create disturbance outside, or to gain admission for the same purpose into the School: whilst in the centre of the court, numbers of young men were seated in groups, on the Sabbath afternoon, gambling and playing at cards. On several occasions, the door of the house (which was none of the strongest) was forced from its hinges, to obtain adınittance, by those whose only object (as before stated) was to create disturbance, and who had frequently before been expelled; and when thus foiled in their endeavours, stones, dirt, and vegetables would be flung in through the broken windows until the floor was covered with filth.

After enduring these annoyances for a twelvemonth, it was deemed expedient to remove to a more public thoroughfare, and to more commodious premises; and in November, 1842, the School was again removed to No. 65, West Street, West Smithfield, and held in the front room on the first floor, to which shortly afterwards were added two smaller back rooms.

The Committee feel exceedingly happy in stating, that since the removal of the School to the place where it is now held, it has evidently prospered, and they hope to see far greater benefits and blessings attending its future course.

The Committee feel pleasure in stating that they have been enabled to commence the Girls' School on three days of the week, for a few hours in the afternoon of each day, for the purpose of teaching Reading, Writing and Arithmetic; one of the Female Teachers having undertaken gratuitously to conduct these classes, It is the earnest wish of the Committee that a Free Day School, for both Boys and Girls, should be established in this destitute neighbourhood, where it is most imperatively called for at the present time; but under present circumstances, and with the funds at present at their disposal, the Committee do not feel authorized to engage in such an undertaking.

The School continues regularly opened for Religious Instruction on the Sabbath and on Thursday evenings, The number of Children in connection with the School is about 180; and the amount of attendance at these times, averages between 80 and 100, The present rooms will not conveniently accommodate more than 90 Children, although it would be possible for them, and indeed, they often do, hold more than 100; yet, from the inconvenient nature of the premises, even the smaller number cannot properly be accommodated.

Having thus laid before their friends a short statement of their labours during the past year, the Committee appeal to them to assist and enable them to persevere. Can any give them money ?-it will assist them to pay the necessary expenses and outlay of the School, Can any give them wearing apparel ?-the Dorcas Society will apply it to the clothing of the Children. Can any give themselves to work as Teachers ?-they will be entering on a work, glorious in itself, in its object, and in its bearing on the character and prospects of those who engage in it. And last, though not least, all can give their prayers; which, if sincerely and faithfully offered, must prevail, and will bring down the blessing of the Lord Almighty.

Obitua.y.

Died at Newbury, on the 12th of February, Miss E. Palmer, the beloved and devoted Superintendent of the girls' Sunday school, at the Independent chapel. We hope soon to furnish our readers with a Memoir of this excellent young lady.

BY THE AUTHOR OF NELLY VANNER.

Our wood cut, this month, shows us Pomare, the queen o. Tahiti, teaching and examining a number of native Sunday school children. It is a noble thing to see a queen thus

E

employed, thinking it the highest dignity to be a servant in the kingdom of heaven.

Queen Pomare has been very cruelly treated by some wicked men from France. One French commander was sent to Tahiti, in a ship of war, to make the queen pay a large sum of money, because they thought she had treated improperly two Roman Catholic Missionaries, who had been sent there. When this ship came near the island, it was driven on the rocks, and was nearly wrecked. But the people of Tahiti were very kind, and helped to get the ship safe into their harbour. Then they helped to mend the ship, so that it could safely sail again. But the French commander had the people's bread fruit trees cut down ;trees which they valued very much. So the people were disgusted with the Frenchmen; still the queen was kind to them. The French commander however, as soon as his ship was safely mended, forgetting that the queen and her people by their kindness, had saved both him and his ship, turned his guns against the town, where the queen lived, and threatened to destroy it, if she did not instantly pay the sum required. What vile ingratitude was this! Some of the Englishmen on the island interposed and saved the queen from this wicked man. Not long after, another French commander came and raised further quarrel, and established Roman Catholic Missionaries on the island, and lately, you know, this same man took possession of the island by force, and dethroned the lawful queen. The poor queen took refuge in an English vessel. We are happy to learn, that the king of France was much displeased when he heard what his admiral had done, and has commanded him to leave the island, and to restore queen Pomare to her throne again.

Let us pray for the blood-thirsty men in France, who encouraged this wicked attempt. Oh! that God would convert the people of France, and teach them the paths of peace!'

Let us hope, as Pomare is established in her throne again, that she will give her whole heart to the King of kings, whose kind Providence has so wonderfully appeared for her.

The Editor may just observe, that in the South Sea Islands, there are many thousands of dear children in Sunday schools, and that, while they are learning the way to heaven, they are also instructed in the useful arts and

THE TREE OF LIFE.

75

sciences by their beloved Missionaries. Printing, laws, roads, harbours, marriage, temperance, with various beneficial trades and manufactures, have been introduced as the necessary attendants on the christian religion. In our engraving, the queen and her attendants on the left, and the teacher with her pupils are seen dressed in English bonnets, &c., showing that godliness has the promise of the life that now is,' promoting its comfort and elevating its course. May the queen long be a nursing mother to pure and undefiled religion, in those beautiful isles of the sea. The Missionary ship, to which so many of our readers have contributed, will be very useful in carrying to those islands various articles required for their schools and churches.

THE TREE OF LIFE.

Proverbs iii. 18.

• Wisdom is the tree of life to them that lay hold upon her.' Preached on the first Sabbath of the year, to the Sabbath school children connected with Providence Chapel, Whitehaven, by R. G. MILNE, A. M.

Continued from page 55.

Your fourth question is, What fruit does it bear? and is there any sight so pleasing to you, as an orchard in autumn, well stocked with trees, which bend down with their fruitfulness? Do you not rejoice to see the vine with its clusters of grapes, the apple tree and the pear tree with their crops of ripe fruit? But the Tree of life presents you with richer and more varied fruits than all the trees, which adorn our gardens. It supplies mankind with provision for the body, for the soul, for time, for eternity. Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.' 1 Tim. iv. 8. 'The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.' Gal. v. 22, 23. It turns the enemy into a friend, the drunkard to sobriety, the prodigal to penitence, the proud to humility, but those fruits are by far the sweetest, which give to men the enjoyment of peace with God, the sense of pardoned sin, the certainty of heaven as our everlasting habitation. Thus while it gives good clothing, good food, good houses, good friends, it also invites us to seek God as our Father, Christ as our Saviour, the Holy Spirit as our Teacher and Paradise as our blissful and unchanging home. Will you not then, children, lay hold of this tree? How productive is it of good and rich fruit! O taste and see that the Lord is good.'

Your fifth question is, What is its size? I suppose all of you have read of the Banian tree, which grows in India, and is a sacred tree with the Hindoos. It is worthy of no tice not only on account of the vast size that it attains, but also on account of its singular growth, for, when the branches, which spring from the parent trunk, have spread out their arms, they shoot down in the direction of the earth, and there root themselves, until, by the additions of years, a single tree extends itself to a considerable grove, and reminds one of a tent supported by many columns. Some of them cover a space of 1700 square yards. Milton sings sweetly of it in the following beautiful lines :

'Branching so broad along, that in the ground

The bending twigs take root; and daughters grow
About the mother tree; a pillared shade,
High over-arched with echoing walks between.
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat
Shelters in cool; and tends his pasturing herds
At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.'

But astonishing as is the huge size at which the Banian arrives, little is it when compared with the spread of the religion of the Bible. The kingdom of heaven' or the Gospel, said Christ, is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown, it is the greatest amongst herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.' Matt. xiii. 31. How true is this! Look abroad, and see its branches stretching over Great Britain, over many parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, America. They now cover the Isles of the West and of the South, and many a child of the once enslaved African, and of the once idolatrous Tahitian is now learning under their shade to read the story of the dying Jesus. The tree of life appears very noble now, but what shall it be when it shall cover the face of all the world, and all the dwellers of it shall sit underneath its thick foliage, and none shall make them afraid.'? Micah iv. 4.

Your sixth question would be, How long will it stand? Every tree that grows up in our gardens or fields, the sides or tops of our hills must die. Some of them may have weathered the blasts of seventy, one hundred, or five hundred years, but all of them, however famed,-though often resorted to by admiring multitudes-all must decay. Not so Religion. It is called 'The Tree of Life,' because