POETRY.

martial with being privy to the stealing of some corn from the stables at Woolwich, but was honourably acquitted.

He also tells an affecting tale of a comrade at Woolwich, who, after committing a robbery murdered a child. The man could not rest, and gave himself up to our old friend. He confessed his guilt at the trial, and was executed. Our friend, knowing him to be an infidel, gave him a Bible, and he had reasons for hoping that before he died he became a sincere penitent.

In 1814 he received his discharge, with sixpence per day pension. He afterwards worked in his native place as a day labourer, and brought up a family of six children, and closes his narrative with these words "I have been united to a christian church some years, and have a humble hope, through grace, of obtaining everlasting life."

Poetry.

A GOOD SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST.

AM I a soldier of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb?

And shall I fear to own his cause,

Or blush to speak his name?

Must I be carried to the skies,

On flowery beds of ease;

While others fought to win the prize,

And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,
To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign ;
Increase my courage, Lord!

I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by thy word.

Thy saints, in all this glorious war,
Shall conquer though they die;
They hear the triumph from afar,
And seize it with their eye.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all thy armies shine

In robes of victory through the skies,
The glory shall be Thine!

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

Anecdotes and Selections.

VOICE OF A GLORIFED SPIRIT.-Would you know where I am? I am at home in my Father's house, in the mansion prepared for me. I am where I would be, where I long and often wished to be; no longer on a stormy sea, but in a safe and quiet harbour. My working time is done, and I am resting. My sowing time is done, and I am reaping. My joy is as the joy of harvest. Would you know how it is with me? I am made perfect in holiness, grace is swallowed up in glory. Would you know what I am doing? Mine eyes behold the King in his beauty. I see him as he is, not as through a glass darkly, but face to face; and the sight is transforming; it makes me like Him. I am in the sweet enjoyment of my blessed Redeemer, whom my soul loveth; and for whose sake I was willing to part with all. I am here, at the spring-head of heavenly pleasures and joys unutterable. I am here, keeping a perpetual sabbath, and what that is, judge by your short sabbaths. Would you know what company I keep? Blessed company; better than the best on earth. Here are holy angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect; and here I meet with many of my old acquaintances, who came hither before me. And lastly, would you know how long this is to last? It is a garland that never withers, a crown of glory that fadeth not away. After millions and millions of ages, it will be as fresh as it is now; and, therefore, weep not for me. I am safe and happy for ever!

WHAT SIN HAS DONE.-What was it that cast the angels from heaven? It was sin. What was it that banished our first parents from the favour of God? It was sin. What was it that brought death into the world, and all our woe? It was sin. What has made death the "king of terrors ?" It is sin. What was it that brought the Lord of Glory from the blissful realms above, to take up his abode among the habitations of human misery? It was sin. What was it that made him through life pre-eminently "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," and finally nailed him to the cross? It was sin. Sin it was that lighted the flames of hell, and sin will be the fuel that shall feed those flames eternally. "Let not therefore sin reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin."

MEASURING MINISTERS. "I measure ministers," says Mr. Newton, " as I do a table; I have no idea of the size of a table if you only tell me how long it is; but if you also say how wide, I can tell its dimensions. So when you tell me what a man is in the pulpit, you must also tell me what he is out of it, or I shall not know his full measure."

THE FIRESIDE.

ONE BIBLE.-Adams, one of the mutineers of the Bounty, who afterwards settled at Pitcairn's Island, was turned from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God, through a copy of the scriptures presented, among many others, to the Bounty, and which was providentially saved from the wreck. It proved to Adams the savour of life unto life: and like a patriarch of old, in primitive simplicity, he trained up more than one generation to call the Redeemer blessed.

The Fireside.

A MOTHER'S INFLUENCE.

WHO can tell the influence of a Mother on the minds of her children? Her smiles or frowns, nay, her very looks, and all she says and does, will have a mighty influence on every one of them, for good or evil, all the days of their life. And just as she teaches them to hate sinful actions, to fear the great God, and love the holy Saviour, will religious impressions be made on their tender minds. But, on the other hand, if she should say nothing about these things they will think little of them, and just because mother did not mention them. And so they are likely to be saved or lost, when at last they come to die, according to the lessons of piety their mother taught them in childhood, or neglected to teach them. Yes, there is no one who fills a more responsible position than a mother. She sits at the threshold of her immortal child's existence, and directs its first tottering footsteps to the celestial city, or leaves it to take its own wayward wandering course down to the shades of despair and eternal death!

Mothers, think of these things. Surely you would wish that child of yours to be saved! You cannot wish it to be lost. Should God take away your child while it yet knows not its right hand from its left, he would doubtless take it to himself to behold his face in heaven. But should that child live it will grow up to be responsible for its actions, and then, at the last day, it will receive the reward of the deeds done in the body, whether they have been good or whether they have been bad. Think of this, and reflect seriously on the influence which your conduct towards that child, while it is yet young, will have on its eternal destiny. For on you, more than any other living being it depends, whether your child, in one hundred years' time, be found among the saved in heaven or the lost in hell. May each mother who reads this be above all things anxious to bring her children to Jesus now, and then in that day she may say with joy, "Here am I, Lord, and the children thou didst give unto me. We are all thine for ever!"

THE PENNY POST BOX.

The Penny Post Box.

SELF-MADE MEN.

To encourage the young, a few I will name
Of our hard-working men, who have risen to fame;
All by their own efforts, and courage, and skill,
To show that more may if they have but the will.
BEN JONSON, a bricklayer once, rose to fame,
And at length the King's Poet in honour became.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR, so high on the pillar of fame,
Whose father, 'tis said, could not write his own name.
JOHN BUNYAN, a tinker, in prison despis'd,
Wrote a book which by millions is now highly priz'd.
DOCTOR PRIDEAUX, for learning so highly renown'd,
As a kitchen boy once in a college was found;
And MILNER, who so much theology taught,
When he was a youth, at silk-weaving wrought.
JOHN OPIE, tis said, once work'd in a mill;
But, self-taught, in painting displayed highest skill.
Fam'd "Robinson Crusoe " was written, we know,
By a brick and tile maker, named DANIEL DEFOE.
Then Captain JAMES COOK, the voyager bold,
Was the son of a poor man, as often is told.

RICHARD ARKWRIGHT, who once was a barber by trade,
For his useful inventions a baronet made.

JAMES BRINDLEY, a millwright, gave proofs of his skill
In conducting canals over valley and hill.

WILLIAM HERSCHEL, when young, in a German band play'd,
But was afterwards Royal Astronomer made.

RICHARD CHANTREY, the sculptor, who most did surpass,
When a boy took out milk every day on an ass.

WILLIAM COBBETT, M.P., was a poor country lad,

But he rose 'till in writing no equal he had.

And GIFFORD, who manag'd a famous "Review,"

Was a sailor boy first, and a shoemaker too.

Making shoes in a garret was BLOOMFIELD's employ

When he wrote his sweet poem call'd "The Farmer's Boy."

And numbers of others I cannot now name,

Who, by teaching themselves, have risen to fame.

From these I have given 'tis plain to be seen

That to England an honour her workmen have been;

Then do not despair, but do what you can,
For he who does that is a true English Man.

Newport, I. W.

J. D.

FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry.

HABIT OF DOING.-We usually do what we are in the habit of doing 10. Rising early to inhale fresh air.-good or bad. Some say they can11. Regularity in taking our meals. 12. Not reading too long at a time. 13. Adapting our clothing to the