'How very strange,' said Harry, after listening to this story, 'No one would ever have thought that a flock of cranes could tell of a murder.'

It is a very striking story, and forcibly reminds us of Solomon's words of warning against evil-speaking. Read Eccles. x. 20.'

"Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bed-chamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.""

"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good." Even when no human eye witnesses the evil deed, and no human ear hears the evil word spoken, the All-seeing eye above and conscience within find winged messengers to tell the matter. When Achan saw among the spoils of Jericho a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, and coveted them, and took them, and hid them in the earth, he thought no one would ever know what he had done. But God's eye was upon him, and he was obliged to confess his sin before all the people, and to suffer the punishment of his iniquity. How was Achan's sin found out, Harry?'

'The Israelites were beaten in the battle at Ai, and God told Joshua that it was because some one had sinned, and that they must discover who it was by casting lots; and then Achan was taken and stoned to death.'

'The defeat at Ai and the lot were God's messengers to discover Achan's sin. And when Gehazi ran after Naaman, and said that Elisha had sent him to ask a talent of silver, and two changes of garments, how was his covetousness and falsehood found out?'

'God told Elisha all about it, and Naaman's leprosy came upon Gehazi to punish him.'

Yes; the Holy Spirit, the heavenly dove, showed Elisha Gehazi's wicked conduct, and he said to him, "Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned away from his chariot to meet thee? The leprosy

therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever." And when Ananias and Sapphira sold the land and kept back part of the price, how was their sin discovered?'

'Peter knew what they had done, and they both fell down dead when he accused them of their sin.'

'God saw their hypocrisy and wickedness, and punished them before all the church, for a warning to all of how vain it is to imagine that any sin can be hidden from God.

'God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.'

A faithful dog was the means of discovering the murderer of his master, a Frenchman named Aubric de Montdidier. The dog vainly defended his master when his mortal foe Macaire attacked and killed him. Then he lay day and night on the forest grave in which Macaire, hoping to hide his crime, had buried his victim. But there is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. The faithful dog never left the grave, excepting when he went to the house of his master's chief friend in Paris, for his daily meal. At length suspicion was aroused; the dog was followed to the forest grave, the ground was searched, the murder discovered, and the corpse again buried. Afterwards, the dog's furious attacks upon Macaire led to his being accused of the murder, and the matter was put to the proof by the ordeal of combat in the Isle de Nore Dame. The dog had a tub into which he might retire, the man a club and a shield. The combat was so lengthy that Macaire, no doubt tormented by his own conscience, was so worn out that he fainted away, and on coming to himself confessed the murder.

'If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.'

'He smiles in heaven, He frowns in hell,
He fills the earth, the air, the sea;

I must within His presence dwell,
I cannot from His anger flee.

Yes-I may flee, He shows me where;
To Jesus Christ He bids me fly;
And while He sees me weeping there,
There's only mercy in His eye.'

'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'

THE

BRITISH HYMN-WRITERS.

ALEXANDER HUME.

HE early hymn-writers of Scotland are very few indeed. In the long, sad, romantic history of this mountain land, the sweet, still voice of hymns is scarcely to be heard. The devotion of the people found its voice in other ways. We are left small legacy of sacred song from the days of the first Stuarts. But in the reign of James Sixth there was published a volume of Hymns or Sacred Songs' by Alexander Hume.

Alexander Hume was one of an old Berwickshire family--afterwards ennobled, and bearing, for one or two generations, the title of Earl of Marchmont. He was a courtier, in the early part of his life, in the grave court of James Sixth; but in his latter years he had retired from the palace, and become minister of the little parish of Logie.

It must have been a gentle change from the pedantries of James Sixth's court, and the haughty strifes of the nobles, and the hard debates of the clergy, to retire to this peaceful parish among the green Ochill hills. The graceful links of the Forth wind here and there among its pastures, and the lovely rivers Allen and Devon water its lonely places. There is no lovelier spot to be desired or found, than many a nook of this little parish which the poet-courtier now tended. And the poem, of all the volume which is still best known, seems but a transcript of the beauty round him.

THANKS FOR A SUMMER DAY.

'O perfect Light, which shed away
The darkness from the light,
And set a ruler o'er the day,
Another o'er the night.

The shadow of the earth, anon,
Removes, and so draws by;
Then in the east, when it is gone,
Appears a clearer sky.

Which soon perceive the little larks,
The lapwing and the snipe,

And tune their song, like Nature's clerks,
O'er meadow, muir, and stripe.

The golden globe, incontinent,
Sets up his shining head,
And o'er the earth and firmament
Displays his beams abroad.

For joy the birds, with boulden throats
Against his visage sheon,

Take up their kindly music notes

In woods and gardens green.

The passenger, from perils sure,
Goes gladly forth the way;
Brief, every living creature

Takes comfort of the day.

The time so tranquil is and clear,
That nowhere shall ye find,
Save on a high and barren hill,
The air of passing wind.

All trees and simples, great and small,
The balmy leaf do bear;
Than they were painted on a wall
They no more move or stir.

The rivers fresh, the cooling streams
O'er rocks can swiftly rin
The water clear, like crystal beams,
And makes a pleasant din.
So silent is the brooding air,

That every cry and call
The hills and dales and forests fair
Again repeat them all.

The clogged, busy, humming bees,
That never think to drown,
On flowers and flourishes of trees
Collect their liquor brown.

The mavis and the philomen,

The sterling whistles loud;
The cushats on the branches green
Full quietly they crowd.

The gloamin' comes, the day is spent,
The sun goes out of sight,
And painted is the occident
With purple sanguine bright.

What pleasure, then, to walk and see
Endlang, a river clear;

The perfect form of every tree
Within the deep appear.

6

O sure it were a seemly thing, When all is still and calm,

The praise of God to play and sing With trumpet and with psalm.

All labourers draw hame at even,
And e'en to others say,

Thanks to the gracious God of Heaven,
Who sent this summer day.'

Many verses are omitted, for the poem is too long to give in full. Hume spent some of his earlier years in France; and once or twice he seems to blend his memory with his vision.

'Rises the careful husbandman,

His corn and vines to see.'

This could not be in his own Scottish parish. But usually his images are as familiar as sweet-a picture of the quiet life round him, as he saw it from his own grateful soul. And if from his tranquil hymn we learn the same tranquility, to be grateful for common beauty, and content with simple joys, and down through the calm sweetness of a sunny summer day to see God's love and care shining and brooding over us-then we have won from the old Logie minister the best gift of a friend. We know but his name-little Yet he has touched us through the centuries. Perhaps this friendship shall deepen-sometime beyond.

more.

He died in his parish of Logie in the year 1609.

H. W. II. W.

UNCONSCIOUS INFLUENCE.

"TWAS only a little seed,

As light as thistle-down, Wind-wafted over a distant mead, And dropped in a dreary town, That sank, with a stifled sigh,

Where no one heard it fall, In a home, unsought by human eye, Near a gloomy convent wall.

'Twas only a tiny seed,

A germ of vital power,

That sunshine sought in time of need, And straightway sprang a flower:

The raindrops trickled there,

And soft, distilling dew,

Combined to keep it green and fair
The long glad summer through.

'Twas only a little deed,

Of tender, thoughtful cheer,

That Heaven sent home, with winged speed, To soothe a spirit's fear;

Till the tangled web of life

Ran on with a smoother flow,

As music rose, through the din and strife, That pleased the Master so.

"Twas only a little word,

But its influence, who can tell!
For its echo struck a hidden chord
In a heart whereon it fell;
And flowers sprang, sweet and fair,
From the life wherein it lay,

Whose scent was borne on the summer air
When the lips had passed away.

We thank Thee for Thy mercies past,
And for the future, blessings crave;
For Thou art ever, Lord, the same--
The mighty, mighty One to save.

Oh, if Thy grace Thou shouldst extend,
And spare us for another year,
Guide us, O Lord, in truth and love,

That we may know and feel Thee near.

And when on earth, our hour shall come
To pass dark Jordan's swelling wave,
Oh, then, in mercy be with us,
That we may triumph o'er the grave!

WM. OUIN.

and girls, and visit a gallery of very ancient and noteworthy pictures, painted by famous men, with whose names you are all familiar?

The first picture represents a man girding on his armour. He has a grave, and yet a fearless face, as if he saw before him first a hard battle, and then a glorious victory. He has already encased his body in a cuirass, guarded his head with a shining

sandals. On his left arm hangs a broad shield, whose dented surface tells of many a hard blow. In his right hand he holds a glittering sword, which he has just drawn out of its scabbard, and whose sharp doubleedge of well-tempered metal seems to fill him with confidence in the prospect of meeting his enemies. On the frame which encircles the picture, you will find sentences explaining its meaning. Above is em