"Oh, how strange!" exclaimed Mollie, forgetting somewhat her own grief in the interest awakened by her aunt's story. Yes, dear, it was strange. And who knows but that something good may grow out of our disappointment this morning?" Mollie looked very sober awhile. At last she looked up sorrowfully into her aunt's face and said "Aunt, I am sorry I was so mad just now. I'll try not to feel so any more." May the good Saviour help you!" replied her aunt. There are many little girls in the land just like Mollie. They cannot bear to be disappointed. They get very cross if they are. This is all wrong, and should not be yielded to. What children and grown folks call disappointments are often blessings in disguise. So when we meet with them we should feel as we do when a fish nibbles our bait. We should say, There is a blessing nibbling; I must try to catch it." Will you try to remember this, my dear children? X. X. وو BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. THERE were busy fingers in George Wilmott's house, fitting him out for his first term at a boardingschool. It was surprising how many stitches his mother and sister found it necessary to take for his comfort. The only boy among a "house full of girls,' his schoolmates might well envy him the nice things which the skilful fingers of his sisters had made for him. All these labours of love came to an end at last. The large trunk was packed, and the family gathered round the table to take their last meal and enjoy their last talk together. But a strange silence settled down over those usually lively girls, and the mother's face showed that her heart was too full to let her speak. George looked from one to another, and then at the food on his plate; never before had he felt so little inclination to eat. His father spoke at last. "I should have very little anxiety about you, my son, if I could only feel certain that you would be strictly honest with yourself while away from us." Honest, father!" exclaimed each sister, indignantly. "Honest, sir!" repeated the boy, his cheek flushing as he spoke. "No one ever dared to accuse me of any such meanness as dishonesty; I leave that for the base-born and the degraded; I would scorn to touch anything that was not my own." "It is one thing to be honest with others, and another to be so with ourselves. People who would not wrong a neighbour of a penny are still in the daily habit of wronging themselves. By neglecting to do all that we might do, or to learn all that we might learn, we are guilty of dishonesty toward ourselves. In your new home you will have many temptations to wrong yourself. You will find, for instance, that to learn your lessons thoroughly requires more time than you like to devote to them. You think you can manage to get along in recitation, and maintain your standing in the class without all that trouble; and may be you might; but remember that every time you do so, each time that you pass over a lesson without mastering every thing in it, you deal dishonestly with yourself. Will you promise to think of this, my son, and strive, In whatever you do, To be honest and true as true and honourable in your dealings with yourself as you would be with your fellowbeings?" George gave the desired promise, and during his journey to school he found, as his father intended he should, food for thought in the idea thus suggested. It had never occurred to him before that a person might be strictly honest in his relations with others, and still guilty of great dishonesty toward himself. PRAYING. A LADY was talking to some little children who came to see her one day about praying. She told them that praying was coming right into the very presence of the greatest Being in the universe. "It is a very solemn thing to pray," she said, "and yet it is very pleasant. It makes us feel solemn and afraid when we think that we are standing right before God, the great and holy God, who can look straight into our hearts, and see everything going on there: and at the same time it is very pleasant; for God is so kind and loving that he bids us draw near, and makes us welcome; tells us that we may ask him for anything we need, and promises to give us what we ask. I hope all of you pray, my dear children." "I do," "I do," "I do," they all said. The lady fixed her eyes on a little boy in the group, and then said slowly, "No, Archie, I don't think you do." "I do though," said the little boy, turning very red in the face; "I pray every morning, and every night, and other times too." Perhaps you all say your prayers," said the lady; "but When daily I kneel down to pray, As I am taught to do, It seems to me that the child who truly prays will not be cross or selfish, or disobedient to his parents, or unkind and passionate with his playmates; he will never tell a lie, or take what is not his own; for he asks God to forgive his sins, and to keep him from all sin; and if he meant what he said, God would answer his prayer, and keep him from all these wrong things. H. E. B. FATE OF THE APOSTLES. MATTHEW is supposed to have suffered martyrdom, or was slain with a sword in a city of Ethiopia. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, in Egypt, till he expired. Luke was hanged on an olivetree in Greece. John was put into a caldron of boiling oil, at Rome, and escaped death. He afterwards died a natural death at Ephesus, in Asia. Peter was crucified with his head downward, at his own request, thinking himself unworthy to die in the same posture as his Master. James the Great was beheaded in Jerusalem. James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the Temple, and beaten to death with a fuller's club. Philip was hanged up to a pillar at Hieropolis, a city of Phrygia. Bartholomew was flayed alive by the command of a barbarous king. Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached to the people till he expired. Thomas was run through with a dirk at Coromandel, in the East Indies. Jude was shot to death with arrows. Simon the Zealot was crucified in Persia. Matthias was stoned and then beheaded. Barnabas was stoned to death by the Jews at Salana. Paul was beheaded at Rome by the tyrant Nero. BOYS, NEVER SMOKE! THE Builder is the name of a London newspaper, and it contains the following paragraph on the vicious practice of smoking:-"It is not one of the pleasing signs of the times that this practice has come into use among boys, who have scarcely passed beyond their school-days; and so numerous are the instances in which small boys may be seen, without any seeming shame, smoking pipes in the open street, that it is often difficult to resist the inclination to administer a little reasonable correction. The use of the tobacco-pipe, before the bodily functions have been developed, stops and dwarfs the growth. It leads to idleness, and is, in far too many instances, a sort of connecting link with dishonesty and habits of drinking. In these days we need to increase the intellectual and bodily strength of our youth; we therefore beg of the masters of schools, of the fathers, mothers, and others who have charge of boys, to have no hesitation about the matter, but to put out the pipes of the small boys at once." This is very good advice as to boys; but is there no evil in the conduct of adults whose example leads to this habit? If I were a smoking father, I should regard myself as responsible for the vice of a smoking son. We say, Do away with the habit, both old and young. THE FAMILY PEW. THERE is on earth a little spot, POETRY. And months and years have changed it not; 'Twas there in childhood's golden dawn I tasted life and felt its thorn, And dreamed of pleasures yet unborn. And when my little pattering feet Were pacing through the lane or street, Like earth-borne snow, nor swift, nor strong, But gentle, harmless, right or wrong, Or when in scores of boyish sprees, I'd been before, I knew it well, And as to sterner years I grew, Till when my mission has expired, Our Youths' Department. NATURAL HISTORY. DUCKS. ACCUSTOMED as most of our young friends are to see the ducks waddle about the doors, or swim on the ditches and ponds, they may fancy that little can be here said concerning them beyond what they know already; but one object we have in view in devoting our space for the present month to ducks, is to let them see that many things can be said even about ducks which are not generally known. The duck ranks among the most useful of our domestic animals, for, living or dead, it renders very acceptable service. While living it serves the part of a useful scavenger, clearing our gardens of worms and slugs, and our ditches and ponds of innumerable insects, which, were they not checked in some way, would multiply till they became a plague. Their eggs are very acceptable for various uses in cooking, and when dead their flesh forms a savoury dish, which is highly appreciated. Sometimes their smaller feathers are put in pillows and beds, and for the same purpose their down is much sought after by those who are rich and luxurious. Of ducks there are a great many species. Of tame ducks there have been reckoned not less than ten different kinds, and of the wild, above twenty. In this tribe, as Goldsmith observes, we may rank as natives of our own European dominions, the eider duck, which is double the size of a common duck, with a black bill; the velvet duck, not so large, and with a yellow bill; the scoter, with a knob at the base of a yellow bill; the tufted duck, adorned with a thick crest; the scaup duck, less than the common duck, with the bill of a greyish-blue colour; the golden eye, with a large white spot at the corners of the mouth, resembling an eye; the sheldrake, with the bill of a bright red, and swelling into a knob; the mallard, which is the stock from whence our tame breed has probably been produced; the pintail, with the two middle feathers | of the tail three inches longer than the rest; the pochard, with the head and neck of a bright bay; the widgeon, with a lead-coloured bill, and the plumage of the back marked with narrow black and white undulated lines, but best known by its whistling sound; |