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CONTENTS.

A flower sermon, 140

A little talk for Easter Sunday, 63
A morning in the wood, 92
A talk about electricity, 118
A talk about winter, 181

An open hand and an open house,
155

African weaver-birds, 51

'Bear ye one another's burdens,'

98, 114

Bennie's ear-ache, and Georgie's
lesson, 23
Brierton-wood, 106, 123

Easter in many lands, 50

Father Christmas's young days,
178

'Forgive us our trespasses,' 95

Harvest in many lands, 146

How a bright morning became a

dark night, 38

How a little boy became a great
prophet, 87

How to begin 1882...7

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NEW-YEAR'S DAY EW-YEAR'S morning! Most of you did not hear the clock strike the last hour of 1881. Perhaps some of you turned drowsily in your warm bed as you heard the cheery rap which announced the arrival of father and mother, and the older

brothers and sisters, who had been to the Watch-night Service, to watch the Old Year out and the New Year in. It may be that some of my older readers were present at that solemn, yet happy service. When I was a child I used to think that the worn and wrinkled Old Year, and his fresh young successor, actually appeared in some mysterious way before the eyes of the congregation. No such sight as that, however, has drawn so many from their homes at this late hour. They come simply to spend in prayer and thought the last hours of the Old Year, and in order that the first moments of the New Year may be given to God, and that the kindly feelings they have been cherishing may be expressed in the hearty hand-shake, and the warm good wishes for the opening year with which each greets his neighbour. When you are older you will learn to look upon the Watch-night Service as one of the most precious in the year.

Every civilized nation ushers in the New Year with special ceremonies. Perhaps the most curious takes place in far-off China. It is known as the Feast of Lanterns. Every house exhibits a number of variouscoloured lanterns, having six sides. The framework is of wood, richly gilded, and over this is stretched a covering of fine, transparent silk, on which flowers and figures of men and animals are painted in brilliant colours. These lanterns are very costly, some of them being valued at five hundred pounds of English money. These, however, are much too large to hang from the windows. They are equal in size to a small room, and Chinese men and women pass in and out, greeting each other by the bright light of the torches which are fastened in the walls. You will see, from the picture, that they do

IN MANY LANDS.

not shake hands as we do, but salute each other with profound bows. Of course this New-Year's Feast has a religious meaning, but you will agree with me that the poor Chinese, notwithstanding all this gaudy display, are far less happy at the close of their New-Year's ceremony than the Methodists of Old England returning from their simple, but sacred Watch-night.

In

Doubtless some of you are thinking of friends far away, and on the other side of the world, to whom they would gladly offer friendly greeting. New-Year's day is already far advanced with them. Instead of the chill air of winter's midnight they are inhaling the balmy breezes of a bright summer's evening. A dashing ride across the wooded prairie shall be their New-Year's treat. their own way, the Australian settlers will welcome the New Year as warmly as the old folk at home, who sit roasting chestnuts by the blazing fire; and, when they reach their journey's end, and joyously tender NewYear's greetings to the lonely dwellers in a solitary cottage, their salutations will be more refreshing than the most elaborate New-Year's card inscribed, 'With the Compliments of the Season.'

Some of us are this day remembered by friends or relatives in another British colony; and some stricken hearts will sadly turn to the land where, a year or two ago, ruthless war snatched from them the young and brave and dearly-loved-the sunny South African country. There the walls display

wreaths of the delicate mimosa and the climbing geranium; and the graceful arum and gay gladiola take the place of the red and white holly and misletoe, emblems of joy and purity. The family circle gathers in the wide verandah to listen to the twiceread budget of Christmas letters from the old country. The servants, too, are enjoying their Christmas in the open-air, and the little half naked black children come in for their share of the feast. Everywhere, from hot Africa to frozen America, the New Year brings, to young and old, joy and hope, kind

CLIMBING AND FALLING.

thoughts and neighbourly deeds. In the right-hand corner of our picture you see a Canadian welcoming friends from a distance. The ground is thickly crusted with ice and snow, but this does not deter the happy little company from driving merrily across the frozen ground in their pretty sledges, drawn by a train of well-fed, active dogs, whose bells tinkle merrily as they dash along. The cold is so great that travellers are muffled to the eyes; but what matter if the biting air penetrate even through the thickest wraps? Is not the heart within far too warm to be chilled out of its feeling of kindliness, goodwill, and hope? At last the door of the far-off home is reached, and regardless of the cold, kind hands assist the benumbed travellers to alight, and loving voices wish them New-Year's blessings. And by the blazing fire inside is a table loaded with gifts, each neatly labelled with the name of one of the guests; for in North America New-Year's gifts are universal.

In the left-hand corner of our picture

3

we have a glimpse of New-Year's day among the snowy heights of the Pyrenees. There three merry French children have left their little hut on the mountain-side and are greeting all their neighbours with a carol. Their sweet childish voices are so bewitching that they need not fear lest the basket they carry with them should be long unfilled. These carol-singers do not expect money, but each thrifty housewife chooses from her store some gift to gladden the hearts of the little ones. Sometimes sweetmeats are given, sometimes a cake of white bread, considered a great luxury by the peasants, whose food all the year round is common black bread, coarser than any that you see in England.

Many little hearts, the world over, are beating high this New-Year's morning with bright hopes; and let yours, dear children, be filled, too, with earnest prayer and holy purpose, so that this first day and first Sabbath of the New Year may long be remembered as a time of great and lasting blessing.

CLIMBING AND FALLING.
'Fain would I climb, but that I fear to fall.'

brilliant is the dress of the company, that you are quite dazzled; here is a young dandy in buff-coloured shoes adorned with jewels; there another in crimson cloak and satin vest. Some are chatting gaily, saying many soft words of flattery to the young Queen; others, with graver brow, discuss the latest news from Spain. In a window

PERHAPS some of you have heard the story with which our picture and motto are connected, but, whether new or old, it is full of interest to us all, especially now that the New Year lies before us. How often in the past we have tried to mount upwards, and to be and do better than ever; sometimes our foot has slipped, and instead of climbing we have fallen. But if we have manfully picked ourselves up again, our fall has only made us more wary. The old Romans on the pane with a diamond-ring. Ever and consecrated the first month in their year to Janus, the god who had two faces: one looking backwards over the trodden pathway, the other peering into the unknown. hope that the earnest, eager eyes

Let us

niche apart from the company, stands a tall, handsome man, intently occupied in cutting

again the Queen casts a side glance at the corner where he is at work. His thoughts have been full of her ever since the day when he spread his new cloak in the muddy way, that she might pass over without soiling

turned towards the New Year may be all the her delicate shoes. more watchful because of the mistakes of

the Old One.

This young man is a climber, and the heights he seeks to scale are dangerous. He,

Now for my story. Go back with me a subject, would win the hand and share the three hundred years, and take a peep at the

splendid court of Good Queen Bess.' So

throne of a Queen. He starts back at his own daring, but he will scratch his thoughts

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