DECEMBER.

MORNING SUBJECTS.

Golden Texts

for Repetition. SUBJECT.

FOR READING. FOURTH QUARTER. 2 Spies sent out...

Num. xiii. 1-3, 17-33] 1 Cor. x. 11. 9 Israel's Unbelief.. Num. xiv.1-10,26-311 Heb. iv. 11. 16 Moses' Last Blessing.. Deut. xxxiii.

ver. 27. 23 The End of a Noble Life Deut. xxxiv. Rom. xiv, 8. 30 God's Mercies to Israel ... Psa. lxxviii. 1-8, 25- 39] Ps. ciii. 2.

2 9 16 23 30

AFTERNOON SUBJECTS.

Golden Texts

for Repetition. SUBJECT.

FOR READING.
FOURTH QUARTER.
The Deliverance....

Acts xxvii. 27–44 Ps. cvii. 30.
Paul in Melita .......

Acts xxviii. 1-15. Rom, i. 14.
Paul at Rome

Acts xxviii. 16-31. | Rom. i. 16.
Paul's Last Words...... 2 Tim. iv. 1-18...

ver. 7.
Review of the Quarter's Lessons

Phil. iii. 7.

PUZZLES FOR CHILDREN.

By UNCLE GEORGE.

1. Who said, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person"? 2. Of whom is it said she was beautiful and well-favoured ? 3. What king of Judah was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the

sepulchre of the kings? 4. The second letter of the name of the country of which Rezin was

king. 5. What was thrown out of a certain ship in order to lighten it? 6. Whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass ? 7. Whom did Paul call his own son in the faith? 8. What rich and honoured man was very unhappy because a Jew

would not bow down to him ? 9. What king possessed a bedstead of iron? 10. Who built an altar after the pattern sent bim by his king ? 11. Whom did the Jews accuse Paul of bringing into their temple ? 12. What name did the followers of Christ receive in Antioch? 13. Whose name backward and forward spells the same ? 14. The birthplace of Apollos. 15. With what did Elisha heal the unwholesome waters ? 16. What judge of Israel had thirty sons and thirty daughters ? 17. Whose vineyard did Ahab covet? 18. What great champion of the Philistines was slain by David ? The initials of the answers form a command which we all ought to

obey.

A CAT WAITING FOR ITS SHIP.
HE is a Boston cat, but her home is on the high seas.

Puss is a brave sailor, and has taken many a voyage
from Boston to the Azores and back on the good ship
Kate Williams, commanded by Captain Beebe. When-
ever the ship reaches Boston, puss always lands and has

a social time with old friends on shore-cat friends among others, probably. One day she was so entertained with her visit that she stopped a little longer than usual ; and when she returned to the wharf she found the ship had sailed without her. She gazed with longing eyes far out over the water, and sniffed her whiskers as if scenting out the track of the receding and now invisible ship. But she knew it was of no use; she knew the ways of the ship too well.

Every day for three months she appeared on the wharf with clock-like regularity, and sniffed and gazed, and gazed and sniffed. There were plenty of ships coming and going, but they were nothing to her. At last the right one came. It had hardly touched the wharf before a cat, grown thin and gaunt with anxious months of waiting and watching, sprang on board and made a dash for the captain's room, where, finding him, she sprang on to him, put her nose in his neck, and meow-wow-wowed, meow-wow-wowed, and talked and talked, and told such a pitiful cat tale as never greeted a captain's ear before. That ship has never a chance to leave puss on shore now. She is sailing the seas to-day.

CLAY Cross.-On Sunday afternoon, March 25th, 1877, we held a very interesting, and considering the long strike and the depressed state of trade here, a very successful juvenile missionary meeting, when the following pieces were most efficiently rendered, interspersed by the singing of suitable hymns, viz.—Dialogue on “India and the Hindoos," by Charles Bevington, Charles Bradder, George H. Rowarth, John Griffin, John Grainger, and Charles Clarke. Dialogue on

is David Livingstone," by George Hextol and David Haslam. Dialogue on “ China and the Chinese,” by Agnes Whetton, Eliza Griffin, Charles Bevington, and George Hextol. Dialogue on “ Dennis and the Priest,” by Matthew Payne and John Knighton. Dialogne on African Missions,” by Lilly Banks, Emily Shore, Hosea Marriott, and George Hextol. Dialogue on “Christian Missions,” by Polly Slack, Polly Bradder, and Eliza Griffin. The following is the list of collectors and the sums collected by them-viz., Young Men's Select Class, 5s. ; Young Women's Select Class, 18. 1.d.; John Barton, 158. 2d.; Sarah Ann Vardy, 143. 5d. ; Thomas Shore, 28. 10d.; Ellen Smith, 28. ; Emma Bonsall, 1s. 10d. ; Lilly Banks, 1s. 8d. ; James Wood, ls. 5d. ; Arthur Robinson, 1s. 3d.; Sarah Ann Rodgers, 18.; Matthew Marriott, 18.; William Wood, 19. ; Minnie Griffin's Box, 48. 6d. ; small sums, 83. 5d. ; Sunday's collection, £?; total, £5 5s. 8d. The children were trained for the occasion by Mr. Bevington and Mr. W. Pitchford. The chair was taken and the opening address delivered by the minister. The entire proceedings of the meeting appeared to afford the greatest possible satisfaction to a large, respectable, and an attentive audience.-A. C. B&VINGTON,

Poetry.

THE CHILDREN'S PICNIC.
'Twas the merriest, funniest picnic

That ever you did see;
They held it down in the orchard,

Under the apple tree.
The air was heavy with fragrance

And full of the hum of bees.
And showers of the pink and white blossoms

Were wafted down by the breeze.
They scattered over the dishes

In a merry little whirl,
Till the table seemed decked for fairies

With a service of pink and pearl.
There were Nellie and Tom at the table,

And Pussy and Rover for guests ;
Both with their well-washed faces,

And their coats were their sleekest and best.
Nell gravely waited on pussy,

And Tom gave Rover his share,
And the children loudly praised them,

For a well-behaved pair.
And they purred and wagged politely,

But 'twas quickly forgotton all,
When a field mouse scampered past them,

And a squirrel jumped on the wall.
Right over the table sprang Pussy,

And Rover gave squirrel the chase ;
Leaving the children in wonder

At their picnic turned into a race.
The chairs were o'erturned, and the table

Stood gracefully tipped on one side ;
While the dishes and all their contents

Were rolling far and wide.
Tom laughed till the tears were falling

Over his cheeks like rain;
But Nellie in wrath said she'd never,

Never invite them again.

M

success.

THE EDITOR TO HIS READERS.
Y DEAR FRIENDS,— With the issue of this number we

complete another volume of the JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR.
During the year, we ve done our best from month to
month to interest and instruct you, and we trust not
without some

“ Ben Barlow's Budget" must have given some amusement to our boy readers. The story may also teach them many a useful lesson besides. If they drink into its spirit they will be truthful, honest, brave and generous ; they will also have a proper reverence for God, and desire both in their studies and their play to please Him. From the “ Footprints of God in Nature" they will see what a claim God has upon the reverence and love of His intelligent creatures. God has made all things, and He has made the world in such a way as to show His goodness as well as His skill and greatness ; very properly, therefore, we may say, in the words of the Psalm, “O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and His wonderful works to the children of men." The“ Papers for Thoughtful Boys” should strengthen our feelings of thankfulness to God, and our delight in Him. They teach us that while “the earth is full of His riches,” He has given man intelligence and skill to obtain those riches and apply them to his own comfort and well-being. “ Tom Foster, the Orphan,” carnot have been read without emotion. It is a sad, but a true story, which teaches what an evil and bitter thing it is to sin against God. “ The way of transgressors is hard ;” it is the way of ruin and death. All will find it so who continue in this way. But they need not continue; they may turn out of it, for God has a fatherly care for the poor, and destitute, and sinful, and if they look to Him, He will help them and be their Saviour, “Our Sunday-School Album "contains a good number of likenesses; our readers have probably looked at them as they have been exbibited, to see if they could find one which they might call their own.

Well, some of the likenesses we hope are not true representations of any of our readers, but all Sunday-school teachers or scholars

may advantageously now and then open the album and look at the cartes. Then the “ Band of Hope Papers we trust have been attentively read, and have led many a reader to abstain from ever putting an enemy into his mouth to steal away his brains.

But we have said enough, perhaps, of the contents of the table spread for your repast during the year now closing; only we may just