HAT same evening, as Tom Morrison moved about the shed putting out the lamps that with their bright tin reflectors had made the whole place appear so light and cheery, unknown to him his father stood in the doorway, watching each movement with moist, glad eye. To that gray-haired man, indeed, there was "no greater joy" than to see his children walking in the truth, and this had been his first visit to the shed. Yet, amid other and brighter thoughts, he still found time to wonder at the wistful, almost sad expression on his son's face, though well he knew, meanwhile, that both of them had cause for grave anxiety just then; for only the week before the aged Mrs. Morrison had been compelled, through ill-health, to leave her country home to seek advice in a London hospital, and the next day would see her occupying one of its beds, while none might foretell the outcome of her stay.

All but the last lamp had been extinguished, and Tom began piling up the forms. He saw his father then, and smiled, but would not allow the feeble hands to do one minute's work, though Frankie, indignant with himself for having gone to sleep the one night in the week it was his especial privilege to stay up later than usual, was running

about the shed, pushing the benches to one side, and, childlike, choosing the heaviest first.

"Tom," his father suddenly remarked, "surely these meetings can't be carried on without some expense; then do you bear it all alone?"

Tom did not think it necessary to say, in reply, that he had already spent not a few hours in working overtime, and merely remarked, "Well, father, it hasn't come to much as yet. Mrs. Grainger did offer to give me a good round sum, and I don't wish to be independent, but the master up at the shop heard what I wanted, and lent me a lot of these planks, and they didn't take long to put together; and, as for the lamps, when we were reading in Exodus the other day, my Frankie there reminded me that 'oil for the light' was one of the things the Israelites gave to God for the use of the Tabernacle, and so I like to give it too. And it costs very little at the most, though, for the matter of that, isn't it wonderful what a small thing He will accept if only the heart goes with it as well."

"Yes, indeed," assented the father; "Of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart, ye shall take my offering;' that was the chief point, Tom."

"And I think," Tom went on, "that the fact of its being the first commandment to love the Lord our God with all the heart makes me understand Him better than anything else. I do hope I don't forget to be reverent; I often think how great He is, but, after all, that one commandment seems to bring Him so near, and show us what He cares for most. And yet it's wonderful that He should ask our love, and we so weak and foolish, too!"

Then, even as Tom finished speaking, the wistful expression gathered force upon his face, and presently he remarked, in a hesitating way, "I don't hear of much good being done here yet. Perhaps it was presumptuous of me to look for such a thing! We are such poor tools even at the best."

"But is it ever in our power to do much good?" was the

slow and thoughtful reply. "It's the blessing of the Lord that 'maketh rich,' and we may ask for that. And I take it that, with His blessing, Gideon's barley-loaf may overturn the enemy's tent, but not without, Tom; no, not without."

"Ah, I see," said his son, brightening up; "I reckon we're all of us too ready to look to our own work, and quite forget its usefulness depends on One above. Yes, there's nothing we can do alone."

"But, father, you can do a lot!" exclaimed Frankie, who somehow dimly understood that Tom was making light of his own endeavours.

The boy's grandfather put him on his knee. "Frankie, do you think that hammer could lift itself up and drive in a nail of its own accord, or that saw cut through a piece of wood unless your father or someone else was holding the handle? Then, even so, my boy, as you grow older, you will find you can only work successfully for the Master above as He chooses to use you in His service."

Frankie was silent, trying to understand what his grandfather meant; but Tom took the lesson home, and, though he became not less diligent than before in doing what he could for the Christ He loved, more and more he learnt to look up in lowly faith unto the One who alone can cause the seed to bring forth an abundant harvest of fruit.

Then, when all was finished in the shed, Tom locked the door and, following his father and child into the house, found the aged Mrs. Morrison sitting beside the fire, while Robert Davidson was standing near to her chair gazing sadly down into the wrinkled face. For strong, healthy man that he was, he had a woman's heart for all that was feeble and needed support, and he had long loved this patient sufferer with almost the affection of a son; while now it seemed hard to him to go back to the town where both had lived so many years, and not know whether he should ever see the same dear face again. And thus it was Mrs. Morrison, who was the stronger and calmer now, and Tom heard her say—

"Robert, surely you don't mean me to teach you your own lessons over again. Don't you remember: what you said to-night about the fern, that a little girl asked you why it didn't grow, and you found it had been kept out in the sun; then didn't you say that some of us are making all the greener and fresher plants because the Master puts us in the shade? Then don't quarrel with His will.”

"Ah, but it's easy enough to see that's right in a general way, but when it comes to an old lady like you

The sentence was left unfinished, but Mrs. Morrison took it up. "Ay, and even when it comes to an old woman like me, He can't make any mistake. Now, Robert, think again of what you told us, how a gentleman had a rare plant given him and he put it in the greenhouse, and it almost died, and then the gardener, who knew better, planted it right out where it had the cutting east wind to blow upon it, and it flourished there. Ah, Robert, and all of you, be sure of this; God knows what is best for every single plant in His good care, and we're all of us just where we ought to be."

They sat down to supper then, and Frankie wondered at the unusual silence in the room, but, after a while, Tom's wife was heard to ask

"Mother, tell us, have you no fears yourself about the going into the hospital?" and then, as everyone there knew the doctor had said there must be worse pain to be borne before the invalid could be restored to health, if ever that should be, each waited anxiously for the reply.

It came at last. "I'm very weak and foolish at the best of times, and I'll not say I never feel afraid; but I know who is taking care of me. Robert, you remember the long tunnel just outside our town? Well Mary, when Tom was a little boy, he hated what he called the big black hole. Someone had frightened him about it, I suppose, and he never liked even to look that way when we were walking near. But one day the school-children had been promised a treat at a gentleman's house some distance off; they had

to go by train, and, as the time drew near, I thought our It was no use telling side, his fear of the

Tom never would be willing to go. him about what was on the other tunnel was greater than his wish for the treat; but at last his father promised to hold him in his arms all the time and never let him go, and the boy went then and came home at night so bright and glad. And that's been a lesson to me in many a dark hour since. In a long life like mine, it isn't all sunshine; we have to go through first one tunnel and then another, but if the Father above has hold of our hand, should we so very much fear? And now here's another tunnel before me; I don't know what is on the other side, maybe the happy, happy land above, maybe some more of walking in the wilderness, but this time, if I can, I mean to trust and not to be afraid. Tom, before Robert goes, will you mind reading the twenty-third Psalm ?"

Then that night the beautiful words came home with new force to some hearts there:

"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

CONSTANCE EVELYN.

Silence.

EE! all the Eastern heaven is yellow and white with morning ;: The little clouds are touched with the gold of the sun arising: The trees and hills stand out in the light; oh, the wonder of daybreak!

Broadens and broadens the dawn; glorious, but calm and silent.

An hour is gone, and now all is full of the splendour; The great sun mounts, and moves straight towards the topmost heaven';

The whole world sings and works; a thousand voices are sounding: The sun has wakened them all, but he is so calm and silent.