A. L. O. E.

“ This may be so, but oh, remember that you have still one offering which you can make; you have your Heartslove to lay at the feet of your Heavenly Friend. Be assured that the Lord will prize your love dearly, far, far more than all the earth's treasures of silver and gold. No being that has offered Heartslove in simple, grateful homage to his Saviour, but will be welcomed by Him to a glorious home in heaven, not to be received as a passing guest, but as a dearly beloved child, adopted into His family, and made happy for ever and ever with Him! ”

“ Fing Fang solemnly shook the pigtail which hung down his back. Like many of the Chinese, he had read a great deal, and was a kind of philosopher in his way.
"Nephew Chang Wang," he observed, "I know of a creature (and he is not far off at this moment) who is always fishing for gain—constantly catching, but never enjoying. Avarice—the love of hoarding—is the iron ring round his neck; and so long as it stays there, he is much like one of our trained cormorants—he may be clever, active, successful, but he is only fishing for others." ”

“ But when Grace reached the large gate beside which hung the great iron bell, she had hardly courage to ring it. After all, thought she, might not so grand a nobleman think it presuming in her to come even to offer a gift? Was the bird, though it was her all, worthy to be placed before him? Should she not rather carry Heartslove back to her home?
While Grace stood hesitating and doubting, with her small hand raised to the bell handle, which she did not venture to pull, a man of a noble appearance, who was walking within the Castle grounds, came up to the gate.
"What do you want, little girl?" ”

“ The foolish and improvident dairyman, with thoughts of debt and difficulty ever preying upon his mind, was like a tree which looks fair at a distance, but which is quite decayed at the core, so that the first strong blast must lay it in dust.
That blast of misfortune came suddenly upon Seele. A disease swept away every one of his cows, upon which he depended for bread. The lord of the manor returned to his castle and claimed his due—the rent which his thriftless tenant had for so long neglected to pay. Ernst Seele was indeed a ruined man ”

“ There is not one of them that has not a great Benefactor, to whose free bounty they owe a million times more than Grace and her family owed to the lord of the manor. Have they received all His benefits without a word of thanks, without a thought of grateful devotion? Have they offered nothing to their Heavenly Lord, who has freely forgiven them all their great debt, and loaded them with blessings day after day? ”

“ So, with Heartslove, not now in a basket, but held in her bosom, the poor little grateful child drew nigh to the lord's magnificent home.
Grace was met by a kind-looking servant. "My lord has sent me to bring you to him," said the man. "Do not tremble, little one; my lord is very fond of children. See! He is coming down the marble staircase to receive you himself." ”

“ But knowing how to make money is quite a different thing from knowing how to enjoy it. With all his ill-gotten gains, Chang Wang was a miserable man, for he had no heart to spend his silver pieces, even on his own comfort. The rich dealer lived in a hut which one of his own labourers might have despised; he dressed as a poor Tartar shepherd might have dressed when driving his flock. Chang Wang grudged himself even a hat to keep off the rays of the sun. ”

“ I leave my readers to guess whether the sharp dealer understood his uncle's meaning, or whether Chuang Wang resolved in future not only to catch, but to enjoy. Fing Fang's moral might be good enough for a Chinese heathen, but it does not go nearly far enough for an English Christian. If a miser is like a cormorant with an iron ring round his neck, the man or the child who lives for his own pleasure only, what is he but a greedy cormorant without the iron ring? Who would wish to resemble a cormorant at all? The bird knows the enjoyment of getting; let us prize the richer enjoyment of giving. ”

“ You had, as I told you, a dangerous pet, Norman Stanley. You might play for a while with the young creature, but claws will lengthen and fangs will grow. And," the captain added more gravely, "this is like some other things which are at first but a source of amusement, but which are too likely to become at last a source of destruction."
Norman Stanley's cheek reddened, for he felt that it was not merely of a tiger's cub that his friend was speaking. Evil habits, which at first seem so weak that we believe that we can hold them in by a mere effort of will, grow fearfully strong by indulgence. ”

“ There's nothing she likes so well as a hot cup of tea and a good warm fire; your dear mamma gives us the tea, and you see I've the wood for boiling the water. Won't mother be glad when she sees my big fagots; and wasn't I pleased when I heard the wind blowing last night, for I knew I should find branches strewn about in the morning!"
"Ah," cried Harry, "that reminds me of the proverb: 'Tis an ill wind that blows nobody good."
"Harry," whispered Nina to her brother, "don't you think that you and I might help Ruth to fill her poor mother's little wood-shed?" ”

“ His thoughts were recalled to God and heaven, to that bright home to which he felt that his mother had gone, and where he hoped one day to join her—the blessed mansions prepared by the Saviour for those who love and obey Him.
"Holy children will be there
Who have sought the Lord by prayer."
Ben turned away with almost a bursting heart. Heaven is not for the unholy, the disobedient, the covetous, for those who take what is not their own! ”

“ The storm lulled, however, before the morning broke; and when the sun had risen, all was bright, calm, and serene.
"What a lovely morning after such a stormy night!" cried Nina, as with her brother Harry she rambled in the green wood, while old Ailsie followed behind them. "I never felt the air more sweet and fresh, and it seemed so heavy yesterday morning."
"Ay, ay, the wind cleared the air," observed Ailsie. "It's an ill wind that blaws naebody good." ”

“ II. THE BEAR.
"HE is just like a bear!" That is a very common expression when we talk of some ill-tempered man or boy, who takes a pleasure in saying rude things, and who seems bent upon making every one near him as uncomfortable as he can.
But we may be unjust even to bears. Could you have gone to wintry Greenland, and seen Mrs. Bruin amidst her family of little white cubs, each scarcely bigger than a rabbit, you would have agreed that a bear can be a kind and tender mother, and provide for her four-footed babies a snug and comfortable home. ”

“ I'll be a father to you, for the sake of poor dear Alice."
Fervently did poor little Ben thank God who had thus provided for him a friend when he most needed one, and least expected to find one! With wonder, the orphan silently traced the steps by which his heavenly Father had led him. What a mercy it was that he had passed near the school,—that he had heard the hymn,—that he had resolved to be honest,—and that his resolution had brought him to the cake-woman's stall when the sailor was standing beside it! Had Ben delayed but for ten minutes, he would never have met his uncle! ”

“ Snap went the chain, as the strong wild beast caught up her little one in her mouth; and before either Norman or the captain (who had snatched up a second gun) had time to take aim, the tigress was off again, bearing away her rescued cub to the jungle!
"That was a sight worth seeing!" exclaimed Captain Guise. "I never beheld a more splendid creature in all my life!"
Norman, who was very young, and quite unaccustomed to having a tiger so near him with no iron cage between them, looked as though he had not enjoyed the sight at all. ”

“ Seth is allowed to run wild—and this is not the boy's limit. Then Seth is so young, and so small—he is only seven years old, and he scarcely looks five; surely I ought to be able to manage and guide such a child! But my strength and vigour are gone," continued Miss Lee, still speaking to herself, and she pressed her hand to her aching side. "I am scarcely fit for the effort of teaching at all; and one wilful, troublesome, saucy child tires me out more than all the rest of the boys put together. I think that I must tell Seth Rogers to come no more to my class." ”

“ The suggestion was a very simple one. The same thought had often arisen in the minds both of Seele and his wife, but they had not acted upon it, until it was expressed by the lips of their little daughter. Seele rose hastily from his seat.
"Yes, I will go at once to the Castle," he said, "and try to move the pity of my lord. This is my last chance, my last hope. If he do not show mercy to-day, I shall be in a prison to-morrow." ”

“ How wonderfully does Instinct teach this rough, strange-looking creature to provide for her cubs! The mother bear scrapes and burrows under the snow, till she has formed a small but snug home, where she dwells with her baby-bears during the sharpest cold of an Arctic winter. So wonderfully has Providence cared for the comfort even of wild beasts, that the mother needs no food for three months! She is so fat when she settles down in her under-snow home, that her own plumpness serves her instead of breakfast, dinner, and supper ”

“ He only fishes for others."
"Methinks the cormorant has a hard life of it," observed the miser, smiling. "He must wish his iron ring at the bottom of the Yang-se-kiang."
Fing Fang, who had just let loose two young cormorants from the boat, turned round, and from his narrow slits of Chinese eyes looked keenly upon his nephew.
"Didst thou ever hear of a creature," said he, "that puts an iron ring around his own neck?"
"There is no such creature in all the land that the Great Wall borders," replied Chang Wang. ”

“ Yes, in future life, the orphan frequently owned that all his earthly comforts had sprung from the decision which he had been strengthened to make when, at the turning-point of his course, he had stood at the door of the infant school, listening with a penitent heart to the hymn which his mother had taught him! ”

“ So Grace put on her little bonnet and cloak. In vain she tried to get one of her brothers or sisters to go with her—they too said that they were too busy: not one seemed to think that it was in the least needful to show gratitude, or even to feel it.
So Grace set out quite alone. Ofttimes on her way, she raised the lid of the basket a little to take a last peep of her pet.
"I shall miss you, but I do not grudge you, my little beauty!" said the child. "I am sure that so kind a lord will be gentle and good to my bird. He will not despise or hurt you ”

“ May we not hope that all Janet's toil and hard work for her children had one day a rich reward? May we not hope that not one out of the nine, when old enough and strong enough to labour for her who had laboured so hard for them, but did his best to repay her care and her love? ”

“ If making money fast be the test of cleverness, there was not a merchant in the province of Kwang Tung who had earned a better right to be called clever. Who owned so many fields of the tea-plant, who shipped so many bales of its leaves to the little Island in the west, as did Chang Wang? ”

“ A night of deep, quiet sleep succeeded, and on the Tuesday morning Miss Lee awoke quite free from fever, but so weak and low, that she could not turn in her bed.
From that hour, the lady's recovery was steady, though slow. It was not till the middle of April that the invalid was permitted to leave her room, and any occupation that could tire either body or mind was strictly forbidden. Miss Lee was, however, able to enjoy sitting in an easy-chair by the open window, as the days grew warm and long. Every morning, she found on the sill a few wild flowers ”

“ Just observe my plumage of crimson and green, and the fine feather head-dress which I wear!"
"I know that you are a beauty," said Fidele, "and that I'm only an ugly little dog."
"Then how clever I am," continued Miss Parrot, after a nibble at her biscuit. "No human beings are likely to care for you, for you can't speak one word of their language." ”

“ I think that I must give up trying to teach him!" sighed Miss Lee, a very sickly looking lady, as on one cold afternoon in March, she returned from the Sunday-school in which she had been for some years a teacher.
"Yes, little Seth seems as if he could neither be won by kindness, nor moved by reproof. He cares neither for smiles nor for frowns. He disturbs all the rest of the boys in my class; sets them off laughing when I most wish them all to be quiet and attentive; he teases this one, quarrels with that ”

“ If dogs' flesh * were not so cheap, he'd grudge himself the paw of a roasted puppy!"
"And what will Chang Wang make of all his money at last?" said Fing Fang more gravely. "He cannot carry it away with him when he dies!"
"Oh, he's gathering it up for some one who will know how to spend it," laughed Jung. "Chang Wang is merely fishing for others; what he gathers, they will enjoy!"
It was a bright, pleasant day when Chang Wang stepped into the boat of his uncle, to drop slowly down the great Yang-se-kiang. Many a civil word he said to Fing Fang and his sons, for civil words cost nothing. ”