HARRY'S SERMON.

HARRY'S SERMON.

"EDDIE," said Harry, "let's go to church; I'll be the minister, and preach you a sermon." "Well," said Eddie, "and I'll be the people!"

So Harry led him away, and they went up stairs together. He set a low old fire-screen in front of him, by way of pulpit, and thus began:

easy one:

My text is a very short and "Be ye kind one to another." There are some short texts in the Bible on purpose for us children; and this is one of them. These are the heads of my sermon:

First. Be kind to Father, and don't make a noise when he has a headache. I dont believe you know what a headache is, but I do. I had one once, and I did'nt want to hear any noise.

Second. Be kind to Mother, and don't make her tell you to do a thing more than once. It is very tiresome to say, "It is time for you to go to bed," half a dozen times over.

Third. Be kind to baby Minnie.

"You have left out, Be kind to Harry," shouted Eddie.

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Yes," said Harry; "I did'nt mean to mention my own name in my sermon. I was saying, be kind

THIS LITTLE HAND.

to Minnie, and let her have your red ball to play with when she wants it."

Fourth. Be kind to Jane, and dont scream and kick when she washes and dresses you.

Here Eddie looked a little ashamed, and said: "But she pulled my hair with the comb."

People mustn't talk in meeting," said Harry. Fifth. Be kind to pussy. Do what will make her purr, and dont do what will make her cross.

"Isn't the sermon almost done?" asked Eddie, “I want to sing;" and without waiting for Harry to finish his discourse, or give out a hymn, he began to sing; and so Harry had to stop; but it was a very good sermon. Dont you think so?

THIS LITTLE HAND.

BROTHERS and sisters should always try to live in love. For if one of them should be taken ill and die they would be very sorry, and blame themselves if they had not always been kind and loving to the one who was gone. But if they had always lived in love, it would be pleasant to think of that.

I have heard of a brother and sister who loved one

ONLY A NARROW BROOK.

another very much. He was older than she; but he was taken ill and died. They laid him out on his own little bed, and the mother took his little sister to look at him. I cannot tell you what she felt and thought as she stood looking at his sweet face, as pale and cold as marble, but she wept very much. At last she said, "Mother, may I take hold of his hand?" Mother did not like to let her, it was so cold. But after a little time she placed it in hers, when the dear child, lifting it up and stroking it gently, said, "This little hand never struck me!" O how pleased she was to think of that! So little children love one another.

ONLY A NARROW BROOK.

THE dear child of whom I am about to tell you wanted one month of being ten years old. She had often heard that dying was like going over a river. She had read in Pilgrim's Progress about how Christian and Faithful had to go through it to the shining City on the other side; and at the sabbath school she had often joined in singing that pretty hymn, "" Just over the river."

POOR PUSS.

She was very ill, and for some time seemed to fear only one thing, and that was going over the river of death. But a short time before she died her fears seemed to pass away, when, with a cheerful smile, she said, "O, I see it now! and it is only a narrow brook after all;" and in a few minutes she went over to the shining shore.

Who was it that calmed her fears and led her safely over? Was it not He who once said, "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the floods, they shall not over-flow thee." If Jesus be with us we shall always be safe, in life or in death.

POOR PUSS.

WE call a cat by this name, and the hare which runs wild in our fields and woods is sometimes called puss too.

I always feel very sorry for the hare, because it is such a very fearful, timid creature. And well it may be, for dogs and men and boys are all so fond of trying to catch it.

This poor puss tries to hide itself as much as it can out of the sight of those who torment it. But as

POOR PUSS.

soon as ever it hears any noise, and it has very long ears, it looks about, and then scampers off as fast as it can go.

The hare does not gallop like a dog: it makes long leaps as fast as it can one after the other, springing from its hind feet, part of which it lays flat on the ground. There is only one dog, called the greyhound, that can go as fast as it does.

But the hare is cunning in trying to escape, for if it finds the dog is close at its heels it will double itself up, and the dog will go right over it. The hare

will then jump up and get a good start before the dog knows which way it is gone. I cannot help feeling glad when I see poor puss save its own life by such a clever trick.

LONDON: SIMPKIN & Co. LEICESTER: WINKS & SON.