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Knitting.

WAS just thinking, mother said
Rachel.

"Thinking about what?" asked Mrs. Harland, seeing that her daughter did not complete the sentence she had begun. 'It was something about knitting. Mrs. Barclay said this morning, as she passed the window and saw me at work,

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'That is soft and beautiful yarn, but not half so soft and beautiful, I trust, as the yarn you are knitting into your life.' I've been thinking ever since what she could have meant, and it's just come to me."

"Has it? I'm glad you've thought it out for yourself. What is merely told us often goes no deeper than the memory, but if we think out anything for ourselves, it becomes more real to us, and more our own. We understand it better."

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Yes, I am sure of that," replied Rachel.

"And what do you think Mrs. Barclay meant "" asked Mrs. Harland.

"I suppose she meant that our thoughts and feelings were like yarn, and that every day we were knitting them

into our lives."

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"I think that was her meaning," replied the mother. 'If, day by day, we knit pure thoughts, and kind, gentle feelings into our lives, we shall not only form to ourselves beautiful characters, that will make our presence a charm and a blessing to others, but acquire a heavenly quality that will draw near to us, as like draws like, the angels of God, with their protecting power, though we may not perceive their presence."

A tender thoughtfulness was in the eyes of Rachel. She did not answer, but looked down at her knitting, and, as

the soft thread passed through her fingers. she pondered this new lesson in the book of life.-Children's Hour.

An Infant's Prayer.

Na little town in California, there lived a young and thriving merchant, with his wife and three children. The merchant was a worldly man, but his wife had been taught, in her childhood, by a good New England mother, to let no day pass without falling on her knees and praying to God.

Two of her little children were brothers, and the eldest of them had learned to say his evening prayer, kneeling by his mother's side. But the youngest was able to lisp only a few words, and his mother had never yet tried to teach him any prayer.

Yet he would often come with his brother, dressed in his snow-white night-dress, kneel down with his hands before his face, and then presently look up to his mother, as if wondering why she did not also tell him how to pray.

One evening, when bed-time came, they both knelt down together, and Charlie repeated his prayer as usual. When he was done, little Allie looked up to his mother, and lisped: "Mamma, me p'ay too."

Then he put his hands over his eyes, and said only these two words:

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The great

How simple and how beautiful was that! God in heaven, and little Allie kneeling and lisping before his mother's lap. Was not that prayer heard in heaven before many a vain and ostentatious petition made by proud men?-American Messenger.

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A Boy's Logic.

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LITTLE boy, in Leicester, was induced to sign the Band of Hope pledge. His father was a collector, and one day a publican called upon him for the purpose of paying his rates. In the course of conversation, it came out that the little boy was a teetotaler.

"What!" said the publican, with a sneer; "a mere boy like that a teetotaler.

Yes, sir," said the boy, "I am one."

"And you mean to say you have signed the pledge?" "Yes sir, I have, and mean to keep it too."

"Nonsense!" said the publican. "The idea! Why, you are too young to sign the pledge."

The little fellow came up to him, took hold of him quietly by the arm, and repeated his words: "You say, sir, I am too young to be a teetotaler?

"Yes, I do."

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Well, now, sir, please listen," said he, "and I will just ask you a question: you are a publican, are you not, and sell beer?"

"Yes, I am a publican, and sell beer."

"Well, then, suppose I come to your house for a pint of beer, would you send me about my business because I am so young?"

"Oh! no," said Boniface; "that is quite a different thing."

"Very well, then," said the noble little fellow, with triumph in his face; "if I am not too young to fetch the beer, I am not too young to give up the beer."

The publican was defeated; he didn't want to argue with that boy again.

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Illuminated Writing.

UR cut is a specimen of ancient embellished writing. It represents St. John writing the first words of his Gospel, "In the beginning was the word," &c.

So early as the fourth and fifth centuries, it was usual for those who highly esteemed the Scriptures, and who had leisure, to write copies of portions of them in as elegant a manner as possible. The Emperor Theodosius is said to have written a copy of the gospels in letters of gold. Jerome says, that in his time, books were written on parchment, of a purple colour, in letters of gold and silver, and the same were

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written in large capital letters. In the Imperial library at Vienna, there is a famous written fragment of the book of Genesis, and of the Gospel of Luke, allowed to be 1,400 years old. It is written on purple vellum, in letters of gold and silver, and is adorned with forty-eight pictures in water colours. In the British Museum is a copy of the Gospels written in this way, containing the pictures of the four Evangelists with their symbolical animals; the first letter of each Gospel being richly illuminated, and so large as to fill an entire page. It is right to say that these very expensive books were designed only for monarchs, princes, and nobles. In our times, the Scriptures are printed in plain characters, sc that a copy of the sacred volume may be purchased for a very small sum. We hope that our young friends will read, learn, mark, and inwardly digest the contents of the blessed book, that by patience and comfort of the Holy Spirit, they may embrace and ever hold fast the hope of everlasting life.

T.B.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

OU come suddenly upon the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The broad, open place before it is filled by sellers of beads, charms, and multitudes of objects in mother of pearl, olive-wood, cedar, and other materials. I found difficulty in making my way through them without treading on many of them, and I knew that one misstep, with my big hide boots, would have about destroyed the whole stock in trade of a merchant in such articles. They show you many things in this famous church, which stands upon what has been regarded, ever since A.D. 326, as the spot of our Lord's en

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