DANCING BOY OF BENGAL.

There are many dancing boys in India. This is a picture of one. They are generally dressed in fine colored muslin, with a roll of silver tissue wound several times around their waist. The border of the skirts, the sleeves and the neck

have a broad silver ribbon sewed upon the muslin, which makes quite a show. On the feet are hung little bells that keep up a constant tinkling as they walk or dance, and on the wrists are bracelets of silver and gold. Thus dressed out in their finery, they go from place to place, attend weddings and feasts, and earn their bread by dancing for the people. They wear gay clothes, but for all that they are very miserable objects, for they learn every sort of wickedness in the school of Satan. They have not a good home like yours, nor a pious mother, nor a Bible to read, nor a Sabbath school to go to. They do not know that Jesus died to save them. They never heard his kind voice saying, "Come unto me." And this is true of millions of children in India. Here and there one has been taught the way of life by the missionaries. A few children, who have died in that land, have gone to heaven. They have joined that company of little ones who are gathered from every country into the fold of the Redeemer above, and are led by him into green pastures and along the banks of the river of life. But almost all in India perish without hope. Does not your heart burn with pity for them, and will you not help the missionaries who are laboring there with your money? will you not pray, too, that God will bless all they say to little heathen children, so that a great multitude of them may come to Christ and be saved?

WHO WILL SEND A BIBLE TO THE HEATHEN? Some people do not seem to believe that the mind of a blinded pagan can be interested and instructed by the mere reading of the word of God. They think that there is no hope of doing him good except through a living preacher, who must sit down by his side and teach him first to think, and then gradually unfold to him the Christian system, and

after a long time he may perhaps become wise unto salvation. Now it is very certain from the Bible itself, that, as a general thing, the living preacher is necessary as an instrument; but many are the examples in which the mere reading of the Bible has been blessed to the salvation of heathens, who had never heard the preacher's voice. A Chinaman, in Singapore, came to Dr. Parker, who was then on his way to Canton, and asked for medical advice. The doctor, after examining his case, told him that it was very likely he would never recover, but die of the disease he then had. "I am not afraid to die," said the Chinaman, “I believe in Jesus.” "Who told you of Jesus?" asked Dr. P., surprised that he should know the Savior. "No man told me," was the reply; "I saw that book which tells of Jesus, and I read, and believed." If this man was a true believer and prepared to die, who can estimate how much that copy of the New Testament was worth to him! And would not the reader be willing to part with a great deal of mere temporary enjoyment, in order to save money to purchase a Bible that may be the means of raising a heathen from hell to heaven!

WE'LL GIVE FREELY.

The following verses were written by the Superintendent of a Sabbath school, the members of which contribute liberally every week to the cause of missions.

The little we offer from week unto week,

Is nothing compared with the bounty we seek,
For those who are fainting for want of the bread,
With which the disciples of Jesus are fed.

The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord,
And no one shall perish who trusts in his word;
Then steadily, cheerfully, freely I'll give,
So long as my Maker allows me to live.

ALEPPO.

Mr. Van Lennep, one of our missionaries in Constantinople, who visited Aleppo some time ago, has furnished for the readers of the Dayspring a sketch of the city with the following description:

Aleppo is the largest city in Syria next to Damascus. It lies directly east of the ancient Seleucia on the Mediterranean, and nearly a hundred miles distant from it. It is also in the same direction from Antioch, where "the disciples were called Christians first." It lies in the desert, and is built upon a stream that comes down from the hills at the foot of Mt. Taurus, and empties itself in a lake some two days' journey to the south-east, called the Salt Lake, or Valley of Salt, where David fought one of his battles. (2 Kings, xiv. 7.) Gardens are planted on both sides of the river, which is from fifteen to twenty feet in width. These gardens are beautifully shaded with trees of various kinds, among which the one which bears the pistachio nut is interesting for its rarity as well as the beauty and savor of its fruit. The city is surrounded by a wall. In the very centre is a hill, in the shape of an oblong, whose steep sides were once covered with flat stone, and were surrounded by a ditch. The summit is strongly fortified. The ancient name of the place was Helbon. But the Arabs pretend it derived the appellation of Aleppo, or Halèp in Arabic, from the word Haleep, milk; because "Abraham used to milk his cows on the top of the hill” ! Aleppo is noted for the beauty of its public buildings, its mosques and khans, and even its private houses, all of which are of stone, and many of them highly tasteful. But earthquakes have thrown down many of its most graceful structures; and rents are frequently seen in some of the most solid of them. The city is mainly sustained by a carrying trade with Persia; but this has greatly diminished since the introduction of steamers into the Black Sea. Its vicinity to places of resort of the wandering Arabs renders its neighborhood unsafe. The hills on every side abound with caves, some of them of great depth; they are