The Three Sleepers.

UR first engraving this month brings before us a scene from Pilgrim's Progress. We hope all our young people have read this wonderful book, and seeing it is so very cheap, they all should possess a copy of their own. The scene brought before us in the picture is thus described:-"I saw then in my dream, that he went on thus

even until he came at a bottom, where he

saw, a little out of the way, three men fast asleep, with fetters upon their heels. The name of the one was Simple, another Sloth, and the third Presumption. Christian then seeing them lie in this case went to them, if peradventure he might awake them, and cried, you are like them that sleep on the top of a mast, for the Dead Sea is under you, a gulf that hath no bottom. Awake, therefore, and come away, be willing also, and I will help you off with your irons. With that they looked upon him, and began to reply in this sort: Simple, said, "I see no danger;" Sloth said, "Yet a little more sleep; " and Presumption said, "Every tub must stand upon its own bottom;" so they lay down to sleep again, and Christian went on his way.

Sleep is a very wonderful thing, there are mysteries about it which no man can explain. It is also a very blessed thing. God's goodness is nightly seen, in drawing the curtain of darkness over the land, and causing His great family to lie down to sleep. No doubt our young friends have sometimes stood and watched their little brothers and sisters when they were fast asleep, and they will say with us, that such a sight is very beautiful. How refreshing it is to the toil-worn labourer to lie down at night, and bathe his weary limbs in sleep. We read in the gospels how, on one occasion, when Jesus was on the lake of Genessaret, that

one of the

he was asleep, and we always think that this is most interesting incidents in our Saviour's life. It is thus beautifully described by the Evangelist Mark: "And the same day when the even was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over on the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship; and there were also with Him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awoke Him, and say unto Him, Master carest thou not that we perish? And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still, and there was a great calm.”

But sometimes anxious thoughts drive away sleep. King David tells us in his wonderful Psalms that sometimes this was the case with himself; but generally his trust in God was so strong, that he was able to sleep even in the midst of the greatest dangers. The third and fourth Psalms were written, when he had to leave Jerusalem, on account of the rebellion of his son Absalom; and yet in the third Psalm, he says, "I laid me down and slept; I awaked for the Lord sustained me." And in the next Psalm he says, "I will lay me down in peace and sleep for thou Lord only makest me dwell in safety." But at other times David tells us he could not sleep on account of his trouble and sorrow. A great poet has described one of our English Kings, who through the pressure of care was not able to sleep, and he is represented as asking sleep to explain how it was, that the poor could sleep in their homely cottages, nay even the sailor lad could sleep in the midst of a storm, and yet he, the King, in the midst of all his riches and greatness was not able to sleep. We will now quote you the passage, it is perhaps rather too difficult for you to understand fully at the first reading, but if you will read it twice through, we think you will say, that it is very beautiful :

Sleep, gentle sleep.

Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee,
That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

Why, rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,

And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber;
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,

And lull'd with sounds of sweetest melody?
O, thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile
In loathsome beds: and leav'st the kingly couch
A watch-case, or a common 'larum bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes .and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge;
And in the visitation of the winds,

Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deafening clamours on the slippery clouds,
That, with the burly, death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O, partial sleep! give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy, in an hour so rude;
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a King?

But while care keeps some persons awake when they
ought to be asleep, sloth keeps others asleep when they
ought to be awake. They have no wholesome love of work.
All through life they are a few minutes behind. They have
no notion of taking time by the forelock. They are always
wondering how in the world it happens that so many diffi-
culties cross their path, but at the bottom they don't like
work. Solomon had his eyes upon men of this sort, hence
we read in the Book of Proverbs:-"As the door turneth
upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed.” Again
he
says :-"I went by the field of the slothful, and lo! it was
all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the
face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it well: I looked upon it and

T eceived instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep; so shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man. We hope our young friends will take care to avoid a fate like this. Let them remember that an idle brain is the devil's workshop, and that drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

But sleep is very often used in God's word to denote a dull careless thoughtless state of mind in relation to the great purposes for which men ought to live. In writing to the Thessalonians the Apostle, says " Therefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober;" and in writing to the Romans, he says, "It is high time to awake out of sleep." And it is this spiritual sleep that Bunyan refers to in the passage we have quoted. Simple, Sloth, and Presumption were asleep when they ought to have been wide awake. And it is very sad to think that so many amongst us are fast asleep. They do not understand the meaning of life; they do not think of the great future before them; they are living without God, and it is to be feared will die without hope. Let us ever pray God to preserve us from this dangerous state. Let our petition be,

Quick as the apple of an eye,

O God my conscience make!
Awake my soul, when sin is nigh,
And keep it still awake.

THE way to wealth is as plain as the way to market. It depends chiefly on two words: Industry and Frugality: that is, waste neither Time nor Money, but make the best use of both. Sloth makes all things difficult, but Industry all easy; and he that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce overtake his business at night; while Laziness travels so slowly, that Poverty soon overtakes him.-FRANKLIN.

The Black Spectacles.

CONCLUDED.

WALK was suggested before they went home. All agreed, and prepared to start up a hill near by.

"Come on," called 'Rufus, "I am sure there are lots of snakes up there."

"Snakes!" [repeated [Bella, in horror. "Snakes, did you say?" O dear! I can never go, then."

"Are you afraid of snakes, Rufus?' asked one of the girls.

"Not a bit. None of them are poisonous unless we find an alligator or a crocodile."

"Then we will go with you," they returned, laughing. "We are not afraid of crocodiles and alligators."

"O dear! I should faint! I cannot go. If I had only known there were snakes in these woods, I never should have come."

Come on

"Pshaw! there are snakes in all woods. who's afraid?" exclaimed Rufus, leading the way.

They started, leaving her with Jessie, who was very much alarmed on hearing of snakes. They had sat down on a large rock, first spreading a blanket shawl under them, and another over their feet, so that none of the monsters of the grove should attack them. They sat still for a few moments, and then Jessie, forgetting her fears, began to talk. She had scarcely commenced, when Bella said, in a low voice:

"There! don't you feel something wriggling under your feet? I am sure I did-and now I remember snakes always creep under rock."

Down they jumped, and Jessie faintly said:

"O Bella! there it is-I can see it now.

do? It will run after us!"

What shall we