supper, and then see if we can get off some of these chains. I brought two or three tools in my boat.'

It is a hard task the lads undertake, but Godfrey is sure that it is meant for them, and they must just do it as well as they can. Can they go away up the stream to seek a fruitful country where they can enjoy themselves, or where they will find some adventure that will be more easy and pleasantand leave these wretched men to die in their chains? No; they feel that if they do that, they can no longer call themselves true knights of the good Father-King.

What food they gather from day to day, they share with the captives, and it always proves enough. Every day some of the chains are slowly, patiently filed off; every day the dark men are taught some words of

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their helpers' own language: and as they become strong and free, they begin to work at the building of a house, and the tilling of the ground, and in time are able to tell how they were taken prisoners once by a band of robbers, and after being robbed of all that they had, were brought by sea a long journey, and left chained in this desolate place to die.

One day Godfrey comes upon some settlers farther up the country, who give him seed and cattle for his colony, and by degrees a beautiful and happy village, with corn-fields and gardens, occupies the little valley where the chained captives were left to die in helpless misery: and the boys often said to one another that their adventure had proved fully worth all the trouble and difficulty they had met with.

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Or killed, or frightened clean

His ears flat on his neck he laid,

Cocked up both tail and chin, and brayed,

Then these brave boys went home, dismayed

By that Hee-haw, heehaw!'

A fight there is with error and sin,

Which every one, old or young, must win,

Or lose eternal life;

And he who is not armed must fall;

Yet many themselves true soldiers call,

Who march equipped with naught at all

But drum, and banner and fife.

Away to the war right manfully

They go, to the tune of 'Who but we?'

Their foemen fierce to slay; But when some sinner's scoff they hear,

Some drunkard's song, some

atheist's sneer,

Or fool's loud laugh, they

shake with fear,

Turn tail, and run away.

Is not this a curicus picture? Such a little boy being crowned! How did it happen? Well, that little boy's father was a king, but was murdered, and his mother, who was a very wicked woman, said, If my son cannot be king, I will be queen; and that there might be none to dispute her right, she ordered that all her grandsons should be put to death; and then 'reigned over the land.' But a good woman was watching the bad woman, and the aunt of the murdered lads managed to hide the youngest of the princes, and with the help of her husband, who was a priest, she kept

him safely in the temple; and when he was seven years old, his coronation was secretly arranged. Little did the wicked queen think that her reign and her life were so soon to come to an end. The priest had given spears and bucklers to the Levites, and when all things were ready, he brought forth the royal child, and put the crown on his head, while the people shouted, 'God save the king!' Hearing the noise, Athaliah (the queen) ran in; but it was too late. She must have been disliked, for no one stood up to defend her; so the Levites took her outside, and put her to death. Thus

Joash became king of the land. The priest Jehoiada was a very wise man, and the young king had sense enough to be led by him. All the days of the old priest, the king did well; but with his death began sins and misfortunes, which ended the life and the glory of king Joash.

So we learn that a good start is not everything. It does not follow that because as boys and girls you live in a comfortable home, and have all you want, that it will be always so. Joash was a king, and of course had many delightful things even when a child, but he came to know the want of them before his death. All the days of his uncle's life there was some one to watch over his comfort; but though for so many years he was cared for, he lived for years in misery and died a violent death. And the worst was that it was all his own fault. If my young readers wish their future to be pleasant, and even better than the present, let them ponder the words of the wise man, 'The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more.'

There is a wretched tramp on the roads to-day, who will sleep in the casual ward of some workhouse, who has had a better education than the master of the place.

There are lads in the forecastle

of merchant ships whose real names are not those entered on the ship's books, but who might have been graduates at Oxford, if they had chosen to do well. Joash was crowned when seven years old, while the people shouted joyfully 'God save the king!' and yet there were many who wished him gone ere he sank into his dishonoured grave. Have a care, boys and girls, lest the comforts you now have be exchanged for self-made misery, and the good start only land you in darker depths than you would otherwise have known.

As we look at the picture we are reminded that crowns do not make kings.-The boy never was the ruler of the country. His uncle was master. Look through the story, and you see the king is ruled by his uncle, and it was well that it was so. You see he had nothing kingly in his nature. Solomon says

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something about a jewel in a swine's snout; that seems a strange place to put a jewel, but you might as well look for it there, as expect a coarse nature to become gentle because it is wearing a good coat. Fine clothes don't make the gentleman, nor do riches make men noble. Perhaps you have yet to learn that power means much more than strength.

Joash was crowned, but when the old man died his real self came to the front; he chose foolish companions, turned aside to sin, caused the son of his benefactor to be murdered, and finished his poor, vain life in shame, and was buried away from his kingly ancestors, while the priest was laid among those who had ruled the land. Yes, these men had very different funerals. It will pay us to think when we are tempted to do wrong: How will this appear when I am dead? What will people say as they carry me to my grave?

Have you some gift which, like that crown on Joash's head, lifts you up above your companions? Be it money, strength, beauty, or learning, it will only make you kingly and keep you crowned, as you use it in the service of God, and in unselfish efforts to make others good and happy.

We read that 'Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.' When the old man died, the young men came, flattered the king, and led him astray. God took pains to save him by sending those who advised him for his good. But it was of no use. Among them was the son of the good woman who saved his life and the good man who had made him king, and Joash was so far lost to all sense of goodness, that he had him stoned to death; and with him died the last opportunity for Joash. From thence it was all downhill.

My young friends, we shall not have our fathers and mothers for ever. Let us prize them while they are with us, and remember their words when they are gone. Do not let it be said, 'He never did well after his father died;' or 'She was of no use after her mother was taken.' There are not a few of whom we could wish that they had been