offer. Then it is that the widowed mother will find “silver hours" in making her knee an altar to train up her children in the love and fear of the Lord. And if, overpowered with the evening's labour of love, she should for a moment doze in her work, she will dream of those she loves growing up, overshadowed with the wings of holiness, for purposes of the Divine will; and she will be happy in the depths of her solitude and in her seclusion from the world.

LEADEN HOURS.

Well, but there are also hours of lead, which weigh heavily upon the human heart. The hours of grief are light in comparison with them, and so are those of disappointment, of hope deferred, of misfortune, of lonely lingering sorrow, of sickness and pain. Leaden hours are those that spring from our evil deeds, in which conscience sits like an incubus, to press down, with a weight of woe unutterable, our hearts. There sits the undutiful and froward child, on the stool of suffering. The leaden hours of retribution are upon him. The sting of sin torments him, and he reflects on days that are past, on opportunities neglected, on prospects unrealized, of a parent's wishes unfulfilled, of duties neglected, of religion despised. There he sits-the victim of remorse. He has grown old in evil courses, and the sunshine of life, the golden hours of activity and usefulness, have passed away as yet without fruit. He has never done the least good for himself or others; many has he deceived,

many has he wronged; and unless he give up his evil ways he will have nothing from which he can draw the least consolation, as life's last scene approaches,

Unhappy man!

But, no, he is touched by a spirit of repentance, vouchsafed by the grace of God. "Old things are passed away," and "all things are become new." He looks at the past with abhorrence and with loathing, and yearns for better, purer, and holier things. Great are the mercies of God towards penitent sinners, for they bring back to us even the "golden hours" of the heart's innocence, and the glorious sunshine of the days of sincerity and truth. "There is joy in the presence of God over one sinner that repenteth," and there is no man that sinneth not. But sin hath a sharp and bitter sting, and we may be cut off in the midst of our sins without time being given us for repentance; and so let us pray to God that He may ever have us in His heavenly keeping, and lead us out of temptation, and deliver us from all evil; that we may continue His adopted children to our lives' end, and be partakers of those "golden hours" which are the light and glory of eternal mansions.

WO schoolfellows, of equal age,
Were 'prenticed in one day;
The one was studiously inclined,
The other boy was gay.

The pocket-money each received
Was just the same amount;
And how they both expended it,
I briefly shall recount.

While George was smoking his cigars,

And sauntering about,

With youths as idle as himself,
Shutting all knowledge out;

At the Mechanics' Institute,

And with his books at home, Tom wisely spent his leisure hours, Nor cared the streets to roam.