but no, all was still. At last she opened the door. She understood it all then, for Freddy was dead! His little weary soul and body had found rest, and then he lay smiling in the arms of Jesus.

Wouldn't you like to have a death like this? Just think of it: going from earth to heaven, singing about Jesus. Well, Freddy's death song tells all the story. He laid his sins on Jesus; he laid all his troubles on Him; and the Good Shepherd took the weary little lamb and bore him home to heaven.

both W. S. Gibson, S. E. Wakefield, T. Townend, C. S. Butterworth, H. Duncan, C. Taylor, F. E. Chester, S. E. Porter.

:

The following have answered one correctly A. C. Miller, L. Hedley, W. C. Dainty, H. Ostler, J. G. Simpson, Jessie Hatch, H. A. Longfellow, E. Cutts, J. Brown, A. Thackray, W. Chapman, R. Slack, H. Ll. Snape, E. Henderson, W. S. Lord, R. Lord, C. A. Holt, J. Kirsop, C. Kirsop, E Nickson, A. N. Crompton.

As we shall be away from home the earlier part of August, the puzzles for this month are omitted.

Letters for the Editor to be addressed-
Mr. M. MILLER,
4, Mountfort Crescent,
Barnsbury-square,

London, N.

London: T. NEWTON, Methodist Free Church Book-room, 119, Salisbury-square, Fleetstreet, E.C.

o children who live in the country, Autumn is one of the pleasantest seasons of the year. At least, we used to think so when we were young, and we still think So. Well do we recollect the pleasure we had, when we were boys, in rambling through the country lanes and fields, gathering blackberries, mushrooms, and nuts. birds used to sing all sorts of merry songs. In the woods, and on the sand-hills, we used to give the rabbits a chase. And what a source of endless interest it was to stand by the bank of the river with rod and

The

line, tempting the fish to bite. If we were not always successful in catching fish, we always caught a most excellent appetite. And then what a variety of birds, and butterflies, and insects were to be seen by the water's side, which could not be met with anywhere else. Those were, indeed, happy days. We hope our young friends who read the HIVE are able now and then to go into the country, and fill their cans and bags with nuts and blackberries, as the children in our first picture this month are represented as doing.

ALKING

alone on the sands of the sea

shore at Brighton, I was accosted by a dark-haired, brown-faced, fiery-eyed woman, dressed in flaunting, tawdry colours, who holding out her hand said, in language of foreign accent, and in almost a whisper

"If you cross my palm with silver I will tell your fortune, and reveal to you the coming events of your life."

"I do a little in that line myself," I replied; "and though what I tell will certainly come to pass, I do not require my palm to be crossed with silver for doing it."

"You tell fortunes! Then tell me mine. You cannot do that, I know," she replied.

Without making any reply, she twirled round on her heel, and away she went, to try her black art elsewhere.

"To spread her palm, and with vile cant deceive

The love-sick maid, who barters all her

store

For airy visions and fallacious hope."

One would have thought that in this age of light and intelligence fortune-tellers would have been extinct; but no doubt every generation has its simple ones, or it would be impossible for such impostors to ever have their palm crossed with a fraction of either silver or copper; but the disposition to peer into the future is strong-the desire to anticipate coming events, and know something of to-morrow, is not confined to any one class of the community. A tradesman called on Mr. Franks, the spectacle dealer in Deansgate, Manchester, to inquire for a pair of spectacles with a peculiar lens.

"I think I can supply you with what you

require, for I have glasses of every description," replied Mr. Franks.

"Well, sir, I am uneasy about the cotton market; it is very unsettled, and I want a pair of spectacles that will enable me to see six months beforehand," said he, laughing.

"Perhaps you will see something besides the cotton market, and something that will make you very miserable to see. Would it not be better for you not to wish to pry into the future?"

The joking cotton buyer knew he had got a proper reply. It is a wise arrangement of Providence that we are not permitted to know many things that would make life miserable, if not unbearable. The veil that is drawn over the future is drawn by the hand of Mercy, and it is the truest wisdom to take hold of that hand; then shall we walk in our path safely, and our feet will not slip. But we always find that those who are impatient of the future, and who consult and believe in divination, enchanters, charmers, familiar spirits, witches, wizards, necromancers, and fortune-tellers, are a class foolish and very weak in Christian doctrine, if not very wicked. I remember one exceedingly stormy night, amidst howling wind and pattering rain, a

very

woman

coming to our back door. Being taken into the kitchen, she expressad a wish to see me privately. On my asking the poor drenched creature her errand, she put into my hand a slip of dirty paper; I opened it, and found it to be a printed charm, containing the following words :

"You must stitch me betwixt the lining of your stays, and as long as you keep me there nothing shall harm you, for I am your charm. By my help you shall see into the future, and others shall do your will, for it will give you power over them, and you shall be lucky, and prosper, and have what you wish."

"Well, what about this paper?" I asked, after reading it.

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'No, sir, I felt as if I durst not go. I have been miserable ever since I had that paper; it seemed as if I had taken all my affairs out of God's hands, and could not trust Him. I want you to tell me what I must do. You may keep that paper, for I would not touch it again with the tongs, except to put it into the fire; it has made fool enough of me. I feel I have been foolish and very wicked. What must I do? Pray for me, will you?"

That the woman had been extremely foolish there is no doubt, and it is well she saw and felt it. People who go to consult fortune-tellers do not carry much brains with them; and the wicked impostors know that, so they work on the simple souls, sometimes to the extent of extracting all the money out of their pockets, and their best clothing from their backs, and keep them in such fear and subjection that they become slaves and victims of the

We

amongst the Canaanitish nations, who were driven out of their lands for their wickedness; but the Almighty told Moses that not one of the Israelites must make any pretension to divination, or to be an observer of times, (or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, for all that do these things are an abomination to the Lord. Yet some such diviners in our day carry their abominations and wickedness so far that they pretend to be deaf and dumb, though they can both speak and hear; because somehow there is an impression that the deaf and dumb fortune-tellers are the cleverest at this kind of dark craft. know that as a rule the integrity, prudence, and morality of the deaf and dumb stand high. I have never known but one base enough to practise the delusion. A young woman who consulted her afterwards became the mother of three daughters, all of whom were deaf and dumb. We leave this fact for the consideration of those who think lightly of what God pronounces an abomination. I have recently been surprised that there are persons still alive who not only believe in fortune-tellers, but in witches. Not three years since a good-looking, welldressed man informed me he had come all the way from near Liverpool to ask my opinion about witch-craft.

"How is it you want my opinion on that subject?" I asked. "Have you known, or do you suspect some one of being either a witch or being witched?"

"Yes, sir; I believe I am witched."
"How?"

"Well, sir, I have a very wicked neighbour-a daring, bold, bad woman; she grievously insulted my wife, and I was so angry with her that I called her a foul name. She walked up to me with her clenched fist, and, looking me straight in the face, said, 'I will make you bitterly repent of that, in a way you will never understand.' The

moment she had spoken the words I felt cold, and something like small worms began to creep under the skin of my forehead, under the hair of my head, and under all the skin of my whole body. They are creeping now. I have almost lost my appetite, and sound sleep is gone from me; I live in constant dread, for I fear she will do something still worse."

"Well, she has frightened you, however, and it was nothing but the fear that made you feel the crawling worms. Perhaps you have weak nerves, and very likely all the woman intended to do was to frighten you, and she has done so," I replied.

66

But do you not believe in witch-craft?" "No, indeed."

"But does not the Bible tell about witches? Did not the witch of Endor, at the request of Saul, raise Samuel from the grave?"

66

No, she did not; for she was amazed, charged Saul with deceiving her, and screamed out loudly when Samuel stood before them. The spirit of Samuel came the moment Saul mentioned his name; and before the woman had time to practise her collusion or deception, God permitted Samuel to come and give Saul his last warning. Saul was slain, as Samuel predicted; and the Bible says, 'So Saul died for his transgressions, and also for asking counsel of a familiar spirit, to inquire of it.""

"But does not God say, 'Thou shalt not permit a witch to live?' Why should the order be given if there were none?” he asked.