the North Sea, the lion hunted in Africa, the tiger and elephant in the East Indies, the bear and the buffalo in America, the giraffe in the desert, and the kangaroo in Australasia, without our being acquainted with these matters; but as they are recorded in books, we know, or may know, all about them.

It is from books that we learn the history of different nations, and know whether they are Jews, Mohammedans, idolaters, or Christians. Books tell us what the missionary is doing abroad, inform us of the spread of the gospel, and of the different schools established in different parts of the world. Without books we must, most of us, of necessity, be ignorant; but with them, accompanied with God's blessing, we may become wise.

But though books contain great information, very many cannot afford to buy them; they may purchase a few, but they cannot buy all they want to obtain the information they desire.

To meet this difficulty, kind and Christian hearted people have set up lending libraries of useful and instructive books, and are thereby doing much good. Then, look at a family library; the shelves are well stocked with books arranged in order.

But if school and family libraries thus make it easy to young people to acquire useful information, the greater disgrace will it be to them if they remain ignorant. The old copy,

"When house is gone and money spent,

Then learning is most excellent,"

is as true now as ever it was. Young people now have great advantages.

One thing should, however, be remembered. It is not reading all the books in the world, or obtaining all the information in the world, that will render a young person happy. True wisdom consists not in knowing what is right only, but in doing it. That book, then, is the best book, which sets the worthiest object before you, and supplies you with the best motive to attain it.

Though books were ten times more plentiful than they are, yet, if the Bible should be taken away, we should be worse off than before. To be, therefore, well read in other books, and to be but little acquainted with the Bible, is a reproach to any one, old or young. Other books afford us passing entertainment or knowledge respecting the world; but the Bible is able to make us wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

Whatever books you read, be sure to keep up the reading of your Bible; it contains the best news that ever came into the world, salvation by the Saviour of sinners; it affords counsel in difficulty, consolation in trouble, support in sickness, and confidence in death.

"This is a precious book indeed,

Happy the child that loves to read;

'Tis God's own word, which he has given
To show our souls the way to heaven."

What should you say of a traveller who had to enter a strange country, if he made diligent inquiry about the hills and valleys, the roads and the lanes, the highways and byeways of the first few miles, but never made any inquiry about the remainder? you

would think, and say, that he was at best but a simple fellow. Such are all those who are well read in other books and ill read in the Bible; who are wise in the things of this world, and ignorant of the world which is to come.

"Of all the books that e'er were penned

To sell, to give away, or lend,

From north to south, from east to west,
The Bible is the very best."

HAS YOUR SIN FOUND YOU OUT?

A MINISTER was preaching from these words, "Be sure your sin will find you out."

He said many

awakening things about sin finding out those who committed it; and among others this: "If you do not find out your sin, and bring it to Jesus, to get it pardoned and washed away through his blood, be sure your sin will find you out, and bring you to the judgmentseat, to be condemned and sent away by the Judge into everlasting punishment."

A little girl, who had told her mother a lie before she came to hear the minister, was listening, and she thought, "Oh, that lie; I must either find it, and bring it to Jesus, or it will find me out at the great day."

She became very

The child was greatly alarmed. anxious about her soul's salvation. She cared for nothing earthly; her mind was entirely occupied with thoughts of eternal things. She could not rest until she went and told the minister all she felt and feared. She walked several miles to speak to him, and the

burden of her errand was this: "Oh! what shall I do with my sin ?" He said, "Lay it upon the spotless Lamb of God, and he will take it entirely away. Let us now lay it upon him," said the kind pastor; and with that he kneeled down with the awakened child, and commended her to "Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep." He spoke to her of the love of Jesus, and she went home.

The next time the minister saw her, she came to him with a bright and happy face. He took her by the hand and said, "Well, have you laid your sin upon the spotless Lamb of God ?" "Oh yes, she replied, "and I'll never lay any more." She meant that she would never sin again-she would never more tell a falsehood. Her heart was so full of love to Jesus for taking away her sin, that she could not think it possible that she should sin again. And that is the true mark of a Christian, that he resolves to sin "no more."

Dear children, have you laid your sins on Jesus? A sure mark of it will be this, that you wish, with all your heart, never to have any more to lay upon him.

The minister told this little story many miles from where it happened, and the minister's wife told it again to her class, when a young woman was awakened by it to care for her soul. O gracious Spirit, use it again for the good of the readers of "The Child's Companion," and thus glorify the "spotless Lamb of God."

THE LITTLE GERMAN GIRL.

Nor long since, in one of the schools in New York, a teacher found little Mary, a German girl, twelve

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years old, in tears. "Why, what's the matter,

Mary ?"

Little Mary burst into tears again. As soon as she could answer, she said :

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:

My little sister Rosa is dead."

Why, I did not know you had a little sister," said the teacher.

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'Oh, yes, ma'am ; she was a very little girl, only six years old."

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I hope she has gone to heaven," said the teacher. "Oh, yes," said Mary, "we know she has."

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Mary, what makes you say that Rosa has gone to heaven ?"

"Oh, teacher, if you had seen her, you would have thought so too."

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Why, what did she do ?"

"Oh, the last day she lived, she sung just as long as her breath lasted."

"What did she sing ?"

"It was, 'I think when I read that sweet story of old,'" replied Mary; "and 'There is a happy land.' And then she prayed, in German, for father and mother, and next she prayed for us all."

"What did little Rosa pray about ?" said the teacher.

Oh, it was something about Jesus Christ, about his precious blood, and about his righteousness."

"What Sunday school did little Rosa go to ?" for the teacher knew she had never come there.

"Oh, she never went to any Sunday school." "What day school, then, did she learn these little hymns in ?"

"She never went to any day school, ma'am."