At night when all was hushed and still,
I crossed, and did not feel afraid,
But o'er me passed a sudden thrill,

Like glowing sunshine after shade;
For oh! the place was strangely fair,
The voices full of rapturous bliss,
No tongue or pencil could declar
The glories of a land like this.

A baby looked at me and smiled,
A little tender helpless thing,
I wondered, could it be the child

Who went from us this gloomy spring--
Now safe and free from pain and harms,
And cradled in her angel's arms,
No longer are those sweet eyes dim,
Jesus had called the child to Him.

I saw the friend we mourned so long
With such a faithful fond regret,
Whose love for us had been so strong,
We have not ceased to miss it yet;
I thought he smiled, my dream to bless,
With his old gentle tenderness,
Even in heaven, well pleased to see
How green we kept his memory.

And there upon His glorious throne,

A crown of light around His brow, He sat whose blood did once atone,

And who is pleading for us now; A human form He still doth wear,

And still He looks with loving eyes, And still He grants the sinner's prayer To be with Him in Paradise.

I wakened with a thrill of pain,
Then with a sigh of calm regret
I turned me to my life again-

I might not cross the river yet.
But often I shall hear the song

Of angels on the farther shore, And often see the white-robed throng, Of friends-'not lost, but gone before.'

And those sweet early dreams of mine,
Those fancies once I deemed so fair,
Shall find fulfilment all divine-

Love, talents, beauty, all are there.
For I believe for His dear sake
Our wants shall more than be supplied,
And in His likeness when I wake
I know I shall be satisfied.

KATIE THOMSON.

NOT AFRAID TO DIE.

WHAT is that you're saying? Am I going to die?' asked a little girl, who had been sick for only a few days.

It was Maggie Anderson. A motherless child she was, and just six years of age. A year or two before, her dear mother had gone to be with Jesus, for He had called her away to His Father's house, where the many mansions be.' She had taught her little daughter many Bible lessons before leaving this world; and Maggie never forgot them. God's love in sending His only Son to die for sinners, and God's promise to give every blessing to those who ask Him for Jesus' sake-these things she had laid up in her heart of hearts.

Her sickness had been very sore, and it was now plain that she was hasting after her mother. An old friend of the family had just come in to see the sufferer; and to this lady the nurse was telling, in a whisper, that the doctor had said all would soon be over.' Maggie's quick ear caught the words; and hence her question, 'Am I going to die?'

The visitor sat down beside the bed. She and the child loved each other dearly. Taking the little thin hand in her own, the lady said, 'Are you afraid to die?'

O no!' answered Maggie, with a feeble but cheerful voice; 'I am not afraid to die. I have prayed to my Father in Heaven, ever since I can remember, to pardon and to keep me for the sake of Jesus. Last night, I prayed more than I ever prayed any night of my life, that Jesus would save I know He will; and I'm not afraid

me.

to die.'

Strong was the trust of the dear child. Firmly she leaned on Christ's promises, 'Him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out: Ask, and ye shall receive: Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do.'

Upheld by this hope in Christ, death lost its terrors. She stretched out to Jesus the arms of her faith and love; and soon He came and carried His little lamb home in His Almighty arms.

Do you, dear young reader, know what it

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is to pray like Maggie Anderson? When you kneel down, do you know that your God and Father is present, though you cannot see His glorious face? Do you re

OUR MISSIONARY PAGE.

'COME AGAIN, DOMINIE, CLOSE MINE EYES.'

standing between the Holy God and yourself? Do you put yourself and your prayers into Christ's hands, that so sin may be washed away from them, and they be made such as God can receive? And when you thus ask for pardon and blessing, do you expect God to give an answer of peace?

Too many, both old and young, say prayers, but never pray at all. I have heard of a man who did so for fifty years. Oh! how he was startled, when he saw that he had been mocking God all the time.

If you and I came late some cold winter night to our parents' dwellings, and found the doors closed and locked, and all the lights out, don't you think we would knock in right earnest? I am sure we would not give over, till we had roused the people within, and got admittance.

If a little girl wishes her mother to buy her a new dress, we all know how she pleads and entreats for it. And if even a very little child comes in hungry from play, the nurse or the mother gets no rest till a supply of food is given.

So should we pray to God,-earnestly, and persevering till we find an answer. But we must not think that God is hard, and does not like to bestow good things. One of His very names is THE GIVING GOD. He has given Christ, the best gift of His love, to whosoever will have Jesus; and with His Son, He freely gives all needed blessings. Sometimes He delays answering to try if we are in earnest; but always is His promise sure

They that seek the LORD

shall not want any good thing.

Psalm xxxiv. 10.

the world? There are large black, black patches on it, with only a few streaks of white. The black part tells us that no light of the glorious Gospel has yet shone there, and that the thousands and millions of people living there are in the dark path that leads to the blackness of darkness for ever. The light streaks show where the missionaries have taken the Lamp of God's Word, and there they know the Lord Jesus, who is indeed the Light of the world. Now look at the map of South America, and on the north-eastern coast you will see a little streak of light in British Guiana. Would you like to hear how the Lamp of God's Word was taken there, and how it shone in one little heart?

Many years ago, a missionary left his happy

home to visit British Guiana. There are no roads through the wild forests, and the Indian has often to cut his path through the high jungle grass and thorny cactus. The mighty eagle and the tiny humming bird may be seen there. Poisonous serpents and stinging scorpions abound. It is very hot there, and no winter time comes. The flowers are very beautiful, and they twist and twine and hang round and down the trees like Mayday garlands. That wonderful plant, called after our Queen, 'Victoria Regia,' is found in the rivers. The flower is pink and often two feet in size. The leaves are four or five feet across, and so strong, that, as they lie on the water, you might sit on them like a raft.

You would hardly like to meet the Indians, they look strangely wild, and their eyes wild and cruel. They wear parrot feathers in their caps, bows and arrows over their shoulders, large knives slung at their sides, and tomahawks in their hands.

The Indians do not worship any idols, but they believe there is a 'Great Spirit.' They think it is no matter how they sin or how they live, nor do they know what comes after death. They do not know the sweet name of Jesus, and how much He loves to save the lost. But the Lord Jesus put it into this missionary's heart to come and teach them. When he first arrived, there was no Inn to go to, no house to live in. But he cut some of the trees down, and soon made a hut. For months he never

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had a slice of bread, only hard biscuits, and often hardly enough to eat.

Then the missionary thought he would begin to teach the children, and went to the huts to make friends with them. Away they ran, screaming and crying. For many weeks he tried in vain, and began to think he must go back to England. Perhaps you laugh at these children running away,-is it not far worse when you run away from your class to ramble in the fields, away from your teacher, away from the Good Shepherd's voice?

The missionary was very sad and troubled, and his path seemed very dark. But the Lamp that is ever bright, shone with guiding rays. He was reading his Bible one day and came to that verse, Being crafty, I caught you with guile,' and he remembered how, years ago, he had thrown crumbs down to the birds, and they had come nearer and nearer till he could catch them. He had some sweet biscuits left, so he filled his pocket and went towards the huts. He had heard that the poor children had been told that if the white man touched them they would die. O, if he could only catch one little girl! Away they scampered, but when they saw the biscuits thrown down they came back and picked them up. He did not try to catch them the first day. At last one brave child took a biscuit from his hand, then he touched her, and stroked her head kindly, and she did not die. So then they left off running away; and very soon many of them came, and school was begun.

་

How glad the misionary was to teach them the old, old story of Jesus and His love.' But there was no word for Jesus in the Indians' language, so he had to make one from their word for washer. The Lord Jesus is indeed the great Washer.

One little boy heard and believed the good news. It was midnight when he felt so ill that he thought he was dying. He asked for a light, and begged that his schoolfellows might be sent for. He said, 'We have often learnt from the Bible-book at school that Jesus shed His blood, and said, "Suffer little children to come unto me." I have come. Please come to Jesus now.' He asked them to sing, 'How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,' and while they were singing, the Indian child's spirit was carried away to the fold above.

For ten years the missionary went on teaching and preaching. The Indians never cry, even if the skin were scalped off their heads; and yet the missionary did see them cry, and

it made them cry? It was that God loved them for Jesus' sake. Well may we cry,

'Saviour, all the stone remove

From this flinty, frozen heart.'

And now the missionary's health was spent. The hot climate took his strength away. It is like always breathing hot steam, and the smell of the dead leaves brought on a bad fever. He felt that he must go back to England to get strong again. The Indians were very sorry to say good-bye to their kind Dominie. They never say Sir or Master, but Dominie. Many of them came down to the shore to watch him get into the canoe that was to take him to the great ship. When the canoe was a long way from the shore, he saw a little black head; was it a dog swimming after him? No, it was one of his little school girls swimming after him to say good-bye. She got up to the canoe, and put her hand in the missionary's, saying, 'Come again, Dom. inie, close mine eyes.' The missionary could only bless her and bid her swim home again. Little white girls of six years do not often swim, though I do know one child who watched how the frogs swam and then went and practised it till she could swim quite well. But the Indian children run off to swim as easily as you run races in the lanes.

Was

But see! there is a little black head in the water again. It is the same little girl swimming to meet the missionary. And what are her words of welcome? O, Dominie, you are come again to close mine eyes.' They took her up into the canoe, and the lady quite loved the child. But she wondered at the child's words, and asked what they meant. When the Indians speak of death, they say, 'He has closed his eyes.' it not strange the child should think so much of dying? She had no mother, and her father gave her leave to go and stay in the mission house some weeks. Here she learnt many texts and hymns, and heard much about the Lord Jesus, but no one knew whether she really loved Him. Her father was chief of the Indians, and on his return from some expedition sent for her home.

Soon after, she was taken ill, and a message came that she wanted to see her kind Dominie. He came many times, and brought the only Book that can light up the dark valley. I wonder what light would shine from the other school books. Would geography, and arithmetic, and standards one, two, three, be any comfort to dying scholars? But the Bible lessons and Bible verses learnt at school brought light and joy; they were all coming true in the child's heart.

One morning a message came from the old chief, 'Make haste, make haste, Dominie, my child going away.' The missionary and his wife hastened to the hut. There was no bed, but a hammock slung between four posts, on which the dying child lay. Again the little hand was put into the missionary's, and again the words she had said long ago on the shore were repeated, 'O Dominie, now you are come to close mine eyes.'

He said, 'But, my child, would you not rather get well, and live longer with your father?"

She thought awhile, and then said, 'No, no, I would rather go and live with Jesus.'

'My child, are you ready to go?'

"Yes, quite ready; my heart is white. Dominie, do read to me,-that Book.'

He read out of 'that Book,' the Book for the living, the Book for the dying.

Then the child said, 'Dominie, pray for me to my Jesus.'

He knelt, and she put her little hand in his. He prayed that Jesus the Good Shepherd would stoop down and gather this lamb with His arm, and take her all the way to His fold above.

Then he got up and said, 'Good-bye, dear child, I must go now.' But there was no answer; she was already beyond the reach of earthly voice. The little eyes were quite open and looking up. He saw that she was gone; and so with many tears the Dominie's hand closed her eyes.

The next hand that touches those eyes will be the true Dominie's, the Lord of life everlasting.

Dear children, the same hand of life must now open the eyes of your mind, if you wish to close them in peace, like this Indian child. Do pray, 'Open Thou mine eyes.'

And will not you do something to help to send that Book, that Lamp of life and light, to those who are still walking in darkness.

MARIA V. G. HAVERGAL.

OCTOBER

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46. Where do we find one verse of a prophecy in which the doctrine of the atonement is clearly stated four times?

47. Which follower of Jesus understood before the crucifixion that Jesus must suffer and die?

48. In which verse of an epistle do we find the only definition of faith given in Scripture? 49. Another verse of the same epistle describes the three things implied in saving faith? 50. Which two persons were commended by the Lord Jesus for their great faith?

ANSWERS TO BIBLE QUESTIONS IN THE SEPT. NUMBER OF THE DAYSPRING.'

(41) Three. Luke vi. 14-16; Matt. x. 2. (42) Luke ix. 49, 50, 54, 55; xviii. 15; Matt. xvi. 22; John xiii. 8; xviii. 26. (43) Matt. xv. 23. (44) John xix. 26, 35. (45) John xx. 2, 8. John.