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their mamma, after the stranger was gone, whether she was a real lady. It is a little ill-natured of us to mention this last circumstance, but we could not help smiling at it when it was told to us, and it makes a part of the story of our prosperous country girl. It may be of use to some of our female readers to remark, that real ladies are generally more known by their neatness than by their finery; and if they imitate the prudence of my friend's servant maid, they are not obliged to imitate her appearance, or her notions of fashion and of becoming dress.

V.

A MISTAKE ABOUT SAVINGS' BANKS.
(A TRUE STORY.)

An industrious careful sort of man had been, for a length of time, in the habit of bringing his money to a Savings' Bank till it had amounted to more than a hundred pounds. One evening, when there was a weekly meeting of the gentlemen of the bank for the purpose of receiving and paying money, this man came in and begged to have his money out again. The gentlemen told him, that he could not have it that night. He seemed in a great fright, and begged earnestly that he might have his money, and asked "why he could not have it." He was told that it was necessary to give notice at a meeting beforehand, whenever it was intended to take out a sum of money; for that the managers of the bank did not keep the money in their own hands, but put it into the funds; and that they must therefore have due notice, that they might get the money out whenever such large payments were to be paid. The man asked "what he was to do." He was told, that if he gave notice at this meeting of his intention to take out his money, it would be paid to him at another meeting. He then went away, very much dissatisfied. The next meeting he came again, and was paid his money; at which he seemed greatly pleased and rather surprised. It was paid him in paper; and he went away with a handful of bank notes.

Before the meeting was over, he came back again, and asked the managers to take the money again. The

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gentlemen wondered at this, and hesitated about taking it, asking the man what all this could mean. They said, however, that they would take the money if he would tell them the reason of such strange conduct. He said, "Why, gentlemen, I bring the money back again, because I do not know how I can do better with it. And the true reason why I was in such a hurry to get it out was, that some of my neighbours told me that I should never get my money again; but, now I see that it's all right, and that I can get it back again by giving proper notice. I know it to be quite safe, and therefore I shall beg of you to keep it till I want it." This happened some few years ago in a county towards the north of England.

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V.

HOW TO TAKE THE HONEY WITHOUT KILLING THE BEES. THE old-fashioned straw hive should be made with a wooden top about the shape and size of the crown of a man's hat; in the middle should be a round hole about an inch and a half in diameter, stopped with a bung. As soon as a hive has thrown its first swarm, the bung should be taken out, and a bell glass capable of containing from six to ten pounds should be placed on the wooden top, and an empty hive should be placed over it, and secured that it may not be blown off by the wind. If the honeyharvest is a good one, this glass will soon be filled with honey; it may then be removed, and another put in its place. As soon as the young swarms have nearly filled their hives, the same thing may be done with them, with the same success if the harvest be good, and the hives strong. J. C.

OF WHAT USE ARE FLIES?

A GENTLEMAN, whose engagements required him to ride a few miles most days along the same road, found himself sadly plagued with the flies which, in hot weather, came in multitudes about him, and vexed both him and his horse grievously. This gentleman, one day, being out of humour with the flies that buzzed around him, said,

"Well, they say that every thing has its use, but I wonder what use flies can be of?" One very hot day, as he was riding along this same road, he perceived a very disagreeable smell. This, he said, was worse than the flies. On the day following, the smell was still more offensive; and the gentleman, looking into a deep ditch by the side of the lane, saw a dead horse. This made his ride along this lane particularly disagreeable, and for some time it seemed to be getting every day worse, as the flesh became more and more putrid. He did not see how this would end, or how the poisonous nuisance could be got rid of. For a while he continued to suffer from this sad annoyance. After a time, however, he found that things were getting better, and at last the disagreeable odour was gone. He looked into the ditch, and found that the carcase was covered with flies and maggots, and that the putrid flesh was nearly all eaten up; and in a few days more the bones were picked quite clean, nothing being left but a white skeleton of the horse. The gentleman then saw that flies were of some use, and he said he would not abuse them any more, though they might have no further use than that which he had witnessed: and he then argued that it must be by means of these flies that the dead bodies of birds and other animals are cleared away from the fields and roads; and that the air, which would otherwise be filled with pestilence, was thus kept in a pure and wholesome state.

"BE YE READY."

V.

WHATSOEVER were my allotted period of time upon earth, however long and however certain, I should be wise in devoting it all, every moment if possible, to the advancement of my glorification in eternity; I should be infinitely foolish if I did not. What then shall we say, when our probationary time is neither long nor certain; extremely short, and yet of all things the most uncertain? with this consideration, "what manner of persons ought we to be?" how anxious, how careful, how watchful, how diligent! How dreadful to let the few precious hours be wasted; to employ them upon those frivolities which in

Then,

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an instant pass away for ever, instead of directing and consecrating them all to our interest in the never-ending world. I must be ready when my Lord comes; there will be no escaping Him, no deceiving Him: I could not have another hour, if I had the world to offer for it: then my work must be done. But done or undone, in comfort or confusion, hope or fear, joy or sorrow, I must attend the Master's call, and go forth to meet Him.Meet Him for what? For my judgment, my sentence, my fixed condition for ever: and He may come in a most unlooked-for hour, of health and ease, of unsuspecting security; may come, as a thief in the night, as the handwriting on the wall, with the suddenness of the lightning's flash. A violent disorder, a blight upon my frame, a visitation of God, any one of the thousand weapons of His armoury, may strike us in an instant; and time is no more; eternity is begun. All that has been passing in life is gathered together into that moment, and determines our destiny. Have we been penitent and pardoned? Have we been living in the faith and love of God in Christ? Mindful of our calling, waiting and wakeful, found in His service? This is the grand question; the point upon which the balance will turn in that uncertain moment, when the Lord shall utter His voice, and the soul shall flee away.

Does any one hear this representation and sit unmoved, sullen or regardless of what may come; folding himself up in his earthly interests, thinking and caring nothing about the arrival of his Master and Judge? I pronounce that man to be an unbeliever-an unbeliever in heart; one for whom the Gospel has yet practically done nothing, upon whom it has made no impression for life: he is as yet a stranger; has received his order and his work from the Lord Jesus, and knows it not; is told that he has a soul, and yet he lives as if he had nothing but a body, like the beasts that perish. And what is to move and awaken him, and lighten his deadly darkness? but that Spirit which moved upon the face of the sleeping waters? What but that light of heaven, which gave life unto the unborn world? Careless man or woman, I counsel, entreat, adjure thee, go and pray for that moving

What

Spirit and that quickening light: trust not to thy own reason, or judgment, or conscience, or feeling; they have been trusted too long already; trust none but God: go and ask wisdom from above, and it shall be given thee, even though thou hast neglected and despised it. "Seek the Lord while he may be found;" work and watch for the remainder of thy days, and all may still be well, and thy precious soul may be saved. But thou hast not a single day to lose,-I know not that thou hast an hour. The Lord has come suddenly to many; some ready, some not: I would not that He come unwelcome to you, beloved; that He find any one of you unready. I am bound to watch both with you and for you; with you, as a fellowservant, and for you as one that is set over your souls, and must give account. And I am now standing upon my watch-tower, and sounding the holy alarm. By all the blessed ones that have heard the Saviour's inviting, thrilling, warning voice, and by all the miserable ones that have died and heard it not, I call aloud and bid you remember, "The Lord is coming;" He cannot be long: rise for your life; "Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning."" Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching."

Rev. J. Slade's Sermon on Mark xiii. 34.

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

FEW things are more distressing than to see the barbarous treatment to which many harmless and useful animals are exposed. No one who has a spark of Christian kindness or of generous feeling in his heart can willingly torment a helpless animal that is in his power. We trust that the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals" will be of great use in checking the cruelty of those who cannot be restrained by kind and Christian feelings. The following cases are taken from a London Newspaper, and we transfer them to our pages in hopes that they may be of use, by showing that the law has the power to punish such offences.

Gravesend.-F. Martin appeared before the mayor

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