Or picking daisies on the grass;
Or, for a change, the little lass

On the field-gate was swinging.
Then home to breakfast: oh how sweet
That breakfast ate! 'twas such a treat,
The milk so nice, the porridge too;
And, breakfast done, she went to do
That which she had been kindly taught,
To wash the breakfast things; she thought,
Of course, that she,

Quite usually,

Might wash up jugs and basons too.
"Not so," her mother cried, for you
Have leave for idleness to day;
No work! dear Annie, go and play!"
"Play! play at what? oh, now I know!
I'll dress my doll, and take her out,
Down to the old burn-side I'll go,

And have a pleasant roam about.

How bright's the sun! how green the grass ! How sweet the birds are singing, too!" But, strange to say, the little lass

Felt that she'd like some work to do.
Homeward she turned, her mother there
She knew for dinner would prepare:
And, throwing down fresh gathered berries,
She thought she'd go and pull some cherries,
And take them in to make a pie.

She set to work with right good will,
And soon had got enough to fill
The great pie-dish, and full of glee,
Thinking her mother pleased would be,
In doors she ran,

And thus began

And now it scarcely is mid-day;
No work, dear Annie, go and play!"
"Oh dear! oh dear!"

And then a tear

Dropped on the cherries in the basket;
I'm sorry I
So foolishly

Wished to be idle all the day:

For I am sure I'm tired of play."
"I cannot let you work, dont ask it;
Till day-light's gone,

My little one,

No work by you can I allow:

So run and play, and leave me now."
Oh what a day poor Annie spent!
No time of heartfelt merriment,
Play became toilsome, leisure pain ;
She longed to be at work again.
"This tiresome day will never go!
I never have been wearied so!"

She yawned, and stretched, and longed for night,
"How pleasant, if at candle-light,

Mother will let me do some knitting!
Oh! that at work I could be sitting!

I wish this tedious day would end!
And when to-morrow comes then I
Will go to work so heartily,

And all the stockings I will mend;
All kinds of work I'll do with pleasure,
And never play till I have leisure."

This lesson Annie's mother knew

Would teach her what it may teach you;
That, if you are not to work inclined,
No rest in idleness you 'll find.
Work with a will, right cheerfully;
And thus quite happy you will be.

FACTS AND THOUGHTS FOR ADVOCATES.

THE COST OF THE DRINK.-A useful handbill has been extensively circulated in Leeds. It is as follows:-"To the ratepayers of the borough of Leeds. A poor rate of 2s. 4d. in the pound was confirmed by the magistrates on the 1st of Fe

bruary, 1861, and the overseers stated they feared the next would be 2s. 8d., making together 5s. for about a year. They also state that 2s. 4d. would raise upwards of £28,000.; being above £1,000. for each 1d. of rate. Consequently the 5s. rate will extract from your pockets above £60,000. If drink and the drink-traffic cause 5-6ths of the crime and pauperism of the country, they cause also 5-6ths of the cost, or £50,000., which is paid annually by the ratepayers of Leeds, and the figures may properly stand thus:- -Poor rate £10,000.; drink rate £50,000.; total £60,000. If the ratepayers wish to remedy this, they must aim at removing the causes of the evil, and not confine themselves to dealing with the effects merely, and support at all public elections those candidates only, who will aim in this way to diminish the burdens of our local taxation, by giving the full control of the liquor traffic to the ratepayers themselves."

OLD IRON AND STRONG BEER.-The medical officer of the Sherborne district, Mr. S. White, stated in a note to the Board of Guardians on Thursday, "This woman, E. V., nearly lost her life by taking the following mixture, which had been recommended to her by a neighbour, viz.:—an old horse-shoe boiled in a pint of strong beer." The patient was suffering from jaundice.-Sherborne Journal.

A MILITARY MAINE LAW.-A law has been passed in the American Senate, condemning, with a heavy fine, all persons selling intoxicating drinks to soldiers of the United States army; and, in accordance with this law, we learn that 6,000 dollars worth of liquors, from champagne to lager beer, intended for officers and soldiers, was seized at the Long Bridge, Washington, on the 4th and 5th instant.

AN ARROW FROM JOHN CASSELL'S "QUIVER."—We cannot blind ourselves to the fact, that that which most effectually brutalises a man, or rather degrades him below the brutes, is strong drink. It is the most ruinous of all the stumbling stones that the devil or man can hurl in the highway of our God, and we should fail in our duty if we omitted distinctly to point out: how much evil has resulted both to the Church and the world from its use. It has cast down the accomplished preacher from the pulpit, and the energetic professor from the pew; it has robbed our Sunday schools of their brighest ornaments, and has led astray alike the teacher and the taught; it has prevented thousands from ever listening to the Gospel, from accepting the salvation offered therein; it has blinded them to the glories of heaven, and the terrors of hell; it has robbed man of his soul,

and God of his glory. An evil of such magnitude we cannot look upon without emotion. The evil is physical as well as moral in its character, and the remedy is in a certain sense physical also. Hence, we hail with satisfaction the advance of what is termed the Temperance movement, not as a substitute for the Gospel, but as a pioneer of the Gospel, removing out of the way one of the most serious obstacles to the progress of Divine Truth.

THE JOLLY BISHOP AND THE SCRIPTURAL PRIEST.-The late Bishop Doane, of New Jersey, was strongly opposed to temperance, and his sideboard and tables were loaded with brandy, wine, &c. On one occasion, the Rev. Mr. Perkins, of the order of the "Sons of Temperance," dined with the Bishop, who, pouring out a glass of wine, desired him to drink with him; whereupon he replied, "Can't do it, Bishop, 'Wine is a mocker." "Take a glass of brandy then." "Can't do it, Bishop, 'Strong drink is raging."" By this time the Bishop becoming somewhat restive and excited, remarked to Mr. Perkins, "You'll pass the decanter to the gentleman next to you." "No, Bishop, I can't do that; 'Woe unto him that putteth the bottle to his neighbour.""

THE LADY AND THE DOCTOR.-The following is vouched for as authentic:-Doctor: Madam, I assure you that you stand in need of a glass or two of wine during the day.-Patient: Indeed, sir! I will not take it if I do.-Doctor: Then, madam, I fear I cannot undertake your case.—Patient: Sir, I am a teetotaller. -Doctor: Yes, madam, but your pledge allows you it medicinally. Patient: If my pledge does, my conscience does not; and if you regard it as medicine, send it me in that form, if you cannot efficiently supply its place.-Doctor: Why, madam (ahem), we don't keep it for that purpose, you see, it is true. I can send you something that will do as well, only it is not so palatable, madam.-Patient: Oh, then, pray send it; I am not disposed to sacrifice my principles to my palate.-The doctor sent the substitute, and the patient got well.

POWER OF A WORD.

I was told a story to-day-a temperance story.

A mother on the green hills of Vermont stood at the garden gate, holding by her right hand a son of sixteen years, mad with love of the sea.

"Edward," said she, "they tell me that the great temptation

of a sailor's life is drink.

Promise me, before you quit your

mother's hand, that you will never drink."

Said he, (for he told me the story,) "I gave her the promise. I went the broad globe over-to Calcutta, the Mediterranean, San Francisco, the Cape of Good Hope-and for forty years, whenever I saw a glass of sparkling liquor, my mother's form, by the garden gate on the hill-side of Vermont, rose up before me, and to-day at sixty, my lips are innocent of the taste of liquor.

Was not that sweet evidence of the power of a single word? And yet it was but half; for said he

"Yesterday there came into my counting-room a man of forty, and asked me

'Do you know me?' 'No,' said I.

'I was brought once,' said he to my informant, 'drunk into your presence on shipboard. You were a passenger. The captain kicked me aside. You took me into your berth, kept me there till I had slept off the intoxication, and then you asked me if I had a mother. I said, never that I knew of; I never had heard a mother's voice. You told me of yours at the garden gate, and to-day, twenty years later, I am master of one of the finest packets in New York, and I came to ask you to come and see me.'

How far back that little candle throws its beam-that mother's word on the green hill-side of Vermont! God be thanked for

the almighty power of a single word!

INTERESTING READINGS.

THE OCEAN. The Atlantic Ocean, covers 25,000,000 of square miles; the Antarctic, 30,000,000; the Arctic, 8,400; the Pacific, 50,000,000; the Indian, 17,000,000; the Mediteranean, 1,006,600; the Caspian Sea, 160,000; the Black Sea, 950,000; the Baltic, 175,000. Including all inland bays and seas, the ocean comprises 147,800,000 square miles; about three-fourths of the earth's surface. Taking it at two miles deep, the contents will be nearly 300,000,000 cubic miles.

BENEFIT SOCIETIES.-The holding of benefit society meetings at public houses is highly injurious to the welfare of the institution itself. It is disastrous to its well-being physically and financially. Physically, inasmuch as the health of the members and the collective body is much damaged by the drink taken. It is now well-known that intoxicating liquors are injurious to health,-in fact, that they are a poison, and effect the work of poison, when taken into the system. In some persons they create and in others they increase a predisposition to disease, and this necessarily produces a pressure on the financial department of the club.