The sinners, and all their possessions, were burn'd:

The nephew escaped just in time.

He ran from the city, he ran through the plain;

No tittle of goods could he save: An old man, and ruin'd, in sorrow and pain,

He made him a home in a cave.

H.

SCRIPTURE QUESTIONS FOR

YOUNG THINKERS.

31. Before Joseph obtained favour from the keeper of the prison, (Gen. xxxix. 21—23,) he was harshly treated. How do we know this?

32. Where do we meet with the first account of armour in Scripture?

33. What became of the sword of Goliath after David had cut off the giant's head therewith?

34. How do we know that the life of Moses was divided into three portions of forty years each!

35. One of Jacob's grandsons mourned many days because his sons were slain by the Philistines. Where do we find the account?

36. Who was king of Damascus when Saul escaped from the city.

H.

LITTLE BESSIE'S QUESTION ABOUT THE STARS.

ITTLE Bessie was returning, one evening from the city of B——, with her parents. On reaching the summit of the hill, up which the horse had been slowly toiling, Bessie turned, and looked back. There, in the valley, and on the opposite hill, lay the city, hidden now by the darkness of the evening, though the numberless lamps marked the situation of many a crescent, street, and terrace. She gazed in silence for a time; then, raising her eyes to the star-lit sky, she asked,

"Papa, are the stars the gaslights of heaven ?"

The child had often heard of heaven. She remembered that, not many months since, a beloved, aged “auntie" had gone there; and she had heard, too, of a dear young uncle, and a sweet baby-cousin, Freddie, who had entered that happy land. She knew it was a beautiful place; and now, in her childish simplicity, she put this question.

No, little Bessie; heaven needs no gas-lights: for "there is no night there." In the twenty-first chapter of Revelation we have a description given

VOL. VI.

We are told

us of heaven. there that "the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [Jesus] is the light thereof."

Dear young readers, would you like to go there? In that bright world there is no sorrow or sickness, no death, and no sin. All the good people of whom we read in the Bible are in heaven; and many whom you have known and loved-it may be a dear parent, or a little brother or sister-are there. But, best of all, Jesus is there. When I was a little girl, I remember to have read, in the "Early Days," an anecdote of a child who asked, "If he went to heaven, should he ever be turned out?" And he was very much pleased when his teacher told him, if once where Jesus is, he would never leave Him again; that, if we go to heaven, we shall live there for ever. Mr. Charles Wesley, speaking of those who have gone there, says:

"The age that in heaven they spend,

For ever and ever shall last."

But, in order to be with Jesus, and be happy through eternity, you must ask God to mak...

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.

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. 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

1. 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 respectful; and the young ladies sa