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CROCELLA.

Nicola kept silent for a moment, then he replied in a firm tone:

'It is not right; mamma always said that there was no merit in being good, when nothing is contrary to our wishes.'

Roby, astonished, raised his head; he had never seen his young friend look so serious, and speak so firmly.

'When I am in bad humour and when I get so angry at Mary or Lucy, I am troubled afterwards for having done it; but then it is too late, and on the next occasion, though I try hard to restrain myself, I do it again.' You must pray to God and ask Him to give you grace to make you wise,' Nicola replied without hesitation.

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The child thought a little, then replied: 'I pray night and morning, alone or with my mother, but perhaps I do not know how to pray aright. Do you know, Nicola? Tell me how to do it.'

In his turn the little Italian hesitated and was silent for a moment; from his infancy, at his mother's knees, he had learned to love the Lord and to pray with all his heart. But how could he explain this to his young companion?

All at once his musical instinct came to his aid.

Wait, said he, kissing the cheek of the little invalid.

Leaving the garden, he entered his father's house, and went to his room. In a few moments he again appeared holding his violin in his hands.

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Roby, I am going to play a morsel from Schubert, it is beautiful, I assure you! When I hear it, it always seems that I ought to begin to pray. Listen to it, and you shall see, I am sure, that it will tell you what I feel, and what I cannot explain to you. And there, putting into it his whole soul and mind, the child played an admirable prayer in music. The music calmed and soothed the little invalid, and seemed to raise his thoughts towards the Saviour crucified for him; he wept and felt reassured, for he knew that the Lord loved him, and that He wished his good since He had died to save him. And while thinking of the Saviour's love, and confess

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ing to Him his sins, all irritation against his little sister disappeared from his mind.

When the violin had ceased the sun passed behind the horizon, and his mother and sisters came to take the invalid into the house. Nicola could scarcely distinguish the figure of his little friend when he said good-night to him, but he heard him murmur a sweet thank you;' then he heard him call his little sister and speak tenderly to her in English.

Nicola entering his room, and seeing upon his window Crocella, drawn there by the sound of the violin, took it in his hand, and before placing it among the foliage said to it,

'Is it not true, Crocella, that music is a good and fine thing?'

Several weeks passed; the children saw each other daily, and loved each other like brothers. Since the evening when they began to speak, Nicola had often played on the violin for his little friend, who loved music passionately; and often when wearied he had put up his instrument, the two children keeping close to each other, and looking at the sea or the sky, began to speak of the Creator, of His boundless power, of His infinite goodness; then of their desire to become wise, and of what they must do to become good and brave men.

Nicola, at that time most active and most serious, most courageous and most thoughtful, gave good and tender counsels to his little friend, who heard him gladly and trusted him: and Mary and Lucy sai? between themselves that Roby never troubled them, and that he had become sweet and patient like an angel.

The fine season being nearly over, Roby's parents, fearing the rainy season for their child's health, decided to leave the villa and go for some months to Pisa, promising to return to Genoa, at least for a few weeks, before they left for Ireland.

This separation was a great sorrow to the two children, who had become inseparable; Nicola especially, with the warm and unreserved nature of the south, burst into sobbing when he learned the sad decision: as for Roby, during the days which

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AUTUMN THANKSGIVING.

preceded his departure, he could not bear to lose sight of his friend for a moment.

The last week passed before they were aware, and one morning the carriage, driven by the coachman with the scarlet dress, came again to the door of the villa, and all the family were soon seated in it. Nicola, who in the early morning had run to the country to bring a lovely bouquet of heather to his little companion, leant sadly against the door. Still one caress, still another promise to write often and long, and then he must leave. Roby's mother stooped over the carriage, kissed Nicola and thanked him for having been so good a brother to her little son, then the coach drove off and poor Nicola fled to his room to confide his sorrow to Crocella.

Roby's letters, at first very long and full of details of all that he had seen and heard became shorter and shorter and less frequent.

The little boy never forgot his friend; on the contrary he loved him more and more, and thought constantly about him; but the betterness which the climate seemed to have produced, during the first months of his sojourn in Genoa, had not continued, and the poor child, notwithstanding every care, daily became feebler.

For three weeks a long and tender letter of Nicola's remained unanswered; then one morning he received some lines from Madame T., who, notwithstanding her deep sorrow, wished to write herself to tell him that his little friend was in heaven, and that a few moments before he fell asleep he had spoken of him, his cherished friend, and had asked his mother to tell him that he had never forgotten the prayer of Schubert.

Poor Nicola! his sorrow was very great. His father, seeing him so sad, giving up his walks and even his violin, feared that he would become ill also. In order to entertain him he resolved to take him with him to visit the principal towns in Italy, and shew him the numerous masterpieces of art they contained.

Three months later, Nicola having recovered his energy and his bright eyes, climbed again the stair which led to his

room; immediately he took his violin, which he had not touched for a long time, and went to the window. Crocella was there half hidden in the foliage, the child put his bow near it, but it did not move: Nicola then took it in his hand, looked at it attentively while a tear ran down his check which was browned by the sun.

Poor Crocella! it was dead. Was it because it could no longer see its little friend nor hear his violin?

A few minutes after Nicola raised his head, and seeing the neighbouring villa so sad, closed, and uninhabited, sighed a deep sigh, and taking his violin began, without thinking, to play the sweet scrap by Schubert. Then he ran to embrace his father. The child's name was Nicolas Paganini."

HE

AUTUMN THANKSGIVING. ELP us, gracious heavenly Father, To receive, with thanks, from Thee, Golden grain in rustling acres,

Mellow fruit on bush and tree. Thou didst, with the breath of Springtide, Loose the earth from Winter's hold; And, anon, the peaceful ploughshare Opened up the scented mould. Thou didst give the sower handfuls, Who went forth and cast it free; Didst endow the recipient soil With life and due fertility. Sown-seed died; and up the green Sprang to our admiring view; At Thy bidding came the sunshine, Genial rain, and gentle dew. Berry-bearing bushes budded,

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Orchards blossomed gorgeously; Fruit of varied form and flavour Swelled and ripened lusciously. Field and garden, wood and wayside, Offer now Thy bounties free; Help us, O our heavenly Father,

Hence to live our thanks to Thee.

DAVID ANDREW.

Nicolas Paganini, the celebrated violinist, was born at Genoa in 1784, and died at Nice in 1840. He had a wonderful talent. He could play whole pieces upon a single string of the violin.

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PUTTING ON FALSE FACES.

Proverbs xxvi. 23, that burning lips and a wicked heart are like

A POTSHERD COVERED WITH SILVER DROSS.'

His meaning was, that when a person professes a warm affection with the lips that is not felt in the heart, but something very different, then that person's conduct is like an old sooty pot covered over with silver dross. It looks like solid silver, but it is not really so. And if you were to have such a present made to you, and afterwards discovered the fraud, wouldn't you feel not only disappointed but vexed and angry, and come to entertain a very low estimate of the person who could treat you in such a way? Well, so with professions of love, where no love is felt. They may at first attract and please, but they can only-after discovery-result in disappointment and disgust.

Hence, my advice to you is

BEWARE OF HYPOCRISY.

Dont put on false faces, or profess a love you dont feel, and say that you know all about a thing when you dont. Be real. Rather be silent than speak untruthfully.

At Halloween, in many parts of Scotland, I have seen boys, and sometimes girls too, putting on false faces for amusement, which made them appear so different from what they really were-like old men, when they were hardly into their teens. And here and there, perhaps, you have heard of people engaging in masquerades, putting on wigs and such queer dresses, that you would fancy the world had gone back some two hundred years. But these deceptions are so apparent, that you can't be injured by them; whereas, in the actual business of life, very often serious consequences come out of the bad habit of putting on false appearances. No doubt, boys will be boys,' fond of fun and frolic; but in the midst of all I would have you to be honest to the backbone, and to scorn anything and everything untruthful.

Early in life, beware of little hypocrises. Two boys meet, and one says to the other, 'O, how do you do? I hope you are well.

I am very glad to see you!' And if that be true, it is very beautiful; but if it be false, it is very bad. It is the old sooty pot, covered over with silver dross. Or, two girls meet, and one says to the other, 'What a lovely dress you have got on, and such a nice bonnet-how pretty!' And hardly has this naughty girl, with her warm and flattering lips, got round the corner, when, meeting another girl, she says, 'Did you ever see such an ugly dress as Mary Peacock has got on to-day, and such an old-fashioned bonnet. I wonder that any body would put on such things and make themselves such guys!' Sooty pot again, with its silver dross. Or, there is a person coming up to the house; and looking out at the window, from behind the curtain, one says, 'Ah! there he comes again. What a trouble he is-a bore!' And hardly has the bell rung, when the door is opened, and that same one says, 'O, come away, my good fellow. We are so glad to see you. Please come in and take a chair!' Now, isn't that very like covering the old sooty pot with silver dross? Isn't that putting on a false face?

I say, beware of these little hypocrises, for they are sure to lead to bigger ones, and to sad results. Look at Jacob in the olden time. How his mother so wrongly advised him to play the hypocrite, by putting on a hairy skin on his hands and neck, and make himself as much like Esau, his brother, as possible, and thus go in with savoury food to his old father, Isaac, who was nearly blind and dying. And see how he acted. Standing beside the bed, he declared that he was Esau; and the old father doubting this, feeling his hands and neck, said, 'Well, the voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.' And, still doubting, the blind old father said, 'Art thou my very son Esau?' And Jacob told a downright lie, for he said, 'I am'; and thus he tried to make one sin cover another. O, it was bad! It was covering the sooty pot with silver dross. And by this fraud, he gained the blessing of the first-born; but what a long train of troubles it brought behind it, and how it

THE WILD ANGELICA.

caused him actually to flee for his life, and remain for many years in banishment!

Then, you remember Gehazi, that covetous servant of Elisha, who, by putting on a false face, managed to get two talents of silver and two changes of raiment from the Syrian soldier, Naaman, whom Elisha had healed of his leprosy. And just like Jacob, he, too, told a lie to cover his crime. But what was the result? He was smitten with the awful disease of leprosy, under which he suffered and groaned and died. Sin found him out and slew him.

And then, look at Judas. What a black heart he had, and yet what flattering lips! For see how, by putting on a false face, he succeeded in betraying his professed Lord and Master! Coming into the garden, followed by a band of armed men, he actually kissed the blessed Saviour, and that led to His apprehension, and to all the sufferings of that eventful night, and to all the agony and shame of the cross thereafter. But Judas was never happy after that. Darkness covered him, and in a fit of melancholy and despair he went away and hanged himself! Therefore, take warning, and avoid putting on false appearances, as, most assuredly, if unrepented of, they will lead to dishonour and shame; as they did in the case of Annanias and Sapphira, who were stricken down dead, because they pretended to give all the price of their land when they only offered a part. They might have given a part and said so; but they gave a part, and said it was the whole and what was that but covering the sooty pot with silver dross? And that will never pass with God.

For mark, He sees and knows everything. The darkness and the light are both alike to Him. He can never be mocked or deceived. He can read your thoughts and feelings, as well as hear all your words. His eyes run to and fro on the earth, beholding the evil and the good. Come and see my telescope,' said a friend, one day. It is up in the tower of the house, and I would like you to see it, and tell you a story about it.' So up we went; and there was the big telescope, and here was

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the story. 'Once,' my friend said, 'I was looking through my glass, and away in the distance, nearly a mile off, I saw two young women, talking with their fingers. They were dumb. And knowing the alphabet, I discovered that the subject of their conversation was a new dress that one of them was about to get. They did not know I saw them and heard their thoughts; yet I did.' And looking round, I said, 'Oh, isn't that just how it is with us down here on the earth?' Though we dont see God, He sees us, and knows everything we think and do,

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Of our thoughts and actions too.' Be sincere, because God loves truth in the inward parts. He wishes you and me to act consistently. Not saying one thing and feeling another. Not making any professions of love either to Him or others, that are not true. Remember what the Saviour said to Peter-Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me? Is it true? Do you really love Me after all that happened yon night?' And Peter said, 'Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.' And if you can say the same, happy will ye be.

But do avoid hypocrisy-because some of the most terrible things that Jesus said, were said against this sin. Most kind He was to sinners that came confessing their sins. He forgave them, and said 'Go and sin no more.' But to the hypocrites He spoke in words like thunder, while His eye flashed like lightning. Never, never put on false faces, because God knows everything, loves truth, hates hypocrisy, and because of the dreadful consequences that are sure to follow. Remember the sooty pot with its silver dross, and avoid false appearances.

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