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THE FAMILY OF DE ROCHEGUDE.

I.

ONE NE of the principal families in Languedoc, was that of De Rochegude. The eldest son of the Marquis De Rochegude was suspected of favouring the Protestants, and arrested in his father's castle by order of the king.

Refusing to renounce his faith, he was carried from prison to prison, and at length left in a lonely fortress where he expected to die. His two sons had been taken to a Jesuit College, his two daughters to a Nunnery, and his wife, disguised as a shepherdess, had been forced to fly to the mountains. De Rochegude, in his lonely prison, knew nothing of their fate, but the worst fears filled his mind, for he knew the relentless spirit of the king, and how the noble rank of his family exposed them but the more.

Not long afterwards, his brother Jacques also was arrested. Jacques De Rochegude was an officer in the king's army.

'I am ready to obey,' said Jacques De Rochegude, when the royal command was shown him; to prison and to death is the king's will. The king is master!'

He was carried to prison by a strong escort; and on the day following some monks came to him.

'I pray you retire, gentlemen,' said the prisoner; I know your religion, and you know mine. I am here to suffer, and not

to dispute.

A few months later, Jacques De Rochegude was carried to another prison, where, ncarly starved in a cold dark cell, he was left for more than a year. But here an unexpected comfort awaited him; here at length he heard news of the beloved brother who was also a prisoner for his faith.

There reached him one evening a strange sweet sound through the thin wall, which divided his cell from the cell next it. Soon enough he recognised the glad words. It was his own Huguenot version of the thirty-fourth Psalm.

'O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.'

Jacques De Rochegude, filled with joy and comfort, tapped gently on the wall. Then he heard soft steps and low voices, and knew there were listeners near.

'Gentlemen,' he said, with his face as close to them as he could, 'your voices comfort me; you too are prisoners for your faith.'

'Yes,' said they, by the grace of God.' 'I also by the same grace,' answered Jacques De Rochegude.

Tell us your name,' said one.

'I am Jacques De Rochegude.' 'What!' exclaimed the new prisoners in sudden accents of surprise, are you the brother of the Marquis De Rochegude, whom we have left in Pierre-Cise?'

'He is my brother,' answered Jacques, overwhelmed with the great goodness which had brought to his lonely cell tidings of the brother he had loved so fondly.

But still deeper was his gratitude and surprise, when his unseen companions spoke further.

'The Marquis gave us by chance a letter for you, not knowing where you were.'

Through the thin old ruinous plaster, they contrived to push the letter. Jacques De Rochegude knew at once the wellknown, loved writing.

So the one brother in his lonely prison comforted the solitude of the other. Had not Divine love watched over both, and kept them even through their sorrows with a most tender care?

'O God, how many are Thy marvellous kindnesses to me!' exclaimed Jacques De Rochegude in his dim cell-weak through hunger, and chilled with the prison damps. For the love of the great Father touched him, through the love of the absent brother-and peace stole into his heart, and he was not alone.

After this his companions in the next cell, more indulgently treated than himself, managed to convey part of their food to him through a tube in the wall.

But the captivity of Jacques De Rochegude was nearly at an end.

Louis Fourteenth, who then was king of France, was accustomed at rare seasons to relent in his cruelty to the Protestants. In one of these brief intervals a royal command came, that Jacques De Rochegude and the other Protestant prisoners in the Fort St. Andre should be set at liberty.

So once more they looked abroad on the sweet day, on the flowers and the meadows, and the vineyards and the setting sun, on the faces of men and women, and little happy children.

But they were not suffered to go back to their homes in Languedoc. They were carried by an escort of soldiers to the borders of Switzerland, and there, thrust out from the king's dominions, were left to wander where they would.

Solitary, and full of anxious thoughts for the brother at Pierre-Cise, Jacques De Rochegude entered the beautiful Pays De Vand.'

H. W. H. W.

Boys' and Girls' Corner

ONE

For their own contributions.

0

MAGGIE'S WORK.

NE Sunday, as Maggie was returning home from the Sunday School, she was thinking of her teacher's words, 'What do you think Christ has appointed you to do for Him?' Maggie thought she should like to do something very particular. When she got home, however, all these feelings went out of her mind, for she saw that her little brother, Charlie, had got her pretty scrap-book, and was tearing the pictures. She turned to her sister, and said, 'Why did you let Charles get my scrap-book?"

Her sister replied in a very provoking manner, 'Oh, it was just to quiet him.'

Maggie was about to answer angrily, when a voice within her heart said, 'What do you think Christ has appointed you to do for Him.' Maggie asked Charlie to give her the scrap-book very gently. He expected her to hit him, but she just told him to be a good boy. Then she gave him his supper, and put him to bed. In the morn

ing he was very ill, mother nursed him. about a week.

107

so Maggie and her Charlie got better in

Next Sunday, when Maggie went to school, the teacher asked her if she had found out anything which Christ had appointed her to do for Him? Maggie replied, I think it was to stay at home and nurse my brother.' The teacher said, 'That is it, Maggie.'

Reader, have you found out what Christ has appointed you to do for him. You may think that minding the baby, washing the dishes, cleaning the knives, are very common duties, yet if you do them cheerfully you will find a great pleasure in them. Doing all to the glory of God.'

LIZZIE F.

PRIZE SCRIPTURE ALBUMS THREE Prizes, of the value of £2, £1 10/, and £1, for the best Album of Pictures and Scripture Texts. The pictures may be either drawn or cut out, and an appropriate text or texts neatly written beneath. Each Album must contain not less than twenty pages, and be sent to REV. JOHN KAY, Coatbridge, not later than 1st November, 1877, accompanied by a note from the parent or guardian of the competitor, certifying that it is his or her own unaided work. Competitors not to be above 18 years of age. Unsuccessful competitors will have their Albums returned.

110

WHAT

THE HARVEST.

a happy time the close of the harvest is! When the last sheaf has been safely brought home, and the big stacks in the farmer's yard tell us that everything is finished, a feeling of joy, and I trust also a feeling of thankfulness, enters our hearts because another year's crop has been gathered in. Did you ever think what a lot of work is needed before the farmer can feel that his crop is safe? Let us see what all had to be done.

First, the field was ploughed. To scatter the seed on the top of the ground among the grass would not do. The seed would soon die. The first thing therefore is to plough the ground. This opens the earth to receive the seed.

After the ploughing, the next thing is the sowing. With an apron full of seed, the farmer goes up and down, backward and forward, scattering handfuls in all directions. Many a mile he walks in this way, but at last the whole field is sown.

In the next place, the field is harrowed. Do you know what a 'harrow' is? It is a kind of big rake, which a horse draws over the field, to cover the seed with earth to make it grow.

This is all the farmer can do; but something more is needed. Sometimes the farmer ploughs, sows, and harrows, and yet, when the harvest time comes, his crops are bad. What is needed besides all this work? It is God's blessing. The farmer has done his part; he must trust to God to do the rest. God sends the rain to water the earth and make the seed sprout. So when you feel inclined to grumble because it rains and you can't get out to play, just think that the rain which keeps you in the house is perhaps making the farmer's corn grow. If it were not for the rain, the earth would become dry and cracked, the grass would wither and become brown, the flowers in the garden would all die, and the beautiful world in which we live would become a dreary wilderness, with nothing pretty in it at all.

Well, when the seed has been watered with the rain God sends, by-and-by little

green blades appear, something like grass. Day by day, although we cannot see them grow, the blades become bigger and bigger. At length the ears of grain are seen; and, as the warm summer days come and go, the green ears become tinged with yellow. At last, by September, the little green blades have become the golden grain, ready for the sickle of the reapers; and we are once more in the midst of the harvest with its busy, merry scenes.

A great poet talks of finding 'good in everything. Let us now see what 'good' we can find in the harvest-what lessons we can learn from it.

Well, in the first place, I want every boy and girl who reads this paper to become a farmer. A farmer!' you will say, 'how can I be a farmer? Wait a little and you shall hear. I do not mean that you are to leave school and learn to plough, to sow, and to reap. It is a different kind of farmer you are to be.

'What is to be my field?' I think I hear you asking. Your field is to be your heart. Before you get a good crop out of that field, you will need to work very hard, for it is full of weeds. There are weeds of pride, and weeds of anger, and weeds of deceit, and I don't know how many different kinds.

These have hardened the soil of the heart, so the first thing to be done is to soften the soil, and get rid of the weeds. This is the ploughing. When an angry thought rises in your mind and you keep it down, that is one part of the field prepared. When you are in a scrape and feel tempted to tell a lie, but tell the whole truth, that is another bit prepared. so if you go on, little by little, one effort after another, you will be surprised how soon the whole field is ready.

And