palace, we found the king ready to receive us at this early hour.

The interview was quite private, like that of Tuesday evening, and the same persons were also in attendance on him. I again adverted to human sacrifices, and expressed my satisfaction at the remarks be had made on the subject during our last interview. He then observed that the number of human sacrifices made in Kumasi had been greatly exaggerated, and that attempts had thus been made to spoil his name. He wished me to understand that human sacrifices were not so numerous in Kumasi as they had been represented, and expressed a hope that mere reports relative to such a subject flying about the country would not be listened to; and he then observed, "I remember that when I was a little boy, I heard that the English came to the coast of Africa with their ships for cargoes of slaves, for the purpose of taking them to their own country and eating them; but I have long since known that the report was false, and so it will be proved in reference to many reports which have gone forth against me." I answered that I believed him, and that I hoped he would not forget that in every life which he saved from sacrifice, he would be considered as conferring a favour upon the Queen of England and the British nation.

After conversing with him thus in the most unrestrained manner for about half an hour, we took our leave of him by shaking him cordially by the hand, and then returned to the Mission-house."

From the above reports we gather that this heathen king is ashamed of the wicked customs of his country. Let us hope that, through the light shed upon the people by the labours of Christian missionaries, the day is not distant when they will be given up. But alas! how true is it, that yet "the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty."

SOME time ago we gave our young friends a picture of one of these carriages, but as we have now found a better, and as we have also something more to tell about these very useful conveyances, we introduce this to their notice.

A carriage, something like an omnibus, was made in England about forty years ago, but did not succeed. The omnibus as at present in use, was first made in Paris, the chief city of France, about twenty years ago. A few years afterwards they were introduced into London, and now they are to be found in all the large towns and cities of Europe.

At this time there are nearly 1,000 of these carriages running daily in London and the neighbourhood, distances of from two to four miles for sixpence each. Eighty of these carriages have been known to clear as much as £1,000 in one year in sixpences. Some run shorter stages now for threepence each.

If you should be walking along one of the great thoroughfares of the metropolis, and hear a heavy lumbering carriage coming behind you, it is almost sure to be an omnibus, and on turning round to look at it you would find that the man who drives it has his eye upon you, and then the question, "Bank sir,

Bank?" meaning that he is driving as far as the Bank. And when it passes you, you may expect the sharplooking little fellow, that rides swinging on the step behind, to lift up his finger at you and cry, “Bank sir, Bank," and so he does to the next and the next all the way he goes along; and he can tell in a moment whether you wish to go with him or not. If you shake your head and appear unconcerned he looks at you no more; but if you raise your finger and give him a nod, he orders the driver to stop, and opening the door pops you in, closes it in a moment, and calling" All right," away they go again, looking out in the same way for more customers. In this way hundreds of sixpences are picked up every day by

them.

These carriages are very useful conveyances. Passengers may travel by them sheltered from the rain or the sun from one end of London to the other, at a trifling expense, and though they do not escape from the noise, they do escape from the dirt and dust and all the inconvenience of crowded footpaths. The saving of time, too, is a matter of considerable importance.

These carriages have been the means of nearly exterminating the old hackney coaches, which once traversed the streets of London. What has become of them we do not know, but now one is seldom seen -the heavy omnibus and the light-wheeled cab have joined to push them from "the stand."

Here I may also mention what might almost be called the water omnibus, I mean the small steampackets which run up and down the river between the bridges for low fares, and these are very pleasant conveyances in summer, as you are out on the cool river, where you get fresher air, and avoid all the noise, and dust, and heat of the crowded streets. These, too, are a great improvement; but like the omnibus on land, the small steamers on the Thames

THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE RAIN.

have been the means of upsetting the little wherry, which once flew with such graceful beauty over its

waters.

And so it is, and so it will be, that one improvement pushes out another, and so things will go on in this world, where all things change and pass away. We, too, must make way for our children, as our fathers did for us. Happy they who are found doing the will of God, for they shall abide for ever in that enduring world which knows no change!

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THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE RAIN.

BY MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY.

MOTHER, it rains,” said a little girl, who was looking out at the window. "I am sorry not to make a visit to Emma. She invited me twice before, but it rained, and now it is raining hard again."

"I hope you will not be unhappy, my dear," said her mother. "I think I notice the tears upon your cheeks. I will not say it is a little thing, for the troubles of children seem great to them, but I trust you will be patient, and wait pleasantly for good weather."

"Mother, you have told me that God knows everything, and that he is always good. Then he certainly must know that there is but one Saturday afternoon in the week, and that it is all the time I have to play with my little friends. He must know that it has rained now these three holidays, when I wished so much to go abroad. And can he not make sunshine whenever he pleases ?"

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We cannot understand all the ways of God, my child; but the Bible tells us he is wise and good. Look out into your little garden and see how happy the rosebuds are to catch the soft rain in their bosoms,

and how the violets lift up their sweet faces to meet it, and as the drops fall into the quiet stream how it dimples with gladness and gratitude. The cattle will drink at the stream and be refreshed. Should it be dried up, they would be troubled; and were the green grass to grow brown and die, they would be troubled still more, and some of them might perish for want of food."

Then the good mother told her daughter of the sandy deserts in the east, and of the camel who patiently bears thirst for many days, and how the fainting traveller watched for the rain cloud, and blessed God when he found water; and she showed her the picture of the camel and of the caravan, and told her how they were sometimes buried under the sands of the desert. And she told her a story of the mother who wandered into the wilderness with her son, and when the water was spent in the bottle, she laid him under the shade to die, and went and prayed in her anguish to God; then how an angel brought the water from heaven, and her son lived. She told her another story from the Bible, how there fell no rain in Israel for more than three years, and the grass dried up, and the brooks wasted away, and the cattle died, and how the great prophet prayed earnestly to God, and the skies sent their blessed rain, and the earth gave forth her fruit. Many other things this good mother said to her child, to teach and entertain her. Then they sang together a sweet hymn or two, and the little girl was surprised to find the afternoon so swiftly spent, for the time passed pleasantly.

So she thanked her kind mother for the stories she had told, and the pictures she had shown her. And she smiled, and said, "What God pleases is best."

Her mother kissed her child and said, "Carry this sweet spirit with you, my daughter, as long as you live, and you will have gathered more wisdom from the storm than from the sunshine."

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