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before supper-time, when the little things came into the meadow, looking so sweet and pretty in their clean white frocks and pinafores, he set them on the back of a big black pig to have a ride round the field. Now this said pig had just come out of a very dirty pool, so of course their clothes were in a sad mess.

'O, look at our frocks and pinnies,' cried Blanche! I am afraid mammie Beswetherick will be cross.'

'Wen't she jest,' returned Jimmy; 'your mammie will be in a fine twist, I know; shouldn't I like to see her face when she sees you; you had better go in. My! wen't you catch it!' and the lad laughed.

'You are very naughty, Jimmy,' said little Ivy; we won't go in to mammie Beswetherick; we will go down to the cove and play till father comes home.' The wee maid took her twin sister by the hand, and they went through the gate, and down a narrow winding-path to the shore. The tide was in, and a small gaily-painted boat belonging to the Squire' was moored to an iron

crook in the rock. The twins seated themselves on the tawny sands, and looked with dismayed faces at their soiled frocks. Meantime the sky, clouds, and sea grew more and more beautiful as the sun went down.

'O, Blanche, look!' cried Ivy, pointing with her finger to the glowing sky and sunlit waves. God is opening His pretty gates again. I wish we could go over there to Him. I don't fink God would mind our frocks being dirty, would He, Blanche ?'

'I don't know,' replied Blanche; 'but I know Jesus is never cross with the little children, even when they are naughty, but our naughtiness grieves Him very much, 'cause teacher said so the other Sunday. But I wish, too, we could go over the sea and go up those golden stairs. There is no cross mammie Beswetherick there, and our own mother is there, father said.'

'O, we wish we could walk on the sea like Jesus, and then we would go!' they said again, and two pairs of big brown eyes looked wistfully out on the shining waters.

Ivy turned her head and spied the little boat, and she cried joyfully, 'Why, there is a boat, and now we can go over the sea to Jesus. Do let us, Blanchie.' Blanche hesitated a minute, and then the thought of their stepmother's crossness made her get up and go with her sister to the boat.

Their small fingers had some difficulty in unfastening the rope, but it was undone at last. They climbed into the boat, and it soon floated out of the cove into the open ocean. The western heavens grew redder and more glorious, and scarlet and golden lights flooded the sea and clouds. The children's faces were flushed with excitement, and Blanche said, 'I fink, Ivy, we shall soon be there.' But before very long the sun sank down behind the waves, and all the wondrous light died away. The twins' rosy lips trembled and tears filled their beautiful eyes, and Ivy wistfully said, 'God has shut His gates, and O, we can't go in!' Night spread its dusky wings over the sea, and the little ones laid down in the bottom of the boat and fell asleep in each other's arms. Alone on the ocean? No! they were not alone, for the Great Father was with them, and they were in His holy keeping.

An hour after the boat had drifted out of Treworgie Cove, a fleet of large fishing-boats sailed from Newlyn for the Scotch herring fishery. One of the boats, The Pride of the West, soon left the others far behind. Her skipper, or captain, Tobias Kneebone, was keeping a good look-out on deck, the other men, with the exception of one, had 'turned in.' It wasa beautiful moonlight night, and as the skipper looked out on the broad line of silver which the moon had laid down on the dark waters, he saw a tiny boat emerge out of the darkness to where the moonbeams fell. He bore down to the little boat, and very soon he had lifted two little girls in his strong arms, and had taken them on board the fishing-boat, and carried them down into the small cabin and laid them before the fire, which was burning brightly in the little boogie, or stove When the light of the lantern which was suspended to one of the cabin beams fell upon the children's faces, one of the men ex

claimed, 'Why, capt'n, they be Mester Beswetherick's twins! How ever ded 'em come to be in that boat?'

The mystery was soon explained; for when the twins were warmed and fed they seemed none the worse for their few hours' exposure, and told their story so simply and with such pathos, that there was not a man there whose eyes were not wet with tears. All the boats' crew stood around the children, and some of them reverently touched their pretty silken curls. Ivy looked up and asked sweetly, 'Do you know Jesus up in heaven?'

She waited for them to answer, but as no one spoke, she said again, Don't you know the dear Lord Jesus Who lives up in Heaven?'

Some of the men bowed their heads in utter shame before the eager, questing eyes of the little child, and the skipper replied huskily, 'No, little maid, we don't; more shame to us.'

'What!' said Ivy, looking round on them all, 'you, big men and not know the Lord Jesus!'

Never before in their lives had these men felt so ashamed, and all of them except the captain went up on deck. By-and-by the children's eyes grew heavy with sleep, and they said, let us say our prayers and go to bed. They knelt side by side at the skipper's knees, and repeated together,

'Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me.' When they had finished, Blanche asked, 'Were we naughty to get into that little boat and go out to sea?'

'I am afraid you were,' returned Tobias, gently; you might have been drowned if it had been rough.'

'O then,' said Ivy, 'we must ask God to forgive us.' Again they knelt on the cabin floor, and Ivy said, 'Please, Lord Jesus, we did not mean to be naughty, we only wanted to go over the sea to You. Please forgive us. Amen.'

The skipper wrapped the twins in his blanket and put them up in his own bunk;

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perhaps if they had been less sleepy, they would have protested being put into such a dark, cupboard-like place.

When the little ones' soft breathing told him, Tobias, they were asleep, he sat down on the seat-locker by the boogie fire, and the dog sat on his hind legs and watched the children from below. Tobias Kneebone's heart was deeply stirred, his gray head fell upon his breast, the days of long ago came back to him, and he saw himself a little lad kneeling in prayer at his mother's knee. Again he saw himself when he was a little older standing beside her death-bed, and heard her say in broken words, 'My boy! give yourself to God whilst you are young. Don't put off seeking Him any longer. O sonnie, seek the Lord now; He "Those that seek Me early shall find

says,

Me."

'O Lord!' groaned the skipper, 'I have never sought Thee all these years, and. I have never wanted to seek Thee till now. Thou in Thy great goodness and mercy hast sent those two little crayters to make me remember my mother's words, and to lead me to Thee. I will seek Thee now, Lord; yes, now, if Thou wilt let me, and maybe Thou wilt be found of me, though I be a gray-headed ould sinner.' The sun rose up behind the Cornish hill, and the glorious Sun of Righteousness rose on Tobias Kneebone's soul with healing in His wings. He had sought the Lord and found Him. From that night, or rather morning, the skipper was a changed man. As soon as possible The Pride of The West put back to Newlyn, and in a short time Mr. Beswetherick was told of his children's safety. What a terrible time he, his wife, and Jimmy had spent! When they found that the twins were missing, they searched everywhere along the sea-shore, and the distracted father picked up one of his little ones' hats, and they concluded they were drowned. Mrs. Beswetherick never forgot the bitter lesson she learnt that night, and after that time she was almost as kind and tender to the twins as their own mother could have been.

DID you see little Nell

Steal out by the door? Her steps were so light

On the bare kitchen floor That not the least rustle

Or stir could we hear; We never once thought She was passing so near. But why should dear Nell Shrink away from our sight? We miss the sweet face,

So winsome and bright; We miss the clear voice,

So bird-like and gay

It has filled the whole house With music to-day.

Ah, can you believe it?

'Tis so sad to tell

Why we miss our sweet pet,
Our dear little Nell.

When no one was looking,
And no one could see,
She stole the one peach
From grandpapa's tree.

How lovely it looked,
That ripe, juicy peach,
From the low garden wall
So easy to reach!
And Nell never thought

That God from on high
Would note the sad theft
With a glance of His eye.
She remembers it now,
And steals off alone
To think of the deed
So wickedly done.

'JIMMY, where are you?' called a voice from the kitchen.

'Here, mother,' replied Jimmy, from the bench just outside the door in the strip of back garden.

'Don't run away on one of your expeditions to-day. I shall want you,' she con

tinued, going on with her cooking; and of course she could not see the cloud that came over Jimmy's face.

For it was a lovely day, in the last week of the holiday time, and he had planned to make 'one of his expeditions' that very day, before the weather changed, as it might to