ROUGH-LOOKING man brought his son into school, saying, "I have brought my boy here, and would like to see if you can do anything with him. I confess he is more than I can manage. Of all the stubborn boys I know, he is the worst."

The teacher said he thought they would get along very well, and gave the boy a scat with a good quiet scholar. He watched the boy for some days, but discovered nothing amiss in his conduct, though he seemed to shun everyone, and did not join in the sports at play-hour.

One day, as the teacher was passing along by the desks, he laid his hand kindly on his shoulder, but the boy shuddered and shrunk from him. "What is the matter, Henry?" asked the teacher.

"I thought you were going to strike

me."

"Why should I strike you?"

"Because I am such a bad boy."

"Who says you are a bad boy?" "Father says I am a bad boy, and mother says so, and everyone says so."

"But you are not a bad boy, at least I think so, and you can be as good a boy as anyone. Ask God to help you to be good, and you will be sure to succeed."

The poor boy's eyes filled with tears. He was not used to such kind words, and when his teacher left him, he thought, "Can I be a good boy when everyone says I'm so bad? But he did not say I was bad; he said I could be a good boy. I will be a good boy."

From that time a marked change was observed in the boy. He took a great deal of interest in his studies, and made rapid progress. His school-fellows soon learned to love him, and he grew up to be a great and good man.

NCE there was a deceitful man who wished to make slaves of some ignorant savages. So he went to them, taking some round circles of bright steel, and he said to them, "Put these bracelets on your arms." The poor creatures thought they were pretty ornaments, and they gladly put them on. Now, these bracelets were not really bracelets, but handcuffs made to fasten prisoners with. So, when the Deceiver had once got the men in his power, he said, "Now put these pretty chains on your ankles, and these on your legs, and this big chain round your neck."

Then most of the ignorant men obeyed him gladly, and went on putting on the chains but some said, "No, we have had enough; these chains on our wrists cramp

us: take them off again." But he laughed at them, and answered, "You should have thought of that before; now you are in my. power, and must do as I bid: put on these other chains, or I will make you." So all the wretched slaves (for they were slaves now) did as they were bid, and made themselves more and more completely slaves. And the worst of it all was, that when the Deceiver had them completely in his power, he set them to work at making more chains for other people.

Many and many a time the poor men struggled to get free, but all in vain; and many a time people came with large hammers and huge stones and tried to break the chains: but it was all to no purpose. The hammers and stones made

a great noise, but they broke nothing; and the Deceiver only laughed at them.

At last there came One bringing a bag full of files, and he offered one to each prisoner. Some of the prisoners were so used to their chains that they liked them, and did not take the files, because they did not want to be free. Another of the prisoners said, "This file is of no use; can this little thing do what the great hammer there could not do? Look at this thick chain round my body; though I worked for a year I could not break it." So some of them would not take the files; others threw them down after a few moments' trial; others worked patiently away. Those that had only the thin bracelet round their arm soon filed it through (and sometimes the heaviest chain would snap asunder with a touch of the file); others, who had many thick chains, had to work on patiently for years before they were quite free; but, in

said William; "but I am going to buy something for myself. Father gave me the money to spend for myself, and I mean to do it. If mother wants an orange she can send for it; she's got money, and Hannah gets everything she wants."

"I know that," said James'; "but then it would make me feel so happy to see her eating an orange that I had bought for her with my own money. She is always doing something for us, or getting us some nice thing, and I want to let her see that I don't forget it."

"Do as you please," said William, "but I go in for candy."

Presently they came to the confectioner's shop. William invested his penny in cream candy; but James bought a nice orange.

When they went home at noon, he went

into his mother's chamber and said, "See, ma, what a nice orange I have brought you!"

"It is, indeed, very nice, my son, and it will taste very good to me. I have been wanting an orange all the morning. Where did you get it?"

"Pa gave me a penny this morning, and I bought it with it."

"You are very good, my dear boy, to think of your sick mother. And you wouldn't spend your money for cakes or candy, but denied yourself, that you might

Mother loves you

get an orange for me.
for this exercise of self-denial."

And then she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Now, here you see how the giant Selfishness made an attack on these two boys. James fought him off bravely, by the exercise of self-denial. William refused to exercise self-denial, and so the giant got a hitch of his chain around him. We shall find this giant making attacks upon us all. at times. We can only fight him off by self-denial.

Ou can't catch it, boys or girls. You may be as fleet of foot as the antelope, or you may fly as on the wings of an eagle, yet you cannot overtake it.

Cannot overtake what?

The bad word which has passed your lips! It fled to heaven, and wrote itself in the book of God. You can't catch it.

Beware, then, O my children, what you think, what you do, and what you say.

HE answer to the first puzzle in the July number is-480 eggs. The answer to the second is-23 pieces.

The following have correctly answered both: J. Jones, E. Nickson, W. H. Whitworth, C. S. Butterworth, S. E. Porter, A. Thackray, F. Fitzjohn, T. E. Wakefield, T. Townend, Jessie Hatch, W. C. Dainty, J. Brown, W. Chapman, H. Duncan, C. Taylor, F. E. Chester, P. H. Handley, C. Hubbard, Rachael K. Lord, H. Ll. Snape, W. S. Gibson, R. T. Williamson.

The following have answered one correctly H. Ostler, A. N. Crompton, W. S. Lord, M. A. Moscrop.

:

I.-Divide 13 into 3 parts, so that their square may have equal differences, and the sum of their squares may be 75.

CHARADE.

Higgledy, piggledy, here we lie,
Pulled and picked, and put in a pie.
Divide us in half, and I'm sure you will
wonder

To see what a figure we make when asunder. My first is snappish, and snarling, and howling,

My second is busy, and active, and

prowling.

But higgledy, piggledy, here we lie, Pulled and picked, and put in a pie.

Letters for the Editor to be addressed—
Mr. M. MILLER,

4, Mountfort Crescent,
Barnsbury-square, London, N.

London: T. NEWTON, Methodist Free Church Book-room, 119, Salisbury-square, Fleetstreet, E.C.

W

E live in a very beautiful world. Most of the creatures that are useful to man are also beautiful. But they are not all equally so. The toad in the garden is very useful: it devours a great number of snails and grubs which feed upon the gardener's plants. And, perhaps, in a naturalist's eye, a toad may be beautiful, but it is not so in our eye. We are quite sure that our young friends would much rather look at the linnet or the blackbird hopping about the garden than they would look at the awkward sprawling and leaping of a toad. Birds are very beautiful, and many of them sing most sweetly. The earth would not be such an interesting dwelling-place for man if there were no birds.

It is very interesting to examine the structure of birds. Their bill answers the purpose of teeth. The form of the bill varies with the kind of food the bird feeds upon. In birds of prey the bill is like a sharp dissecting knife; in seed-eating birds it forms a pair of seed-crackers for getting the kernel out of the husk; in the swallow the bill is a fly-trap; in the stork and heron it is a fish-spear. The food passes from the bill into the stomach, which is a sort of mill for grinding it, and in order to make the mill effective the bird has to swallow little stones. No birds could live long without swallowing grains of sand, and larger birds swallow pebbles. As compared with the size of their body, birds have a large brain; indeed it is said by learned men that the canary-bird has a larger brain in proportion to its own bulk than any other living creature, man not excepted.

Of the five senses, that of sight is the best developed in birds. They see quickly and at long distances. The eagle can steadfastly look at the sun; carrier pigeons can see for hundreds of miles.

Very few birds have any external ear, but

they have an ear notwithstanding, and they can hear very well, as our young friends will find if they softly walk towards a sparrow to put some salt on its tail. Their senses of smell, taste, and touch are not finely developed.

Many birds migrate from one country to another, which is very wonderful. As winter comes on, swallows, starlings, and several other kinds cross the sea and go to warmer countries. And birds from more northern climes come and winter in England, but not in great numbers.

Seeing that birds are so useful and so beautiful, what a shame it is that boys are so cruel to them. We have known boys. who, if they have seen a bird hopping along the path, at once pick up a stone to throw at it. Now, suppose there was a race of giants living upon the earth, and whenever they saw a little boy playing about they tried to kill him! How would the little boy like that? And then how ruthlessly boys steal the birds' nests. Now, if the birds were ugly, if they stung us as serpents do, or if we required them for food, there might be some reason for killing them and destroying their nests. But birds are beautiful, and are useful to man. True, the blackbirds eat the cherries and strawberries, and if they do this on a large scale, why, they must be stopped. We recollect once being in a beautiful garden in Norfolk, and the gardener had nailed up a great number of birds of a very beautiful kind which he had shot. But then these birds were wont to come and eat the buds of the fruit trees just as they were starting to shoot. Of course we must resist such thieves as these. But, taking birds as a whole, they are very useful both to the farmer and the gardener. Let us therefore not stone them, but give them a hearty welcome, and thank them for their beauty and their song.