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an instant how weak is that love, and compare it with His who sent his only Son to die for your justification. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us'have you forgotten these words?

"The woman made no answer, but stood before me with her countenance cast down, and an expression of sullenness I did not like to see Come,' I said, 'I am, perhaps, speaking too harshly to you, but I cannot bear to see the mother not act the mother's part. I have seen your little girl-she is full of distress; her little face swollen with tears; she is gone this way: Let us follow her,' I added, and I made a movement towards Priscilla Wild's cottage. You could not continue to feel angry with her, if you saw her now; she did not dare to return to you, she was afraid of your displeasure; she went to seek some one they call the Children's Friend; she went to learn from her how best to break the matter to you. Let not her little heart be more afflicted; receive her as a mother, for I will answer for it, it was no wilful offence.'

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"As I spoke, we approached the cottage, the door of which was open, for it was summer time; and as we stood outside the threshold, the two children made their appearance from within. The younger one started at sight of her parent, and her first impulse was to draw back; the next moment, however, a better feeling prevailed, and she sprang forward almost into her mother's arms, which opened to receive her, weeping and exclaiming, 'Forgive me! oh, forgive me! I am so sorry; so very sorry.'

"I saw that the mother received the child as she should have done; and just bidding the elder girl detain them till I had seen them again, I stepped into the cottage to learn what I could about the transaction. I found the little kitchen as neat as usual, and every thing in it beautifully clean; but in one corner farthest from the door, was a small truckle bed, the linen of which was as delicately white as any which could be used by a gentlewoman. Upon this bed lay Priscilla Wild, who at the moment I entered was wiping away the tears from her eyes, though as she removed the handkerchief from her face, I could perceive that the tears she had been shedding were not wholly unmixed with joy. 'How is this, my old friend,' I said, have you been ill long; I hope there is nothing serious the matter?'

'The doctor tells me I shall

"She smiled as she answered me. not leave this bed again, sir,' was her reply, till I am taken to a place where no more pain nor sorrow can be felt; aye,' and she added, as if alluding to what had just passed, 'to where all tears are wiped from every eye.'

"But when were you first attacked?' I enquired.

"I took to this bed, sir,' she replied, 'on the twenty-sixth of October last, and a more miserable wretched creature never existed both in mind and body than myself, for the first few months that followed my attack, but God was very good to me, and, as the bright days of summer came on, so there came a bright light over my hitherto darkened mind. When I last saw you, dear sir, I was full of myself, and of my own good deeds; now I know my own short-comings, and I know them without fear, for my God is my redeemer, and my justifier.'

"Then what you have lost in one way, my friend,' I said, ́ you have acquired a thousand-fold in another?'

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Aye, sir,' she answered, and I am content to know that I am useless; that I can do nothing for myself, but that He has done all-all-all-for me. This knowledge makes me most happy in my helplessness; for I am so crippled with rheumatism, I can scarce lift the food to my mouth.'

"And can you do nothing?' I asked.

"Nothing, sir,' she answered, nothing whatever; even when I am out of pain, which is but a short time in the day or night; but God be praised! I am full of happiness in my heart, and what are bodily pains then? The parish supports me; for what I want is now but little, and it will support me to the last; and my daughter is my kind and attentive nurse have I not then even cause to be thankful?'

"But do not the hours seem heavy?' I demanded.

"No, dear sir,' she replied, for I have one great pleasure that I hope I shall never lose-I was very fond of children, very, very fond of them—of others besides my own; and now that I am bed-ridden, I love to get one or two with me at a time, when I am out of pain, and then I tell them stories, and with God's blessing, I hope, direct their little minds aright. All the children in the hamlet come to tell me of their joys or sorrows; they will sit with me for an hour or more at a time, and one or two of

them are the tenderest nurses you can imagine. They love me, and I love them; and by this love I teach them how great, how very great, is the Saviour's love for us. It was but this moment, a little weeping one has gone from hence, I believe and trust, with the determination of humbly confessing her fault. I cannot assist her, I cannot give her money to replace the broken pitcher, but I have given her comfort, and I think that little Mary and myself have begun a real friendship to-day which I hope will not end in this world.'

"It was with a heart filled with gratitude or this fresh instance of the sweet influences of the Divine Spirit when exercised even on the most hard and stubborn of the human race, that I hastened to find the weeping child, resolved, if I found that she had made a sincere confession, that I would supply her with the means of making up for the small mischief she had done; and never did I pay a few pence more gladly than I did on that occasion.”

(To be continued.)

M. M. S.

SURVEYING FOR A NEW LINE.

No one at all conversant with what is going on in the world can be ignorant of the very prominent place which the railway movement occupies in the public mind. We cannot take up a newspaper that is not filled with advertisements of proposed lines, or offers of liberal pay to any who may be disposed to assist in making the necessary surveys. Nor can we walk abroad without coming into contact with parties so employed. We see the staff planted even in the public thoroughfares, and the theodolite and measuring-chain employed in the highways and hedges. Every one has a feeling in the matter, and even the ragged idler in the street, wonders "if they're going to pull down the church," or whether "they'll pay father anything if they cut off that corner of the common where he feeds his donkey?”

Now, though we see no objection to railways if really wanted, and properly carried out, we are decidedly opposed to every thing in the shape of mere speculation,―to any project which the originators themselves know is neither feasible nor even practicable, and which they set forth for the sole purpose of

advancing their own mercenary interests. Thus much premised, our readers, perhaps, will not be greatly shocked when we tell them that we are about to propose to their consideration a new line, the surveys for which, so far from being "in a state of great forwardness," cannot be proceeded with without their hearty and conscientious co-operation.

Our rendezvous, and first reconnoitering point, is on the old hill of Janus, so called, we believe, from an ancient statue with two faces, which still stands there. One of these faces represents a grave, elderly, long-bearded, gentleman, looking over a dreary waste, with which very little can be done; but the other countenance, which is that of a much younger person, and which turns in the opposite direction, seems so redolent of joy and hope that the eyes of all who see it instinctively look the same way; and the faint heart and weary hands feel reassured by its sweet, complacent smile. It is chiefly with the country lying on this side the hill that we shall have to do, though we may perhaps sometimes recur to that upon the other, for the purpose of correcting our observations, and better adjusting our levels. There may be some rough work among the ups and downs which break its uniformity, but a skilful and experienced engineer will find all the needful gradients easy, if he neither sink too low nor rise too high in passing through this rich and lovely valley.

Now, who amongst our young friends will join us in this survey? Though the weather at this season of the year is very much against them, we think we should experience little difficulty in finding recruits, were we really serious in the proposition we have just made. But it must be taken with certain allowances, as will be shewn by and bye. There is such a strange charm in all that has to do with out-of-door life,-there are such inspiriting thoughts of buoyant health, and liberty, and novelty, and hearty recreation connected with the country, that few young people would refuse our call, even though they had to battle with rough winds and stinging sleet, and drenching rains, to scale the hill, or climb the fence, or leap the ditch, as might be necessary upon such an expedition. We remember in our own youth, when we came home for the Christmas holidays with light hearts and happy faces, how we rose at cock-crowing to take a starlight ramble on the grey old moor, and felt that God

had made every thing beautiful in its season. If the cold pinched us, we had young and warm blood in our veins, and some merry purpose in our heads, that made our very discomfort, comfortable. We felt that we were free and hearty, and heartily we used our freedom, till the time came for our return home to breakfast. But we are not going to take our young friends upon such a campaign as they may possibly imagine, from the statements with which we set out. Our survey is of another kind. The line we are anxious to lay down is not a line of rail, but a line of principle, of practice, and of duty. The survey upon which we wish to enlist their services, is a survey of the past, the present, and the future. And the Hill of Janus, whence we make our first observations, is no other than the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.

If we look backwards in the direction to which the old man's face is turned, we fear there will be little to break the dull uniformity of the landscape. Better men than ourselves have said, that worlds should not tempt them to retrace its dreary paths; and those have certainly most cause to look on it with satisfaction, who have used, as not abusing, it. In what a little compass does it seem to lie, and how few and far-between are the scattered points of interest which it presents! Fore-shortened as we see it from our present position, we cannot believe that it comprises all the long and weary paths through which we have wandered during the past year. We can recognize but very few of its most familiar features with any degree of pleasure, whilst we now trace scattered through the whole wide field of view, many, many spots unvisited by us which seem full of beauty and promise. O! why did we let them escape us,—why did we bestow all our attention upon those places and objects that are at present so uninviting?

But seeing we have done so little during the past year, let us be careful not to waste the precious hours of the present, in vain repinings over opportunities for ever gone. If we cannot altogether forget the things that are behind, in pressing forward to those that are before, let us at least look at them with a practical, a soul-improving end. Let us be wiser and better by our experience; and judge and discipline our hearts more severely for the future.

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