"Oh! what a funny big clock!" said Dicky.

He was so pleased with everything that he 'most for got about hiding.

“I wonder if you could get into that?” said I. "I do b'lieve it's the very place, Dicky, 'cause nobody'll go to the clock! See! you can stand in it if you crowd pretty close, and we'll leave the door a tiny bit open, so you won't all smother. And if you can't see enough there, you can stand on your high tiptoes and look out through the glass."

I had hardly got him tucked in, when Betty looked in at the door, and said:

"You here, little Lizzie? Well, amuse yourself any way you like; and if you are lonesome, come out and stay with Hannah and me."

Dicky thought it was only fun to be crowded in such a queer little house while I could stay by him and open the door, and tell him all the things he wanted to know about. But by and by I heard the folks coming, and then I had to whisper to him to keep still, and I'd save him some turkey, and not to move.

Such a nice party that was! So many uncles and aunts and cousins, and everybody so glad to see everybody! And then came the dinner-Dicky could hear all about that-and it seemed as if we should never come to the end of talking, laughing, and eating. But right in the middle of it something queer happened.

"Whir-r-r-r!" went the old clock, and then it began to strike as if it had gone crazy.

"What in the world is the matter with the clock !" said Grandpa. And all the others jumped up. "What has got into the clock ?"

But something tumbled out of it just then, and that was Dicky. He was frightened and 'most crying.

66 'I didn't mean to hurt nothin'. I just climbed up a little to look out, and the old thing went off like firecrackers, it did!”

"What in the world—” began Grandpa again, but there he stopped, for I put my arms right round Dicky's neck, and was 'most crying too.

6

"No, he aint a burglar, Grandpa," I said. "He's just one of the least' that the Bible tells about; I'm 'most sure he is, and that's why I hid him there, 'cause he hadn't ever seen any Christmas. I was going to save him some of my turkey and cake, and it wouldn't have done a bit of harm, if that old clock hadn't made such a fuss. Please don't scold."

"No," said Grandpa, wiping his spectacles. "Nobody in this house shall scold because one little girl has tried to do what older ones should have been first to think of. Think of it, children-' Unto one of the least of these, unto me!'"

And so Dicky had a seat at the table, and the first Christmas dinner of his life.

How

GOD BLESS YOU.

OW simply fall the simple words
Upon the humble heart

When friends long bound by stronger ties

Are doomed by fate to part!

You sadly press the hand of those
Who thus in love caress you,
And soul responsive beats to soul,

In breathing out, "God bless you!"

"God bless you!" Oh! few weeks ago I heard the mournful phrase,

When one whom I from childhood loved
Went from my weary gaze.

Now blinding tears fall thick and fast-
I mourn my life-lost treasure,
While echoes of the past bring back
The farewell prayer," God bless you!"

The mother, sending forth her boy
To scenes untried and new,
Lisps not a studied, stately speech,
Nor murmurs out, "Adieu."

She, trembling, says, between her sobs,
"Whene'er misfortunes press you,
Come to thy mother, boy, come back ".
Then sadly sighs, "God bless you."

"God bless you!" more of love expresses
Than volumes without number;
Reveal we thus our trust in Him
Whose eyelids never slumber.
I ask, in parting, no long speech,
Drawled out in studied measure;

I only ask the dear old words

So sweet, so sad-"God bless you "

"NOTHING

NOTHING TO DO.

to do!" in this world of ours, Where weeds spring up with fairest flowers,

Where smiles have only a fitful play,
Where hearts are breaking every day!

"Nothing to do!" thou Christian soul,
Wrapping thee round in thy selfish stole:
Off with the garments of sloth and sin,
Christ the Lord hath a kingdom to win.

"Nothing to do!" There are prayers to lay
On the altar of incense, day by day;
There are foes to meet within and without,
There is error to conquer, strong and stout.

"Nothing to do!" There are minds to teach
The simplest form of Christian speech;
There are hearts to lure with loving wile
From the grimmest haunts of sin's defile.

"Nothing to do!" There are lambs to feed,
The precious hope of the Church's need;
Strength to be borne to the weak and faint,
Vigils to keep with the doubting saint.

'Nothing to do!" and thy Saviour said,
"Follow thou me in the path I tread."
Lord, lend Thy help the journey through,
Lest faint, we cry,
"So much to do!"

WA

COLD WATER.

́ATER is beautiful, variantly beautiful! In the bubbling spring, the welling fountain, the murmuring rill, the purling brook, and the rippling lake, it is delightfully beautiful; in the plashing pool, the meandering rivulet, the running stream, and the flowing river, it is gracefully beautiful; in the dripping dew, the trickling tear, the streaming jet, and the spouting geyser, it is impressively beautiful; in the swelling flood, the rushing tide, the surging sea, the foaming cataract, and the roaring ocean, it is grandly beautiful; among the peaks of the Himalayas, amid the Arctic icebergs, and in the Alpine glaciers, it is sublimely beautiful; when overflowing, inundating, and deluging, causing desola tion, it is awingly beautiful; and even when simmering, hissing, seething, or boiling, it has a semblance of beauty.

Ever where it is a thing of beauty, whether glistening in the dew drop, gleaming in the ice-gem, shimmering in the gentle rain, flashing in the sunlight, begemming the grass, bejeweling the trees, veiling the golden sun, haloing the silver moon, painting the hues of the rainbow, fleecing the wintry world with a mantle of purity, or checkering the azure sky with varying clouds by the mystic hand of radiation, it is always beautiful, inexpressibly beautiful. Its beauty, purity, brilliance, and grandeur should rivet our attention and challenge our admiration!

But is it merely a thing of beauty? No! emphatically, no! It is health-giving, life-sustaining, and tradepromoting. It is vivifying, refreshing, strengthening,