Bible, a tear now and then falling from his eyes upon the pages; and May stood in the corner watching him, with her finger in her mouth, till she heard her mother's step upon the stair, and then she ran and opened the door. But Mrs. Bridgeman did not come in. She only stood there, her hand on the door-knob, and looked as if frightened at the stranger, until he rose and said, stretching out his arms toward her : 66 'Mary! Mary! have I found you at last?" And then May's mother threw her arms around his neck, and cried :. And then-but poor little May could hardly understand it she was told that this strange man who had saved her life was her own uncle Willie-her mother's long-lost brother. He had come home very rich, and had spent two years looking for his poor sister and her little daughter May. All that day her uncle Willie stayed and talked with May's mamma, and the next day they went away from the little room in the top of the tenement-house, to live in a beautiful, beautiful home. And May did not forget to take her pet flowers with her, only they were transplanted into handsome flower-pots. And so May's prayer was answered; for the Lord sent her rich uncle to make her and her dear mother comfortable and happy. And May always had plenty of cents to give to the poor little flower-girls as she passed them in the street. Scripture Lessons. EAR YOUNG FRIENDS, A Through the goodness of God we are spared to combomence another year, and I sincerely trust it will be a happy one to you all-and if you are truly good, you will be happy. Well, Ihavebeen wondering what we could Briors best do to interest, and instruct ourselves during each month of the year, and at last I have fixed on the following plan. I shall want you to give your best attention, and carefully to use your Bibles. I will select a certain word, and see how much may be learnt from it in the Bible. This month our word shall be Water, on which I have found these lessons, The Duty of Benevolence. Matthew x. 42; Mark ix. 41. We must be earnest in prayer. Lamentations ii. 19. The foolishness of sin. Jeremiah ii. 13. The blessings which the Gospel will produce in our world. Isaiah xxxv. 7.1 L ཉ!}" God is willing to give His Holy Spirit to all who ask Him. Isaiah xii. 3. John iv. 10, 14. The mortality of man. 2 Samuel 14, 14. The misery of the wicked. Isaiah, iii. 1, 3; Ezekiel vii. 17, xxi. 7 2 Peter ii. 17. supplying the wants of His Psalm cxvii. 35. The providence of God in 7 Thus you see the Bible teaches us at least ten important lessons from the simple word, Water. There are several others mentioned which I should like you to find out for yourselves. This you will soon do if you" Search the Scriptures," and, I am sure the search will do you good, es. pecially if it be made with an earnest prayer for God to bless to you what you learn, and enable you to practice it in daily life. t Our word next month will be Eye, which I have no doubt will teach us many useful things. Let us try and see how many. Again wishing you a Happy New Year." 1 My Mother's Prayer. Y MOTHER childo was a widow, and I her only We lived in London, in what part I I do not know, but I remember a Jong, narrow, and wretched court; and world though it is years ago, I I can almost, see vod the garret which was our home. Mother vil trus went out charing, and I was left with a neighbour, till, as I grew older, mother found that she could r could no longer afford the penny which was charged for minding me. So I used to stay in bed,, locked up in the garret, with a hunch of bread for my dinner by my side; and there I lay all day, counting the cracks in the ceiling, or playing as well as I could by myself, feeling very lonely and miserable, till the clock of a church close by, rung out the hour when mother would leave off work and come home. But the daily labour was too much for her; she fell ill; little by little her strength failed her, and she had to give up work. One after another, all our little bits of furniture were sold, and they were very few; then she parted with her Sunday gown, and my little brown coat of which I was so proud; but time went on and she grew no stronger, and at last, as I know now, she gave up hope of ever being well again. 7 One morning, it was my birthday, I remember, and I We was five years old, she called me to her, and said, are going a journey, Dan, into the country; I used to ́live there when I was a little girl." I clapped my hands with joy at the thought of a journey, though I had no idea of what was meant by the country; but mother looked sad, and drawing me to her, spoke so gravely, that I listened in wonder. A My child," she said, "God is going to take mother away from you; I'm going to a happy place, but I cannot bear to leave my little Dan alone, and I'm going in the country to find your aunt, and ask her to take care of you when I'm gone.' "I don't want aunt," I cried ; Mammy shan't go away," and I sobbed bitterly, with a child's unreasoning grief. I had forgotten my grief, however, the next morning, when mother woke me early; she had her bonnet on, and I was soon dressed in the little slop which she had washed for me the day before. I can't tell how she walked as she did, but I think her love for her 'little boy gave her strength to press on. She knew that my aunt lived near Bedford, but this was all, for they had not met for years, and neither of them thought of writing." We had walked eight days, resting at night either in some cottage or under a hay-stack, when mother's strength quite failed; it was evening; we found a deserted cottage, without door or windows, but still it was some shelter. Here mother lay all night, her head upon my lap. She did not speak much, but I knew that she was praying, and I heard her say over and over again," O God, take care of my boy, my little orphan boy." When 'morning came she suddenly raised herself, and a light shone in her eyes "Daniel," she said, "I'm going to heaven; Jesus will take me there, and he will care for you. I'm not afraid to leave you now; God is the Father of the fatherless, and he will be with you." Then she fell back, her eyes closed, and a happy smile rested on her face, but she never moved again; my dear mother was dead. All that morning I sat crying, her head still on my lap; but in the afternoon I was so lonely and hungry that I wandered out. There was a cottage near, and a woman stood at the door; she was kind-looking, and I fancied her like my mother, so I ran up to her and said, Mammy's dead in that cottage, and I'm so hungry." She took me in, and gave me some bread and milk, and then listened to my story. "You come right along to schoolmaster," she said, "and let us hear what he says." So I went with my new friend, while some other neighbours sought the ruined cottage where my mother had died. We were soon in the schoolmaster's study; he was an old man, and the adviser and helper of all in the village. He was a Scotchman, and at first I could not understand what he said:-" Puir bairn, puir bairn, so your mither is deed; you're like to greet; weel, weel, we maun think what's to be done; what was mither's name?" took my fists out of my eyes, and looked up. "Please sir," I answered, "she hadn't no name but mother." 'Weel, weel, do ye ken your own name, boy?" "I'm Daniel Drayham, sir, but mother called me Dan." 66 66 I As I said my name, the woman, who had her hand on my shoulder, suddenly started, and cried out,-"Sure it's my sister's boy; it's poor Mary as lies yonder." "Are you aunt?" I asked; "mother said aunt would take care of me, and we came to find her." My aunt took me in her arms, crying over me and kissing me. "It's my sister's child, sir," she said; "I know it is, and, please God, he shall be my child now." Thus my mother's prayer was answered. I lived many years with my kind aunt, who cared for me as if I had been her own, and taught me above all to love and serve the God who had indeed shown himself a Father to the fatherless.— Child's Companion. |