusement was gamboling in the water, swimming round and round the boat, and diving down a fathom or two to meet his father as he ascended to the surface of the water. Darkin had often seen his father and others greatly exhausted by their exertions; frequently had he seen the blood flow from their mouths and noses, and even from their ears, after a long plunge. Darkin, on one occasion, saw a shark snap a leg from one of the men, just as he was getting into the boat, and he knew that very few of them lived more than five or six years at this employment, even if no such accident happened to them. But, though Darkin knew all this, he never for a moment thought of following any other calling. Darkin, in time, became very expert in all the feats incident to pearl fishing, and, when he became strong enough, he was engaged day by day in the dangerous trade. It was no unusual thing for Darkin and his companions to make forty or fifty plunges each in a day, and that to a great depth. One day, Darkin, having taken his small net and a short stick in his

hand, dived down to the depth of sixty feet. The net was to put the oysters in, and the stick answered several purposes. Sometimes he used it in loosening the oysters from their hold, and at other times battling with the monsters of the deep, when they came too near him. Darkin had been down some time-for pearl-fishers can live very much longer under water than would be sufficient to drown other men. He had found a considerable number of oysters round a rock rising a short way from the bottom, and was about to rise to the surface, but first looked up, lest any sea enemy should be so near as to make the ascent dangerous. Guess his feelings when he saw a large shark immediately above him, watching him, and the dreadful mouth of the great fish opening and shutting as if he already was anticipating a good meal upon the body of poor Darkin. Darkin moved round the rock, and looked up again; but the shark had gone round too, and was still above him. Round, and round, it was still the same, the shark kept his station, ready to seize him the moment he rose from the bottom. He bethought him then of thickening the water, and immediately stirred up the sand and mud at the bottom in such abundance that he could not see the shark and the shark could not see him. While the shark was still watching the place, Darkin darted away under water, and rose up close by the side of the boat, and had only just got dragged in, when the shark, missing him as the water cleared, dashed, in the fury of his pursuit, against the side of the little vessel. Darkin was much exhausted, and lay a long time before he recovered, but he was safe. The shark continued to lash the water round the little vessel, but could not reach Darkin.

There are waves and depths of affliction, but, as Jonah prayed from the depths of the ocean, so David cried from the depths of his afflictions, and the ear of the Lord is always open to the cry of His people.

THE LARK.

SEE the little lark is springing
From the earth and upwards winging-
So, Lord, let my spirit rise,

To thy temple in the skies;
Like that little lark let me
Pour out now my song in glee.
With that bird I feel the light
Of thy sun, so warm and bright;
Feel the balmy airs that blow,
See the lovely flowers that grow;
But far more than this I know:-
I look on what is bright and fair,
And know and feel that thou art there:-
God, the great, the good, the wise,
Whose bounty all my want supplies.
Thus enjoying happiness,

Let my strains of joy express,
In gaiety or solitude,

An overflowing gratitude.

Receive, e'en now the clouds among, A little child's enraptured song; Come, little lark, I'll join my note With the shrill music of thy throat, And at heaven's gate unite my lays With thine, in sweet and holy praise." Stamford.

TO THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

SHEPHERD of thy little flock,
Lead me by the shadowing rock,
Where the richest pasture grows,
Where the living water flows.

By that pure and silent stream,
Shelter'd from the scorching beam,
Shepherd, Saviour, Guardian, Guide,
Keep me ever near thy side.

R. P.