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snow is, and what snow-balls are. She says:

'On Tuesday it snowed for two hoursa thing almost unknown in Jaffa. Such excitement there was! Some of the children asked if it was wool; others thought it cotton. Some boys took it for quinine. The ground was white, and there was a general rush to see the wonder. Miss Smith threw a snowball at one of them. It seemed all at once to dawn upon them what use might be made of snow, and for twenty minutes they pelted each other. I thought they had better have it out, as they might never have the chance again. It was a day never to be forgotten. The excitement did not quite subside till they were all in their beds. A Jewess came up to me with a very solemn face and asked if it was something very dreadful; and she looked quite relieved when told that snow was a very common thing, though not in Jaffa. Next morning, at the Bible class, some of the girls said they thought God had sent the snow to show them how white He wished their hearts to be.'

Do you know anything whiter than snow, dear children? A soul washed in the precious blood of Jesus, and dressed in His spotless robe of righteousness, is more beautiful. Jesus is gathering in little children into His fold just now, from Africa's burning plain, and from the sweet villages of His own beloved land. When I was in Cairo, in Egypt, I visited a mission school. When the children stood up to sing their hymns, I noticed a little woolly-headed child-eyes black as coal, bright as beads. Where had she come from? Central Africa. Her parents were sold as slaves, and this poor little one was tbrown aside and found by the missionaries lying in a garden. Now she was singing sweetly of the home over there.'

In a lovely village among the Lebanon mountains, I went to see a poor sick man. His wife had learnt to love Jesus, and had taught her two beautiful little girls about the Good Shepherd. The one child was named Saida, the other Musada. How I wish every boy and girl who reads this

could have heard those two dear children repeating the 23rd Psalm and the 103rd Psalm without a mistake. The Druze priests in the village told the poor mother they would kill her; and one day her brother, who is a Druze priest, came into her room with a gun in his hand and said, 'I will shoot you; for it is better for you to die than to live; for you are a disgrace to us.' When I left she expected her life would certainly be taken.

Dear children, the day is fast approaching when the Good Shepherd will gather in all His flock. Not one missing: They shall come from the north and the south, the east and the west.' And the Lamb shall feed them and lead them by the still, quiet waters of the River of Life. Will you be there?

CHOSEN LESSONS.

E. F.

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CHILDREN'S PLAYS.

YOUNG animals like play. It is natural

that they should, but the graceful frolics of the kitten by the hearth and the merry gambols of lambs over the sunny lea, have a meaning, and serve a purpose that the dumb creatures themselves cannot understand about. We know that such exercise helps to strengthen the body and make it grow.

And this is needed by the young human being as well, only he has in addition a mind to be trained, so that we should expect to find something more of intelligence and method in his games; still there is the same overflowing animal spirit.

See, now, that boys' school dismissing after a morning of hard work: on they come, running, leaping, wrestling, tumbling; getting rid of their pent-up energy by kicking a football, vaulting the fences and chasing bird or butterfly or ought else that is likely to run before them. All right too: only let them keep out of mischief; there is no fun in mischief. Boys have an advantage in this sort of thing. The governess of a ladies' boarding school would certainly be shocked if her orderly ranks were to break out in such fashion. Still, as much as possible girls should have fun as well as exercise, and at all events they may be hearty in what they do. Surely it is not unladylike to be interested. That much is only fair; for what can be more tiresome to the bright eager companion, than an indolent, sauntering, uninterested player? One likes a 'foeman worthy of his steel,' -a boy or girl who cares to win in the game, and yet who can take defeat with good humour. Just a word of caution here. I am quite sure that all right minded old people enjoy seeing young folks happy; but never must the children suppose that the chief duty of parents and other grown up friends is to find them amusement. Better to seek it for themselves, and invent games if need be. What now can be more enjoyable than 'imitation plays?' These are common to every age and country. Let us play at houses, at soldiers, at shops,

at parties, say our English children of to-day. While more than eighteen hundred years ago, in the market place of Jerusalem, Jewish boys and girls played at having marriage feasts and funeral processions in imitation of the customs of their country.

There had been idlers too in those days, children who wouldn't play, for we hear the complaint- We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented.'

On our own hill sides or village greens or city playgrounds, one generation after another enjoy such merry play, and then pass away out into the real difficulties and sorrows and joys of the world. For those who can visit the sea-side, what endless store of amusement is laid up in the ever shifting sand! Toil away, little workers. Your labour is not lost, although the fair structure that you have with such effort contrived to rear may be swept away with the first rising tide. It has served its purpose; you have had the fun of making it, and perhaps you have also got a lesson in diligence and perseverence. And do you know, my young friends, these two words contain the secret of success in any work great or small?

Then you have the regular games; marbles, skipping ropes and such like. I wonder who first invented these. It must have been a long while ago, for we know of at least one game that is played at in the present day in Spain, that has been minutely described by an old Roman historian. I dont know what kind of games the funny little Chinese boys have, but the black eyed Spaniards have kites and tops, and other plays the same as you have in Scotland, and I believe so have the Germans and Russians. So you see we are all brothers and sisters in play, although speaking a different tongue and wearing a variety of costumes. Let us then love one another as children of the same family, with one God and Father over all. This is a much nicer and happier plan, than to play in earnest at a Crimean, Franco-German, or TurkoRussian war.

A. W.

SUNSHINEY MAUD.

Now indeed the early flowers have come-only the early flowers-but how dear are these! I know you are deep among them-gathering them all for love. Was there ever a child-heart that did not rejoice in flowers? And yet as we grow older they become more deeply dear. Why, I cannot tell-you shall sometime know, little Maud. That touch of new creative love year by year, in the meadows, by the streams, in the daisies, in the violets, in the mosses, in the bursting of the chestnut leaves-it shall sometime become to you-I dare not say what of delight. You have gathered the Cardamine.

I

know not what you have called it. It has so many names, and each a poem of its own. Perhaps it is your cuckoo-flower, as it is on so many little lips. For you have paused in gathering it, your hands and your lap full, your soft cheeks flushed crimson with the fresh spring meadow wind, and heard the lonely note of the first far-off cuckoo, calling, echoing through the budding trees with such strange piercing sweetness. The cuckoo sings while the cardamine is paling the meadow with its flowers, and so it has been named the cuckoo flower, and perhaps you delight in this name.

But little ones in other meadows are calling it the lady's-smock. And this name