hyæna from seizing him; and this manifestation of His protecting love and care cheered his spirit, and enabled him to continue his work with renewed strength and courage.-Church Juv. Miss. Intelligencer.

THE FARMER'S CARPET.

JONATHAN CUTLER was the tenant of a small farm. If he had years on his brow, he had also health on his ruddy cheek; and if his body was a little bent, and not quite so pliant as it used to be, his mind was at peace. Many an old man, in the midst of his bodily infirmities, looking back on his early life, has much reason to say, "Thou makest me to remember the sins of my youth;" but Jonathan had been brought up in the fear of the Lord.

Old Jonathan was very punctual in the payment of his rent, and never failed to make his appearance at the town habitation of his landlord, Mr. Eddins, as soon as it was due. On these occasions, little Paul Eddins, his landlord's son, was very fond of talking with the old farmer.

It happened on one occasion, just before Jonathan made his customary visit, that Mr. Eddins had ordered home a handsome new carpet, and this carpet had not long been laid down when old Jonathan called to pay his rent. No sooner had Mr. Eddins finished his business with his tenant, than Paul asked leave to show the new carpet, which request was readily granted.

Little Paul's head and heart were so full of the new carpet, that he could hardly think or speak of any thing else. In his impatience he pulled old Jonathan along to the door of the drawing-room, but he could not get him an inch further, for the farmer would on no account whatever set the thick soles of his boots on the elegant new Paul, however, called out

carpet spread out before him. with ecstasy

"Did you ever see such a carpet before in all your life? " "I don't know that I ever did, exactly, but I have seen one I like quite as well. You must know, Master Paul,

that some time ago I made bold to ask a friend of mine to give me one, and he did, though I am quite unworthy of such a present. How it came to me I do not know, but I do know that it was not by the railroad."

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Oh, perhaps it was sent by the carrier?

"To own the truth, there is a mystery in the way of its coming that I can't make out. If the carrier had brought it, he would have been sure to have charged me for the carriage. No! no! it could not be by the carrier."

"How long is it, and how wide?”

"I have never taken the trouble to measure it, but if my memory serves me right, it is quite as large as yours, and I think larger."

"But this carpet has a real velvet pile, and is one of the newest patterns.”

"The pile of my carpet is longer than yours, but I can't say that the pattern is new. Indeed, I am given to understand it is one of the most old-fashioned patterns going; it was common in the days of Queen Elizabeth."

"Indeed! and has it flowers on it like this?"

"Yes, only they seem to me to be more curious. I should say, they are more like real flowers than yours, and there are bees and butterflies on some of them that you might think to be flying, they look so natural. My carpet, too, has a more beautiful border to it than yours has. But come and see it, Master Paul, and then you can judge for yourself. I won't have it rolled up before you come, though I shall hardly be able to keep Tiger, my terrier dog, off it, for just as I was leaving home he ran over the whole length of it with his dirty feet, after having waded through the muddy duck pit. Ask your papa, Master Paul, to let you come and see it."

When old Jonathan was gone, Paul would let his papa have no peace till he had promised to take him over some fine day, that he might see with his own eyes the farmer's old-fashioned carpet, with the long pile, beautiful border, flowers like real flowers, and bees and butterflies that might be fancied to be alive and flying. After all is said that can be said about the town and the city, never yet was a country

boy half so happy in seeing London sights as a town boy is in gazing on country scenes. The fresh air and the freedom enjoyed in the country cannot be obtained in the city for love or money. Paul, in setting off with his father for the farm, was as blithe as a lark, and when he arrived there his eyes sparkled with joy, and his heart beat with plea

sure.

Hearty as the welcome was that old Jonathan gave to Paul and his papa, and keen as Paul's appetite was for the substantial fare set before him, the old-fashioned carpet was uppermost in his mind. He had passed through the kitchen, which was paved with large flat stones, and he had peeped into the great parlour as he went by the door, which was a little open, and saw nothing but the bare boards, so that he really began to think that the farmer had forgotten his promise of not rolling up the carpet. In this opinion, however, he was quite wrong.

"And now," said old Jonathan to Mr. Eddins, after they had risen from the table, "perhaps, sir, you will let me show master Paul what he has come on purpose to see, my new carpet; and I hope it will answer to the account I gave him of it."

Saying this, and requesting them to put on their hats, he led them at once to a fine meadow, thickly strewn with buttercups and daisies. "There! Master Paul," said he; "you must allow an old man to have his joke; this flowery meadow is my new carpet."

It would be somewhat difficult to describe Paul's amazement, and not easy to decide whether his wonder or his disappointment was the greater. For one moment he remained silent, but the next he broke out with the inquiry, "And do you call this a carpet?"

"Indeed I do, and a glorious carpet it is, not to be matched by the loom of any earthly weaver.'

"But why did you not tell me, that when you spoke of a carpet you meant a field?"

"Because I wanted you to come and see it, and I thought the more wonderful I made it, the more likely you would be You must forgive me, Master Paul."

to come.

"You said that you had asked a friend of yours to give it to you."

“And so I did, Master Paul, the best Friend I have in the world, or any where else; I asked my heavenly Father, as I always do when I plough, or sow, or water, or manure the ground, to make my land fertile ; for I know that in farming, as well as in other things, though Paul may plant and Apollos water, God alone can give the increase." "You said that it was not sent by the railroad.”

"True, and I hardly suppose that the Railroad Company would have carried it if they had been applied to."

"But what mystery is there in the way in which this carpet, as you call it came to you?"

"A very great one, for how it is that small seeds sown in the ground should be changed into grass and flowers, is only known to Him who knows all things. We may

wonder at his works, but we cannot understand them. They are like the wind, that 'bloweth where it listeth;' we hear the sound thereof; but no one knoweth whence it cometh, and whither it goeth."

"The grass is longer than the velvet pile of our carpet I see, but how do you make out the pattern to be so oldfashioned ? You said it was common in the days of Queen Elizabeth."

"I did, and I might have said in the days of Adam too, for these words are in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, 'And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.' God's gifts, and tender mercies, and 'lovingkindness,' have been ever of old.”

"I don't wonder now at your saying the flowers were like real flowers, and that I might fancy the bees to be alive and flying; but what did you mean by the beautiful border ? "

"I meant the hedge-rose. Look at them, Master Paul, and see what a tangle there is of white-thorn, black-thorn, wild-plum, hazel-nut, green leaves and flowers, wild bluebells and violets, ferns and foxgloves, among them.

Yours

is a fine carpet, but it has not a border that can be compared to mine. It may be said of these flowers, as our blessed Redeemer said of the lilies, They toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.'—(Matt. vi. 28, 29.)

"It becomes us all to be very grateful for our comforts of every kind, Master Paul, whether they are the workmanship of the weaver or the handiwork of our Heavenly Father, not forgetting that we are pilgrims to another and a better world. All things around us are but for a time. The Apostle Peter tells us, that the heavens shall pass away,' and the ‘earth, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.' Though we know not when this will happen, we know that it will happen, and we cannot do better than follow the Apostle's advice in looking onwards for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,' and in striving to 'grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.'

be glory both now and ever. Amen.

To him

Just as old Jonathan had finished his remarks, a lad who had been ordered to do so, brought a beautiful long-tailed little pony, ready saddled and bridled, to the place where they were standing. Paul, though not much of a rider, was in a short time seen cantering round the meadow, with a delighted heart, while Tiger, the terrier dog, scampered along beside him.

That day take it altogether, was one of the happiest Paul Eddins had ever enjoyed. His pleasure quite made up for his disappointment; and he confessed to his father, as he returned home with a bunch of field-flowers in his bosom, that he did not think kind old Jonathan Cutler was half so much in the wrong as he had at first thought him to be in calling his flowery meadow a new carpet.Tract Magazine.