"Then I am afraid I am not a believer," said

I, after a pause.

"I so seldom feel thus."

"But you do sometimes, John ?"

"Only sometimes."

"I am older than you are," said William, “and I think that one feels it more and more every day of one's life.”

If I have seemed to linger over some of these scenes and conversations, it is because I know that pain and suffering are very common in the world, with the young as well as the aged; and because I would fain teach them how to bear it patiently and cheerfully. Many are called to endure much bodily affliction very early in life; and while some become a burden in consequence, there are others who prove a blessing both to themselves and others. He who sends this affliction will support us under it. Let us draw near to God, and he will draw near to us. Have we not felt him to be nearer in the chamber of sickness than at almost any other time of our lives? He will soothe us with the remembrance of his love:

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as one whom his mother comforteth, so will he comfort us." To any one blessed with a loving mother, or who can recall to mind a

mother's watchful tenderness in the time of sickness and suffering, this gracious promise will be indeed a strong consolation. Try William's plan, whenever you may be called upon to endure pain; think of all that the Lord Jesus Christ endured for you. Believe with the heart in that fact; it will keep you from murmuring, and make you feel very thankful: every day of your life the Saviour will become more and more precious, and God be more and more glorified.

CHAPTER IX.

HOME TEACHING.

As I grew older, a feeling of envy stole over me when I saw other boys going regularly to school. I used to wonder what I should ever be fit for, and think it very hard to be expected to run errands, and look after the children, instead of poring all day long over the few books we possessed, and which we already knew by heart. William, while he fully sympathized in these regrets, did not suffer them to render him impatient, or neglectful of home duties, as was too frequently the case with myself. Many were the conversations which we held on the subject, and many were the vain wishes and the wild dreams in which I indulged. William's one earnest desire remained the same, to be a minister of the gospel.

"I know," said he, "that in that case it will be necessary to go through a regular course of study, attended with considerable expense;

but I doubt not that if God will have me, he will provide the means in his own time and way if not, his will be done." There was a slight pause, and a long, struggling sigh, as he uttered the last sentence; and I felt how much it would cost him to give up this hope, and yet how improbable it then seemed that it would ever be realized.

My parents, too, had their vain regrets, and their little plans. All through one long, cold, dreary winter, my father used to walk backwards and forwards to his office, instead of taking the omnibus as was his wont in bad weather, in order to lay up the money thus saved towards sending us to school; while my mother cheerfully relinquished many little comforts, and even necessaries, that she might add to it. But, after all, it was a very small sum at the end of the year.

My father used to teach us when he came home at night, although he was often very tired; seeing which made us take great pains to learn, in order that we might not give him more trouble than we could possibly avoid. What with the long hours spent at his office, and the long walk to and fro, the time he could devote to

these studies was very short and uncertain. However, we made the most of it, and learned a great deal in this way; but it only served to make us want to learn more.

My father, as I have before observed, was a well educated man. He knew several languages, and had travelled in his youth. Even when not actually teaching us, his conversation was always elevating and instructive. Our great want was suitable books. But that very want was one cause which drove us more often to the Bible. A map of the Holy Land enabled us to study its geography, and the better to understand its history. We were taught to study Scripture practically. Many a time in the evening while reading it, the whole scene, as it was graphically described by the ancient historians, used to rise up before me. Elim, with its twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees; Jacob's well, where the weary Saviour sat down to rest; the blue sea of Galilee, and many others. Years afterwards I saw views taken from those very places, which appeared to me far less bright and vivid than the mental pictures of my childhood.

Writing of the palm trees of Elim, reminds