"HINGES ALL OVER."

"WHEN I look at myself," said a converted South Sea Islander, "I find I have got hinges all over my body. I have hinges in my legs, my jaws, my feet, my hands. If I want to lay hold of anything, there are hinges in my hands, and even in my fingers, to do it with. If my heart thinks, and I want others to think with me, I use the hinges to my jaws and they help me to talk. I could neither walk or sit down, if I had not hinges to my legs and feet. All this is very wonderful. None of the strange things that men have brought from England in their big ships is to be compared to my body. He who made my body has made all the people who have made the strange things which they bring in ships; and he is the God whom I worship. "But I should not know much about him, if men in their ships had not brought the book they call the Bible. That tells me of God who made the skill and the heart of man likewise; and when I hear how the Bible tells of the old heart with its sins, and the new heart and the right spirit, which God alone can create and give, I feel that his work in my heart and his work in my body fit into each other exactly. I am sure then, that the Bible, which tells me these things, was made by him who made the hinges to my body; and I believe the Bible to be the word of God."

NOAH.

THE word Noah means rest or comfort. This name was given to Noah when he was born, because his father thought, "This son shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed" (Gen. v. 29). All parents expect to find comfort in their children, and bear much care and anxiety for them in that hope. How sad that any should be disappointed. Yet some children, instead of comforting their parents, "bring down their gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." Are you a comfort to your parents, or do you increase their sorrows?-N.

REMEMBER.

A LITTLE boy was amusing himself with his playthings upon the Sabbath. Edward," said his mother, "it is

the Sabbath-day."

66

"Oh, is it?" said he; "I did not remember."

"That is the very command which God has given us," said his mother: "Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy.'

Children often excuse themselves by saying, "I did not think," "I did not remember;" but such excuses are not acceptable to God. We ought never to plead forgetfulness as an excuse for the neglect of duty.

RULES FOR READING.

READ with a firm determination to make use of all you read. Do not by reading neglect a more immediate or more important duty. Do not read with a view of making a display of your reading. Do not read too much at a time. Reflect on what you read, and let it be moderately enjoyed and well considered.

SATURDAY NIGHT.

A TEXT FOR OUR TEACHER.

September 1861.

Sept. 7. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.-Exod. xv. 2. 14. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.-Ps. cxix. 175.

21.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
-Rom. viii. 35.

28. He hath done all things well: he maketh
both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to
speak.-Mark vii. 37.

THE DOGS OF MOUNT ST. BERNARD. FAR up on Mount St. Bernard-one of the Alps that separate Switzerland from Italy-stands, among rocks and snow, a lonely monastery. It was built about a thousand years ago. The monks are famous for their kindness to travellers, who often stop there at night on their way across the mountains.

But the place is still better known for a breed of dogs, large, wise, noble brutes, who are kept by the monks, and have saved many a life.

When a traveller is overtaken by night and by storm, sometimes a faint cry is heard by the monks. Then the noble dogs go forth into the darkness and snowdrift, and, following the cry, will seek out the lost traveller, lick and warm his half-frozen body, and help him through the snow to the open door.

Here are the monks sending out one of their faithful messengers.

How sad, that with all this kindness, the traveller should not find in that house the true knowledge of the lost sinner's Friend, the one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus!

HOW TO AVOID QUARRELS.

J. CLARKE, of Frome, was asked by a friend how he always kept himself from being involved in quarrels, to which he replied, "By letting the angry person have all the quarrel to himself." This afterwards became a proverb in the town. When a quarrel was rising, they would say, "Come, let us remember old Mr. Clarke, and leave the angry man to quarrel with himself." If the reader will always follow this rule, he will save himself a great deal of trouble, and perhaps many hard knocks. Remember, it always takes two to make a quarrel.

THE BROKEN SWING.

“FATHER, may I go and play to-day with the swing?" said a little boy, just as he was getting ready to go out. "No, my child, not to-day," answered the father, "tomorrow you can go."

To-morrow-it was too long for the impatient child. A little later, when his father had gone out, the child, standing at the window saw right before him the swing hanging between two trees at the bottom of the large garden.

"If I swung a little," he said to himself, "nobody would know it. I will only have just one turn."

So he ran into the garden, and climbed into the swing. Great was his joy for a few minutes, and he could not help crying between each swing, "I wonder why father said this morning that I must not swing."

All at once the cord broke. The child fell to the ground. His mother, terrified, ran out with a servant; they lifted him up and carried him into the house. The poor little fellow had broken his arm!

His sorrow was very bitter when he saw his mother's grief; he had, too, to bear a great deal of pain when the doctor "set" the arm; but what vexed him most, was to see his father come home at night, bringing a beautiful rope quite new, intended to secure against accident the beloved son, whom that day he had been obliged to deprive of a pleasure that had become dangerous.

Dear children, your parents also find themselves sometimes obliged to refuse your request. Have confidence in their love and in their wisdom, without always seeking to know the wherefore of their refusal.

When you are older, you will see that our kind heavenly Father does the same with us. He does not always grant us all we ask, because he knows that it will