Sleeping Flowers.

LEEP, gentle flowers, your peaceful sleep

Beneath the wintry sky;

The storms that rock the restless deep,
Shall sing your lullaby.
Through raging blast, and falling shower,
Through the long starless night,
While winds blow round the leafless bower,
And snow falls cold and white;
Sleep, while the angry tempests blow,
No fear can break your rest;
Sleep, where your couch is spread below,
Safe on your mother's breast.

A watch is set around your bed,

An that never sleeps, eye

Above the earth that hides your head,

Its constant vigil keeps.

He in whose hand are storm and rain,
Sweet calm and sunshine too,
Who gives nor smiles nor tears in vain,
This time appoints for you;-

A time to hide the faded cheek,
A time to bow the head,
When rosy blush, and sunny streak,
And golden tint have fled.

Who giveth joy when smiles are best,
Tears when we need to weep,
He giveth to the weary rest,
To His beloved, sleep.

Footsteps in the Snow.

JOW all the wintry earth is still,

Her face looks cold and pale,
No wind is wandering on the hill,
No whisper in the vale;
No sound of fluttering leaf is heard
In all the wasted bowers,
No farewell song of lingering bird,
No sigh of summer flowers.
Look, maiden, from the lattice low,

Thy faithful watch is long;
See, there are footmarks in the snow,
The step is bold and strong;

Through biting frost, and piercing cold,
Towards one point they come,

Like sheep that seek the sheltering fold,
Or birds returning home.

Of all those footmarks in the snow,
Not one is turned away;

But does the trembling maiden know
How long those feet will stay?
For she has seen them come before,
Mid welcomes kind and true;
And she has seen them leave that door
When summer skies were blue.

Hark! there are voices in the hall,

And hurrying to and fro,
And one she hears above them all,
Whose path was in the snow.

He stamps the white shower from his feet,
He shakes his tangled hair;
Oh, sunny glow was ne'er so sweet,
As that wintry meeting there.

At once she feels-at once she knows-
What words could never tell-
The healing of a thousand woes—

The pang remembered well,
The shadow o'er her sunny hours,

By other eyes unseen,

Tears shed amid the garden flowers,

When summer leaves were green.
But stir the fire this wintry night,

And spread the plenteous board,
And sit within the crimson light,
All hearts in sweet accord.
The aged father's faded brow

Grows bright with pleasant thought:
Ah! little does the old man know

How much that hour has brought.

And now the hope of happier times
Gives zest to present cheer,
While ring the merry Christmas chimes
From tower and belfry near.
And all within that peaceful home,

Share in the genial glow;
For who can tell what joy may come,
With footsteps in the snow?

Oliver Wyndham. A Tale of the Great Plague.

By the Author of "Naomi." London: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.

As stated on the Title-page, "This story originally appeared in the monthly numbers of OUR OWN FIRESIDE, during 1866." We are greatly gratified by its reappearance as a Christmas Annual. The author of "Naomi," of course excels in this department of literature, and as far as our taste goes, we confess we even prefer "Oliver Wyndham" to "Naomi." As the tale was carried on from number to number, it passed under the notice of several hundred reviewers in the columns of the newspaper press, and the highest opinions of its merits were repeatedly expressed. We shall rejoice if its circulation in its present attractive form rivals that of "Naomi."

Peter Bedford, the Spitalfields Philanthropist. By WILLIAM TALLACK. London: S. W. Partridge.

Mr. Bedford had the happy talent of "parlour preaching," which Dr. Watts, in one of his works, remarks, "has sometimes done more for Christ and souls in the space of a few minutes, than by the labour of many hours and days in the usual course of preaching in the pulpit." His life was one of systematic philanthropy, especially directed to the amelioration of the unhappy condition of the Arab and criminal population of London. His labours commenced early in the present century, and the brief sketch of his biography, which Mr. Tallack has very ably drawn up, abounds with the most interesting matter. Dark as some of the aspects of society still are, it is no small cause of thankfulness to notice what a happy change has been brought about in the character of our criminal code by the energetic and persevering efforts of such men as Peter Bedford. We commend one picture of

THINGS AS THEY WERE FIFTY YEARS AGO.

"It must be remembered that, previous to and during the period of the Regency and of George the Fourth's reign, not only was there a great deficiency of popular education, but the crimes inseparable from ignorance and poverty were punished with the most indiscriminating severity, and a Draconian code of worse than heathen barbarity existed. In those days upwards of a hundred crimes, some of them very trivial, were punishable capitally; as, for example, stealing one shilling from the person, five shillings from a shop, letting water out of a fishpond, or being in the company of gipsies for a twelvemonth. So frequently was the fatal sentence executed, that, throughout the good old days' of George the Third and of the Regency, London fully deserved the name

given by a popular writer, 'the City of the Gibbet,' and there was at least a foundation for the satire of Dr. Johnson's lines

"Scarce can our fields, such crowds at Tyburn die, With hemp the gallows and the fleet supply.' Rewards were offered to 'thief-takers,' who systematically prompted and suggested the robberies, for the betrayal of which they were to receive the blood money. The dimly-lighted, tunnel-like streets at night courted the operations of the footpad and the burglar. Neither gas-lights nor any well-organized police lent their preventive aid. Instead of the latter, there were by night the imbecile old watchmen or Charlies, who at intervals waddled round their beats, in the least dangerous thoroughfares, and, loudly calling out the hour, at once disturbed the sleeper and gave notice to the thief to suspend or conceal, for a few minutes, his work of plunder. But most of the night these wretchedly incompetent defenders of the public safety were soundly sleeping in their heavy sentry boxes, which occasionally some passing robbers or drunken sparks would turn round, with its opening closed against a wall, and fixing it in this position by stones, leave the incommoded occupant to get out as best he could. And well if only so; for at times box and Charlie' were both turned upsidedown, or else together thrown into some deep and unsavoury ditch.

"The administration of justice was often a libel on the very name. The author of Old Bailey Experience' states that at that court, 'For several sessions I made a calculation of the average time which each trial occupied. I never found it (the average) exceed eight and a half minutes, notwithstanding many cases engage the Court occasionally a whole day.' Fifty or sixty prisoners were kept ready in the dock under the Court, and their cases 'knocked off' with bewildering and most indecent rapidity. They became alarmed and nervous, lost all coherence of remonstrance and of defence, and found themselves condemned before they knew what had occurred. The same writer says, Fully two-thirds of the prisoners on their return from their trials cannot tell of anything which has passed in the Court.' Often men on being returned after trial and sentence to prison would exclaim, 'It can't be me they mean; I've not been tried yet.' One metropolitan Judge' was famed for despatching sixty or seventy trials a day! Such trials,' and with such a code! At the Old Bailey Sessions on Wednesday, February 16, 1814 five children of from eight to twelve years of age were condemned to death-viz., Fowler, age 12, and Wolfe, age 12, for burglary in a dwelling; Morris, age 8, Solomons, age 9, and Burrel, age 11, for burglary and stealing a pair of shoes!"

The Apostles of Jesus. By MRS. CLERE. London: Hatchard and Co.

This Authoress has ably performed her purpose, to produce a book "giving an account of all that is known of the Apostles, written in a style suitable for youthful readers."

The Arab's Pledge. A Tale of Morocco in 1830. By EDWARD L. MITFORD, Ceylon Civil Service. London: Hatchard and Co.

A well-written tale founded on tragical facts, illustrating the character of the people of West Barbary, as well as the state of oppres sion under which the Jews of that country suffered five and twenty years ago, when the author resided in Morocco. Much incidental information is given as to manners and cus

toms.

Sabbath Lays. London: J. Nisbet and Co.

A little volume of simple but genuine poetry, "suggested by Passages in the Church Service." We shall be glad to aid its circulation by our recommendation.

"Sermons from the Studio." By MARIE SIBREE. London: Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.

66

Evidently the writer of this volume is an artist as well as an authoress. The sketches are really gems. The Rev. T. W. Aveling, in his introductory remarks, states that the volume originated in a suggestion, made by him to his young friend, that she should write a series of papers on Art and Religion, showing that the love of Art was perfectly compatible with the love of God; that he is the truest artist-whether painter, sculptor, or musician-whose soul, expanding to noble proportions by the enthusiastic love of his profession, aims, if possible, to discover the highest type of beauty-to embody his grandest conception-to realize his loftiest ideal; and that these yearnings after perfection can never be satisfied, until he finds it in the God-Man of Nazareth and Calvary." We hope to quote an extract next month. The publishers and printer have certainly done their part well in the getting up of the book.

Clerical Experiences of Total Abstinence. Edited by the Rev. THOMAS ROOKE, M.A. London: W. Tweedie.

Whatever opinion each may entertain as to his or her duty with reference to the giant evil of intemperance, there can be but one feeling as to the credit due to the five or six hundred of our clergy who have become total abstainers. Such men as the Dean of Carlisle, Prebendary Ellison, the Rev. J. W. Bardsley, the Rev. G. T. Fox, the Rev. Dr. Hewlett, the Rev. R. Maguire, and the Rev. Stopford J. Ram, would not take this step without the deepest convictions as to the importance and necessity of the Temperance movement. They assuredly claim and deserve an audience, and therefore we heartily invite our readers to ponder the "Clerical Testimony" contained in this volume-the contributions of " many men of many minds."

Mr. Bardsley's case is remarkable. He writes:

"If the question be asked me why I became an abstainer, I gladly avail myself of Topsy's reply in

answer to Miss Ophelia's question, Who made her ? ' I never was made-I growed;' and say, 'I never became an abstainer-I growed.' As the eldest of seven sons, and speaking as their representative, I can say that we never remember to have seen a wineglass in our parents' hands. And although the seven sons have reached that period when personal responsibility takes the place of parental, yet in manhood they continue firm to those principles which they learned in childhood."

As one of his reasons for Total Abstinence Mr. Bardsley assigns, the great danger of moderation, so called.

After dwelling upon the painful evidence of this danger in the case of the poor and uneducated, he thus refers to the case of the educated :

"Within the space of two years to have known that a clergyman had perished by his own hand in the public market after a drunken revel-to have seen a man of university distinction, but the victim of intemperance, shoeless, begging his bread from door to door-to have been summoned to the assistance of a third, who had been found in a neighbouring publichouse unable to depart, because stripped by his companions in debauch,-such facts were proofs that when once God's grace is withdrawn, there are no depths which the educated man, equally with the untutored, may not reach. I had been ready to speak of the danger generally; but such cases made me tremble and say, 'Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' Upon my mind the conviction was indelibly engraved as with a pen of iron, that although it be not sinful to partake, yet is it safer to abstain.”

As a second reason Mr. Bardsley urges the duty of abstaining for the sake of others, i. e., on the grounds of expediency. He says:

"The question, I felt, was a most important one, and one upon which it especially became a young man entering the ministry to be fully persuaded in his own mind. Upon careful and prayerful examination certain passages seemed to speak with no uncertain sound. Without quoting at length, I would merely enumerate such passages as Romans xiv. 7, 22, with xv. 1—6; 1 Corinthians vi. 12; viii. 8-13; x. 23-33. To my mind these passages taught, without any exception, that in certain circumstances, when certain things were lawful, yet such things might not be expedient, and that under such circumstances the rule of conduct was to be determined by the example of Christ, who pleased not Himself. The result was, that whilst I felt unable to condemn others who differed, yet I was convinced that to me it would be sin to take as beverages those intoxicants which so unquestionably were my neighbour's stumbling-block. My determination, therefore, was to abstain, that whether I ate or drank I would seek not mine own profit, but the profit of many, that my liberty should by no means become a stumbling-block to those that were weak; and that I would therefore drink no wine, lest I should make my brother to offend. My prayer was, that the God of patience and consolation would grant me to be likeminded toward my brethren, according to Christ Jesus. It has subsequently been my lot to labour in different parts of the vineyard, and not unfrequently to receive the assurance that my example has not been in vain."

The volume comprises the Testimony of Twenty-eight Clergymen, and, apart from the great question iscussed, is full of interest.