excitement of the struggle, asked: "What ails you, my child?"

"O mother!" she exclaim

ed, "I wanted so much to take one of the peaches; but I thought I would first ask God if he had any objection."

A LOVER OF WATER.

THE frog is a hydropath. He has faith in water as a beverage, and he uses it freely for bathing purposes. He believes in the sitz-bath, the plunge-bath, the douchebath, the spray-bath, the shower-bath, and the fountain-bath. He is a spry, jolly fellow; and although he keeps late hours, and sings from sunset until daybreak, he is never indebted to stimulants for his song and cheerful merits. In the language of one of our humourists: "He can swim faster and leap higher, dive deeper, and come up drier than the most active rumdrinker. In the early spring, his voice, though not so musical, is almost as welcome -when not too near the house as the voice of the

blue-bird and robin. His low bass chimes with the

orchestra of song in the grass and on the trees; and his green back is a reminder of what is needed to pay for the Banner. His round, full eyes are more fully developed than his brain-a fact which may account for his frequently taking a leap in the dark. He may see further than those who dare not follow him in his plunge into the water.-Youth's Tem

perance Banner.

SWEARING REPROVED.

"HOWARD, the philanthro pist, was standing one day near the door of a printing office, when he heard some dreadful oaths and curses from a public-house opposite. Buttoning his pocket up before he went into the street, he said to the workmen near him: "I always do this when I hear men swear, as I think that any one who can take God's name in vain can also steal, or do anything else that is bad." There may be meh who swear and would not steal, and there may be men

who steal and do not swear; but we should not care to trust either sort. One thing is certain: if the swearer is dishonest in nothing else, he is in this one thing-that he takes from God the honour which is his due. Swearers are not apt to think much of God, though they so often use his name.

A profane coachman, pointing to one of his horses, said to a pious traveller: "That horse, sir, knows when I swear at him." "Yes," replied the traveller," and so does your Maker." The coachman felt the rebuke, and immediately became silent.

LITTLE SINS.

IN a Carolina forest of a thousand acres you can scarcely find a tree that is not dead and crumbling to decay. No fire has swept over it, no lightning scathed those naked, bleaching pines. This ruin was wrought by a little insect's larvæ, no larger than a grain of rice. What a hundred axes and men could not accomplish by years of hard labour, this seemingly insignificant in

sect sent its feeble offspring to perform. One alone could have little power, it is true, but millions were marshalled, and all the skill of man could not stay their

course.

Such is the power of little sins. Perform the same act over, for even two or three times in succession, and the habit is formed.Young People's Helper.

LIVING AND DYING.

"DID you ever hear about John Newton, the celebrated English preacher?" says Cousin Carrie,

66

John Newton, one èvening at a party, mentioned that a young girl had died. "And how did she die?" asked a young lady.

"You have forgotten," replied the good man, "to ask a far more important question."

"Why, sir, what can be more important than how one dies?"

66 "Yes," said he, "it is far more important how one lives."

And so it is. If we live well, God will take care that we die well.