'I have my reward, and require no other.' 'How is that?

'God rewards those who do their duty.' 'It may not be thy duty, boy. I may be thy enemy, and the enemy of thy country.'

'It is my duty,' replied Albert, 'to serve my enemy when in distress or trouble. And wert thou the wicked Gessler himself, I would serve thee.'

6

Albert guided the soldier to a passage over the river, formed by the rocks, known only to a few of the Swiss. Suddenly they came upon a detachment of the Austrian army; and, as they drew near, the officer in command called out, The Governor!' and the soldiers immediately saluted him. Albert thus learned that his companion was Gessler, the enemy of his country and of his father, whom he had just lately called the wicked Gessler.' To get away as soon as possible from such company was his aim.

'I have performed my promise, sir,' he said to Gessler, and now I may be permitted to pass on my way.'

Not till we are better acquainted, my young friend,' said the general. You have performed for me an essential service, and I must reward you. Who, and what are you, boy?'

'My name is Albert; and I reside, when I am at home, at Altorf.'

'Albert is thy baptismal name,-a good name, worthy a good Austrian; but there are many Alberts in this wide world. What is thy other name? Tell me, that I may do thy parents, as well as thyself, some service.'

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give up my father to thee? Put me to ten thousand cruel deaths, I will brave them all; and tell thee to the last that this is an ill requite to one who saved thee from death by the wolves, and led thee by the torrent and through the storm in safety.'

'Bind him,' cried Gessler; but Albert was too quick for him. Springing to the edge of the rocks, and shouting defiance, he threw himself over, and plunged unhurt into the stream far below. He finished his journey in safety, and returned to his father before daybreak.

Children, there is a boy from whom you can learn something. Albert Tell was a true patriot in a double sense. He was a good citizen of Switzerland; and his truthful, honest conduct, showed him to be a good citizen of his heavenly fatherland. Like him, love your father and your fatherland. Like him, be loyal to your heavenly Father and heavenly fatherland.

LETTERS FOR THE MONTHS.

LESMAHAGOW.

MY DEAR HARRY,

J. M'M.

Sept.

It is three hundred years since the Reformation reached Scotland-nearly two hundred years since the last religious troubles there. Long serene years. We forget that old heroism of faith in the stillness that has fallen over us.

You have no fervid parchment now to sign from your own veins. Once they did that in the Greyfriars' Churchyard of Edinburgh. The grass is growing greenly over the old graves.

Let us be glad and grateful for the peace that has come from the strife.

But I pray you, my young, bright Harry, with the youth of your years for a dower, think never that the strife is over, that the hero days are past.

Hero days! pardon me. I write the words with fear. The world is so full of false heroism, one trembles for the true. Do not, I pray you, for a moment imagine yourself a hero when you are none, and so

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lower the tone of your life that it never can be set true again.

But prize, with a fine enthusiasm, the hero lives that are such, and live with them and in them till their beauty becomes yours. Breathe the spirit of them. They will make yours the brighter and better.

The page of Reformation history is a noble page for a study-a study for you, my Harry, with your glad life before you, and all its possible achievements.

If you could come to this village on the banks of the Nethan water, you would breathe the very atmosphere of Protestantism. I do not mean that you would be the better, or the more Protestant for that. But the very air is so laden with the memory of struggle and victory and defeat, you could not forget the history of the church and live by the Nethan water.

The village has lost many charms since the days when it is told that passengers from the London coach looked down upon it as a dream. It broke upon them, after miles of moorland, with such a wonder of beauty.

Three sides of low, wooded hill, and the Nethan water at their base, and the little unnoted village lying waiting for a painter's love.

Many hundred years carlier its loveliness was recognised, and an Abbey was built, where the village stands, in the reign of David first. The only vestige of this establishment remains in the old nameAbbey Green.

The zeal of the Reformers here exceeded all imagining not one stone of the Benedictine monastery was left upon another. And the people, through the long years that followed, clung to their purer faith with a love and devotion which no earthly authority could shake. Along the green hillsides and the lonely moorland burns they witnessed, when evil days fell on Scotland, their loyalty to that faith.

No part of Scotland is richer than the vale of Nethan in traditions of the Covenanters. What of strength and truth we owe them, we cannot truly tell. But here, in this little rude village, we learn to know what they meant.

Try never to lose what they teach-—the faith, the self-sacrifice, the courage.

And if you should ever chance to wander up the Nethan water, spare a hushed, reverent thought for the lives that were lived and the deaths that were suffered there.

The moors are drowsy purple; the oaks and the wych-elms are sere. The heavy silence falls upon the landscape, storied three hundred years ago.

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H. W. H. W.

FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL'S NEWTON TEMPERANCE REGIMENT. IN N the interesting Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal,' the following account is given by her sister of the first three days of the last week' on earth of this eminent saint.

My dear sister Frances had promised to meet some men and boys on the village bank on May 21st. Though the day was very damp, she went, taking her Bible and her Temperance book with her. While standing a long time on this cold spot, heavy clouds came up from the Channel, and she returned, wet and chilly with the rain and mist; even then some waiting for her to speak to them.

were

May 22nd, being Ascension Day, she wished to go to church with our friend, but looked so poorly that I urged her to come for the Communion only. She was very tired, and took a donkey home. As she passed through our village of Newton, quite a procession gathered round her, her regiment of boys eagerly listening. Her donkey boy, Fred Rosser, remembers that Miss Frances told him, "I had better leave the devil's side and get on the safe side; that Jesus Christ's was the winning side; that He loved us and was calling us, and wouldn't I choose Him for my Captain?" Arriving at home, Frances ran in for her book, and on the saddle Fred signed the pledge. A young sailor, W. Llewellyn, was going to sea the next day. Frances was anxious to speak to him, and in the evening went to the cottage. He signed the book, and heard one of her closing messages; and this was the last time her feet were

"Swift and beautiful for Thee."

'May 23rd.

The chilliness increased; and though she was in her study as usual, I requested the doctor to see my dear sister, and desired him to come again. The Temperance meeting was to be held in the evening, and my sister arranged 150 large Temperance cards, then to be given. Very cheerfully she gave up the wish to go, saying (so like her!), "You will do all so much better than I can; will you give them two messages from me? to those who have signed, "Behold God Himself is . our Captain" (2 Chron. xiii. 12); to those who have not signed, "Come thou with us, and we will do thee good" (Num. x. 29).'

This touching record will enable our young readers to understand and appreciate the following lines by a deaf mute friend, and it is to be hoped induce many to join the Temperance Band.

OH! say you will remember, boys, that loving heart and hand,

The heart that prayed, the hand that worked for you, her Temperance Band; Remember all the precious truths with which she tried to fill

Your hearts, and let her loving words
dwell in your memory still.
You heard her words, her lessons bright,
You never can forget them quite,
And when attained to manhood's years,

you'll bless the faithful hand That guided to her Saviour dear, the

Newton Temperance Band!

Fred. Rosser, you, the last of all, she asked

to join her Band;

Will you not boldly now proclaim, that by your Pledge you stand?

Say that you try to follow her; be manly, brave, and true,

And others try to win for Christ, as she would have you do.

You never can forget the day, when with such earnest look

She called on you, and not in vain, to sign

her Temperance book.

Now do you not rejoice to think, she took such pains with you,

And will you not in future years, be to your promise true?

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And you, my boys, who still hold back! still her good wishes thwart,

Do

you not wish that you had joined, to gladden that kind heart?

Oh will you disappoint her yet? Still speaks that loving voice:

'My little lads, I love you so, do make the happy choice;

'Our Captain is the Lord Himself, and they are sure to win

'Who follow close His blessed steps, and fight against all sin.'

Say-Jesus, I will trust Thee, trust Thee with my soul;

'Guilty, lost, and helpless, Thou canst make me whole;

'There is none in heaven, or on earth like Thee:

เ Thou hast died for sinners-therefore, Lord, for me.'

So, when temptations gather round, when Satan's snares are set,

To make you drink-to break your pledgeoh think of her regret

Could she but know, that one of those, whom lovingly she sought,

Had grieved her King and holy Lord, by word or deed or thought.

Oh may you faithful be and true, to all her teachings bright,

And each become, as she would wish, a clear and shining light:

That she may meet you all at last, and find, through grace divine, Each one of you His jewel bright, with her for ever shine!

ROSE MANGHAM.

PRIZE BIBLE QUESTIONS. THREE Prizes are offered for the largest number of correct answers to the Questions during 1880. The Competition is limited to those under 14 years of age. The answers to be sent to the REV. JOHN KAY, 2 Cumin Place, Grange, Edinburgh, by the 25th of each month.

25 Give one verse from the gospel narrative which tells all that is known concerning eighteen years of Jesus' life on earth?

26 In one verse give an apostle's summary of Christ's public ministry.

27 In four words, from an Old Testament prophet, give a summary of His whole life?