was related in a way that could not fail to fix their minds. They were steady at prayer, and although I could not but observe that the distributor of the singing-books took a very exact account, lest any should be smuggled away, they were treated kindly and respectfully, and gave kindness and respect in return. There were many clean faces and smooth heads, and even a few tidy suits of clothes, which doubtless owed their origin to "the Boys' Meeting." Some countenances, bright and beaming, turned earnestly to the teachers, and gave promise of springing from the slough where they were found, not only to respectability in society, but to a home beyond the skies, and to the society of just men made perfect. It was delightful to observe hope sustaining the good men through their labour, and the love and energy with which they were borne forward,

I regret not having thought of the story so as to write it in the graphic manner in which it was told. Its outline is this:-A boy who feared not God, nor obeyed his mother, set out to roam with others on a Sabbath afternoon, several years ago-when the spot on which we were now seated was a green field. The field was enclosed by a ragged paling, with here and there an upright plank. On one of these planks was written in chalk, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." The boy observed the words. They smote his conscience—he feared to go on, but was ashamed to tell his companions why he

turned back; so he gradually dropt behind and slipt away. The tale went on, how a kind person invited him to go to church, how he afterwards went vo luntarily to school-how he was apprenticed, and pleased his master by his truth and industry-and how at last, taking pity on boys who might not see a chalk text on the paling as he had done, he had now become a Sabbath-school teacher. He left the "Boys' Meeting" to draw any inference it pleased; but one might guess the inference was, that the person spoken of was their kind teacher himself.

As we entered the door of this meeting, two little fellows who were seated on the steps were invited by the visitors to go up to school. They replied, quite civilly, that they would, if they found it suited. "Nay, now, no fear of its suiting-just come with me." "We will see about it." "What need to wait and see about it?-come along now." "We will come if we find it convenient." "But please to go up with me-I am a stranger, you can shew me the door." They arose, and one, pointing, said, "I would go up if it were necessary; but it is the first door, you can't miss it." The quiet independence of the little chaps was a mark of national character. A Scotch boy would have run away, or said something impudent, if he were resolved to refuse. The American had made up his mind, and merely stated it with perfect civility. My curiosity was excited, and by watching I made out their reason. A band of Odd Fellows, with all their

quaint array of flags, belts, music, and all the profane bustle with which they disturb the Sabbathday, was expected to return from a funeral. They came presently, and when a rush of boys came into school after the pageant had passed, my resolute acquaintances, having seen what they had made up their minds to wait for, "found it convenient" to come up also. Does the superior courtesy of the less cultivated classes arise from the sober certainty that you cannot in fact interfere or constrain them, so that "I don't feel like doing it," is the quiet reply, instead of the Scotch "What's your business?" or, "What need you care whether I do it or not?"

In this meeting we saw the encouraging results of a few months' labour. In another quarter of the city, a similar meeting, which had been convened for two years, exhibited a much advanced condition. There were girls and female teachers, as well as boys and males. The hand of industry and kindness was visible. Neat, clean, and cheerful was the pleasant crowd. Many a tunic was there which had been

"Turn'd upside down, and outside in,
And made a braw new cotie of."

And many a cap, bonnet, and frock, reminded one of Burns's mother, "wi' her shears, who made auld things look a'maist as guid as new." This order and comfort among the garments is the result of the united contributions and industry of the female

teachers, and many a complacent eye ran over a row of little scholars fitted up for the school by means of many hours of labour. It was Christmas day, so the recitations were rather more of a discursive nature than on the Sabbath, but all of useful tendency. There were interspersed hymns sweetly sung, and passages of Scripture remarkably well recited. The toil of collecting the children, and the responsibilities of teaching them, have for their incentive Christian love alone, seeking neither fee nor reward, save that of seeing the children walk in the truth. And when we know that, two years before, they were as wild and rough as uncared-for children could be, even the present fruit of the labour was a most pleasing reward.

I understood the female teachers met occasionally to make clothing in concert, while one read aloudan excellent refreshing sociality, not exercised by fine ladies, who might leave their embroidery to unite in this way-but some who had hastened through domestic cares, to procure the time, and others who had passed the regular number of hours in teaching in the Common Schools.

Sustaining the Sabbath-schools is with many church members a duty observed with as much care as any private devotional exercise. On remarking to a zealous teacher that one could hardly hope Senator A. or Governor B. would have leisure from their duties, political and public, to attend still to their class, for they must enjoy the repose of the

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Sabbath, I felt justly rebuked by the hearty reply, "Why, madam, don't you believe the teaching hours are nearly the most refreshing hours of the week?” And so it is. Wherever the mollifying power of the religion of Jesus is felt, there flows into the heart with it a spirit of hopeful benevolence, which turns the man into the protector of the feeble, and the elevator of the neglected and debased. Be he senator, governor, or city missionary, his object and his pursuits will, allowing for difference of circumstances, be the same, and none will be found too low to sink beyond his loving effort, none too debased to pass the line of his faith and hope-as witness Mr Pease at the Five Points. Its rows of miserable. dwellings, whose creaking stairs, broken palings, and rag-stuffed window-panes, sufficiently indicate that honest and cheerful industry have long since fled the precinct; while its dull and besotted, or loud and brazen tenants, render it prudent for a respectable female to seek protection in threading its streets in broad day. Yet there has Christian benevolence raised its hopeful standard, and there have some immortals been lifted from the depths, and have entered on the path that leads to peace.

The process of commencement, as related by the zealous operator, is worthy of a record. He was missionary of the district, and many a day his heart fainted as he toiled from den to den, and found none to care for his Scripture-readings, none to accept his tracts, none to value his prayers. We are hungry

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