money, now that thieves were about, took advantage of the pushing and struggling to edge his way out and leave the fair. The road was long, and night set in before he was half way home. Jacques' thoughts were none of the happiest. He had given way to temptation, and fallen into sin once more. He felt humbled and crestfallen; he dreaded to face his master. I did not play with his

money, it is true,' thought he; but I have in reality cheated him of a large sum by amusing myself instead of attending to his business and getting a good price for his cattle.'

(To be continued.)

LAZARU S.

AN outcast at the rich man's gate,

The dying beggar lay;

The rich man's guests went in and out,
With welcoming all day ;

But when they passed poor Lazarus,
Their hearts were turned away.

He heard within the shout of mirth,
He heard the revel din,

The minstrel's song of praise for those

Who fame and honour win;

He never heard a friendly voice

Say, 'Lazarus, come in.'

But when the rich man's wealth is gone,
And the beggar's want is o'er ;

There is a golden gate that stands
Wide open evermore.

'Come in, come in, poor Lazarus,

Why stand'st thou at the door?'

Lord, I am but a beggar man,

Thou hast not looked on me;

All pined with want, all worn with care,
No guest am I for Thee!
'Yet come thou in, poor Lazarus,
More fit thou could'st not be.'

All night the dropping dews of earth
Have wet me to the skin;

My scanty robe is rent and torn,
And foul with many a sin.
'Oh, Lazarus, my robe is wide
wrap the wanderer in !'

To

I know Thee for a mighty King,

My faint heart shrinks dismayed.
'Yet take the hands I stretch to thee;
Poor soul, be not afraid;

For in those kingly hands thou seest
The wounds the thorns have made.

'And if thou wert as lorn and poor
As any man could be,

The fitter for my Father's house,
The welcomer to me.

Thou need'st not die, poor Lazarus,

For I have died for thee!'

Oh, thanks be unto Christ our Lord,

For welcoming in store,

The feast that He hath spread in heaven,

The full cup brimming o'er;

And all for outcast Lazarus,

The beggar at His door!

BESSIE.

APHIS EATERS.

'Her divine skill taught me this,
That from everything I saw
I could some instruction draw,
And raise pleasure to the height,
Through the meanest object's sight.'

ARIOUS and many are our aphis-feeding insects, but none perhaps are more valuable than the well-known coccinella, familiar to almost every one. What child does not recognise and love the little lady-bird? or who, in later life, can look back upon those early days of joy and gladness, without recalling the merry summer hours spent in hunting for our little friend amongst the briars, nettles, and other plants that blossomed in the sunny lane, where the 'twisted eglantine' and 'flaunting honeysuckle' 'so lovingly did entwine ?'

Gentle and docile when taken prisoner, creeping softly and slowly over the captor's hand, making no resistance or attempt to escape, and recommended also by its gay, attractive appearance, our affections were readily won; and we regard it as a friend, who has become such, not only by the association of ideas, but for the positive good services it renders us in our gardens and conservatories, by the destruction of those enemies to vegetation,' the aphides, or plant-lice, upon which it feeds.

So familiar must it be to all, that description seems unnecessary, though it varies much in its colouring,some kinds being a brilliant red, or yellow, adorned with black spots, others unspotted, a delicate brown, or even black. What I in childhood considered the greatest treasure, was the twenty-two spotted lady-bird -coccinella 22-puncta - which is a pure light yellow, covered with small rich black spots. When alarmed, it exudes from the joints of its legs a yellowish fluid, unpleasant to the smell; and this secretion, if gathered

She

and applied to an aching tooth, is by many believed to relieve the pain. Nay, we even read of the insect itself having been swallowed, 'with great benefit, in cases of severe cholic!' I believe there are about fifty different species of lady-bird, or lady-cow as it is often called; but the commonest of all is the seven-spotted— coccinella septempuncta—that envelopes her little round fat body in such an ample brilliant scarlet cloak. usually places her eggs in groups of about twenty, on any leaf where aphides abound; so that, when the young larva comes forth, it finds itself in the midst of plenty, and at once sets to work to devour its prey. The period of its existence as a grub is short in comparison to the length of life the perfect insect attains, which, I believe, is said to be often four and five years. Various species of the coccinella have been known to appear in myriads on the sea-coast, or banks of large rivers, following, it is believed, the emigrations of the aphides.

Every one has at least heard of the havoc wrought by the various aphis tribes, perhaps better known by the names of 'the fly,' 'blight,' etc.

'A feeble race, yet oft

The sacred sons of vengeance, on whose course
Corrosive famine waits, and kills the year.'

Who has never moaned over the blackened and disfigured buds of some favourite rose-bush, or flung from their hand in disgust the culled spray of flowers that is found to be a living mass of tiny, green insects, some with wings, others wingless, all bloated and fat, their swollen bodies supported by long delicate legs, their heads adorned by a trunk, or sucking tube, with which they pierce and extract the juices from almost every plant you see? These are all aphides, which infect the mighty oak as well as the more humble briar, and prove so peculiarly destructive in the bean-field or hop-ground, Few perfumes are more delicious than that which, rising from the healthy bean-field, is borne through the air by every breath of the summer breeze. And beautiful as