collected they had seen another which they supposed was an imperfect copy. "Search him!" cried the doctor. Accordingly the other letter was found upon him, and when opened, it proved to be the one they both had read and approved.

I foresee, unless a speedy reformation take place, you must come to an untimely end. It is my duty to make you remember this day as long as you live." The doctor now gave a sprig of a new! birch broom to every boy in the school. The culprit was now fastened to a desk, and each young gentleman advanced in rotation and inflicted a stripe, till the number of fifty were unsparingly bestowed upon him. When taken down his wounds were dressed, and he was confined in a dark room, and no longer admitted among the boys. As soon as he was able to be removed he was sent back to his parents, accompanied by one of the assistants bearing the two letters he wrote, and an explanatory one from the doctor. On quitting the academy he was saluted with groans and hisses by the whole school. (To be concluded in our next.)

The whole school was by this time assembled. The doctor ordered him immediately to be stripped and prepared for punishment. "Hand those two letters round the school. You see here, young gentlemen, a little monster of deceit, cunning, and lying. During the twenty-five years I have kept school, and the many hundreds of pupils who have passed through my hands, I have never met so vile a boy. Who could have thought so small a duodecimo could have contained such a folio of atrocious lies." Then addressing Wilful, he said, "I feel for your unhappy parents.

SOME ACCOUNT OF TREES.

"The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein."-Psalm cxi. 3.

CREATION is filled with God's wonderful workings, and all the works of his hands unite to say, "The hand that made us is divine."

in the ground, and extends beyond the branches, so as to give the tree a firm basis on which to rest.

In order to convey life and nourishment to the tree, the tip of each fibre is soft, and full of small cells similar to a sponge, on which account it is called: spongelet, or little sponge.

Let us look first at the root. It is composed of long, strong fibres; these adhere firmly to the ground, and entwine themselves around the various portions of earth with which they come in contact. As the tree grows, these fibres lengthen and strengthen, thus becoming, in the course of years, as hard as the wood itself, and able to resist a blow from a hatchet. In most of the common trees, The root thus formed spreads as the beech, the oak, the chest

These little sponges take the moisture from the earth and convey it to the other parts af the root, thence into the stem, or trunk, and so on into the branches and leaves.

very attentive to the instruc- questioned her about her soultions of her teachers during whether she was happy, whether school hours, and, after school she loved Jesus, whether she was over, she would delight to loved prayer, and had a hope walk home by the side of one of heaven? "Yes," she said, of the teachers who went the "I am very happy." I quite same road, and to listen with enjoyed the conversation with pleasure while he talked about her, and spoke afterwards to Jesus. Indeed she would often some of the teachers about her. meet him as he was on his road I said, "I think she will soon be to school, that she might accom- taken from us, but she is very pany him there. With plea- happy; her hope is firmly fixed sure did she join in the exer- in Jesus." cises of the school.

After she had attained her thirteenth year, she was troubled with a very bad cough. Her parents became very anxious about her, and it soon became evident that consumption was doing its work within. She was now prevented for some months during the year from attending the Sunday-school, but she loved her Bible. She loved to hear and to read of Jesus, and to lift up her little heart to him who said "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

The following week she went with her mother into the country, but returned much worse. Her mother met her at the railway station; she seemed in very good spirits, and continued to be cheerful through the remainder of the day; but towards the middle of the next day she was taken worse, and it was evident a great change was taking place. The doctor said he could do nothing for her. She wished to know what the doctor had said; and when her mother told her, she was quite resigned. Continuing to get worse and worse through the day, in the evening she desired the superintendent to be sent for.

At home she always manifested a Christian spirit, but was pained if spoken to sharply. When the superintendent During the summer she was in came, she stretched forth her general sent into the country for hand, and, smiling, said, “I am a month or six weeks, hoping very glad to see you; I want that it would do her good. you to pray for me that Jesus Last year she appeared much may pardon my sins. I know better for the change; but the he will," she said. "Yes, and cough continued very bad during he has done it, and he is about the whole of the winter and to take me to heaven. Do the following spring. She was now scarcely able to leave home until the weather began to get milder, and then we saw her in her accustomed place in the school.

One Sunday morning she seemed very poorly indeed. I

pray for my dear parents, that they may be saved. I want to meet them in heaven. Pray that I may not linger long. I do not want to stay here, I want to be gone. I should like to see my teacher, but I cannot stay. I am going to Jesus." On ask

ever I have been disobedient or unkind to my mother, forgive me." In this way he continued for some time to pour out his fervent prayers to Almighty God.

plosion at the colliery with which If ever I have been rude in the the school is connected. Hear- Sabbath-school, forgive me. If ing of the event, and the loss of life, his first inquiry was as to his teachers; and being told that some of them were in the pit, he wept aloud; and, mentioning some of them by name, said, "I wonder if Mr. L. and Mr. W. and others are alive?" Nor could he be satisfied till he was assured that through God's mercy they were preserved uninjured. For nine months previous to his death he regularly attended the class meeting with his mother every Sabbath morning; and the leader well remembers the anxious look he frequently gave him during the time of meeting, On one occa sion he said, "Mother, the leader does not speak to all who go to class." His mother said, "What would you have said to him had he spoken to you?" He replied, "I would have told him that I loved Jesus because he first loved me."

The next morning he was taken unwell, and continued to get worse, till it became evident he could not recover; but he was still cheerful and happy even in the prospect of death. A week before his death he asked his mother for the “Pilgrim's Progress," to see what was said in reference to the dark valley. His mother told him, as she gave him the book, that he would shortly have to pass through this valley. He gave her to understand that he had no fear, as angels were his ministering spirits.

Being afflicted with water in! the head, his sufferings were i great, which he bore without a murmur; and, when free from the The last Sabbath he was per- fits which generally accompany mitted to attend the house of this disease, it was evident from God, he listened with unusual his clasped hand and uplifted attention to what the preacher eye, that his mind was stayed said; and when he went home he on God. took the Bible and read the chapter out of which the text had been taken. Having finished reading, he knelt down and prayed in nearly the following words:"O Lord, forgive all my sins.

Thus suffered and died a child of seven years, but a man in the knowledge of his God and his Bible. His death took place August 20th, 1853.

MATTHEW HALLIDAY.

THE EDITOR'S DESK.

A PRESS of matter has compelled us to postpone answers to queries until our next number. We have a large stock of questions hand, and they shall have due attention. It is our delight to impart information to the young, and encourage them to search the Scriptures.