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TALES ON TEXTS.

MATTY'S BIBLE.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.'-P's. cxix. 105.

Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.'-Ver. 24.

CHAPTER I.

OOR little Matty sat crouching on a door-step, to get what small shelter she could from the rough storm which was blowing that bitter winter morning. It was scarcely light yet, and the streets were dull and silent; now the workpeople had all passed to the different mills, and the faotory-bells had left off ringing.

Matty pulled the scanty tippet tighter round her, to shelter her bare arms from the cold, and began to think where she should go when the rain had blown over a little. Yesterday she had gone to her aunt's: bnt Mrs. Fowl had enough children of her own; she took in washing and lodgers, and Matty was much less handy than her own little ones, as she had no notion of hushing the baby or making the porridge. Mrs. Fowl had told the child very decidedly that she mustn't come there again in a hurry; and Mr. Fowl, on his return from work, had sworn that if Jim Gubbings didn't know how to keep his own brats clear of other folks' premises, he would teach him.

Jim Gubbings, Matty's father and Mrs. Fowl's brother, was not a very desirable connexion in any way. He was an idler and drunkard, and, to make matters worse, had, since the death of Matty's own mother some two or three years before, married a woman not very much more respectable than himself. Matty was now more neglected than ever, and passed her days

pretty much in the streets, Mrs. Gubbings working along with her husband and his elder children in Huntley's shop,' as the factory 'hands' called their employer's large cotton manufactory. Matty-the only one of the family who did not go to work -was locked out of her home by her stepmother every morning with the rest, and left to dispose of herself as she might till noon, when all returned to partake of such a meal as could be hastily prepared and eaten during the dinner hour. Afterwards the house was again locked up, the elder ones of the party going back to their work, and Matty being once more left to find shelter where she could-this time, until the mills loosed' in the evening.

Once her father had suggested a different arrangement:- Couldn't th' chilt keep up th' fire, an' get th' dinner ready?' But he had been silenced at once:- And where's th' use o' all th' waste o' coal? Besides, hoo'd be settin hersel' o' fire, or eatin' up all th' vittals, or summat. Best keep her safe t'other side o' th' door; hoo'd only be i' mischief. And as for gettin' th' dinner ready; hoo's no better nor a baby at doin' ought.'

The last part of the speech was true enough. Matty had never had any younger brothers and sisters to care for; and her own mother, who had been ailing and slatternly, had not brought up any of her children to habits of order and management, while now, wandering about all day in the streets, there was less chance than ever for the poor little girl to learn anything useful. She ought to have been sent to school-that was quite evident to any one who cast a thought upon the matter;

but Mrs. Gubbing's chose to be thrifty in this matter, though she was wasteful enough in some others. Why should she be called upon to squander her earnings

on one of Gubbings' youngsters? she had demanded indignantly of a neighbour who once ventured a hint on the subject. Gubbings spent all his at the beer-shop, and but for her, it would be hard to say how a home for any of them would be kept together at all. And the remark-the latter part of it, at least-would not well bear contradiction. The family ought to have been well-to-do, with so many working hands in its number, and the good rate of factory wages; but what can be looked for when the father is a spendthrift and drinker, and the children are suffered to follow their own courses? And the courses chosen by Jack and Jenny Gubbings did not seem likely to lead to any good. Jack got into bad company, while Jenny spent her money almost entirely upon tawdry finery, and cared for nothing so much as flaunting about in the streets with other showily-dressed girls of her own age. Mrs. Gubbings was right so far-it was she who chiefly kept the household together.

And now to come back to little Matty, sitting all alone upon a door-step in the pouring rain. Her feet and hands were quite benumbed, and her skirts thoroughly wet, before the storm had abated, and she could leave her imperfect sheltering-place. But, for all that, she trotted down cheerfully into the muddy street, her face lighting up with a sudden new thought in her brain. She had once made her way into a waiting-room at one of the railway stations, and she thought of the large fire blazing there with an eager longing to enjoy such warmth once again. It was true she had been roughly ordered off by a porter, and threatened with I don't know what punishment if she ever ventured to return; but Matty was used to rough usage and sharp words, and she reflected that the porter might be away at the 'public,' or possibly

even have forgotten her altogether by this time any way she could surely manage to slip in, and get a warm' for a few minutes. The prospect carried her along the streets at a brisk pace: but the nearest station, indeed the only one she knew, lay at some distance from her home, and the little cramped feet were weary as their owner crept under the colonnade which ran along the front of the station, and began a stealthy inspection of the place. . All seemed pretty quiet there was no train in at the time, and Matty gained the secondclass waiting-room without being noticed.

Oh! the comfort of the large fire, though it had not yet thoroughly burned up. Oh! the charm of watching the little jets of flame come leaping out from the oozing gas-bubbles among the black coals, and the glowing cavern below, growing redder and redder. Why, it was even a satisfaction to see the steam drawn in from her own wet

frock towards the grate. Surely little Matty must have had a nature capable of keen observation and enjoyment, to find pleasure and interest in the occupation of standing before a newly-lighted fire, drying her damp clothes-a nature that would have brightened into active intelligence and joyousness under even moderately favourable circumstances. But the poor little creature stood almost alone in the world, notwithstanding her so-called home and her near relations. None gave her love, or care, or teaching. She had a shelter at night; a scant portion of daily food; her sister's cast off clothes-and that was about all. And she knew nothing of a kind Father in Heaven, Who watches over all His children, and Who will surely not leave little Matty for ever without a knowledge of His love -without a sense of His friendly presence and protection.

(To be continued.)

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