how beautiful or pleasant, appeared to catch a ghastly hue from the reflection of the present. It seemed to me then, impossible that the world could ever again become to me what it had once been; and I remember smiling with unbelief at the pleasant suggestion of the captain, that I should be all right again in a few days. Still, no recollection of this enabled me to account for the intense misery that some of these people were now enduring. The remem. brance was too dim. Just as one of those magnificent sunsets, that one sees in crossing the North Atlantic Ocean, and which makes an intense impression on the mind at the time, but which, when we endeavour to recall after the lapse of time, becomes exceedingly vague and indefinite, so my former experience became so shadowy, when recalled, that I seemed as far distant from, and as much unmoved by it, as though it had never existed. There is considerable excuse, however, for these poor people, especially for those who have never been at sea before. We have advanced a considerable distance from land, and the long roll of the Atlantic waves is beginning to make the steamer (what the sailors call) "lively." I have spent many an hour looking over the bulwarks, watching the waves as they came on from the distance, gathering strength ash they advance, and seeming to leap with very joy when they break in spray and foam against the sides of our vessel. There is a wonderful regularity in these waves; if one watches them attentively it will be perceived that, however recklessly they may seem to tumble about in their wild career, there is a method even amid all this apparent confusion. At certain intervals they appear to come in threes, the first one with the greatest force and velocity, and the others with a gradually decreasing proportion. The knowledge of this is fully appreciated by the mariner; so that when, in some of his stormy experiences, some monster wave rushes over his ship, almost burying her within its embrace, he does not move from his place of refuge until the remaining two have also spent their fury and have passed by. We e are now just steaming not many miles from the spot where the unfortunate steamer "London" foundered only three months ago. What a contrast the sea presents to what it must have done then, when the giant waves with irresistible might set at defiance all the efforts of skill and force to overcome their tremendous onslaught! The general aspect of the sea around is pleasant and beautiful in the extreme, although, in the long sullen swell that sings the only funeral chant to the two hundred departed, one cannot but see certain elements, quiet for a time, which await but the necessary impulse again to rise into action and rage with the same terrific violence as on that mournful occasion. (To be continued.) THE EARTH 13 FULL OF THE GLORY OF THE 10:D. THERE IS A BETTER COUNTRY, EVEN A HEAVENLY. BEAUTEOUS scenes on earth appear, But a better world by far, But more happy homes by far, Balmy is the Sabbath air, Is beyond the highest star. Joy and gladness fill the place, Oh! that each, with fervent zeal, We shall happier be by far, R. R. JNDIA. THE DOCTOR AMONG HIS PATIENTS. BY REV. JOHN LOWE, MEDICAL MISSIONARY. No. V. ND now, my dear young friends, this must be my last talk with you, for the present at least. I must leave room for other missionaries to tell you stories and keep you interested in missionary work. Before parting with you, however, I must remember my promise, and take you with me to visit my in-door patients. Now, then, come along with me again to the hospital. We enter at the other end of the building from that at which we entered in the morning. It is a fine large light airy room, you see; the patients are much more comfortable here than they could be in their own homes. Just let us go round and see two or three of the patients. This poor boy has both his legs broken; he fell from a palmyra tree about a month ago, and was brought here almost dead; but you see he is very bright and happy now, and will soon be able to go home. The Evangelist has taught him two or three prayers, and during his illness he has heard a great deal about the love of Jesus, and we hope and pray he may be led to love Jesus and to follow Him. Here is a poor man recovering from a very severe fever. How thankful he is for all the kindness he has received! and he has promised that, when he returns home, he will no longer worship idols or devils, but go to a chapel near his village, and become a worshipper of the true God. He, too, has learnt a great deal since he became an inmate of the hospital. May the Holy Spirit savingly apply the truth to his heart! And here is the poor man you remember we saw in the morning, ill with rheumatic fever; he will be here for a week or two, and will get good medicine and good food, and a comfortable bed, and, what is better than all, he will hear every day about Jesus, the great Physician; and we hope he will return to his home and family and friends in good health, wishing to learn more about Jesus, and resolving to love and serve Him. Oh, here is our little patient, poor little baby; and the mother is now so happy; her little treasure has been given back to her as from the very gates of death; the child has had no return of the fits, and with care and good nursing it will soon be a strong healthy child. I wish I could tell the mother to remain here for a few days with the child; but unless some good kind Christian family in the village will give them accommodation, they must return to-night to their own home, and the poor baby, just at the very time that it requires great care and constant watching, may be neglected and may die. We have no ward, no room in our hospital, in which to receive, as in-door patients, little sick children with their mothers. Oh, how I should like to have such a ward, or, what would be far better, a separate building for such a purpose, and a kind motherly Christian woman as the matron, who would speak words of comfort to the poor mothers, and nurse the little sick children, and tell them stories about the loving Saviour. |