THE FIRESIDE. you don't mind them. The first is, keep yourself out of sight. An the second is, keep yourself further out of sight. And the third is keep yourself further out of sight still. Then you'll do it." "Good for catching men, too," I thought, as I went on my way.-Rev. Mark Guy Pease. The Fireside. OATMEAL PUDDING.-Put in a basin mix into it two ounces of finely ground a fourth of a pint of cold milk and oatmeal, then add to it a pint of boiling milk-mixing it in this way prevents lumps; put it on the fire and let it boil ten minutes; have some dried bread crumbs, and, taking off the oatmeal, mix in the crumbs until the whole is rather stiff; chop two ounces of suet; cut up as fine as possible one small onion, beat up the whites and yolks of two eggs and a sprinkle of sage and majoram, and mix those with the cold porridge; butter a pan, put in your mixture and bake for an hour. When roast beef is scarce, oatmeal pudding, with a little gravy, ekes out the feast for many a poor man. REST AS A MEDICINE.-The benefits | sherry and bitters before you sit down of rest in aiding the healing process to dinner; and remember, a willing in disease might be exemplified in a servant makes a glad master, and a hundred different ways. Indeed, the good-tempered one to boot. disease itself is often merely the result of disobedience, often wilful, of the great natural and universal law which ordains that a period of rest must in every case be sequel to one of activity. In the vegetable, as well as in the animal kingdom, this law holds good. Trees and shrubs go to sleep in winter; flowers are generally more tender in their constitutions, and go to rest during the night; while others, again, find it necessary to take a nap, so to speak, during certain hours of the day, and this they do with such regularity that one can pretty correctly tell the time from the opening or closing of their petals. Many people suffer from chronic indigestion from the mere fact that having first and foremost produced the dyspepsia by overloading the stomach, or by other errors in diet, they give it no rest, they keep on worrying it to get well, the medicines they keep pouring into it keep up the irritation in probably five cases out of ten. In these cases, I am convinced, that two or three hours' complete rest to the stomach every day from both meat and medi cine, would soon induce a healthy hunger. Those who have this organ in good working order, would do well to remember that the time when every particle of food has left the stomach, is not the time to put more in. An hour's rest, at least, is needed; and if you give this before each meal, it will be a willing servant, and will never think of suggesting the propriety of a 10 A GOOD STEW FROM COLD MEATS. Get a knuckle of veal and put with it a ham-bone and any bones of roast meat. Stew slowly till the bones can be easily removed. Then put to the meat celery tops or seed, onions and pepper and salt. Thicken with flour rolled in butter. Add six or eight good mealy potatoes, peeled and quartered, and let it stew slowly till the potatoes are done. Serve hot. INK ON CARPETS.-Take up as much of the freshly spilt ink as possible with a sponge, then wet with water and soak with a sponge repeatedly; finally rub the spot with a little wet oxalic acid, or salt of sorrel, wash off with cold water, and rub with aqua ammonia. NOTES AND QUERIES-FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. Notes and Queries. "things done." It means the manifestation of the whole man. K. C. H.-There is an important difference in the meaning of the terms, although they are commonly used as if J. C. J.-The words hardly give the they were the same. "In my Name," right idea. They mean "wished to certainly means, in harmony with me, bribe the Jews by the act," rather than with my teaching, and with my spirit. merely "give them pleasure." The But "for my sake," is an appeal to literal reading of the words is "Lay personal feeling; is, indeed, the lay-up thanks for himself." Felix was ing on us of that "yoke" which is easy," and that "burden" which is "light." 66 B. G. W.-Why not? Evidently, if you look at all the records of the event in the Evangelists, this is the fairest reading. In this comparing one account with another we see how each Evangelist looked at things from his own point of view. M. N.-Yes: "works," in each of the Epistles to the Seven Churches, means the whole of the character, spirit, and life. It is much more than willing to let off Paul by a bribe, but the apostle was too honourable a man to get his release in a dishonourable way. A. F. L.-The chapter is a sermon in itself; but it should be read again and again, if you are to see its wonderful powers. S. N. F.-You are right; but read the next verse. D. D. H.-It is very likely a Christian hymn. L. A. A.-Ask your minister. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. South Carolina's rice crop is estimated at 44,000 tierces. The cultivation of almonds and olives is to be introduced into Florida. At a meeting of the municipal council of Berlin, the universal adoption of cremation was recommended. Eight thousand two hundred and fifteen miles of railroad are now open in British India. The cultivation of the castor-oil plant in the State of Illinois is very important, the county of St. Clair alone producing 300,000 gallons. Recent statistics show that there are now 10,882 wells producing oil in the State of Pennsylvania, and they pour out, altogether, about 50,000 barrels of oil daily. Carrier pigeons have been utilized for communication between light-ships and the shore. Notice was recently thus sent by one pigeon that a vessel was in distress in the vicinity of the light-ship. True Britannia metal is composed of ninety parts tin, eight parts antimony, and two of copper. Some manufacturers deviate a trifle from this formula by adding a small portion of zinc or bismuth. Hints. No books are so legible as the lives of men; no characters so plain as their moral conduct. A year of pleasure passes like a floating breeze, but a moment of misfortune seems an age of pain. A holy life has a voice. It speaks when the tongue is silent, and is either a constant attraction or a continual reproof. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones.-Chesterfield. It is our duty to be happy, because happiness lies in contentment with all the divine will concerning us.-Bethune. You cannot dream yourself into a character, you must hammer and forge yourself one.-Froude. The Christian is not one who looks up from earth to heaven, but one who looks down from heaven to earth.Lady Powerscourt. Affections, like spring flowers, break through the frozen ground at last, and the heart which seeks but for another heart to make it happy, will never seek in vain. Very often due appreciation of character is not felt, or at least not expressed, until death, making heavy the ear of the sensitive soul, opens the lips of praise in its behalf. It is a pity that the thirsty heart goes through life unrefreshed by the libation which is needlessly poured out upon the grave. Gems. Such is the constitution of things that unwillingness to goodness may ripen into eternal voluntary opposition to it.-Julius Muller. The same Bible that gives us the Ten Commandments enjoins that charity which believeth all things, hopeth all things.-Guthrie. All human discoveries seem to be made only for the purpose of confirming, more and more strongly, the truths contained in the sacred Scriptures.Sir John Herschell. Works of love are more acceptable than lofty contemplation; art thou engaged in devoutest prayer, and God wills that thou go out and carry broth to a sick brother, thou should'st do it with joy.-Tauler. Armies, though always the supporters and tools of absolute power, for the time being, are always the destroyers of it, too, by frequently changing the hands in which they think proper to lodge it.—Chesterfield. 12 As Joab came with a kind salute t Abner and thrust him under the fifth rib, while Abner thought of nothing but kindness, so sin comes smiling comes pleasing and humouring thee while it giveth thee a deadly stab.— Anthony Burgess. Poetic Selections. REMEMBER ME, "REMEMBER me," my Saviour God, Give strength to bear affliction's rod, "Remember me:" Thy voice I'll greet "Remember me;" stand by my side, And when by Jordan's swelling tide, YEARNING. IN us, O Christ, Thy mind be wrought, Thy Spirit in us dwell; By Thee, the perfect Teacher, taught, Our wills to Thine submissive brought, Who doest all things well. With Thee, O Christ, we walk the deep: Afflicted, tempest-tossed, With Thee, our loving vigils keep, Thy paths, O Christ, are perfect peace, MY FIRST HOME AND MY LAST. From love more real than light or life, I shall pass to the city whose streets are gold: From the silence that falls upon sin and pain, To the deathless joy of the angel's strain; Well shall be ended that ill begun- THE BARON'S SON. In that beautiful part of Germany which borders on the Rhine, there is a noble castle which, as you travel on the western bank of the river, you may see lifting its ancient towers on the opposite side above the grove of trees which are about as old as itself. About forty years ago there lived in that castle a noble gentleman, whom we shall simply call the baron. The baron had an only son, who was not only a comfort to his father, but a blessing to all who lived on his father's land. It happened on a certain occasion that this young man being from home, there came a French gentleman to see the old baron. As soon as this gentleman came into the castle, he began to talk of his Heavenly Father in terms that chilled the old man's blood, on which the baron reproved him, saying, “Are you not afraid of offending God, who reigns above, by speaking in such a manner?" The gentleman said he knew nothing about God, for he had never seen Him The baron did not notice at this time what the gentleman said, but the next morning took occasion first to show a beautiful picture which hung on the wall. "My son drew that picture," said the baron. "Then your son is a very clever man,” replied the gentleman. Then the baron went with the visitor into the garden and showed him many beautiful plants. 66 "Who has the ordering of the garden?" said the gentleman. 'My son," replied the baron; "he knows every plant, I may say, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall." "Indeed," said the gentleman, "I shall think very highly of him soon.' The baron took him into the village, and showed him a small, neat cottage, where his son had established a school, and where he caused all the poor children who had lost their parents to be received and nourished at his own expense. The children in this house looked so happy and innocent that the Frenchman was very much pleased, and when he returned to the castle he said to the baron: "What a happy man you are to have such a good son." "How do you know I have a good son?" "Because I have seen his works, and I know that he must be both clever and good if he has done all you have shown me." "But you have never seen him." THE TEST OF CHARACTER. "No; but I know him very well because I judge of him by his works." "You do; and please now draw near to this window, and tell me what you observe from thence." "Why, I see the sun travelling through the sky and shedding its glories over one of the greatest countries in the world; and I behold a mighty river at my feet, and a vast range of woods, and see pasture grounds, and orchards, and vineyards, and cattle and sheep feeding in green fields, and many thatched cottages here and there." "And do you see anything to be admired in all this? Is there anything pleasant, or lovely in all that is spread before you?" "Do you think that I want common sense, or that I have lost the use of my eyes, my friend," said the gentleman, somewhat angrily, "that I should not be able to relish the charms of such a scene as this?" 66 Well, then," said the baron, "if you are able to judge of my son's good character by seeing his good works, how does it happen that you form no judgment of the goodness of God by witnessing such wonders of His handiwork as are now before you? Let me never hear you, my good friend, say that you know not God, unless you would have me suppose that you have not the use of your senses." THE TEST OF CHARACTER. If the kingdom of truth is a kingdom of motive, purpose, and desire; if men are to be judged not alone by their efforts, but by the purpose that attends them, how many of the decisions of this world will be set at naught? Very many of the apparent failures of this life will, by the touch of the magic wand of truth, be turned into essential triumphs. Very many who, with the purest of purpose, have gone forth into the conflicts of life and have come forth from the battle scarred and disappointed, will be permitted in the future to carry the gleaming flag of victory. Very many who have laboured in sorrow will come forth with rejoicing. Many who have done most of their work in apparent darkness, will one day stand in the clear morning light of victory. "He made a failure of life," says the world. "He died as he had lived, far away from victory." He was enthusiastic, he thought he saw the right and laboured with zeal in its support. But now above his grave, made but yesterday, seems to be written failure."" The cold world stand around, shedding perhaps a few tears of sym |