dow, 'or take your game of authors, and try and make the day a little brighter for your little neighbour Bennie; for although he can go out so little at any time, I am sure the pleasant days are as pleasant and the rainy days as disagreeable for him as for anyone else.' There's no use trying to make Bennie cheerful, mamma. I never saw him anything else but happy all the time I have known him.' 'Can you guess the reason why, Harry? I think it must be because he makes the best of everything. His are all rainy days, compared with yours, and yet my boy cannot spare one day from his outdoor play without being discontented and mopy.' Harry heaved a long sigh, stretched once more, and looked as if he could not see how it was possible for a boy who was kept from a glorious game of cricket by a pouring storm to be otherwise than unhappy. 'Oranges! Havana oranges! Here you are! Twelve for only a shilling!' Harry went to the window to see what man could have the lungs and the courage to cry out in such a cheerful way, during such a storm. Just opposite the window was a cart full of beautiful yellow oranges, drawn by a horse with draggled mane and tail, and head drooping beneath the rain, evidently not enjoying the weather, but, nevertheless, looking well kept and well fed. The most remarkable part of the establishment, however, was the owner, a young man of about twenty years, who had lost one leg, and hobbling about on the sidewalk by means of a crutch, was shouting his wares with such good effect that not one person in all the block but heard that 'Oranges! Havana oranges,' were to be had 'twelve for only a shilling,' in the street outside. It did not take long for Harry to get a shilling of mamma, and running out in the rain, to tell the enterprising orange vendor he would buy a dozen of his yellow fruit. 'How can you ever go around selling oranges with only one leg ?' asked Harry, 'and in such a storm as this.' 'Well, sir, I didn't know as how I could at first, and it wasn't pleasant, sir-not till I got used to it; but then there was mother and the little ones; and father, he was gone, so I knew I'd got to take care of myself somehow. Mother, she couldn't take care of all of us, and besides, I wouldn't let her.' 'How did you lose your leg?' said Harry. 'In a railroad accident, sir. I was newspaper boy on the train where the accident was, and afterwards, when the doctor in the hospital told me the leg had got to go, sir, it didn't seem as if I wanted to live to be always at home; but mother, she said that father he'd gone, and if If went too she couldn't get along nohow; so, sir, I tried to live for her sake." There was a suspicious moisture in Harry's eyes, as he said, 'Well, what did you do when you were well again ?' 'I didn't know rightly, sir, what I could do; but some kind gentlemen what used to buy papers from me in the old times, they started me selling them by a stand, and so, sir, I saved enough, after a little, to pay in part for this horse and waggon. Now I peddle vegetables, fruits, and such things, and have nearly paid what's owing, besides making a living. It's nice work, I think, sir; for fresh fruit and vegetables is nice things to handle, and when they're oranges, nice to smell, too, sir. The young ones is growing up, and soon they'll be doing for themselves, so I hopes by the help of the good Lord that then I'll be able to take care of the old mother, and she won't have to work so hard no more. Life's not such a bad thing, sir, anyway, and many's the time I feel it when I'm trudging along by Billy there, and the waggon.-Yes, one shilling, sir. That's right. Good day to ye, sir. Yes, ma'am, quite sweet and fresh. Let me pick you out some large ones,' and the orange seller turned to a little old lady, with an apron over her head, who had come out on the same errand as Harry. Mrs. Clapton had seen from the window that Harry was hearing something interesting, so she was not surprised when, rolling his golden trophies into her lap, he ejaculated, 'Oh! mamma, he told me how he became lame, and I never was so ashamed of myself in my life." 'What!' laughed Mrs. Clapton, 'ashamed because you have not become lame ?' 'Oh! no, mamma; but he is so patient and cheerful about it;' and Harry told the story. 'And now do you know the reason he has done so well, Harry ?' she said when he had finished. It is because he has put the brightest face on everything. He has the cheerful spirit that God loves.' For Little Readers. ENVY. BY THE REV. DR. GRAHAM. A glow-worm sat on the grass; As I passed through the woods I found it. With a halo of light around it. A toad came up from the fen; And spat on the shining creature. 'But, why did you shine so brightly ?' 67 FOR LITTLE READERS. BY R. H. WOOD. As I stepped into the family sitting-room, one fine morning, little Annie exclaimed 'O, Mamie! Look! look! I can see into heaven; the door is opened;' and the child quivered with delight. Mamie ran to the window and looked for a moment at the gorgeous scene, and then said 'No, Annie; the doors are not opened, but the windows are !' 'Yes,' said Annie, 'and lets the glory down.' For some time the children watched the crimson and golden light which played upon the heavy clouds, as they parted and rolled back one upon another, having the appearance of a deep sea, clear and shining, like a sea of glass, such as St. John saw around the throne of God; then, turning their thoughtful faces to me, Mamie asked, 'is God there ?' 'Yes, dear children,' I replied; 'God is in all beautiful and glorious things. He made them all. He made the sun, which you now see breaking through clouds, to light and heat the earth, and to glorify every thing. How dark and cheerless our earth would be were it not for the shining sun!' It is very wonderful how the little white light, coming many thousands of miles in a second of time, and striking against the little plants, should make some blue, and others pink, and so on, as we see them in the flower-gardens. Were it not for the sun we should never see a green leaf, or beautiful flowers. The tall trees would not wave their green leaves, and fan our hot cheeks, if the sun did not let its glory down. The luscious yellow peach, or red spicy apple and delicious pear would never have grown and ripened if the sun had not let its glorious light and heat in upon us. How good God is to give us the light and heat of the sun to ripen the fruit and grain, so that we may have plenty to eat, besides making the beautiful landscape and clouds for us to admire. How many times a little flower placed in the sick room has cheered a drooping spirit, and taught a lesson of God's love. God made the beautiful, and he is pleased to have us admire it, whether in flower or song. If we love beauty and harmony, it is because we are just so much like God. Try, then, to be beautiful in looks and works. DYSALSDORP MISSION STATION, SOUTH AFRICA. E know that a great many of our young friends are deeply interested in Africa, and would like to do all that they could for its regeneration; and there is no doubt but that our General Missionary Committee will, from time to time, increase their staff of missionary workers in that immense country. Missionaries from other evangelical communities have long been labouring there, especially in the southern and western parts, and they have done so with marked success. We have the same gospel to preach, and the harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers are few. So wide is the field of labour, and so few are the workers, that one thousand additional missionaries might be placed in different parts of this continent, and spend a lifetime without ever crossing each other's pathway. We give, on page 70, a view of Dysalsdorp mission station. This station is situate in a fine open valley, one hundred feet above the sandstone; caverns. Dysalsdorp Mission Station, South Africa. €9 Oliphant River, which runs by part of the property. The scenery by which it is surrounded is of a most magnificent character. Lofty ranges of mountains enclose a most extensive valley, and terminate the view in all directions. These ranges are said to be of old red and near the station there are some beautiful stalactite Stalactite is thus described:-A sub-variety of carbonate of lime, usually in a conical form, pendant from the roofs and sides of caverns like an icicle, produced by the filtration of water containing calcareous particles through fissures and pores of rock. An admirer of nature would be delighted to enter one of those caverns, to observe the beautiful forms assumed by the stalactite hanging from the highvaulted roof, reflecting the torchlight from a thousand different points. But the works of nature are not so interesting to a child of God as are the evidences of the progress of the gospel. At Dysalsdorp there is a good substantial chapel, capable of seating about 300 persons, and crowded, on the Sabbath-day, with attentive and devout hearers, nearly all of whom are Hottentots. It is interesting to see these people arriving, on the Lord's-day, in their waggons, from many miles round. A number of waggons will come together, laden with worshippers and provisions for the day. On their arrival they put up, along side of their waggons, little tents covered with matting, and in these temporary dwellings they take their meals between the services, and talk over the merits of the Dutch sermon to which they have just listened, intermixing their discussions with singing and prayer. An earnest and adapted ministry cannot fail to be a blessing to these sons of Ham. We hope soon to give a view of our new chapel in Aliwal North, not very distant from the place which we have been describing. MAXIMS. 1. Seek the Lord, though you lose your fortune. N. EGGLESTONE. |