Early on summer days, While the sun in the East is low, Grandfather Jeff goes down To the stream where the cresses grow. Grandfather goes to the town; 6 At evening he counts his pence- So a lonely old man, and a poor old man, E. M. A. F. S. he was bent upon getting their custom. And it's all along of me.' And here Isaac gave signs of breaking down altogether. You get 'Don't take on so, lad,' said Mrs. Ball, patting her visitor's shoulder kindly. It may turn out better than we think. No. 2 in the Square, did you say? I'll see if something can't be done. along home now and sleep off your troubles. You're a good boy though you have got yourself into a scrape, and God will take care of you. Good night.' Isaac found some comfort in her friendly words, but he never thought how warmly she was about to take up his cause; he did not know how long she had watched him, and what a high place he held in her regard. As soon as she had got some of her housework out of hand in the morning she marched off to Mr. Jones, and entered upon the question of the plundered basket. But she found the grocer still angry, and not at all inclined to listen to anything in defence of Isaac. ISAAC THE ERRAND-BOY. answer. against his master. No tended to keep to what he said. very morning threatening to withdraw her custom? There was no end to the harm the little rascal might do.' Mrs. Melville herself came into the kitchen. Seeing Mrs. Ball rather hot about something, she inquired what it was. Nothing about the washing, I hope? My little girls' frocks are always beautifully got up. You iron and starch nearly as well as you used to cook, Betsy,' said the lady with a smile. Mrs. Ball told the object of her visit, and ended with,— If you'd only seen the little fellow, ma'am, as I have, day by day, going about his work so steady and cheerful, you wouldn't wonder at me taking his part.' 'I'm not sure that I don't know him,' said Mrs. Melville. From what you say, I almost think he must be the boy I've noticed many a time passing our windows, and pointed out to the children. You send him up this evening, Betsy, and if he's the same I'll undertake to get him another place, even if his present master won't be persuaded to keep him on.' But Mr. Jones was persuaded. When Mrs. Melville herself called at his shop and spoke in Isaac's favour, the tradesman thought it wise to bend to her wishes, and to make light of his errand-boy's offence. And better things followed. Mrs. Melville dropped in shortly afterwards at Isaac's home, and when she found what a respectable, hard-working woman his mother was, the kind lady managed to help her in many ways, and proved a very kind friend to the whole family. And it's all Isaac's doing,' Mrs. Ball would say proudly. Bless the lad! He deserves all the good as comes to him or any of you. So Sally's to be scullerymaid at Mrs. Melville's, I hear! Well, that is fine, my lass! You'd be long before you got such another place anywhere else, I can tell you. And you've only your brother to thank.' 'I don't know,' Mrs. Hopgood returned; I think there's another person. Isaac would say as you was the beginning of it all. He's very grateful, is Isaac, and thinks there is no one like you in the world.' Mrs. Ball's heart swelled. She had often fretted because God had not granted her any children, but now she did not so much care, since Isaac had given her a large share of his love. So the blessing to one brought blessings to others; as is often the case, I think, only we are too blind to see it always. Good surely spreads itself, even as does evil. 'A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.' EMMA RHODES. CONTENTMENT. " Are ye not much better than they ?' POOR, little, hungry Robin, All on a winter's day, He perched upon a bramble brown And yet, it seemed to me, Was more than melody. When all was dark and drear, Contented with our lot; And happy was his lot; Since God forgot them not. Yet the Hebrew word, which in these verses is translated sparrow,' and which may be sounded like tzippor, is often used in the Old Testament, but it is translated merely bird;' for though it is the proper name for a sparrow, yet it is used also for any bird. Many writers think that in Psalm cii. the verse should be 'I watch, and am like a bird alone on the house-top;' for they say that the sense requires not a lively chattering bird, fond of company, like the sparrow, but rather some dull, moping bird, such as the owl, which sits watching solitarily on the house-top in the night season. In Psalm lxxxiv. 3, the sense seems to fit well with the narrower meaning of the word, and sparrow' is rightly used; for, bold and pert as the sparrow is in other countries, it is still more so in the East: and even at the present time both sparrows and swallows fix their nests among the beams and rafters of the sacred buildings, and are to be heard twittering about in the domes of the churches and of the mosques at Jerusalem. In his day David had often noticed these birds in his visits to the tabernacle, and when he was banished and desolate he longed for the privilege of being in the courts of God's House, from which even these little birds were not shut out. BY THE FATHER'S BEDSIDE. N the province of Hesse, in Germany, there is a village named Witteborn, in which there lived a pastor named Segbert, who had won the love of all who knew him by his holy life and conversation and by his earnest preaching of the Gospel. His wife, too, was a good and faithful soul, the joy of her husband and the blessing of her house. Though poor they yet kept something over for the relief of others poorer than themselves. Thus the good couple might have lived happily and contentedly together; but they had one son, their only child, who had become a cause of sorrow to them. Both parents had done all they could to bring up their child in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.' They taught, they entreated, they warned, and punished, as it was needful.. They never neglected to pray for their son; but everything seemed to be in vain. There was a giddiness and vanity in the lad which knew no bounds. Though he had good gifts from God, yet he was, in his hours of study, so lazy and idle that he could only be made to learn by stern severity. Whenever a wild and mischievous prank was to be done, he was sure to be at the head of his companions; so that the pastor's son, Wilhelm, was soon known and feared throughout the village. The boy was sent by his father to the public school at Fulda. Here matters were no better, but much worse, indeed, now that he was removed from his parents' oversight and discipline. Wilhelm was lazy in school, and wild and giddy out of school. Only the sympathy which the head-master felt for his worthy parents saved the lad from being expelled. When he came home for |