"I AM SO HAPPY." have many giants to fight against in this world. You have great need of God's help, if you wish to come off victorious. The giant intemperance is a fearful one; but let every one become a total abstainer, and be steadfast, and you shall be triumphant. Some young people think that they cannot do any good, but that is a great mistake; for many as young as you have been the means of doing a vast amount of good. Let me say, use your influence in everything that is good and virtuous, and I can assure you you will in nowise lose your reward, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. Need I tell you that you may try to increase the circulation of the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR, and thus be the means of doing much good. THOMAS HEATH. THE CHILD MISSIONARY. I WANT to tell the readers of the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR about our little Winnie-our child-missionary, as we call her. A little time since, while she was visiting in the city, she heard there were two criminals in the gaol under the sentence of death; one of whom especially seemed very hardened. She became very earnest to go and see him, and pleaded so importunately that her mother granted her request, and carried her to the gaol. As they entered the cell, he was sullenly sitting in one corner, all manacled. Winnie went softly up to him, saying, in a low, sweet voice, "Man, I'se come to see you, to know if you love Jesus; does you?" The man said roughly, "Go away!" She continued: "Please, man, let me stay. I want to tell you about Jess; mayn't I?" 55 The convict made no reply. So she commenced, and in her own simple language, told him about the life of Christ, his sufferings, and his death on the cross. She finished by saying, "Man, Jesus did all this for you; don't you love him for it ?" The hardened convict burst into tears, murmuring to himself, "Oh, what a sinner!" Then Winnie strove to comfort him, telling him, "If he had been naughty, Jesus would forgive him." The man, in broken words, tried to tell them part of his history. He had formerly been an upright man, and a member of the church; but by degrees he became a backslider, and fell into other sins, "until, at last, I am here," he added. The hour had now come for them to leave; but Winnie begged him, in parting, "to love God, and ask him to forgive him." The next day, Winnie and her mother went to see him again, and a very different face greeted them from that of the preceding morning. He told them that ever since they had left him he had prayed and wrestled with God, and that he trusted he could say that," although he was the chief of sinners, yet God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven his great sins." Winnie went home that day with a joyous heart. "I AM SO HAPPY." LITTLE Annie had for some time been very sad; but one day she was seen to appear very happy. Her eyes sparkled with joy, and she seemed as though she could hardly bear the pleasure she felt, it was so great. "Annie, why are you so cheerful?" "Oh," she said, "it is because I am so happy!" But why are you so happy ?" 'Oh, I was wicked, and God was angry with me; but now he has forgiven me, and that is why I am so happy." Was this not enough to make any little child happy, to feel that God smiled on her, and had forgiven all her sins? Little ones, can you say as little Annie did, "God has forgiven me, and I am so happy ?" BAD EFFECT OF TOBACCO ON BOYS. DR. DECAISNE, while engaged in investigating the influence of tobacco on the circulatory system, had his attention called to a large number of boys between the ages of nine and fifteen years who were addicted to smoking. Of thirty-eight boys who smoked, twenty-seven showed distinct symptoms of disease. Thirty-two had various disorders of circulation; bruit de souffle in the neck,* disordered digestion, palpitation, slowness of intellect, and more or less taste for strong drinks. Eight showed a diminution of the red corpuscles of the blood; three had intermittent pulse; ten disordered sleep; four ulceration of the mucous membrane of the mouth; and twelve with other bad symptoms. These are solemn warnings. Dear young friends, shun the pipe and the cigar as you would dread to cherish a viper. Poetry. THE INFIDEL AND HIS DAUGHTER. Lines suggested by reading a newspaper paragraph describing the scene between the brave old Ethan Allen and his daughter on the eve of her death, when she asked the stern infidel in whose faith he would have her die, his or her mother's. THE damps of death are coming fast, In thine? I've watched the scornful Or is it in my mother's faith? Through many weary years long past, Noise in breathing. How often do I call to mind 'Twas then she took this sacred Book, My father, shall I look above, The frown upon that warrior brow "But in thy mother's holy faith, My daughter, may'st thou die!" Remarkable Places. WHAT IS SEEN IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. BUT what do you mean by the Arctic regions? Why, I mean the countries that lie at and near the North Pole, the most northern part of the world. In one part the sun never rises during six months; when that period is past he rises, but never sets for six months. What a long night that must be which lasts from September 21 to March 21! and what a long day that which lasts from the 22nd of March to the 21st of September! And what is strange, or seems strange to us, during all the time the sun is above the horizon, instead of climbing the heavens, and going, as we see him, across the sky from east to west, he just goes round the edge of the horizon, keeping all the while close to the earth. But if you don't go so far north as the pole the case is somewhat different. Thus, in some parts, the sun never sets for a week, in others for a month, in others, again, for two months, or three months, or four months, or five months, just according to the distance you go towards the north; the length of the day growing longer and longer, just according to the distance you go; and the same with regard to the length of the night. Would not those regions be very uncomfortable? Yes, indeed, but yet there are many things which relieve the gloomy and uncomfortable condition of the people. There are splendid nights; the moon and stars shine with brilliancy; mountains of ice and snow, cold enough to be sure, but lustrous from the beams of the moon, the planets, and stars; and beautiful sights there are from luminous meteors, and the grand coruscations of the Aurora Borealis ; now appearing like a splendid arch, now like a vast bright circle, again like a circle with a large cross in it, constantly leaping, flickering, dancing, and changing from one fantastic shape into another; then for a moment disappearing, and then suddenly coming again, spreading a brightness over a great part of the horizon. The inhabitants of the Arctic regions live by fishing and hunting. Their dwellings are huts formed of skins in summer, and of snow in winter. The sea coasts of these rude countries are often visited by sailors and merchants, who give us remarkable accounts of what they have seen. The crew of an American ship landed some time ago at Petropaulovski, and I here present a short sketch which a sailor gives of what he saw : "I must not omit to mention, that while in the harbour of Petropaulovski we witnessed the sublime and beautiful phenomenon presented by the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, as they are commonly called, which have been taken in all ages as a source of admiration and wonder. These lights or meteoric WHAT IS SEEN IN THE ARCTIC REGIONS. 59 coruscations are, it is generally known, more brilliant in the northern regions, appearing mostly in the winter season or in frosty weather. They commonly appear about one or two hours after sunset, near the horizon, like a pale cloud, and sometimes continue in that state for several hours without any visible motion, casting a pale light upon the firmament like an obscured moon. Gradually they begin to send forth streams of stronger light, shooting with great velocity to the zenith, emulating not unfrequently the lightning in vividness, blending with the mellow tints of the rainbow; again silently rising in a compact, majestic arch of steady white light, apparently durable and immovable, and yet so evanescent that while the beholder is gazing in awe they vanish. At times they cover the whole hemisphere with their flickering and fantastic coruscations, when their motions are so amazingly quick and their forms change so rapidly as to astonish the beholder. They break out with vivid brightness where none are seen before, skimming and dancing along the heavens; then they are suddenly extinguished, leaving behind a dusky trail, which again is illuminated like a colossal pyrotechnic display, and as suddenly left blank. They will assume the appearance of vast columns, and move along the horizon like phantom figures, exhibiting on one side the tints of deep yellow, while the other melts away until it becomes undistinguishable in the surrounding sky. Again they will concentrate and rear their forms like some huge altar or pyre, and in a flash disappear to transform their shapes to figures grotesque, which dance along the sky with a tremulous motion, as though keeping time to music. When I went below at midnight they were still indulging in a carnival of magnificent grandeur. "On the following day we were visited by the Indians of AsiaTchutchis. They came alongside our vessel in canoes made of sealskin. Each canoe is capable of carrying fifteen or twenty passengers. Our Russian interpreter, being anxious to ascertain if he could hold conversation with them in that tongue, asked them in Russ if there was any among them that could speak that language. To his astonishment, he was answered in the English that they would come aboard and talk to us in 'Merican,' if it would please us. 'The spokesman of this crowd was 'Knockem;' and an amusing, comical fellow is Knockem. He obtained his name from the American whalers, who noticed his proclivities to belabour his brethren when they were under the influence of an overdose of rum. Though Knockem is not a total abstinence Injin himself, he has an antipathy against those who indulge too freely, which manifests itself through his powerful arm and sledge-hammer fist. To use his own language, When they drink drunk, I knock 'em.' The comparison of this force of knock' is sufficient to show that he has been schooled in the language of the Yankees. Quite a number spoke the English language sufficiently to make them |