came to them, but of those who have arisen since and are passed on: "What our hand findeth to do, let us do with all our might." We might exercise great influence upon society, and these schools present an opportunity for employing any amount of talents which can be called forth.

HINTS ΤΟ SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHERS ON THE BEST WAY OF INTERESTING A CLASS.

Hint I.-Mark well the actions of men, and make them the prominent features of your lesson. Let such matters as geography, local manners and customs-chronology, natural history, and such like, occupy their right place, which is secondary. Not that any intelligent teacher can afford to neglect them; but that these are not to be compared in interest with the actions, the thoughts, the desires, and the hopes of men. History is more interesting than geography, and biography, if well told, than either. It is the human interest in them which makes dramas and works of fiction so fascinating, and a good teacher can always engage attention if he knows how to bring out vividly the action of his lesson. Besides this, the action of a lesson is that around which all spiritual truth centres. A teacher may drill his class in the geography or botany of Scripture, till they can read Palestine like a book; but such knowledge does not touch the heart, nor mould the character, nor save the soul. "A man is no nearer heaven," said old Fuller, "for having climbed to the top of Mount Tabor," -a saying which means more than

would appear at first sight, and is much to be pondered now-a-days.

Hint II.-Always illustrate your lesson from the scenes and circumstances of modern life. Men are fundamentally the same in every age, and under every variety of circumstance and condition. The most important actions of the lives of men in our day have precisely their counterpart in the actions recorded of shepherds, and patriarchs, and kings, and common people, in the Bible. We eat and drink, and sleep, and labour, and travel; we cultivate the ground, we buy and sell, and marry and give in marriage; children are born and grow up, die, or play their part as women and men; we are sick, we grow old, we pass away, and all as did David, or Joshua, or Abraham, long ago. The history of the world, in fact, is continually repeating itself, and thus regarded we see the force of Solomon's pregnant saying, "There is nothing new under the sun."

Now to apply this—a good teacher will always endeavour to proceed from the well known to the less known, and from that to ideas which to his class are entirely new. Talk to a class who have never had the matter explained, about the judgment-hall of Pilate, and it conveys no definite idea; but take them to one of our own Court-houses, and describe the proceedings there, and you will have no difficulty in getting them to realise the scene in Jerusalem. So, illustrate the Lake of Gennesaret by a reference to our own-a storm, by recalling some dark days in the winter; travel, by the locomotion of various kinds

going on about us. So deal with both incidents and scenery, and you will not only interest your class, but instruct them. Besides this, you will find your faith in the historic verity of Scripture strengthened, for no book so old as the Bible could stand such a test unless it were true. Hint III.--Adapt your instruction to the age and capacity of your class. We have all a little world of our own in which we move. Our thoughts and ideas are bounded by it, and anything beyond we cannot fairly grasp. Little children, as we all know, have their world, and so have boys and girls proper. Young men and women, too, have theirs, and an interesting world it is, with all the hopes and fears and responsibilities of budding man and womanhood stirring within them. Little children must be talked to as such, and not tormented with pedantic references to ancient or modern history, metaphysical refinements, or philosophic distinctions. Talk to them about Pa, and Ma, and little brother, or sister or baby, and they will appreciate you; but if you are co foolish as to lay down a proposition and attempt to prove it, they will go to sleep.

On that form again is a class of boys. Sharp-eyed, mischievous little urchins most of them, with their heads full of tops and marbles, kites and cricket-balls; with a sprinkling, too, of knowledge about men and things in general. They go to school, and are learning geography and

grammar, and are beginning to find out what a great world this is, and what a many things have been done upon it. Remember this when

you are addressing them, and try to bring your thoughts exactly-to use a mathematical term-to the same plane with theirs. Do not go too low, or they will laugh at you; do not, on the other hand, talk to them of things which they will not understand for years; if you do, they will vote you a bore. Take a true aim, and send your arrows home.

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With young men and women, the style of instruction required varies very little from what would be demanded by adults. With them you may drop the parable now, and open the mysteries of the Kingdom. The grand truths of theology may be expounded, and their application pressed home. But avoid preaching. Nothing is so wearisome, so fruitless, and, in the end, so disastrous, as a continued strain, Sabbath after Sabbath, of mere exhortation. teacher's business, it hardly need be said, is to teach, i.e., to communicate truth; and if he have no truth to communicate, his occupation is gone. But a teacher of young men and women, with the open Bible before him, need never be at a loss. To adapt instruction to your particular class, you must know your class. Their mode of life, their peculiar tempers, their occupation during the week, should all be familiar; and as a musician knows his instrument and is able to touch the keys aright, bringing out therefrom all pleasant harmonies, so should a teacher be able to handle his scholars. Some teachers have to exercise considerable relf-restraint before they can do their work efficiently. Young people are thrown as teachers into a school, fresh, perhaps, from the warm

scenes of a revival, their minds full of theological ideas, their hearts penetrated by the realities of the world to come, and it is as natural to them as it is to speak, to expatiate upon the depravity of human nature, the freedom of justification in Christ, the regenerating energy of the Holy Spirit, and so on. But with this, such a one will rarely gain the attention of a class, and he must learn to exercise the grace of self-denial, by coming down from his elevation and addressing them on topics familiar to them.

Hint IV.-Endeavour to teach by asking questions. This was the method of Socrates, beyond question one of the wisest men in ancient times, or modern, and its success in his hands was marvellous. He commenced by something that was familiar, and gradually approached the point he desired to aim at, fixing the attention of his auditors and compelling them to proceed with him in his argument. Let me give an example. Desiring to impress upon his auditors the truth of a superintending Divine Providence, a doctrine he firmly held and taught, he would commence with a young man of the number somewhat as follows:- "You have travelled, Dion, have you not?" "I have, Socrates." "You have spent some time in Egypt." "I have." "In Syria, too." "Yes." "I think, besides this, I have heard you speak of what you saw in Sicily, in Italy, and in Macedonia. You have visited all these." "True." "You still keep up correspondence with friends whom you left in these distant countries, do you not?" "Of course." "So

that, sitting quietly in your house in Athens, you can oversee, by means of letters from your friends, at once the affairs of Egypt, of Syria, of Sicily, and of Macedonia." "Very true, Socrates, though I must confess that it never struck me before." "Now then, just as you, Dion, can oversee the affairs of Egypt and other countries from Athens, and can give directions about matters affecting your interests there, so there is One who can at a single glance take in all the affairs going on at any moment throughout the world,-a Being who is spread through all space, who lives through all time, and whose cognisance extends, not only to the actions, but even, because He is perfect, to the very thoughts of the heart."

Now, how powerfully does such a method bring the truth home! It is like a hammer descending right upon the appointed spot and fastening the lesson, as Solomon expresses it, "like a nail in a sure place." This method, too, was employed by our blessed Lord himself. Witness His conversation with Peter about the tribute money, and His rebuke of the pride of Simon the Pharisee, on forgiving the woman that was a sinner.

Let not a teacher, however, run away with the notion that any sort of random queries will answer. No. They must be skilfully framed, catching at something well understood to begin with, and must converge to a point.

From the above it will be perceived that a teacher's qualifications are set somewhat high. So they should be, but let not the young be

discouraged; rather let them be stimulated to exertion.

We have the promise of blessing when the seed is sown. But sowing requires skill and care, knowledge of the soil, and judicious choice of times and seasons. Seed would not grow if scattered at random from the car of a balloon: neither will truth

be communicated by unskilful and random efforts at teaching. The work, like every other in God's appointment, proceeds in order, and by reason: let us conform to the rule as to sowing, let us water the seed with prayer, and we may look without presumption for a crop.

Her She

It is a great blessing to be a mother, and to fulfil a mother's duties. work is honourable and great. is above statesmen, orators, and philosophers, in every element of power, honour, and reward. Yet some mothers imagine that they are doing nothing, that their position is very humble and hard, and they long for more public fields of activity. But it is a greater work to make statesmen, orators, and leaders, than to be such; and this work the mothers really do. To be the builder of an ocean palace, to construct and manage immense factories, and to direct the affairs of state, are regarded as among the important doings of men. But these are trifles compared to the proper culture and development of mind, and the direction of the physical and moral culture of children. To guard the tender frame from disease, to nurse and protect it midst all the perils of childhood and youth, up to manhood, is a great work. To teach, develop, and direct the mind in the path of nobleness, truth, and piety,

is a still more glorious work. This great work is largely in the hands of mothers. Both parents share largely in it. The greatest business that is done on earth, is to raise up a family of children so that they will prove a blessing to the world and to themselves. Parents who have done this are worthy of honour, and will be honoured in eternity for having lived to a good purpose; and yet, too many regard the care and culture of children as a small business, a burden, an irksome task, to be avoided. But this is foolish, yea, wicked. "Deliver me from the care of a family; let me never be burdened with children," is a frequent and a foolish prayer; it is equivalent to praying that life may be a blank, that we may lose the highest honours of existence.

The society and the governments of the world are made in the domestic circle. There the elements are fashioned; there they get their character, and are sent out to bless or curse the world. The work is all the more efficient, absolute, and im

portant, from the fact that it is private, secluded, quiet, silent, and familiar.

A little reflection and Christian faith will do much to make us content with our humble place in the vineyard, and prize highly the silent, steady influences of Christian effort in the private channels of life. Those who do the little things, do the most, and are the most valuable and important workers. Let the Sunday-school teacher, the private church-member, the parent, the believer, in ordinary circles of life, be comforted and encouraged. No labourers are as indispensable as these, and none shall wear a brighter crown in glory.

MANAGING WINDOWS FOR AIR.

THERE is always a draft through key-holes and window crevices; because the external air is colder than air in the room we occupy, it rushes

through the window crevices to supply the deficiency caused by the escape of warm air up the chimney. If you open the lower sash of a window, there is more draft than if you open the upper sash. The reason of this is, because if the lower sash be open, cold air will rush into the room and cause a draft inward; but if the upper sash be opened, the heated air of the room will rush out, and of course there will be less draft inward. A room is best ventilated by opening the upper sash, because the hot vitiated air, which always ascends towards the ceiling, can escape easily. The wind dries damp linen because dry wind, like a sponge, imbibes the particles of vapour from the surface of the linen as fast as they are formed. Special attention should be given to the ventilation of sleeping rooms; for pure air and an abundance of it are, if possible, more necessary when we are asleep than when we are awake.

was laid for a holy life, sanctified talent, Gospel effort, and parental duties. He founded and conducted an admirable Sunday school, gathered a congregation, and formed a church, to which he zealously, faithfully, and gratuitously ministered for a number of years. He delighted in his work, and was much encouraged by the measure of success which it pleased his Lord and Master to vouchsafe. He had but reached the noon-tide of life, when he felt that