waiting-maid, with brisk step, was heard hurrying up stairs. She halted before the closed door of Mrs. Lovejoy's apartment.

"Mrs. Jones is down stairs, ma'am-the poor Mrs. Jones who comes here once in a while," she whispered through the key-hole.

Slowly the door opened. "Mary," said her mistress, "I can't go down-that is, I don't think I can, I don't feel well. My head aches, I'm sick to-day." And then, apparently conscious that her agitated manner, broken sentences, and swollen eyes were betraying her secret in spite of herself, she added, "I have so much trouble, I think I won't go down to-day, I'll excuse myself."

"Well," said the waiting Mary, "what shall I say?"

"Never mind, never mind," she exclaimed, after a moment's inward balancing, “I guess I will go down. I never like somehow to send poor people away." So, wiping her tearful face and smoothing down her disordered hair, she proceeded to the sitting-room.

"I couldn't help calling on you this morning, ma'am, I hope you'll excuse me," said the humble visitor. "I don't know just what made me either, but you always help me so to bear my troubles."

"Have you any new troubles, my friend?" asked the kind-hearted Mrs. Lovejoy, putting herself and her sorrows quite behind her, in her eager desire to do a fellow-creature a service.

"Well, nothing very new, ma'am, only you know, you know," and the woman stammered and hesitated as if she didn't like to say what she had intended-"you know, ma'am, my husband is so cross. He's been sick with the rheumatism these three weeks,, and I'm most tired of my life; for with the pain and his bad temper, and all together, it seemed as if we couldn't stand it anyhow. I could bear it for myself, ma'am, I'm sure I could, if I was all alone with him; for I always try to please him, and I never answer back-but, oh, dear, ma'am, my children-what shall I do for my children?"

Was it an inspiration from the Almighty that fell upon Mrs. Lovejoy at that moment, as she opened her lips and discoursed to the poor, tried, and discouraged woman of the unerring love and wisdom that appoints all our way in life, meting out every burden, and fashioning every cross according to our needs, and then stand by with sympathizing aspect and allsufficient grace, to help us bear them? And with what tender earnestness she exhorted the wife to patience and the mother to an wavering faith in Him who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb, and takes the part of His suffering little ones whom an unfeeling and erring parent is daily "offending."

un

burden of grief which she had for the moment laid down; but where was it? She could not find it. Her own soul seemed lifted up by the precious truths she had been holding out to her sinking friend, her tears were stayed and her spirit was calm and even happy. She took up her Bible, and as if following the illuminated finger of the Comforter, her eyes ran along these words, "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." She had read the Bible through many times, but she thought she had never seen those words before, and now she knew the reason why she had "tribulation."

COMFORT.

For the Advocate and Guardian. "ELI SAT ON A SEAT BY THE WAYSIDE, WATCHING."

*

*

*

* How often, in the present day, do we think of Eli; for our land is now filled with "watchers by the wayside." A gigantic rebellion has imperiled the ark of our national liberty, and the heart of this people is throbbing with intense anxiety, during the progress of the contest which is of

such moment to us all. Hitherto, we have boasted that we were a nation of freemen ; that all men were entitled to freedom of speech and liberty of conscience. We have spread our "banner of beauty" to the breeze, desiring it to be the synonym for all that is beautiful, noble and good, inviting the down-trodden and oppressed of the Caucasian race, in every nation, to flee to it, to find protection beneath its ample folds; to seek our hospitable shores as an asylum of peace and safety, where prosperity might smile upon their industry, and crown them with the fruits of their labors. All this was well-it was as it should be.

But there is another side to the picture. In the fairest portion of our goodly land, where the orange-tree blossoms, and the mocking-bird makes music in the grove, where all should be free and equal, more than four millions of human beings were held in bondage, and by

the unremunerated labor of their hands and sweat of their brows, were enriching their so-called masters, subject alike to the lash of the driver and the fangs of the bloodhound, or to be separated from all that was dear, by the fall of the auctioneer's hammer. We were constantly giving the lie to our boast. God heard the groans and prayers, and saw the tears of His afflicted children, and sent various judgments upon their persecutors; but, like Pharaoh, they hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks, and refused to listen to the voice of God, to let the oppressed go free.

It was the principle that "capital should own its own labor," with the numerous sins which this principle engendered and fostered,

that has endangered all that was noble and good in our national policy-that has baptized our land in blood, and now causes so many to "sit by the wayside, watching."

Yes, there are thousands watching; but are there as many thousands who are offering up earnest, prevailing prayer to "God who saves," that He will guide our national barque through the breakers, to the harbor of unity and peace! Christ commanded us to pray, as well as watch, and Himself set us the example. He exhorted us "To have faith in God, to be not afraid, only believe;" and again, "If ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall say to this mountain, 'Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done." " What an exhortation to trust in God! How often have Christians tested the power of faith in God, and yet how loth are we to trust our nation in His hands. I fear we trust too much in finite man to save us from ruin.

True, man is a very necessary element in the struggle, for God uses means for all that is accomplished. He has a great purpose in the present contest-the doing away of a great wrong, the punishment of great sins; the advancement of human liberty; the furtherance of Christ's kingdom to the healing of a nation. All that He purposes, He will perform, for all power is in His hands. But He loves to hear the prayers of His saints, and will listen to their plea. They may implore Him, that "amid deserved wrath, He may remember mercy."

There are thousands now, "sitting by the wayside," watching the contest, who feel that they are powerless for good, who yet have the privilege of approaching the Mercy-seat of the Lord of lords and King of kings, and there, through prayer, may exercise a great power for our beloved country, by imploring God to go forth with our armies, and direct the deliberations of those in authority-civil, military, and ecclesiastical-to guide all the affairs of the nation to His honor and glory. Let us, then, not only watch, but also pray, that God will "cause the wrath of man to praise Him, "and the remainder of wrath may He restrain. But, most of all, that the spirit of the living God may strive successfully with the people of the nation, that they may be turned from the error of their ways, flee from "sin," which is a reproach to any people, and put on the robes of righteous

WISH OF A GOOD MAN.-"I would rather," said Dr. Sharpe, "when I am laid in the grave, that some one in his manhood should stand over me and say: There lies one who was a real friend to me, and privately warned me of the danger of the young. No one knew it, but he aided me in the time of need; I owe what I am to him.' Or would rather have some poor widow, with choking utterance, tell her children, There is your friend and mine; he visited me in my affliction, and found you, my son, an employer, and you, my daughter, a happy home, in a virtuous family." I would rather that such persons should stand at my grave, than to have erected over it the most beautiful sculptured monument of Parian or Italian marble. The heart's bro ken utterance of reflections of past kindness, and the tears of grateful memory shed upon the grave. are more valua ble, in my estimation, than the most costly cenotaph ever reared."

For the Advocate and Guardian. "STRAIGHT PATHS."

THE waning light of a Sabbath evening fell on the open leaves of the large, old Bible. Young fingers had turned over the leaves, and those same young fingers had grown old, and bony, and withered, and turned them over then. Young eyes had spelled the words, and those same eyes had peered dimly through spectacles to read its blessed truths. Glad young hearts had felt the preciousness of its reading, and hearts that had found earth's promises to fail had found here a resting-place.

They were young eyes that were bending over it now, and a young heart that was seeking to know the will of Jesus concerning her life.

The young girl sat pondering these wordsthey were marked faintly with a pencil-line: "And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way."

"I have been turned out of the way often and often, and by such little things. Mother is a Christian, and it was only this morning I enjoyed the sermon so much, and when we were coming out of church mother said it was so long, and the minister's voice so unpleasant, that it took away all the good. And last week, after I read about Mr. Muller's giving up all for God and trusting in Him, I wanted to wear my old muslin and give the five dollars father gave me to old Mrs. Howe, to buy wine and jelly for her; but father said, when he threw the book down, 'That man is a fanatiche can't expect everybody to have the faith he has;' and that froze my heart right up, and that isn't half that everybody does. I don't know of anybody that makes 'straight paths,' and sometimes I think I won't try either. It's only the good books and papers that keep me on; and perhaps the very people that write walk crookedly too."

A boy's form emerged from the shrubbery, and a boy of fourteen years ran up the steps and sat down beside his sister.

"How beautiful everything is in the quiet and starlight!"

"Yes, it is beautiful," said the boy. "Are you glad you are a Christian ?" Charlie looked up into his sister's face. He did not need words.

"It seems to me a blessed thing-something everybody longs for; but no one ever becomes a real, Bible Christian. I don't believe there is such a thing. There might have been when Christ was on the earth, but seeing is believing, and I sha'n't believe till I do see. If father really believes I'm going to be lost why don't he tell me so? He never said I must trust in Jesus to be saved. He says so in prayermeeting," Charlie went on, "but I might talk in prayer-meeting as well as he does, or anybody else. I wish I could, and I'd make the ears of the hypocrites tingle. Why don't he tell me so-and mother, too? When I was little, she used to say at night, 'Don't forget

to say your prayers,' and now I'm getting big, I believe she's ashamed; ain't that true, now, Lucy? Did she ever ask you to be a Christian?"

"No," said Lucy, sadly.

"And then as to Sunday-school teachers -I never had one that did me a bit of good; they talk in a cold, hard-set way. Why don't they say, 'Jesus died for you, Charlie; He loves you! Why don't people talk and act as if religion were alive?-they act as if the Bible were a story-book, and God was dead."

"But, Charlie, you and I needn't."

"I don't know why we should keep straighter than other people. I'm just discouraged. I don't see why I should sign the pledge when the minister drinks cider and makes currant wine. That's a beginning of evil; now, isn't it?" "Yes, that isn't keeping in the straight path." "And when I try to keep from swearing, I hear Christians swear every day. O, no, it's nothing to say What under the heavens,' and 'Heaven knows,' and 'Confounded!' instead of what boys say. Now, what is the difference," asked Charlie, excitedly.

"But, Charlie, if our eyes are opened we needn't follow them. The Bible can be a real Bible to us.

66

But, Lucy, is it right for Christians to look all around the church in prayer-time? I've seen one of the oldest do it. And is it right for father to smoke ten cent cigars and put five cents on the plate?"

"But, Charlie-" "Yes, but, Charlie.' We boys talk it over; we've got our eyes open. You can be a real Christian, and if you are, perhaps I'll try it." And Charlie jumped up and ran around the corner of the house, whistling "Dixie."

The sister's head was bowed on the old book. She was asking God to help her to make "straight paths" for Charlie's lame feet. "O, dear!" said their father, in his armchair, just inside the open hall-door: "These horrid musquitoes won't let me sleep at all.”

M. B. B.

A BIBLE PRESENTED TO THE PRESIDENT.-This afternoon, a committee of loyal colored people from Baltimore, formally presented to the President an imperial quarto Bible, splendidly bound, costing $580, as a token of their respect and gratitude to him for his active part in the cause of emancipation. They say, since they have been incorporated in the American family, they have been true and

"I know it, Charlie. This morning I was trying to think Sunday thoughts, and mother called me to button her glove, and all the time she was talking to me about my bonnet-strings, and the color of my gloves. Then aunt Mary talked about the dust all the way to church, and the new church stair-carpet all the way home."

"And mother takes the Atlantic, but she can't take the Guardian; so she takes the Messenger, because it's cheap, and she wants to have one religious paper in the house; and she asked me to read it and I won't; it don't do her any good to read it, and of course it wouldn't me."

"And aunt Mary went to the theatre last night, and taught in Sunday-school to-day."

"I'd either give up one or the other. And she was reading Miss Edgeworth's tales this afternoon, and she'll read a chapter in the Bible before she goes to bed. O, Christians! Christians!"

"And she and mother never go to the weekly prayer-meeting-they have to sew or are too tired."

"I don't see how they can expect us to do right. It's the Christians that keep us out of the way; we don't expect anything from other people."

"What is a Christian, Charlie ?"

"One who loves God better than he loves the world, the flesh, or the devil."

"No one loves the devil," said Lucy smiling. "Well, they serve him—a good many Christians do. I guess he sets Christians in the way to keep us out."

are prepared to be armed and trained in military matters, in order to protect and defend the "Star Spangled Banner." The President replied:

"I can only say now, as I have often said before, it has always been a sentiment with me that all mankind should be free. So far as I have been able, so far as came within my sphere, I have always acted as I believed was right and just, and done all I could for the good of mankind. I have, in letters and documents sent forth from this office, expressed myself better than I can now. In regard to the Great Book, I have

only to say it is the best gift which God has ever given to man. All the good from the Saviour of the world is communicated to us through this Book. But for that Book we could not know right from wrong. All those things desirable for man are contained in it. I return you my sincere thanks to this very elegant copy of this Great Book of God, which you present."

For the Advocate and Guardian. "IONE" TO "SPES."

MY DEAR FRIEND,-My words were addressed not to those who had erred ignorantly, but to those who had sinned wilfully. My convictions are life-long, and founded on experience and observation, and I am convinced the church has not a clear, open conscience on the subject.

I have heard a mother say in agony of spirit, "The fact is, a Christian woman should not marry a man who is not a Christian," and the declaration was wrung from her after a lifelong struggle. And yet her husband was a perfect man morally, and upright in his generation.

I have seen a woman utterly unable to say one word to her husband, when he did not believe as she believed, for she knew and he knew that she had violated her conscience when she married him, and he had no respect for such Christian consistency, even if she did love him.

I have known a man to say in answer to the entreaties of his wife, "No more of this, you

the Drunken House? Yes, we can go to God, and he will take away our sins as he did her's; and though you are little, you can pray for the poor, wicked, drunken creatures whom you meet, and God will bless your prayers. Then, when you are bigger, go to their homes and talk to them; that is the way to show that you really love and care for their souls, and that is one way to make yourself happy. Go to one such house as I have described, and turn one poor sinner from the error of her ways, then you "shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins."

THE NEW KEY.-" Aunt," said a little girl, "I believe I have found a new key to unlock people's hearts, and make them so willing"

"What is the key ?" asked her aunt.

"It is only one little word; guess what?" But aunt was no guesser.

"It is please," said the child: "aunt, it is please. If I ask one of the great girls in school, Please show me my parsing lesson,' she says, 'Oh, yes!' and helps me. If I ask Sarah, Please do this for me,' no matter, she'll take her hands out of the suds and do it. If I ask uncle, 'Please,' he says, 'Yes, puss, if I can ;' and if I say, 'Please, aunt,' "What does aunt do ?" said aunt herself. "Oh! you look and smile just like mother; and that is the best of all," cried the little girl, throwing her arms around her aunt's neck, with a tear in her eye.

Perhaps other children will like to know about this key; and I hope they will use it also, for there is great power in the small, kind courtesies of life.-Sunday-School Visitor.

TRY AGAIN.

BY ELIZA COOK.

ONCE Bruce of Scotland flung him down
In a lonely mood to think;

"Tis true he was a monarch and wore a crown, But his heart was beginning to sink.

For he had been trying to do a great deed,
To make his people glad;

He had tried and tried, but couldn't succeed,
And his heart was sore and sad.

He flung himself down in sore despair,
As grieved as man could be;

And, as hour after hour he pondered there,
"I must give up at last," said he.

Now just at that moment a spider dropped
With its silken cobweb clue;

And the king, in the midst of his thinking, stopped
To see what the spider would do.

It presently began to climb

Straight up with strong endeavor; But down it came, time after time, As near the ground as ever.

But nothing discouraged, again it went And traveled a half-yard higher, Twas a delicate thread it had to tread, And a road where its feet would tire.

Again it fell, and swung below,

But again it quickly mounted; Till-up and down, now fast, now slowNine brave attempts were counted. "Sure," cried the king, "the foolish thing Will strive no more to climb, When it toils so hard to reach and cling, And tumbles every time.

But steadily upward, inch by inch,
Higher and higher it passed,

Till a bold little run, at the very last pinch,
Put it into its web at last,

"Bravo! bravo!" the king cried out,
"All honor to those who try!
The spider up there defied despair-
He conquered; why shouldn't I !"
And Bruce of Scotland braced his mind,
And as gossips tell the tale,

He tried once more, as he tried before,
And that time he did not fail.

For the Advocate and Guardian. ATTRACTIVE AND REPELLENT INDUSTRY. DON'T, mothers, in the name of all that is humane, make labor disgusting to your children. Why, work is our birth-right on this earth; we must work, but let necessity be

looked upon as a blessing, and not a curse, by your offspring, and teach them to love duty.

Oh! would that I could burn into every mothers' heart, who never have a spare moment to listen to questions of eager young mindswho never are at leisure to hear what it has cost your child so much effort to frame into a tellable story about that last, sad fanlt which lies like a heavy weight on the conscience, and will not be removed because you are too busy to notice anything unusual in her manner. You are teaching her to detest work, you are saying to her, "go elsewhere with your confidences, I have no time to waste over them." Alas! alas! how often she does go to others, not to confess faults, but for sympathy, and sympathy others bestow, words others hear which you only should have heard. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."-2 Tim. 2. 4.

Can you not make your own and your children's necessary employments pleasing? Oh! if love be wanting-(you start at such a thought, albeit it is a possible and natural conclusion) dear mothers, for the sake of Him who died, cultivate love for your own children. You would smile if you should say that you loved your carpets, furniture and house better than those who are "bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh." Yet, to these senseless objects you give the most of your time. What shall we eat, drink and wear are seemingly more important questions to you than any other. These you seek first, and there is never enough added. I entreat of you, beloved mothers and sisters, leave not out that "first' when you read, Matthew, 6. 33. Let not the kingdom of God and His righteousness be last sought, then shall all labor be one of love, consequently, pleasant and attractive.

L.

For the Advocate and Guardian. BRING THEM UP TO IT. ALMOST as long ago as I can remember, my grandmother sent me on errands of mercy. Her creed seemed to be in conformity with the sweet little hymn we so often hear, that,

"Little drops of water,

Little grains of sand,

Make the mighty ocean, And the beauteous land."

and she was continually manifesting that belief; for her little acts of kindness, little words of love were so abundant and so wide-spread, that at her death, the cry of the poor and needy was as one universal wail; and the distressed felt that they had indeed lost a friend.

That my grandmother was somewhat peculiar, I must acknowledge; but she had many peculiarities which all would do well to adopt; and one is this, of training children to acts of benevolence. I remember her saying to me one day, that my verse in the Bible was, "Open thy mouth and judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy ;" and she hoped I would prove it some time. I was

puzzled to know how I came into possession of any particular verse in the Bible, but upon inquiry, I ascertained that in some places and among some people, the last chapter of Proverbs was regarded as a sort of fortune-book ; and that a person, born on the first day of the month, may claim the first verse, one born on the second day, the second verse, and so on. And I being born on the ninth day, had a right to appropriate to myself the beautiful passage above-named.

I should not have expected a sensible Christian like my grandmother, would lend her influence to any unauthorized opinion; but, fortunately, this did me no harm, and my mind dwelt more upon the text and its connection with myself, than it did upon the origin of the idea; and I was not only taught that this was my verse and a sort of guide for my life, but I was led on to those little acts of mercy which I have named and taught to delight in them. Sometimes I had a basket of boquets to distribute among her sick friends, sometimes a cup of jelly or a paper of nice tea and sugar for the poor invalid; sometimes a kettle of soup or gruel; and sometimes a closely packed plate of hot dinner for a destitute neighbor; and even the spiritual wants of the afflicted were not forgotten, and the dying bed of poor black Flora was soothed and gladdened by the childish strains from the little messenger with grandmother's hymn-book.

There was no task about this work; no forcing of childish inclinations; no jarring of childish interests; the little heart was ever willing and the little hands were ever ready. It was commenced in time, and why may not all parents and guardians educate their children to a like benevolence? Why is every birthday and every great festival set apart chiefly for the reception of presents and selfish indulgences, and why is not the child taught the great lesson that it is more blessed to give than to receive? Why is the first question, "What can I have?" instead of, "What can I give?" Let the subject be brought before our little ones, and they will soon learn that there is a joy in the lighting up of one sad face and the cheering of one lone heart, that the selfish grasp of no childish treasure ever can impart.

E.