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you good, to take away all naughty tempers and evil dispositions, and to wash your hearts in the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. He came down from His bright throne to die for you; and He said, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not." Will you not listen to His kind and gentle voice?

MARION.

THE GIPSIES.

IPSIES are very strange people, who lead a wandering, begging life; pitching their tents in green lanes, or on commons, and having no settled home. They used to be more numerous in England than they now are, and much more troublesome. It is said that they would prowl round country houses, and steal the poultry and the fruit; that they would even kidnap little children, and sell their clothes, and bring them up to beg and steal, and tell fortunes. In my younger days I thought they were very terrible people. I

felt alarmed the first time I saw them; and should have been afraid to pass them, if I had not been with friends who were capable of protecting me. It

was one afternoon in spring. We had been walking far, in search of the first sweet violets; and we went on to a certain narrow green lane, so famous for them as to be called "Violetlane." Here we came upon a Gipsy encampment. There were one or two tents; some donkeys grazing on the green turf, that almost carpeted the lane; two or three men lounging about, with short pipes in their mouths; some women, with red handkerchiefs tied over their dark hair, busy cooking; and some little, dark-eyed, olive-skinned children playing about. It was a very pretty picture; and the harmlessness of the people quite dispelled my childish fears, while the beauty of the little ones won my heart.

These people live entirely out of doors, moving from place to place. They have different ways of getting their living. Sometimes they do tinkering; sometimes they gather the heather and the broom off waste moorland, and sell it for brushes and other purposes; but they do not care for regular work. The women cook, and wash, and mend clothes in the open air; and, instead of ironing, they smooth out the clothes with their fingers over the fire.

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On

perceived a flickering light, and its reflection in the water. coming nearer, we discovered that the light came from a Gipsy fire among the trees. We saw nothing of the people then; but, the next morning, there they were, just as you see them in the picture; and two little children-poor, miserable-looking creatures-came to meet us, stretching out their little hands to beg.

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After that, we never passed along the road but we found them playing merrily enough together, scrambling up the high banks, or making swings of the branches of trees; but, the moment they caught sight of a stranger, they left their play, and came forward with a true beggar's whine. 'Could they read ?" No. "Had they ever been to school ?" No. They were too young to work; and we soon found that their parents were idle tramps, who came there during the summer, and trained them to beg from the visiters: and, when the season was over, they struck their tents, and wandered off, no one knew whither. I was very sorry for the poor children: it was such an idle life to be accustomed to, and they looked uncared for, and were miserably clad. It was painful to see such

squalor and wretchedness in the midst of one of the most beautiful spots in the world; and to think of these children growing up without a thought of the beauty around them, or of the wise and good Being who made all things.

One more story about Gipsies, before I lay down my pen; and this one you will think the best of all.

Several sisters live together in a pleasant home, not far from a large town in one of the midland counties. In a lane near their house they found, one summer, quite a tribe of Gipsies. They proved to be harmless, honest people, who were glad to do a little work when they could. But they were very ignorant and untaught; and lounged about on Sundays just the same as any other day, without an idea of going to a place of worship. The young girls I have spoken of were interested in them; and the thought came into their minds to teach them a little, if possible. Accordingly, one Sunday afternoon, two of them went to the tents, and asked the women if they would like them to read to the children. They were quite pleased, and very respect ful; and the young ladies s

down on the grass, while the women and children gathered round. Soon the men came too, and listened to sweet Gospel words, which were, perhaps, a strange message to them. The sisters gave them books, and began a school among the little ones on Sunday afternoons. The grown people, who could not read, also began to learn; and were very glad and thankful for the opportunity. These pleasant Sunday employments lasted through the summer; and, when the wandering people went away, the sisters had the happy remembrance that they carried away in their minds the "good seed of the kingdom," sown with faith and prayer.

VIOLET.

Jesus, 'be sure your sin will find you out,' and bring you to the judgment-seat, to be condemned and sent away by Jesus 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, "O, that lie! I must either find it, and bring it to Calvary, or it will find me at the great day, and cause me to be sent to hell for ever." The child was greatly alarmed, and became very anxious about her soul's salvation. She cared for nothing earthly: her mind was

entirely occupied with thoughts of things spiritual and eternal. Under "the powers of the world to come," she could not rest until she went and told the Minister all the circumstances. She walked several

THE SIN LAID UPON THE miles to speak to him; and the

LAMB OF GOD. MINISTER was preaching, one evening, from the words, "Be sure your sin will find you out." (Num. xxxii. 23.) 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 Calvary, to get it pardoned and washed away through the blood of

burden of her errand was this: "O, 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 more words, whereby

was regarded as

she might be saved; and she whose case
went home.
almost hopeless.

The next time the Minister saw her, she came to him with a radiant countenance; and he took her by the hand, and said:

“Well, have you laid your sin upon the spotless Lamb of God ?"

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"PRAY, FATHER."

LITTLE Indian girl,
seven years old, was

wasting away with consumption. She had heard the Missionaries preach, had been a constant attendant upon the Sunday-school, and for some months had given good evidence that she was a lamb of the Saviour's flock. Her father, a proud, hard man, had once professed to be a Christian, but for some time had been a backslider,

The little girl had been failing rapidly for several days. One afternoon, when she seemed better, she begged that her father might be called. He came. Then, looking up to him with her bright but sunken eyes, she said,—

"I want to be carried out of doors, father. I want to go to the brook once more. May I go?"

He could not refuse; and, without saying a word, he wrapped her up, folded her in his arms, and carried her out through the yard, across the green meadow, down to the little brook that wound its quiet way over sand and pebbles, among the alders that skirted its banks. He sat down in the shade, where the little girl could see the water, and the bright play of light and shadow between the alders. She watched them a moment, and then, turning away her wasted face, she said, earnestly,"Pray, father."

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O, I can't, my darling," he said, hastily.

"But do pray, father; do pray," she pleaded.

"No, no; how can I? No, no."

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