A Growing Heart.
'TWAS a wee little heart when it entered the world,
For how could a baby have anything big?
There was room for the baby himself and his wants,
But as for all else-why, he cared not a fig!

If the baby was hungry, he knew it right well;
If he felt very poorly, he fretted and cried;
But the dear little heart was too little you see
To know or to care for the world outside.
But the little heart grew as the days rolled by,
In the sunshine of love and the showers of care;
And the dear ones at home, all so quietly crept

Right into the heart and were welcomed there.

And yet there was room for them all and to spare,
So quickly the heart of the baby grew,
And soon in his heart he had friends by the score,
That he loved with a love that was loyal and true.

And the baby grew big, and so tall and so wise, He could scarcely be known as a baby at all; And he heard the sweet story of Him who, of old, Was cradled to rest with the beasts of the stall:

The children's best Friend, and their Saviour and King, The dear loving Shepherd, who died for the sheep, And down in his heart there was room for the Christ, And a love that was trustful and tender and deep.

And yet even more did this little heart grow

In knowledge and love, and in heavenly grace; For the heart that loves Jesus is certain to grow, Till it takes the wide world in its loving embrace.

The Story of the Conversion of Odai.

I WAS born in the State of Jeypur, Rajputana, India, and was a worshiper of many gods and many images at many shrines. One day I went to the shrine of Ramdev to worship, and prayed much for children.

I promised to offer many sacrifices and give much in alms if Ramdev would hear me. But no one heard. Some time after this a young man of our vil lage who had become a Christian took me to hear and see the Christian preacher. But being a very passionate man, I began to mock him and to drive him away, and told him there was no true Saviour or teacher in all the world, and told the people that this preacher was doing this only for his stomach's sake.

Four days after this I saw the preacher sitting in his house, and went to him and began to inquire about the true Saviour. He patiently instructed me and prayed for me. As he prayed I roared and screamed with all my might, as if Satan was in me, partly in derision, partly in fright. For two months I kept going and coming, and finally gave myself to Jesus, and one day when the missionary came to our

village I gladly, with a number of others, received baptism.

When the chief of our village put my father into jail for becoming a Christian I prayed to Jesus, and my father came out of jail unharmed; and now we together are working for Jesus, telling all our people of the true Saviour, and many are turning from their idols to the true God and to Jesus Christ.

A Noted Brahman Convert.

A WONDERFUL trophy of God's grace is a man who is now in Jaffna, Ceylon. He is a man of the Brahmanical caste who has attained the highest eminence in his caste, yet has resigned all his honors and emoluments and has accepted Christ. The name of this converted Brahman is Seel-hara-nanthaswamy. He is about fifty years of age, and is a native of a village called Parputy-puram, in the Nizam's dominions, in Central India.

Like the apostle Paul, he could boast of the observance of the most minute requirements of the religion of his parents. In his youth he underwent the ceremony of being invested with the Brahmanical cord. Twelve years later he took the vow of Nashdig (celibacy). In his twenty-fourth year he took the vow of Sunniasi (ascetic), when his Brahmanical cord was taken off, and the tuft of hair cut, and both were cast into the sacrificial fire. He then took his place as guru (teacher) of the Brahmans. What this elevation signifies in India may be realized from the fact that the Brahman is the highest of all castes. To its humblest members the ascetics of all other castes bow down; but to the Brahman Sunniasi even the Brahmans themselves bow down.

Soon after he took this ascetic vow he went to Benares and dwelt there five years. Subsequently he went further north to a place near the source of the river Ganges, at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains. There he was seven years in penance and meditation, spending his daytime in penance and ablutions, and in reading and expounding Vedastic books. A portion of the night at this stage is invariably spent in an undisturbed sitting posture, with both the eyes immovably looking at the top of the nose, constantly muttering worship to the Brahm, or God. According to the assurance of his guru he was to be freed at the expiration of seven years from all tempting desires and to be filled with peace and happiness.

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reply was, "We are as you are; neither do we find any change in our hearts." Then he began to suspect the truth of the whole system. He traveled southward and came to the Central Provinces. While there a momentous event occurred.

One afternoon, as he was walking with some Brahman followers, he met a missionary engaged in street preaching in the Hindi language. His words drew his attention, and he listened to him with deep interest, for they were on the subject which had perplexed him. His followers said to him: "Sir, these are the words of the white barbarian and are unfit for your hearing; by listening to them our ears will be polluted." Yielding to their importunity, he went to his lodging, which happened to be opposite the dwelling place of the missionary. On the day following he stealthily visited the missionary, who read and explained to him our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus, and also gave him a copy of St. John's gospel, with several tracts in Hindi. Light began to dawn upon him. Traveling by rail still further, he came to the city of Poona, and there met a catechist belonging to the Church Missionary Society, who had originally been a Brahman. This man gave him a book written by another Brahman convert. It contained a comparison between the Shastras of the Hindus and the Christian Bible. The reading of this book added more light; yet it was not full and produced no thorough change in the man. He was reluctant to abandon his ancient religion, and sought to strengthen his faith by going on a pilgrimage to the holy places, and crossed over to Jaffna in Ceylon. The object of his visit was twofold. First, that of visiting Trincomali, which is famed as the southern heavenly abode of Siva. His second object was that of seeing more Christians and knowing more of their ways.

He landed in Jaffna, and first fell in the way of some respectable Brahmans learned in the Sanskrit language. They received him with every mark of respect, and entertained him with great attention. While there he heard of Pastor Eliatamby in the adjoining village of Panditeripo, and made several visits to him. Through these visits his remaining doubts regarding the way of redemption through Jesus Christ were cleared. He now began to associate with Christians, and had even been seen eating with them. This act at once aroused the Brahmans who had entertained him. They repaired to the place where he resided and entreated him to quit the country. They said to him: "We fell at your feet as our guru, the people know that we reverenced you; if you turn Christian it will be the greatest disgrace that could be inflicted upon us. Go back to India and we will bear all the expense and accompany you across the water." This failing, they began to abuse and threaten him, saying that they might themselves do him no harm, but their followers in the land were bigoted, and they might one day nip

off his head. Now he began to declare himself openly a Christian, and commenced gradually to preach the glad news of salvation by Jesus Christ.

He is very intelligent and extraordinarily fond of reading. He reads and understands seven languages: Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Malay, Telugu, and Tamil. His faith in Christ as a divine Saviour is decided and clear. He publicly professed Christ and received the rite of baptism in the church at Batticotta, Jaffna, in the presence of the missionaries and pastors of the three Protestant denominations. He is now visiting the various villages and towns in northern and eastern Ceylon, addressing everywhere large audiences, and proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation through Jesus Christ. His addresses are very effective. Several have been led by God's blessing on his efforts to see the truth of Christianity, and have made a public profession of their faith in Christ. He has also been preparing for circulation in Ceylon and India among his former disciples articles and tracts in refutation of Hinduism and in defense of Christianity. He is much opposed to caste distinctions, fond of reading the Scriptures and scriptural books, apt to understand things and store them in his memory, and evidently destined to do a good work for Christ.-A Missionary.

Conversion of a Female Witch Doctor.

(THE South African Methodist contains the following account of some remarkable conversions in the Wesleyan Mission in East Pondoland, where Mr. and Mrs. Hargreaves have been laboring for ten years.)

Many remarkable conversions have taken place during the last few weeks, one especially of a witch doctor. Two sisters were converted who had a sister that was a witch doctor. As soon as they were saved they thought of their sister, and resolved to go to her, aud try to get her to come to the meeting, and asked the Christians to pray for them while they were gone. They went to their huts and told their husbands what they intended doing. Their husbands at first refused to let them go, and asked them if they were mad, as such a thing had never been heard of, as women walking by themselves at night; but they said they must go, that they had prayed about it, and that the Christians were praying for them; so at last the husbands consented.

They took some food for the road, and started. Soon it became very dark, and one began to be fearful, and said to her sister: "Do you think we are doing the right thing; had we not better go back and wait till daylight?" Her sister said, "No, we will go on." Their peril was great, for according to native custom a woman must not be alone at night. Presently they heard in the distance horsemen coming toward them; they dared not turn out of the path, as it was so dark they feared not finding the road again. The one who was fearful said, "We

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ought not to have come." The other, fully realizing their danger, said, "Let us ask God to help us." So they knelt and asked the Lord to protect them. The horsemen drew nearer and nearer; they could now hear their voices, now they were close upon them, when the horses gave a sudden turn and galloped across the veld. They heard one of the men say, "What made the horses do that? I didn't see anything."

So they journeyed on and came to a river which they had to cross; it looked so deep in the darkness, and the roar of the waters sounded so great in the stillness of the night that they feared the river was high. The timid one again said, "We cannot go on;" but the other said, "God has delivered us once, and he will again." So they waded in, the water came to their knees, but they got safely across, and just after daylight reached the hut of the witch doctor.

She was surprised to see them, and said: "What is wrong-is mother ill?" They said: "Nothing is wrong; we have come for you.” "Come for me! What do you want with me?" They told her of the great blessing that had come to them, and asked her to go to the mission station with them. That very night the witch was to have smelt out some one, and for a long time refused to go with them; but at last she said, "I will go and see this strange thing." She went with them to the missionary, and was couverted. She then had her hair cut off, her face washed from the red clay; she cast away her ornaments and native dress, and her friends brought garments to clothe her. When she went to bid Mrs. Hargreaves good-bye, she scarcely recognized her, so great was the change. She then went back to her husband.

During her absence her son had been told his mother had gone to the mission station, and had been converted. He said: "If my mother comes home a Christian I will thrash her!" for by her witchcraft she brought them gain. Before his mother reached home he went to the kraal of his aunt, and found his aunt had become a Christian. He said: "What does all this mean? there must be something in this. I must not thrash my mother till I know more about it." In the meantime the woman reached her home, and told them what a great blessing she had found. Her husband said: "What does this mean? you have come back another woman.' She told them the story of her conversion, and she said: "To prove what I say is true, I will burn all these," taking down the medicines and charms which hung around her hut. She then dug up the floor where she had hidden things connected with her sorceries, and made a new floor. So great was the el ange in her, that her husband said to his heathen friends, "Why should I persecute her? she is a better wife to me than she was before." Since then her daughter, who was also a witch doctor, has been converted.

An Indian Fairy Tale from Alaska. SHUN-YAK-CLAH was young and impetuous; youth is not wise. One day Shun-yak-clah went hunting; he came home hungry. He said to his mother, "Give me to eat, mother, for I am hungry." The mother gave him ut-kee-shee (dried salmon); the ut kee-shee was moldy. Shun-yak-clah was not wise. He flung the moldy ut-kee-shee at his mother and angrily exclaimed, "The moldy stuff! Do you give me the dirty fish to eat? I will not touch it!" With this he rushed out of the house in a rage. O, rash youth! Of those angry words he bitterly repented. He had grossly insulted the Haat Quanee (Salmon Tribe). He wandered up and down the sands. He was very hungry. At last he spied a sea gull floating upon the water. Boldly he pushed into the water to capture his prize; but the bird kept floating, floating beyond his reach. Finally the sea gull was almost within his eager grasp when, with a mocking gurgle, the treacherous waters closed over him.

Shun-yak-clah was drowned. When he came to consciousness he sat up; he opened his eyes; he opened them wider! He rubbed his eyes; he rubbed them harder! He was in a strange country-in a strange town. Queer people flitted to and fro. Quick as lightning his thoughts flew back to his mother.

at her.

How he had angrily hurled the ut-kee-shee Ah! he had offended the Salmon Tribe then by refusing to eat dried salmon. Now he was in their very village. They will punish him. What will he do? What can he do? It must have been a long time since he came here. So rau his thoughts.

He plucked up courage and knocked at the door of the first house to which he came. To their question he replied that he was a stranger and that he was hungry. "You won't get anything to eat here; we have nothing but moldy salmon,'" was the taunting reply. He tried the next house and the next and the next, being greeted always with the same mocking laugh and taunting words, Ha! ha! Nothing but moldy salmon here." He was ready to give up in despair. He tried once more-the last house in the street. He expected the same cruel answer, but there were kind hearts even among the Salmon Tribe.

He was invited to come in and rest and refreshi himself. He remained with the family, and in the summer during the salmon season he went with them to the rivers and creeks. How he longed to see his dear mother! One day he was swimming about in a beautiful, sparkling river. He heard a voice. It was the voice of his mother. He heard distinctly, "O! what a nice big salmon; come and Spear it for our supper!" The father came with his spear and tried to spear him, but without success. Shun-yak-clah was hard to spear; but at last he was captured and there he lay on the sand a beautiful, silvery salmon. His mother then took her long s' arp knife and proceeded to cut off his head. The

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knife was sharp, yes, very sharp; but it did not make the least impression on the salmon's head. Then she ran the sharp blade right down the salmon's back and cut it open.

Poor Shun-yak-clah! How he squirmed and quivered. "Look, look!" cried the mother, pointing to the salmon. The father looked, and there upon the salmon's neck was the beautiful copper chain they had hung around the neck of their lost son when he was but an infant. "Shun-yak-clah's chain," said the mother. "It must be our own son; our boy that was lost so long ago." The father took up the salmon tenderly and wrapped around it a clean mat, and laid it on the roof of his house. Toward morning the father and mother heard a noise. Yes, Shun-yak-clah was coming to life. They made ready their house. Their son was coming back! A rattling and shoving of boards, and in the room stood Shun-yak-clah. He was restored to his parents.

MORAL.-Be respectful to people of low as well as of high degree.

Worship of Snakes in India.

BY REV. J. A. VANES.

THERE are certain forms of idolatry peculiarly dear to Hindu women, supported almost entirely by their favor. and the worship of snakes and trees is one of them. The accompanying illustration represents a collection of snake stones in front of two trees, which are close by the mission house in Bangalore, and which are the objects of daily worship. Throughout the Mysore there is hardly a village which has not a somewhat similar arrangement of the stones, and of these women are the chief worshipers, and women generally serve as priests.

These stones are almost always arranged facing the rising sun, at the foot of two trees, and frequently they are on a pla form, as in the illustration. One tree, with a thick, rough trunk, is the sacred fig tree; the other, with a thin, smooth stem, is the margosa tree. When the stones are erected, these two trees are married with just the same ceremonies as men and women.

Three is the ordinary number of large slabs, but in this case there are more. Here, too, there are placed at the foot a large number of ordinary fiat pieces of stone, on each of which is cut, or sometimes simply scratched, a feeble imitation of a snake. These smaller stones are often absent. On the middle slab

SNAKE IDOLS IN INDIA.

is the muncipality number thirty, for this collection of stones is regarded by the municipality as a kind of public building, which must be duly numbered and entered in the records. This slab shows the female serpent with the upper half of human form, having above a kind of canopy of serpents' hoods and heads, while a young serpent is held under each arm. On the larger slab by the side lies the male cobra with expanded hood, terminating in a number of headsalways an odd number, and generally, as in this case, seven. Each one is an elongated representation of the human head of the female snake on the first slab. In the center of the hood is the conventional representation of the linga. The slab on the other side represents two snakes intertwined in the form of the rod of Esculapius, and between their heads a linga is placed. Hindu women consider that making their limbs and cheeks yellow with saffron increases their beauty. With this idea, they often show their attention to these stones by rubbing the more prominent points of the sculpture with saffron, and sometimes by anointing them with oil.

A. L. O. E. are familiar letters to many, representing A Lady of England," the author of many excellent and interesting books for the young, always conveying the best of Christian teaching. A. L. O. E. is Miss E. M. Tucker, who, since 1875, has been a self-supporting missionary at Batala, India, of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. Three months ago the editor of this magazine wrote her asking that she send some words of cheer and stimulus to our readers. In reply she sent the story of the coolie who suffered for his master, published on page 321. Let our readers note carefully the advice she gives, and the pathetic words with which she closes. All honor to this devoted missionary.

REV. ROBERT W. MCALL, head of the McAll Mission in France, died in Paris May 11. For twenty-one years he has labored in France as a missionary, and through his efforts one hundred and forty stations were established where the pure Gospel was regularly preached and much good accomplished. He was born in Manchester, England, in 1821.

Our spring Conferences gave us good missionary collections, but our largest dependence is upon the growing and expanding West. Our pastors will please see that the collections for missions are not interfered with by the Chicago Exposition or anything else. The extension of the kingdom of Christ must not be placed second to any claim.

Rev. Dr. M. H. Houston, has resigned as Secretary of the Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Southern Presbyterian Church with the view of returning as a missionary to China. For ten years he has been an efficient secretary, and previously he was a missionary in China. Rev. Henry M. Wood, D.D., has been elected as his successor.

We rejoice that, notwithstanding the Chinese Exclusion Act has been declared constitutional, and many of the Chinese are now subject to its penalties, the executive of the government finds that there are no funds appropriated to carry out its requirements, hence the Chinese have not been disturbed. It is believed that, when Congress meets, the legislators will be wise enough to either repeal the law or greatly modify its provisions. Let all our readers seek to secure this result through letters to the members of Congress representing the district in which they live.

Who is willing to help in the erection of our Methodist buildings in Rome? The Missionary Society has a lot there well located, and the Board of Managers has authorized the erection on it of a noble building, to comprise a college, a theological seminary, a church, and a book concern, as soon as the necessary funds are in hand. The plans for the whole edifice have been perfected and accepted by the board, and a very low contract for the building awaits acceptance. A Methodist preacher of Ohio, since deceased, made provision for the erection of the theological school, and now there comes an offer from a Methodist preacher in Nebraska to be one of twenty five persons to give the $25,000 needed in addition to the names otherwise promised. He offers from his modest means the first $1,000, and wishes others to join him who will do so. The money need not all be paid at once. Let the heart of Dr. Burt be cheered by prompt responses to his pleadings from Rome. With the building erected, our work in Rome will gloriously advance. Address responses to Rev. J. O. Peck, D.D., 150 Fifth Avenue, New York.

In the death of Rev. Arthur Mitchell, D.D., one of the secretaries of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, not only has that Church met with a great loss, but the kingdom of Christ mourns the departure of a noble, eloquent, and fraternal defender of the faith and advocate of missions. The Methodist Episcopal Church unites with the Presbyterian Church in its sorrow for the death of Dr. Mitchell.

Mr. Eugene Steck, of England, in a recent missionary speech based on the two words, not and but, occurring ten times in the second chapter of first Corinthians, gave the following as the heads of the speech: "1. Not the society, but the Lord; 2. Not a pet mission, but the world; 3. Not money, but men and women; 4. (for the past) 'Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give praise; ' 5. (for the present and the future) 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.'"

To the whole Church was given the commission to "disciple all nations." The Church fulfills this commission by concentrating its energies in chosen representatives as the body concentrates its energy in the eye and hand for the accomplishment of a specific work. The missionaries do not assume the obligation of the Church; they effectively express the energy of the Church in fulfilling its obligation. The missionaries are the Church evangelizing. They are not proxies, but instruments-eyes and hands.Мохот.

In the proceedings of the late General Conference of the United Brethren Church, the following is a part of the report adopted on the subject of missions: "The true spirit of missions is the very essence and life of the Gospel, and the measure of our interest here is also the measure of our spiritual life and usefulness as a Church. Yea, more, a greatly increased liberality toward missions will tend to build up our interests at home and enlarge the borders of our Zion. We therefore plead that the local interests of our Zion be not allowed to interfere aud hinder the more vital and general good of the whole Church."

That is no true giving which does not employ the heart, and which therefore springs from no higher motive than a thankless sense of a requirement on God's part, or a deference to social opinion. The apostle, writing to the Corinthians about the collections for the poor saints, seems to be much more concerned about the quality than the quantity of their giving, reversing in this the too general practice of modern collections. He urges that what they give shall be "a matter of bounty, and not of extortion." He says, further, "Let each do as he prefers in his heart, not grudgingly [or of sorrow], or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful [or joyful] giver."