The soiled can be washed, and it will do for some poor woman who has to purchase every half yard she wants for cap strings, Other bits of riband will be useful when dyed black; faded silk handkerchiefs also. These, and any worn pieces of crape you have, will be most valuable in the event of death in a poor family, and will help to effect a decent appearance at the funeral, a little assistance at such time being doubly acceptable, and feelingly appreciated by poor neighbours.

To a mother with a young family, endeavour to render a little help; infants' frocks may be made from the better parts of an old morning dress; let not the latter ever be cut up for dusters, especially if light in colour, and fine in material. Little pieces of cambric, &c., will come in nicely for baby's caps, and the sleeves of an old silk dress will make a useful hood. A piece of new print that may have been left of a dress, will make a bonnet for a little girl; an odd bit of cloth a cap for a little boy; a pattern is easily procured, and the business will not be found a lengthy one. Little pieces of print will always be acceptable, especially where there is a sick child to amuse, or employment to be found for an elderly woman who can do nothing more serviceable than patchwork. Pieces of print, even when faded, are often found useful in repairing bed-quilts and bed-hangings, window curtains, &c.

Try in every little way to be of use to your poorer neighbours; ever be ready to write a letter for them, and have in some cases an envelope (of a useful size) and a stamp to give. A map from Bradshaw's Railway Guide, will often form an acceptable directory, and instead of being destroyed and sharing the fate of the leaves it was bound up in, may be preserved, to be of considerable use and service. Ever be ready to speak a kind word, and to evince interest in those around you; encourage them in their labours, inquire about their pigs and poultry, the growth of their vegetables, &c. Notice the flowers in their cottage

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garden, admire the woodbine climbing up to the thatch, the rose clustering by the cottage-door and peeping in at the window; pay attention to these little things, and teach them to do the same. Endeavour by a careful arrangement of time to secure a few hours occasionally for the benefit of friends of your own class; be ready to lend a helping hand when an outfit is to be prepared; offer your assistance when wine is making, fruit being preserved, &c. In many ways of this kind you may be really useful to others, and at the same time be acquiring valuable experience for yourself.

A few days since, I saw at a parsonage, a neat little bed-room papered by the lady of the house, assisted by a friend, though of course it would be wrong in some cases to deprive tradesmen of employment and profit; but when the claims of a family are pressing, and income limited, the thing is quite lawful; indeed, if such desire to give, they must learn to be saving in their expenditure, and to exercise in every way the utmost economy. In order to provide a little fund for charitable purposes, I have known some young persons to give up the use of sugar and butter, and to appropriate to the above a weekly allowance for the same; sometimes forfeits imposed are thus applied. I hardly need remark upon the duty of self-denial in little matters, and of the pleasure afforded by devoting such first fruits to benevolent and religious purposes. The claims of missions, both at home and abroad, are very pressing, and where the needle can be brought into willing service, many useful garments, work-bags, needle-books, pincushions, &c., may be made, which will be of most important service, and truly acceptable at our mission stations abroad, our orphan schools in Ireland, and at our ragged school institutions at home.

In conclusion, I would say especially to ministers' daughters-Go amongst the people-you have an introduction and wide-spreading influence which may be

turned to great advantage and blessing; endeavour to get hold upon the minds of the people; embrace every opportunity of showing them little attentions, and of doing little kindnesses; the result will be found highly beneficial, your own sources of happiness will be increased, and the profit and pleasure of others silently and effectively promoted.

I must not further enlarge, but in conclusion, may I urge the necessity of earnest prayer, and divine teaching, in order that duties may be performed in a right spirit-that our desires and aims may be simple and sincere, and that God in all things may be glorified.

A CLERGYMAN'S NIECE.

A DAY WITH THE REAPERS.

BOAZ was a splendid specimen of a patriarchal farmer. His very name was characteristic "The Active"-it spoke of that diligence which the incidents of the story themselves illustrate. Though he was a wealthy man, he did not shut himself up in his house, in scornful indolence, leaving it to some thrifty steward to look after his agricultural concerns.

He was too wise for that. He knew that a master's eye and voice can work wonders. He evidently did not approve of "middlemen." Had he lived in Ireland, he would not have been an absentee. Now, we rejoice to believe that a large number of business men at the present day, do greatly care for, and do extensively interest themselves in the people whose labour they employ. There is wisdom in this; deep practical wisdom. A free man does more real work than a slave; and the more the master looks after his workmen, in a friendly temper, not in an Egyptian task

master spirit, the more they will yield to him the fruitful efforts of a willing heart. A Manchester cotton-spinner said to us one day, “I don't think the money I spend over my mill schools at all wasted; it comes back to me in the shape of improved labour.” Certainly, then, kindness may be the best policy, as well as honesty.

But such kindness should not only be politic. It should be the working out of the beautiful law of love, enriching and blessing the patient, toiling artizan; not from gainful motives, but because the heart is full of brotherly affection, and makes the mouth speak out of its abundance. Observe the wealthy Boaz. He enters his harvest field, not principally that his presence may be a stimulus to exertion, but to manifest his sympathy with his reapers. His few and simple words open to him every heart. His concern for the highest interests of those binders of sheaves, shows that he thinks of souls rather than of “hands when he comes amongst

his servants.

This is not so frequent as it should be now. We allow that many masters provide carefully for the comforts of those whose services help to make them rich; but they rarely manifest a sympathy which is like that of Boaz. Tolerable wages-good food-libraries— occasional holidays—an annual festival:-do these constitute the elysium of the employed? We ask for more than these privileges; we ask for real sympathy, speaking its presence in simple, earnest words—words which shall grasp the most glorious hopes of man's being, and send them knocking at the workman's heart.

Why is it that the working classes are confessedly indifferent to religion? Why has the Hall of Science more Sunday attractions for the mechanic than the House of God?

The fact is, a great want of the age is, a Gospel for the Workshop. A Gospel carried there, not in gown

and bands. A Gospel preached there, not in conventional pulpit" platitudes" (as the Times calls them). We want the masters to become evangelists. And if they stood among their men, and said some religious saying, aye, though it were as brief as the salutation of Boaz, it would sink more deeply into the heart, and do its work more vigorously than all the polished sermons that Blair has ever written.

We do not see how preachers are to evangelize the workshop. It is easy enough to sneer at their dull, droning common places, under which respectable disciples comfortably slumber. We are not apologists for dullness anywhere, least of all in the pulpit, with its entrancing themes and its exciting motives; but we do not think the fault is with ministers and their sermons. We rather think they cannot do much. We fear that the working classes have a prejudice against ministers. Their newspapers represent them as hirelings, gesticulators for a livelihood, men of obsolete forms, and unprogressive spirit, friends of the rich rather than the poor. The carnal heart will like to believe that this is true, and may thus retreat into a "refuge of lies" when the minister comes with his Christian solicitation.

This prejudice of course does not exist against laymen. When the merchant turns from his ledger to say to a young man, "Mr. Clerk, do you ever think about your soul ?" the inquiry comes with a startling effect that a preacher might well envy. Had a thunderbolt dropped into that little temple of mammon, it would scarcely have made a greater sensation. Mr. Clerk is wonder-struck. He goes home musing upon that strange question, which seemed to wing its way from the leaves of the bulky ledger. What! had it changed into a Bible? Was that grave, taciturn employer metamorphosed into a parson? Was not he in the counting house after all? Could he be dreaming?