it soon. I thought as I'd something wrong with me, and doctor says as it's what they calls a cancer coming under my arm, and as nothing can be done to save me. It's terrible painful they say,

and oh! I'm loath to leave the master."

The ribbon dropped from Rose's hand, and she stood as if rooted to the ground.

"There, child, don't look so scared, it's none so dreadful," and the old lady smiled as she spoke. "I'm an old woman, dear, and sometimes I feel a bit tired, and as if I'd like to lie by. And I've such a many waiting for me over yonder, that I shan't feel strange till the master comes, and that maybe won't be long. Come, Rose, there's the master, be quick." And she went down, leaving Rose standing there. She hardly understood what it meant. Was her old friend going to die? But she said it was nothing dreadful, and death, Rose thought, was something very dreadful. She had seen a funeral once, people all in black clothes and crying, and the black coffin put into the dark, cold grave in the churchyard. No, it couldn't be that, or she would never have smiled and talked in that way, and then there was the master laughing downstairs. And Rose picked up the ribbon and ran downstairs and soon forgot the mystery as she told of all the sights and doings in Medington.

In the evening, when Rose had been busy upstairs for some time and came down, she found a silence in the room, and the old people sitting hand in hand, and she knew Mrs. Hawthorne had been telling the strange news; but though tears stood in the wife's eyes and the master's lips trembled, they were neither looking very sad, for the stream of death, which in youth seems so terribly broad, now seemed narrow, and they could see the other side plainly, where, as the old lady had said, there were many waiting for them, and the parting from each other could not be for long. So they looked beyond the pain and the parting and the dark valley, to the meeting and the joy, and they were comforted.

Thus the old mistress entered on the path of suffering that God in His wisdom had chosen for her, and no one but He who gave it and she who bore it, knew how great that suffering was. Outwardly everything went on as before, but Rose grew to know that when the hot flush rose on the kind old face, the pain was very bad, and when the old lady stole away and locked herself into her own room, it was that the master might not see the suffering that was almost more than the brave heart could bear.

(To be continued.)

Hearty Hints to Lay Officers of the Church.

BY GEORGE VENABLES, S.C.L., VICAR OF S. MATTHEW'S, LEICESTER. DAY SCHOOL TEACHERS, AND PUPIL TEACHERS.

CIENCE and machinery have accomplished wonders since we learned AB C, but the art of teaching has outstript everything else. What a change has been wrought through agencies within yonder well-ordered parochial school, whose roofs and gables almost rival the Church itself in their proportions, in contrast with the by no

Hearty Hints to Lay Officers of the Church.

means forgotten day when a cleanly old dame of nigh three score years and ten, neatly apparelled in blue gown and formidable white cap, and aided by a far more formidable birch, fool's-cap, and penance-stool, assumed the position of teacher to the village, under patronage of the Squire, the smile of the Squire's wife, and the general assistance of the Parson !

And yet, how many admirable scholastic institutions have been mismanaged, badly reformed, and sometimes utterly lost! How much good is still being done through some of them that remain! And -marvellous to be spoken-how small, after all, is the return made to the Church and to religion from all our universities, collegiate establishments, public schools, and cathedral corporations put together! They ought to have produced results far greater and more precious to the Church and to religion than they have.

The canons of the English Church used to require, and indeed still require, that a schoolmaster shall be licensed by the bishop, and that preference be given in choosing a schoolmaster to the curate of the parish, and all schoolmasters were to teach the catechism, and to take care that on holy and festival days their scholars attend to the sermon and be examined therein. Also the scholars are "to be trained up with sentences of Holy Scripture." Very wise suggestions, perhaps rather impracticable for the present times, although indicating the line to be taken again, ere long, if we would save the world from being given over to mere infidelity.

Amidst all our troubles, it is delightful to know that during the last few years has arisen up a noble band of men and women, trained as Church Christians to be true Church Christians in their characters and in their teaching in the Church's day-schools; and this band will not be easily destroyed.

Our hearty hints to those teachers and pupil teachers are:I.-Remember that you have high and holy work to do. You are to teach and train immortals, whose bodies will die and rise again, but who themselves must live for ever. Their future unceasing condition as well as their prosperity here on earth may probably much depend upon the manner in which you discharge your duty as teachers. It is in vain to say that you have to do only with secular teaching, because were this unhappily true, the nature of even that teaching and the way in which it is taught have much to do with the formation of character. The quality of our bread depends upon the quality of the flour, and the flour upon the corn, and the corn upon the tillage. We all know this, and it is the same with teaching. Whatever you teach, teach it as a religious person. You are dealing with immortals, and even if your training were wholly secular, it would affect their condition for ever. Everything that affects the mind affects the morals, be it secular or wholly religious.

II. Do all you do prayerfully, as Christians and as Church-folk. In whatever business we may be engaged, we should act worthily of our high calling as members of Christ's Church.

III.-Do your work thoroughly. Aim at the how, rather than at the how much. Endeavour to make your scholars master every subject as they proceed.

No

IV.-Do all you do from religious motives and in a religious manner. It is my privilege to know teachers, who I believe have become teachers solely from a desire to do good. Such teachers will be sure to do all they do in a religious manner. forbidding of religion in their school could restrain the quiet influence of their deportment. Religion cannot be banished (however much desired by some) where the teacher is religious. Religion will have little influence where taught merely as one of the lessons of the day, especially if the teacher at other times cares nothing for it. A religiously-minded person will always do good.

V.-Aim at unity of purpose amongst the scholars, their parents, the parish priest and yourself. There cannot easily be rival interests amongst such classes, and there ought not to be.

But let me add a few words for the pupil teachers, whose position has its peculiar advantages and its peculiar difficulties also.

1.-You are both learning, and teaching. You are both teacher and scholar. The characteristics of both learner and teacher ought to be seen in you. You need the docility, the readiness to acquire, and the willingness to be taught, which mark every good scholar; and you need also somewhat of the decision, firmness, and aptness for teaching which mark every good teacher. Seek to possess all these qualifications; and as one most important step towards success herein, seek the grace of true humility.

2. Be very careful of your morals and manners-these go much together. Some one has said, and truly, that "good manners are good morals." "Manners makyth man,' was the motto of the famous William of Wykeham (born in 1324, in poverty, but who raised himself to become bishop of Winchester and Chancellor of England, and who founded New College in Oxford, and Winchester College), and truly, nothing assists more in the cultivation of morals than really good manners; and nothing secures good manners so much as good morals.

3.-Possibly you are compelled to lodge, during your period of apprenticeship, with persons who are comparatively strangers to you. Wherever you lodge try to secure a quiet home with those who will try to take the place of your parents. Be not anxious to have overmuch liberty, and be very guarded in making acquaintance. Keep such company as God keeps."

4.-Be careful how you spend the Lord's Day. Be diligent in your attendance at Church, and at catechising, and (if confirmed) at the Table of your Lord. Live the life of a decided Christian, with all humility but without wavering.

5.-Gladly secure, if possible, the interest of your parish priest in your welfare, and if unfortunately you have to be away from your home, maintain frank and frequent intercourse by letter with your parents and friends there.

6. Let your whole behaviour afford a good example to the many young folks who, to some extent, are entrusted to your care.

I conclude by saying to all day-school-teachers and pupilteachers, who may read these hints, be true-hearted Christian Churchmen and Churchwomen, and be not afraid of your principles, for hearty Church principles will endure when all else fails

B

Berlin.

ERLIN, the capital of the Prussian States, is situate on the Spree, in the middle mark of Brandenburg, and one hundred miles from Dresden, the capital of Saxony.

The circumference of the walls and palisades of Berlin is about eleven English miles, and it is entered through sixteen gateways. Most of the streets are broad and straight, and

the squares regular and spacious. The city owes its chief attractions to the celebrated Frederick II., who, between A.D. 1762 and the time of his death in 1786, spent yearly large sums of money on its improvement. Berlin is distinguished for the external beauty of its many public buildings, not only those devoted to imperial,

21

BERLIN.

political, and commercial uses, but also those which are the centres of religious, benevolent, educational, and scientific effort.

Berlin has a population of about half a million; it has considerable manufactures, and an active commerce, especially in wool.

The city was taken by the Austrians and Russians in 1760, and was occupied by the Emperor Napoleon I. in 1806, after the battle of Jena. On October 21st of that year he entered it, and until the complete failure of the French expedition to Moscow, in 1812, Prussia was forced to acknowledge the supremacy of France.

1.

Short Sermon.

Tears, not all Bitter.

BY WILLIAM KAY, D.D., RECTOR OF GREAT LEIGHS, ESSEX.

Psalm lvi. 8. 'Put my tears into thy bottle.'

HEN David came before God, he spoke like a little child opening out its joys and griefs to a loving parent. He laid bare his whole heart to God. He believed that God took pleasure in the prosperity of His servant,' and sympathised with him in his sufferings; and so he rejoiced before Him, and mourned before Him, with equal simplicity of faith.

2. The expressions in the text almost startle us by their boldness. -'Put my tears,' he says, 'into Thy bottle;' that is, store them up in a bottle or phial, as men do their choice wines or perfumes. Are human tears, then, cared for by Him whose throne is in heaven? Are they prized and treasured by the High and Lofty One, who inhabits eternity'?

If, like David's, they are the produce of a contrite and humble spirit,' assuredly they are observed and highly valued by God.* But here we must make an important distinction.

I.

Many tears are of no worth at all spiritually; some are positively bad. Thus

1. We should not describe an infant's tears as either good or bad, in a moral sense. They invite our pity; they call attention to the wants and cravings of infancy, and bespeak our help; but we do not claim for them any spiritual value.

Much the same may be said of tears which signalise a mere outburst of natural affection. When Orpah wept at parting with Naomi,† her tears were simply the welling over of excited feeling. We should have thought worse of her if she had not wept, but we do not set any high value on her tears.

2. Others, again, are positively bad,-are sinful. For instance(a) There is the tear of cowardly unbelief. When the Israelites listened to the evil report of the land,' they lifted up their voice and wept.' Those tears were bitter in the shedding, and led to

6

very bitter consequences. They cost the people forty years' wandering in the wilderness.

* Isa. lvii. 15; lxvi. 2.

Ruth i. 9, 14.

Numb. xiii. 1.