"She was unwilling to commit nerself to slumber till she had first read a few rerses from the old Book." dren's births, marriages, and deaths, written by herself. The hand that wrote those words is still and cold in death now! The fingers that traced them are now but dust! But in turning over these pages we feel the gentle warmth and pressure resting once more in blessing on our infant head, and the forgotten scenes of early years are recalled as vividly as if they had transpired but yesterday. Well would it have been for us if we had always heeded that mother's Bible counsels and instructions! Well would it have been for us if mother's Bible and mother's God had always had the first place in our affections! And among our hopes for the future, none is more fondly cherished than that of meeting her in the bright home to which she has gone, to which this book was the chart, and guide, and enduring title. HOW clear and cold a morning that was in January. The ice was in prime condition, and the skating and sleighing fine, and the boys were out with their skates enjoying it. They moved swiftly down the road, over and down a long inclined hill, and then came swiftly back again, a kind of amusement which one would think "costs more than it is worth." The boys did not think so, and they were the proper persons to decide the question. All the boys had good skates except one. He asked several of the boys for the temporary loan of their skates, but they were too much engaged in their sport to pay any attention to him. He then applied to Francis, who was wont to be very accommodating. "Frank, let me take your skates once." "I won't." Why not?" "Because you have treated me so badly. Have you forgotten how you rubbed snow in my face yesterday?" Without waiting to hear Hiram's reply, he started skating down the hill. Hiram stood for some time and witnessed the sport, in which he could not join, and then turned away with a tear in his eye. About a year after this Francis was one day sitting by his mother's side. He was now eight years of age. He looked thoughtful and sad. His mother noticed it, and said to him, "Don't you feel well, my son?" "Yes, ma, I feel well enough; but I don't feel very happy." "What is the cause of your unhappiness? "Because I did not do as I would be done by. I should have felt bad if all the boys had been sliding and I couldn't slide." "So your feeling bad is in consequence of your sympathy for Hiram ?" "Yes, ma. I feel sorry because I did not make him happy, and because I did wrong." "What do you think the Lord would have been pleased to have you do when Hiram asked you for "I don't know, ma, unless it is the skates ?" because I am not better." "I should have pleased the Lord "What particular thing were you if I had let Hiram have my skates." thinking of just now?" "I was thinking about Hiram." "What about him?" "Once when the boys were sliding down hill, and they all had skates except Hiram, and he asked them to let him have their skates, and they wouldn't, and then he asked me, and I told him I wouldn't, because he had treated me so badly. So he stood there for a little while looking rather sorry, and then he went home. It has made me feel bad every time I have thought of it since." "What reason have you for say ing so?" "Because He says, 'Love your enemies; do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.'" "Have you ever prayed for Hiram ?" "I always pray for him when I feel bad about not letting him have my skates." "When did this affair happen?" "Last winter." Francis's mother was greatly "Why does it make you feel pleased with the sensibility and bad to think of it?" conscientiousness manifested by |