OVEMBER, the ninth month of the Roman year, became the eleventh by the insertion of January and February. By our Saxon ancestors it was called Blot-monath, from the word blotan, to slay; because at this time it was necessary to kill and salt the flesh of the animals which were to furnish the winter's board with provision. In old pictures November is represented as a man in a changeable suit of green and black: he holds in his hand a bunch of culinary roots, and wears upon his head a crown of evergreens.

Nature's desolation is not complete even in November. Mosses are now in their spring-tide of promise, and grow as fresh and green as if an April sky were overhead. How we should miss this beautiful tribe of plants from our woodland paths, and still more among our mountain scenery, where they clothe with verdure what otherwise would be naked rock! By their decomposition they not only prepare the earth for the growth of larger and more varied forms of vegetable life, but they are useful to the lofty forest trees, by covering

up their roots from the frost and cold that might otherwise injure them. Unnumbered insects also find among them both food and shelter, and in winter they form a snug retreat for many a little half-torpid creature that will be awakened to life and activity only by the suns of another spring. It is then that birds will resort to the mossy hedge-side for materials wherewith to build their nests, and each little architect selects the kind that suits him best.

The grey, delicate "fairy cup moss," if raised carefully from the soil, has a very pretty appearance when placed in a flower-pot, and may be preserved in the window for some time. Some of these mosses take their name from the shape of their seed-vessels; but the microscope must be employed to detect the exquisite skill and beauty of their construction.

As the short days advance upon us, we do well to keep in mind that

"Nature soon, in Spring's best charms
Shall rise refreshed from Winter's grave,
Expand the bursting bud again,-
And bid the flower rebloom."-Southey.

C. A. H. B.

XIX. USE BEFORE ORNAMENT.

MOTHER, mother," squeaked a little pig; "I saw such a pretty creature to-day in a cage; they said he was a sort of cousin of ours, but he wasn't a bit like you, mother, much smaller, and a great deal prettier. I wish we were like him. Who was he?"

"A guinea-pig, I suppose, child," grunted the old sow; "you're young and thoughtless now; but you'll soon find out. that beauty is but skin deep, and use comes before ornament. They are all very well in their way, and some people are foolish enough to make pets of them, but who ever heard of a guinea-pig being made into bacon ? "

XX. TOLERATION.

"I SHALL have to change my quarters if this sort of thing goes on," said Toby, a

fat pug, as he stretched himself on the barn-door step and blinked his eyes at the sun; "what with the cows, and the pigs, and the poultry, I can't get a wink of sleep

for the noise!"

"Oh, it's quite unbearable," said a tabby cat who was sitting inside the doorway watching a hole where a mouse had disappeared a few minutes before. "One has no peace of one's life, and I should have had that mouse just now if it hadn't been for Rover giving that sharp bark that frightened him straight into his hole."

"And the night is as bad as the day," said Toby; "for when the fowls have stopped their cackling and gone to roost, and everything else is quiet, you and your friends raise the neighbourhood with the row you make. You'll forgive my saying so, but I think it's worse than all the rest put together."

"Indeed," said the cat with her back up, "under these circumstances you'll excuse my mentioning a remark I overheard this morning, that if something wasn't done to

stop you from walking round and round the house a dozen times a day with your nose in the air, barking at nobody, you would find yourself some day with a noose round your neck; every one is agreed that it is a most intolerable nuisance and must be put a stop to."

"Ah!" said Toby thoughtfully, as he laid his nose between his paws and watched the cat disappearing up a ladder into the loft; "there may be some truth in what she says, and I suppose I brought it on myself, but it never struck me before how differently one listens to a noise one makes one's self, and a noise made by other people."

XXI. HIGH PLACES.

"WHAT a terrible gale there was last night," said a rook to his neighbour, as they picked up their breakfast from the newly-turned sods in a ploughed field. "I really thought our tree would have been blown down; the branches cracked and splintered all round us."

"It was rough, and no mistake," said the other. "And we're worse off than you, for we've no shelter at all; still, it is awkward for any one in a storm like that."

"Quite true, gentlemen," said a lark who had just come down from his morning flight, and was looking about for a caterpillar to take home with him; “but if I might make so bold as to say so, you'd find the wind wouldn't trouble you if you were content to have your nests on the ground like me; but if you will build so high, you must take the consequences."

XXII. WAIT AND SEE.

"WHY don't they bind us up with the rest?" said some ears of corn that lay scattered over the field, while the loaded waggons passed out at the gate. "We are as well grown and as full as those in the sheaves; why should they be stored up in the granary, while we are left to wither on the ground ?"

Ere the murmur died away, a tiny hand

joyously grasped, one by one, the discontented ears, and a little voice cried out merrily, "Mother, mother, see what a store I've got, and how full they are; as good as any in the field; won't they make us a beautiful loaf, mother; what a good thing nobody saw them!"

And the discontented ears listened, and were thankful, for they knew now why they had been left behind."

XXIII. THE REASON WHY. THE shepherd gathered his flock to gether to lead them to a better pasture ground.

"Mother," cried a little lamb mournfully, as it followed the rest across the common, "the road is so rough, and the stones are so sharp they hurt my feet.”

"Cheer up, my child," said the old sheep, "the sun is nearly setting, and we shall soon be home."

"But, mother, why does the shepherd lead us over this stony road; couldn't he find an easier one?"

"Perhaps he could, my child, but he knows best, and it may be that if the path were smooth and the grass pleasant to walk on, we should not look forward so longingly to the rest at the end.”

XXIV. WHERE SAFETY LIES.

THE sun shone brightly on the waters, and the tiny waves sparkled merrily in its glancing beams as they bore upon their bosom a gaily coloured boat.

"Ah!" said one as he stood upon the shore, "yonder painted toy rides joyously enough upon the waters now-but what if a storm came ?"

The sun set and the angry clouds gathered in the west, the tempest rose, and the waves lashed themselves in fury against the rocks. Where was the boat? Still riding triumphantly on the crest of the waves, safe alike in calm and storm, for its cable was of tempered metal and it was anchored to a rock.

XXXIX. THE DOG OF SANDAY.

LL day the furious tempest raged

Along the Pentland shore,

And the surges broke like green wood smoke
On the cliffs of Skerrymore.

The sun was sinking in the west,

Lurid and red sank he,

While a little band stood on the land,

And gazed along the sea.

The farewell gleam of dying day

Shone on a sailor's form,

As he clung to the deck of a surf-swept wreck
That drove before the storm

"Alas! alas!" the gazers cried,

As darker grew the sky,

"Must he find a grave 'neath the rushing wave? What a dreadful death to die!"

A giant billow sweeps the deck;

He has loosed his hold at last!

And his drowning cry came shrilling by
Upon the stormy blast!

See! there speeds a dog with leap and bound
Adown the rugged steep!

Ere the eye can wink, from the rocky brink,
He plunges in the deep!

High on the waves and low between,

He breasts the angry sea,

Away from the shore, through the stormy roar, Right onward swimmeth he.

Speed Oscar! speed thou noble dog!

Upon thy fearful path,

Speed Oscar! speed! nor hear nor heed
The raving tempest's wrath!

He hath seized the sailor, ere he sinks,

By the jacket collar tight,

And back to the shore, through the stormy roar
He strains with all his might.

No word is spoke nor breath is drawn,
Among the little band,

As through surf and spray he breasts his way
And gains the rocky land.

W

263

SEVERAL years ago, during the American civil war, a well-known judge who had shown much interest in the suffering soldiers, resolved that while he was occupied with a very important suit, which engaged his time and thoughts, he would pay no attention to any appeal for charity or for anything else. One day a soldier came into his office, miserably clad, and his thin face marked with deep lines of care. The judge made as though he did not see him, and kept on with his writing. The soldier fumbled in his pockets for some time, and then said, in a tone of disappointment and concern, as if he knew that he was unwelcome-"I did have a letter for you."

The judge, who was really a man of very tender feelings, concealed the better emotions of his heart, and made no reply.

Presently the soldier's thin, trembling hand pushed a little note along the desk. The judge raised his head slightly, and was about to say-"I have no time to attend to you," when he discovered that the handwriting was that of his own son-a soldier in the army. He took up the note, which read as follows: "Dear father; the bearer is a soldier, discharged from the hospital. He is going home to die. Assist him in any way you can, for Charlie's sake."

All the tender emotions of the judge's soul were aroused in a moment. He welcomed the soldier, "for Charlie's sake." He placed him at the table, where Charlie was wont to sit. He supplied him with every comfort, for the sake of his own dear son.

Our Heavenly Father deals thus with us. He grants us His best and choicest gifts, for JESUS' sake.

XLI. A NEGLECTED RULE. "HAVE a place for everything, and keep everything in its place."

BIBLE QUESTIONS.

1. YXYHAT prophecy did Joshua make, which was literally and terribly fulfilled?

2. Does the devil know the secrets of our hearts ?

3. What did our blessed Lord say upon earth which is

not recorded by the Evangelists?

4. Why was Saul slain and his kingdom given to David? 5. How did God teach the people that sin was really borne by the scapegoat?

6. Which of the four elements, employed by God to describe the work of the Holy Ghost, were miraculously connected with rocks ?