PEARLS.

PEARL is a hard white shining body found in some shell fishes. It proceeds from a disease in the animal. The matter proper to enlarge the shell, bursting from the vessels that convey it to the outside, forms a pearl. Common oysters, the pinnamarina, and many other fish, form pearls; but the pearl oyster of the East Indies, and of the gulf of Mexico in America, generally produces the best. The chief fisheries for pearls are at Bahrien, in the Persian gulf, and near the island of Ceylon, in the East Indies. The next to these are the five pearl fisheries of the gulf of Mexico. The pearls fished on the coast of Tartary and Japan are far less valuable. The finest European pearls are fished on the coast of Scotland, or in the rivers of Bavaria, in Germany. In fifty years pearls lose their beauty, and in a hundred they are scarce worth anything. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, had a pearl valued at £80,000 sterling. The Persian Emperor had one worth £110,000 sterling; and Philip II., of Spain, had one as big as a pigeon's egg, valued at 144,000 ducats. What our ladies wear in their necklaces are ordinarily but false pearls, made of fish scales bruised and enclosed in glass. Some of the youthful readers of this, I should imagine, are wishing they were possessors of one of those costly articles. One says, I would not care if I had one, if it was only worth £1,000; another says, but I should wish I were possessor of one worth £40,000 or £50,000 pounds; another must go still higher, he wishes for one worth eighty or one hundred thousand pounds. But did I not say before that they faded in fifty years. Just suppose they would never fade, yet you will fade, perhaps in less than fifty years, and what service would the pearl be to you then? But I can tell you of a "pearl of great price"-it is of immense value-it is worth more than Philip's pearl-yea it is worth more than all the

pearls in the world. If you have this pearl it will be of greater use to you when you die than if you possessed the worth of all the most valuable pearls in the world. And this pearl may be had “ without money and without price." JESUS CHRIST says, "I love them that love me, and they that seek me early shall find me." This is the pearl-the true pearl that will never fade-time will not wear it out, but in heaven it will appear more and more bright and splendid for ever! G. CUMRO.

THE PRICELESS GEM.
WHAT is the thing of greatest price,
The whole creation round?
That which was lost in paradise,
That which in Christ is found.

The soul of man,--Jehovah's breath!
That keeps two worlds at strife;
Hell moves beneath to work its death,
Heaven stoops to give it life.

God, to reclaim it, did not spare
His well-beloved Sou;

Jesus, to save it, deigned to bear
The sins of ALL in ONE.

The Holy Spirit sealed the plan,
And pledged the blood divine,
To ransom every soul of man;
-That price was paid for mine.

And is this treasure borne below,
In earthly vessels frail ?
Can none its utmost value know,
Till flesh and spirit fail?-

Then let us gather round the Cross,

This knowledge to obtain;

Not by the soul's eternal loss,

But everlasting gain.

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

WHILE Petion administered the government of the island of Haiti, some distinguished foreigner sent his little daughter a beautiful bird, in a very handsome cage. The child was delighted, and with great exultation exhibited the present to her father. "It is indeed very beautiful, my daughter," said he; "but it makes my heart ache to look at it. I hope you will never show it to me again."

With great astonishment, she inquired his reasons. He replied, "When this island was called St. Domingo, we were all slaves. It makes me think of it to look at that bird; for he is a slave.”

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The little girl's eyes filled with tears, and her lips quivered, as she exclaimed: Why, father! he has such a large handsome cage: and as much as ever he can eat and drink."

could

"And would you be a slave," said he, "if you live in a great house and be fed on frosted cake ?"

After a moment's thought, the child began to say, half reluctantly, "Would he be happier, if I opened the door of his cage ?" "He would be free!" was the auc reply. without another word, she took the cage to the open window, and a moment after, she saw her prisoner playing with the humming-birds among the honeysuckles.

LOVE MERCY!

SWEET it is to see a child

Tender, merciful, and mild;

Ever ready to perform

Acts of mercy to a worm;

Grieving that the world should be

Such a scene of misery:

Scene in which the creatures groan

For transgressions not their own.

We ourselves to mercy owe
Our escape from endless woe;
And the merciless in mind

Shall themselves no mercy find.

THE SHEPHERD'S DOG.

ONE of the most striking instances which we have heard of the sagacity and personal attachment in the shepherd's dog, occurred about half a century ago among the Grampian mountains. In one of his excursions to his distant flock in these high pasturages, a shepherd happened to carry along with him one of his children, an infant about three years old. After traversing his pastures for some time, attended by his dog, the shepherd found himself under the necessity of ascending a summit at some distance, to have a more extensive view of his range. As the ascent was too fatiguing for the child, he left it on a small plain at the bottom, with strict injunctions not to stir from it till his return. Scarcely, however, had he gained the summit, when the horizon was suddenly darkened by one of those impenetrable mists which frequently descend so rapidly amidst the mountains, as, in the space of a few minutes, almost to turn day into night. The anxious father instantly hastened back to find his child; but owing to the unusual darkness, and his own trepidation, he unfortunately missed his way in the descent. After a fruitless search of many hours amongst the dangerous morasses and cataracts with

which these mountains abound, he was at length overtaken by night. Still wandering on without knowing whither, he at length came to the verge of the mist, and, by the light of the moon, discovered that he had reached the bottom of his valley, and was within a short distance of his cottage. To renew the search that night was equally fruitless and dangerous. He was therefore obliged to return to his cottage, having lost both his child and his dog, which had attended him faithfully for years. Next morning by day-break, the shepherd, accompanied by a band of his neighbours, set out in search of his child; but, after a day spent in fruitless fatigue, he was at last compelled, by the approach of night, to descend from the mountains. On returning to his cottage, he found that the dog, which he had lost the day before, had been home, and, on receiving his usual allowance of cake, had instantly disappeared. Struck with this singular circumstance, he remained at home, and when the dog as usual departed with his piece of cake, he resolved to follow him, and find out the cause of his strange procedure. The dog led the way to a cataract, at some distance from the spot where the shepherd had left the child. The banks of the cataract almost joined at the top, yet separated by an abyss of immense depth, presented that appearance which so often astonishes and appals the travellers who frequent the Grampian mountains, and indicates that these stupendous chasms were not the silent work of time, but the sudden effect of some violent convulsion of the earth.

Down one of these rugged and almost perpendicular descents the dog began, without hesitation, to make his way, and at last disappeared in a cave, the mouth of which was almost upon a level with the torrent. The Shepherd with difficulty followed; but on entering the cave, what were his emotions when he beheld his infant eating, with much satisfaction, the cake which the dog had just brought him, while the