spent in that street alone. In Bridegate, there would be required to meet this item of rent alone, considering it as a 10 per cent. on the money spent, £8120; in Stockwell street, £9650, and other localities equally appalling amounts. In such circumstances, was it any wonder that our police rates should be high, or that almost every case that led to confinement within the walls of our prison should be the result of the use of intoxicating liquor ?-Rev. A Wallace.

A READY RETORT.-A worthy barber of the old school, who lived not very far from the banks of the Ericht, was in the habit of indulging in a "heavy dram at convenient intervals. One day when he happened to be well to do in this way, a first-class customer came in for his shave, but the fumes of the drink were too much for him, and in the middle of the job he lost his patience, exclaiming, "That horrid drink!" The barber replied emphatically, "Ay, ay, sir, it does mak' the face awfu' tender. Alloa Advertiser.

He that is more frequent in the pulpit before his people, than he is in the closet for his people, is but a sorry watchman.-Dr. Conder.

NO GOOD FROM PASSION.

"Will putting one's self in a passion mend the matter?" said an old man to a boy, who had picked up a stone to throw at a dog. The dog only barked at him in play.

"Yes, it will mend the matter," said the passionate boy, and quickly dashed the stone at the dog.

The animal, thus enraged, sprang at the boy, and bit his leg, while the stone bounded against a shop window, and broke a pane of glass.

Out ran the shopkeeper, and seized the boy, and made him pay for the broken pane...

He had mended the matter finely indeed!

Take my word for it, it never did, and it never will mend the matter to get into a passion about it. If the thing be hard to bear when you are calm, it will be harder when you are in anger.

If you have met with a loss, you will only increase it by losing your temper.

There is something which is very little-minded and silly in giving way to sudden passion. Do set yourself against it with all your heart.

Try, then, to be calm, especially in trifling troubles; and when greater ones come, try to bear them bravely.

GROSS DARKNESS.

By A SCRIPTURE READER.

I was asked the other day to visit an old man (over 70) who is unable to follow his usual employment. I soon turned the (6 the upon one thing needful.”

conversation

Scripture Reader: "Well, my friend, do you know that you have a soul?" Answer : "No, sir."

Scripture Reader: "What! are you in earnest?" Reply: "Yes, sir."

Scripture Reader: "Have you ever heard of Jesus?" Reply: "I can't say that I have."

Scripture Reader : "Do you know what will become of you when you die?" Reply: "No, sir."

Scripture Reader: "Do you think there will be an end of you when you are buried?" Reply: "I hope so."

Scripture Reader: "Are you afraid to die?" Reply: "No, not particularly."

Scripture Reader: "How is that?" Reply: "I am not wicked. I have been a hard-working man; have brought up a large family," &c.

Never have I been shocked at any one's ignorance so much as I was at his. I began at the A B C of the fundamental truths; explained to him how that without pardon of sin there could be no heaven; that there must be a coming to Christ for that pardon, &c. After I had talked like that for some time, I asked him if he had understood anything tkat I had said. He answered, "No; I am no scholar." I felt half stunned. Was it possible that such plain, childish language could not be understood by him? I could only fall on my knees, and beg God the Holy Spirit to illume that dark mind, and teach him the saving truths of the Gospel. I have visited him repeatedly, but I can see no improvement, or even any wish for it.

THE CHILD AND THE ANGELS.

The Sabbath sun was setting low,

Amid the clouds at even:

"Our Father," breathed a voice below,
"Our Father who art in heaven."

Beyond the earth, beyond the clouds,

Those infant words were given;

"Our Father," angels sang aloud—
"Father, who art in heaven."

"Thy kingdom come," still from the ground

That childlike voice did

pray;

"Thy kingdom come," God's hosts resound

66

66

Far up the starry way.

Thy will be done," with little tongue,
That lisping love implores;

Thy will be done," the angelic throng
Sing from the heavenly shores.

"For ever," still these lips repeat,
Their closing evening prayer ;
"For ever" floats, in music sweet,
High 'midst the angels there.

VARIETIES.

ALCOHOL AS A MEDICINE.-Mr. H. Mudge, surgeon, of Bodmin, speaking at a public meeting, said:-He believed that the temperance movement lost hundreds, if not thousands, of its adherents through what he would call the flippant recommendation of alcoholic drinks in sickness. He was a member of the board of guardians of the union in which he resided. They had there a gentleman who had acted as surgeon both to the workhouse and to the county gaol for many years. In one of those establishments, no drink whatever was allowed; in the other, several persons were always taking it on the recommendation of the surgeon. In one case, that of a woman, there was no ailment whatever. She had been found very useful in the house; and had been actually induced to remain in the house after she would otherwise have left, by the payment of 12s. 6d. per quarter and the retaining of her name on the sick list for a little porter daily. The speaker said that he called on a Devonshire clergyman on his way from Cornwall, and found him in a very weak On inquiring as to the treatment to which he was subjected, he found that he had been ordered to take a strong opiate draught every night, and to drink wine every day to counteract its effects. This was just like completely exhausting a man's physical energy, and then rousing him by means of a horsewhip. Dr. Mudge went on to state that a French physician had recently proved to demonstration that alcohol was not assimilated with the human body, but left it in precisely the same form in which it entered it. He contended that if alcohol was to be used as medicine at all, it should be dispensed like other medicines, and asserted that it could be so dispensed. It was not, he said, for him to set aside the drugs obtained from Apothecaries' Hall and send his patients to the brewers for their medicine with a prescription that meant anything or or nothing. Referring to the fact that many teetotallers imagine that

state.

alcohol is a necessity in case of illness, he said that he had lost the confidence and the practice of temperance families because of his known determination not to recommend its use. He contended, however, that the doctor was wanting in the skill and knowledge necessary to his profession who could not provide a substitute for alcohol whenever some such stimulant was supposed to be necessary. The speaker recommended the establishment of small free dispensaries, at which medicine might be dispensed on the condition that alcoholic liquors were not to be used by the patients; he felt sure that a mass of valuable evidence bearing on this question might be accumulated by such means. As a proof of the efficacy of the anti-alcoholic treatment, he said that at a large establishment in Glasgow, the death rate in cases of typhus had been at once reduced from 25 to 10 per cent., and this where the whole number under treatment was some hundreds.

THE ENGLAND OF TO-DAY.-Many praiseworthy attempts have been made of late years to depict this country by pen and pencil, and show us to ourselves and others just as we are, after all the changes which time has effected in us. Every year new railways are opened up, new towns are developed, our population is enlarging itself, and to ascertain the latest facts we must consult the latest register. A map of England recently issued by the Messrs. Horniman & Co.-so well known in the tea-tradeprovides us with valuable statistics and information. We here find every new line of railway, every town and village of importance in the kingdom carefully marked, together with the figures representing their several populations at the last census, also the name of the appointed agent for Messrs. Horniman's much approved article, The map is exhibited at every railway station, where it will no doubt be consulted with much benefit by travellers in search of information.

FOR TOTAL ABSTAINERS.-Dr. Alfred Taylor, commissioned by the Privy Council, has sent in a report on the means of committing murder by poison which are allowed to exist in England. He says that poison enough to kill two adults can be purchased anywhere for threepence, and that the careless dispensing of poisonous drugs is the cause of most frightful accidents. As to laudanum, it appears to be sold wholesale, single shops often in the Marshland supplying three or four hundred customers every Saturday night. Retail druggists often dispense 200lbs. in one year, and one man complained that his wife had consumed 100%. in opium since he married. It is a mistake to consider the practice confined to the marshy districts. We do not believe there is a town in England where some one chemist does not on Saturday night load his counter with little bottles of laudanum, and we were assured by a wholesale drug-dealer that he could and did sell it in the eastern counties to the extent of some thousands of pounds' weight in a year. This gentleman, an old and keen observer, declared that the demand had sprung up shortly after the introduction of teetotalism, and that it would be found to vary everywhere in accordance with the progress or decline of the system of total abstinence.Spectator.

Annals of the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union.

THE REV. G. W. M'CREE'S TOUR.-During the last month Mr. M'Cree has held large and interesting meetings, at Plymouth, two; Liskeard, two; Bideford; Bridgewater, two; Frome; Honiton, and Gloucester. The Bideford Weekly Gazette thus reported the meeting in that town :— "An excellent lecture on 'St. Giles,' was delivered before a numerous audience at the Town Hall, on Friday, 23rd September. The lecturer was the Rev. G. W. M'Cree, who appears to have been long and successfully labouring in the neighbourhood of the Seven Dials. Very thrilling anecdotes were told of the amusements and pleasures of the residents, among whom have been established ragged schools, penny banks, mothers' meetings, and religious services of different kinds, and this attention to the spiritual wants of the people, coupled with a readiness to sympathise with and assist them in their temporal concerns, seems to have effected a wondrous alteration for good. If any one wishes to visit the scene of a most interesting mission to the heathen, he need not stir out of our own land, but let him go to St. Giles, and see for himself what the Gospel can do. If he cannot spare the time even to go to London, Mr. M'Gree unveils these scenes in a manner most agreeahle to the hearers, and at the same time that it may well stir their souls. His action and delivery are most effective, and with such a subject to deal with, and such glorious triumphs to relate, it is not to be wondered at that he swayed the audience with a mighty power."

Bedford.-Lectures at the WORKING MEN'S INSTITUTION.-On Tuesday evening two lectures, illustrated by dissolving views, were delivered by Mr. F. Smith, of the Band of Hope Union, at the above place. At six o'clock the hall was crowded by the juveniles of the Bedford Band of Hope, and they were remarkably attentive while the lecturer addressed them on "The Book and its Story," the views being of a superior character. Mr. Smith's style being well adapted to a juvenile audience, there was not that disorderly behaviour which generally attends this kind of exhibition. At eight o'clock the second lecture was given to a highly respectable audience-the subject being, "The Arctic Regions." After introducing some interesting objects of a miscellaneous description, Mr. Smith proceeded with his subject, giving a pithy account of the unfortunate voyage of Sir John Franklin, the subsequent attempts to discover the missing crew (reminding his hearers that on board one of the vessels in pursuit no alcoholic drinks were drunk, with much advantage), and the circumstances under which the relics were found. The lecturer then illustrated his remaining remarks by magnificent scenes of the polar regions, with which the audience were evidently highly gratified.

CHIPPENHAM.-The usual fortnightly meetings of the Band of Hope, which have been discontinued for a month or two during the summer, were resumed on Thursday, September 29th, in the Temperance Hall, when Mr. F. Smith, of London, delivered a lecture on the "Arctic Regions and Fate of Sir John Franklin," illustrated by dissolving views.