FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

'stones of fruit, and even grass. In some villages many have died of starvation. But you must remember that these villages are not so easy to get at as ours in England. Often the road is very bad, and through jungles. Some houses have lost all their inhabitants. Jackals have waited about to see men die, and have then carried them off into the jungle to devour them. Mothers have sold their children to buy rice; and hundreds and even thousands of men, women, and children, have fallen victims to the sole want in the land.

What has been done to help these poor people? A great deal. Missionaries have collected money and bought rice to give it away. Often one missionary has fed 200 a day. Benevolent Englishmen have given money to help the poor; and although rather late in seeing the need, Government has come to the relief of the people. Very large sums of money have been spent in buying rice and distributing it among the sufferers, or in selling it at a very cheap rate; children have been taken to orphanages and schools; and the sick and old cared for.

The rain has fallen copiously, and now there is a prospect of a good harvest of rice. Let us give God all the praise.

Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry.

Facts.

PARTICULAR manufactures are found in different localities, partly owing to natural advantages and position, partly owing to political events and individual energy, and sometimes from circumstances purely accidental.

Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, and Wiltshire were the counties in which the making of fine woollen cloths grew up. They were counties where the sheep bred produced softer and shorter stapled fleeces, the raw material of these finer woollen cloths; and streams of pure water abounded, very useful for scouring and bleaching purposes.

The West Riding of Yorkshire has more recently taken this manufacture, owing to the cheapness of water power in that district.

Leicester has now become the rival of Northampton as a centre for shoe manufacture.

and other places on the east of Scot land, since flax was grown on the opposite coasts of Europe, and first came thither.

Bombazines and other mixed stuffs were introduced to Norwich by refu gees from the Netherlands by the cruelties of the Duke of Alva.

through some French refugees who Silk-weaving started in Spitalfields, were driven out of their own country by the Edict of Nantes.

Wakefield was once a cloth-making town, like Leeds and Halifax, but is now an emporium for corn and a mart for cattle.

ints.

HE that falls in the dirt, the longer be stays there the fouler he is.

A cheerful look makes a dish a

feast.

Ill ware is never cheap.

The chicken is the country's, but

Linen was first made at Dundee, the town eats it.

FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

The Children's Corner.

JIMMY CHESTNUT.

ISN'T that a queer name, children ?-Jimmy Chestnut! Do you wonder whether it is a real name or a fancy name?

Well, I can tell you: it is the real name of a little colored boy who lives in Florida. He is "one of the brightest boys I ever saw," his teacher writes.

He used to be a little slave; but he is now a free boy; for you know the American Government some time ago gave all the slaves their freedom; and perhaps you have heard people say:

"How foolish!—they can't take care of themselves!"

Now, just hear what this little boy does. He waits upon a sick man, who keeps a shop; and by that means, and blacking gentlemen's boots, earns money enough to buy his own clothes; and still keeps ahead of his class all the time in school, and that class not the lowest, but the highest."

Some kind ladies at the North, interested in the school which he attends, last winter sent a box of clothing, and some other articles to be distributed among the children. There was a Testament with the rest of the things; and this the teacher directed must be given to Jimmy, as he was their "brightest and best scholar."

The Testament and a new suit of clothes were Jimmy's portion. So pleased was he with the gift, that "he is reading his Testament all the time he is at home," says his mother; and may we not hope it will make him "wise unto salvation ?"

Nor is Jimmy Chestnut the only one; there are hundreds, and perhaps I might say thousands, of these dear little colored boys and girls, just as bright, and just as eager to learn; and there are many kind northern ladies, who rejoice to teach them, who count it the greatest happiness of all their lives, to be permitted so to do.

But those wicked people who brought that "cruel war" upon the North, are determined that the colored people shall not be taught; and, wherever they are not held in check by military authority, they are breaking up these schools, and driving northern teachers from among them. More than this, they are using all their efforts to induce the President to withdraw the military forces from their borders, and in many cases with success.

If he does this generally, what will become of all these poor colored children and their parents, some of whom, even now, are shot down in the streets, and trampled under the horses' feet?

Dear children, will you not all pray for these poor little colored children, that God will protect them, and defeat the counsels of wicked men, and overrule all things for his own glory and the welfare of that distant country.

THE FEARFUL FAMINE IN INDIA.

THE following graphic account of the famine stricken people in one part of the province of Orissa, is written by an estimable American missionary. It will be read with the deepest interest.

"Besides about 1500 rupees received from public charity, we now receive a weekly supply of money and rice (or are to do soon) from the Balasore Relief Committee, furnished by the government. But O! the labour of distribution. Did you ever think of it, and try to solve the problem, viz.; required to place a trifle in the hand of each of 2,500 rude, ignorant, filthy, lying, treacherous, cunning, crafty and most clamorous, starving people, intent on nothing but to secure something to fill their griping empty stomachs; your assistants mainly men without brains, or brains without strength, or strength and brains, destitute of all moral rectitude and sure to plunder the suffering the moment they are out of your sight. Others may find an easy solution. To me, it has been one of steady and hard labour, attended as yet with only partial success.

At first the number being small, Mrs. P. and myself distributed daily, with our own hands. Somewhere it has been said of the late lamented, martyred Lincoln, that he at first carefully read over all papers requiring his signature, but finding this too burdensome, he had them read to him, but the number becoming so great, he had only the principal points read, until at length his simple inquiry was, 'Where do you want my name?' This may or may not have been true of that great and good man, but a practice somewhat similar we have been compelled to adopt in trying to feed the multitude. At first we could make all sit in a row and wait until all had been served. But as the crowd increased, trickery and clamour increased also. A large pen was enclosed with a thorn fence, and the ground marked off in lines, and at a given hour the gate closed, the men, women and children, separately numbered, when the work of distribution begins.—— Two or three native Christians aid me, while each of us have to be attended by a strong man to see that each person rises and leaves the ground as soon as served. We commence at the gate and take them row by row. All must be counted out to each one in pice, a copper coin, 64 of which make a rupee, which is equal to 48 or 50 cents, or two shillings.

Basket in hand we address ourselves to the work, stoutly re

THE FEARFUL FAMINE IN INDIA.

solved to be kind, impartial, patient, and enduring. But again, alas for resolutions! My early and lamented colleague, Brother Noyes, once remarked that, Had Satan set Job over a company of Oriyas, he would have gained his point,' It is a common remark that, 'Nothing hurts a Hindoo's conscience so much as to pay him all he asks for what he has to sell.' Next to this trial may be placed that of giving him all he is to have at one time. In the former case he goes away muttering, 'What a fool I was not to ask more;' in the latter he is deprived of the luxury of teasing If you would satisfy a Hindoo by giving to him, you must keep back a portion of the donation, however small, until you hear his grievances, and allow him the exquisite pleasure of teasing for it. Bearing these national traits in mind, accompany us, in thought, along the rows of half, three-fourths, yes, entirely naked, starved, dying people. See their slender, skinny arms and imploring hands extended, while the cry, Give, give, I have eaten nothing for three days; I'm dying,' &c, &c., fills your ears, while their unwashed, diseased bodies send forth a most repulsive odour. But come along! Two or three thousand are to be fed, and no time to muse. Either the sun is pouring down its vertical rays, or, may be, the clouds emptying their liquid stores on all around you. You snatch a handful of pice, and, hastily counting, deposit them in the upraised hand, and so another and another; and thus you speed your way along the line for a time. But stop, a hand is laid on your arm, or you are caught by the feet, and a voice exclaims, 'O! O!! O!!! father, listen.' You stop to hear a tale of woe. Before it is through, half a dozen more rise up and gather around you, vociferating at the top of their voices similar tales. Give an extra pice or two to an aggravated case, and this brings you a score of clamorous suitors, entreating you to consider their case and give a little more, and ere you reach the end of your row you find yourself completely surrounded, in the midst of a perfect jam of unsavoury human bodies, rather skeletons. The most distressing part of it is, their wants are real.-Wasted, hollow, gaunt, doubled up, human forms tell of no mere imaginary wants. Still, a trifle is all you can bestow on each, while you push on, and elbow your way through the boisterous crowd. O it is awful, awful! The beginning and end of human existence meet us in the Kongalee pen! It has now become quite common to find one or more dead or just expiring on the ground as the pen is cleared. Young children not more