does try and succeed, I'll once more draw the sword for Scotland, and try if success may not be mine at last.'" Oh, mamma, did the patient little spider make another attempt? "She did, it is said, and succeeded; and Robert Bruce felt his own hope and resolution return. He went back to the scene of conflict, he vanquished his foes, he won his crown, and had reason to the end of his days to be thankful that he, a warrior and king, had not scorned to take a lesson from a spider!" “I think,” said little Neddy, looking up with a smile on his sickly face," that you want me to take a lesson, both from a spider and a king.” "You have difficulties to overcome, my boy, as they both had theirs, though of such a very different kind; you need the patience they needed, you must make repeated efforts as they made, and never give up in despair. But oh! my son," continued the lady, drawing her boy closer to her heart, "you must never forget that both patience and success are gifts of God, and must be asked for in prayer. Hitherto you have made resolutions in your own strength, and, alas! they have broken like threads. Now and henceforth seek strength from the Lord; it is He, and He alone, who can make us more than conquerors in the life-long battle with sin." Neddy did not forget, when kneeling that night by his little cot, to confess his folly and passion, and to ask for help to fight in future against them. The following day was Sunday, and Neddy awoke with good resolutions, which again he strengthened by prayer. All through that Sunday the little boy kept a constant watch over his lips, and a guard against his temper; and when his cousin spoke rude and teasing words, walked away to the window, and would not trust himself to reply. A happy boy was Neddy when on that Sunday evening his father called him to him, and placed the prize in his Let us hand; and his mother whispered to him the holy words which had been the text of the clergyman's sermon, not be weary in well-doing, for in due season reap if we faint not. we shall "THERE was once a convent in France where poor folks could go to a certain window, and ring a bell for food. Then a little sliding door was pushed away, and a plate of food thrust out. "To spare the feelings of those who came as beggars, the person who put out the food did not look to see who they might be. Over the sliding-door were the French words, Pour les pauvres ; which mean, For the poor.' 6 "There was a cunning dog who availed himself of this custom to get a good meal for many days. He would go, when no one was looking, and ring the bell; the plate of food would then be thrust out, and he would clean it off with three or four licks of his big tongue. "At last he was found out; but he was thought to be such a clever dog, that he was for a long time allowed to come and ring for his dinner every day." REMARKABLE DELIVER ANCE. HYENAS flee from man, but leopards attack him, although they never make head against a hyæna, and seldom inhabit the same region. confirm This may serve to a fact which the Rev. S. Gobat, afterwards Bishop of Jerusalem, related to his friends, as an instance of remarkable deliverance. He actually slept one night between a leopard and a hyæna, both being at a short distance from him. The hyæna restrained the fierceness of the leopard during the night. In the morning Mr. Gobat threw a stone at the hyæna, whereupon the leopard went away of his own accord. Missionaries in Eastern and Southern Africa require to be courageous men, with strong faith in God's providential care. LOOK AT THE BEST SIDE. DR. JOHNSON used to say that a habit of looking at the best side of every event is better than a thousand pounds a-year. Bishop Hall quaintly remarks: "For every bad there might be a worse; and when a man breaks his leg, let him be thankful that it was not his neck." When Fenelon's library was on fire, "God be praised," he exclamed, "that it is not the dwelling of some poor man!” This is the true spirit of submission; one of the most beautiful traits that can possess the human heart, Resolve to see this world on the sunny side, and you have almost half won the battle of life at the outset. PRAYING FOR HER ENEMIES. A LITTLE girl in an Italian Sunday-school complained that some of the children had hissed at her. "Why did you not do your best to defend yourself, or complain to the master?” inquired her mother. The child hung down her head and was silent. "What did you do," added the mother, "when they were seeking their pleasure in tormenting you?" "I remembered what Jesus did for his enemies,” replied the child, and "I prayed for them.” Poetry. YEDDIE IN HEAVEN. She brought peat from the stack, and the porritch was made, And her clean humble table was spread; Then she thought of her lad, her poor idiot boy, Who had gone to his supperless bed. She called at the foot of the loft where he slept, But never again shall the old granny's voice The silence struck cold on the old woman's heart, As up the steep ladder she crept ; And her pulse throbbed so fast that she scarcely could breathe, As she entered the loft where he slept. Before his rude stool, his head bowed on his arms, Like one hiding his face from the light, Cold and silent lay Yeddie! his last night had past, "As he supped he had slept," the Master's own guest, And from Him he was never to part; But the light which had printed Christ's face on his soul, Had broken the strings of his heart. It was but a beam, but the mirror was frail, And the Master's bright image was fair, So the hand of God's love, took the picture above, To fix it more permanent there. |