A NEW year has begun, and with it comes the first number of a new volume of the

CHILD'S COMPANION. But little do our young readers think of the many heads, and hearts, and hands which have been engaged to make and adorn it!

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First, the paper-maker formed the sheet on which it is printed; the founder cast the printing types or letters; the smith and the carpenter made the press; and the ink-maker supplied the ink. The artist, with his pencil, nicely drew on small pieces of wood the designs of the pictures; and wood-cutters, with their tools, neatly made them into engravings.

But pictures alone would not make a CHILD'S COMPANION: there must be something to profit the mind, as well as to please the eye. This has led many who love the young to write their thoughts on paper, which they have sent to the editors of the magazine. One has sent a piece, in the hope of making the young readers wiser this year than they were last year. Another has a few words to teach them to be useful. A third writer wishes to make them happy. A fourth has a lesson of piety to give; and early piety is the way to be wise, useful, and happy. Some writers are grave; others are lively. Some write in prose; others in verse: but all have one desire to lead their readers to know and love the Saviour, that they may serve him now, and live with him for ever.

The next thing to be done has been for the editors to take these papers, and to put them into order. They were then passed to the printer, whose "compositors" put together the types, letter after letter, to make words: the words were made into sentences: these were ranged into lines, and the lines