"No, I didn't. He'd been talking about the marriage feast, and then he said, 'What did Jesus Christ do?" and then turned round to get his coat from under Jim Crofts, and the next word I heard was 'Galilee.'” "I hope you are both good boys?"

"We are; but we might be better if he didn't look so cross. I should think he was as fond of tricks when he was a lad as we are, but he'd make out now that he was born a saint."

"He's been to America."

"My! I wish he'd tell us something about it then."

"I wonder what he does?"

"I don't know; I know what he don't do."

"What?"

"Now, boys," said their mother, "you had better stop that talk. Your teacher no doubt does his best."

"Does it dry, then," whispered the eldest.

The following Saturday evening the teacher and his mother were again sitting in that acme of comfort on a winter's night on either side of a good fire.

"Are you going to take your class to-morrow?"

No, I told the superintendent so; he would not believe me though, and said he should certainly expect me. However, if the class is vacant, he cannot blame me."

"Will you go if I convince you that you did not tell me all the truth last Sunday?"

“Mother!” All the reproach and grief that could possibly be crowded in, that one word contained.

"Now don't be offended. Am I in the habit of making groundless accusations?"

66

No, neither of charging me with falsehood."

"I have not done so now. I said all the truth."

"Half a truth makes a lie, is my belief. But do explain what you

mean!"

"I am waiting to do so; but will you give me the promise?"

66 To go to school to-morrow? Yes, I will, if you thoroughly convince me; but you might as well try to prove I do not exist!"

"And I am as sure I can as that you do exist. Now I will begin, and don't interrupt till I have finished. I was so convinced when you gave me your recital of grievances last Sunday that there was some explanation lacking

66

Why didn't you ask me, then?"

Now, master impetuous, there was to be no interruption. To resume -some explanation lacking you were not in a position just then to supply, so I determined to find it out myself. I got the names and addresses of your scholars from the secretary, for they were not in your class-book, and then I set to work. Don't think I gave any one the opportunity of thinking I was making up for any deficiency on your part. I avoided that by saying I was desirous of interesting myself in what interested you. That was quite true, though you might say it was not all the truth. Granted, but we are not bound to tell all the truth to a second person always; it is to ourselves alone that we are compelled to view the whole

truth. With the names and addresses in my possession, I set to work at once. I visited the homes of them all, and everybody received me with the greatest kindness. I will tell you in brief the result. The boy who you said went to sleep had been compelled by his master to work overhours in order to get some work finished. His mother did not wish him to go to school as he would be sure to be sleepy; but he would not stay away. The little lad who smelt so, works in a tobacco factory half-days. His mother is a widow. It is her custom to wash his jacket every Saturday night, but last week she was very ill, and could not do it. This week she is confined to her bed, and if some kind neighbour does not take pity upon the jacket, it will smell even worse to-morrow. I believe you are going to say something, but just stay awhile. The boy who knocked his feet about suffers very much from chilblains. I have sent him a lotion to rub them with. I saw the mother of two other boys, who told me of that unfortunate answer. He declares he did not hear you use the word 'sea,' as you turned round in the middle of the sentence to a boy on the opposite side of the class. If that is correct, the boy is not to blame. She told me in a very nice manner that she thought the boys would very much like you to tell them something about your travels. Her remarks made me think that perhaps you prepare your lessons too much-make them too sermonic-and that may account for their inattention. And the rude remark one boy made, and the lateness of another, might be explained by the fact that you yourself are not always regular and punctual. Now, I have finished. You can see now what I mean by not telling all the truth. I think a teacher needs to study himself from a scholar's standpoint-to note the side influences-to observe the truth in all the aspects that can possibly come under his notice. Considering all this, will you take the class?""

There was silence in the room for quite a minute or two.

"Don't say you have no lesson. Give them something of your own experience."

"Yes. And I will own I did not tell all the truth; but it was all my indifference permitted me to notice at the time."

So he went, and when he came home he threw himself, boy-fashion, at his mother's knees and exclaimed, "O mother, I have had such a happy afternoon! It did not seem like the same class as on last Sunday. The difference is all through you."

Nay, nay; it was simply through the further unfolding of the truth." -Sunday School Teacher.

Sabbath Schools and Foreign Missions.

TWENTY or thirty years ago it was not an uncommon thing for some of our large Sabbath schools to provide the funds necessary for the support of a missionary in some foreign land. In some cases the education and maintenance of the orphan child of a native Christian was selected as the object of benevolence; and in others, the education and training for the

ministry of some young convert, whose heart yearned for the spiritual welfare of his countrymen. The letters received from them, when read at the monthly or quarterly missionary meetings of the scholars, helped wonderfully to keep up the interest in the scheme. We do not know that this plan of helping on foreign missions is so popular as it then was. The novelty of it may have passed away; but it would be difficult to suggest one of a more practical description. The following is a specimen of the sort of letters we refer to. It is written by Mrs. William Paton, the wife of a missionary at Swatow, China, who, along with her husband, were teachers, a short time ago, in Wellpark Free Church Sabbath School. Although, in this instance, there is no appeal for monetary aid, it is such a letter as cannot fail to awaken the sympathies of the children, and, in some form or other, secure tangible help :—

In our Girls' School at Swatow we have at present 26 girls, their ages ranging from 10 to 18. The Chinese have a curious way of reckoning their age. If an infant is born in the last month of the year, the first month of the following year it is reckoned to be two years old, because it has lived in part of two different years. Taking this into account, the real ages of the girls may be from 8 or 9 to 17. They are all the children of Christian parents, and we feel our first duty to be to them. Indeed, it would be difficult at present to get any others. The heathen Chinese are quite alive to the advantage of educating their boys; but as to the girls, that is a different matter. They think they lose quite enough cash in feeding and clothing them without spending it in teaching them to read. I need not tell you, as I am sure you are aware, that girls are not much prized in China. When our second little girl was born, we received very few congratulations, even from the Christians; they seemed to look on it as more of a misfortune than otherwise. We make it a rule that the parents all contribute something towards the education and maintenance of the girls while with us; but that something is, alas, often very small. Just imagine a girl being fed, lodged, and educated for nine months in the year for two dollars (about 7s. 6d. of our money), and yet some of them pay no more than that; one girl only pays six dollars.

In trying to think what the girls (and I hope the boys too) in Wellpark Sabbath School would like to know about their sisters in this school in the far-away land of China, I imagined some of them saying, “Tell us what they are like? What their names are? What they learn in the school?"-and I hope some of you would like to know if they are good and obedient, attentive to their lessons, and, most important of all, do any of them know and love the Saviour, who died for them as well as for you boys and girls in Wellpark I will try and answer these questions, as I would like you to take a great interest in our Girls' School in Swatow. First, then, What are they like? In trying to answer this question, let me, in imagination, take you with me to the school, say, on a Sabbath morning half-an-hour before service. At that hour we will (or should) find all the girls in their places, ready to sing a hymn or read a chapter

in the Testament before going to worship. We enter a room about onehalf larger than the session-house at Wellpark. The girls are quietly sitting with their hymn-books in their hands. They are not at all like, either in appearance or dress, any girls you see in Scotland, yet I am sure you will agree with me that they look very nice, with their bright intelligent faces; some of them with their hair dressed in a most curious and wonderful fashion, which I will not attempt to describe, and adorned with artificial flowers. Their clean white or blue cotton dresses, consisting of a pair of very loose flowing trousers, and jacket equally loose, with very wide flowing sleeves. If in the summer time, they have each a fan in their hand. As we enter, they salute the teacher's lady with the usual salutation of phêng-an (peace). We give out a hymn, which (thanks to my husband's lessons) they sing very nicely. While they are singing, we will look at some of the girls more closely, and I will tell you their names. That big girl in the back seat, with her hair so smoothly braided on her forehead, is Sok-nng, the daughter of our only licensed minister. She is the assistant teacher, and, although not very clever, is a nice intelligent girl. It is the custom in China to betroth girls very young, sometimes while mere infants; but Sok-nng is not yet betrothed, her father having decided that she herself shall have a say in the matter. So we may think that Sok-nng is a very fortunate girl. That very pretty girl next her is Tsu-lân; she is, I think, the cleverest and nicest girl in the school. Her father also decided that his daughter should have a voice in the selection of a husband. Although her price is very high, 100 dollars (you know men buy their wives in China), she has refused several offers, but at last she has given her heart and promise to one of the students, the son of my nurse. It would take too long to tell you of all the girls, so I must just select a few. That rather sad-looking girl on the third seat is the daughter of the tutor of the college; but her mother is still a heathen, which makes it very hard for the poor girl, who has given her heart to the Saviour, and is trying to follow Him. Won't you pray for her, that she may have grace given her to stand firm? This curious-looking little girl on the front seat, with her clothes far too big for her little body, is Tit-mue (obtained a sister). She is a very good scholar for her age (she is only eleven), and is betrothed to one of the preachers. That very little girl, the smallest in the school, is Sai-hûn (Western Cloud), whose father is dead. Her mother is a Christian, who has been very much persecuted; more than once she has been beaten and dipped in a pond because she wouldn't worship the idols.

I can't let you leave the school without telling you of Anna, the little deaf and dumb girl, who came here more than 18 months ago. Then she was very ignorant, knew nothing of God or Jesus, didn't even know that she had a soul, and had a most ungovernable temper, which often got her into trouble with the other girls. Now she can read, write, speak with her fingers, and latterly we are teaching her to speak with an audible voice. She now knows about God, and that she is a sinner, for whom Jesus died; and we think we can see evidence of the Spirit working in her by her efforts to control her temper. I will give you an instance. The other day she got into trouble with one of the other girls, and Mrs. Mackenzie required her to make an apology. This she at first refused to

do. Mrs. Mackenzie reasoned with her, telling her that God and Satan were each desiring to have her, and asking her to which she was going to yield. There seemed to be a struggle going on in the child's mind, and at last she made the desired apology, then turned to Mrs Mackenzie, hid her head on her breast, and said in an audible voice, "Seang-tì hó "—that is, "God is good," let Him have me! We are greatly encouraged with the progress she has made. So far as we know, this is the first attempt that has been made in China to teach the deaf and dumb. Won't you pray that God may bless her, and make her the means of doing good to others afflicted as she herself is? As to what the girls learn in the school, the text-book is the Bible, and hymn-book in the colloquial. They learn to read, repeat, and understand the Bible. The understanding it is much more difficult than it is for children at home, as the written and spoken languages are quite different. They also learn writing, singing, arithmetic, and plain and fancy needlework. They are, on the whole, obedient and attentive to their lessons. I think they compare very favourably with children in Scotland in this respect. Then as to the main object of our work, the saving of their souls,—I am glad to be able to say that several of the girls have, on their own profession of faith, been admitted to the table of the Lord, and, so far as we can see, are striving to follow Him. Others are inquirers, and we ask you to join your prayers with ours, that they too may be brought to Jesus. It may interest you to know that we have a missionary box, into which the girls regularly put their money to send the Gospel to the heathen outside of their own country.

I cannot ask you to give your money to help us, as the expense of the school is all defrayed by a kind lady in Edinburgh, but I do ask you to give your sympathy and prayers; and, as an old fellow-scholar and fellowworker in Wellpark, I entreat you to give all diligence to improve your opportunities, lest at the last these poor Chinese may be found before you. Remember, to whom much is given of them shall much be required. SWATOW, July, 1884. ISA. PATON.

Fragment.

CHILDREN GREAT AND SMALL.- young. Teachers can never be exChildren are naturally confiding, and pected to keep more than a general seldom, if ever, begin deception in a outlook upon the actions of those bold, careless manner. The clear gathered in the school-room. And, cheek will flush, the bright eyes after all, we are all children-children droop, and a tell-tale consciousness of varied experiences, subjected to of demeanour will betray the little different forms of discipline, and culprit; and then is the time to never removed from the watchful care judiciously and tenderly point out the and guardianship of a fatherly eye, fault and its dangers; and the loving an eye which neither slumbers nor heart of the child, in its softened sleeps. What need, then, that we receptive state, will surely profit by watch and pray lest we enter into the lesson. It is pre-eminently the temptation!—S. S. Times. parents who must watch over the