ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS. A THRILLING INCIDENT. - General Sherman says the greatest demand ever made on his moral courage was under the following circumstances:-The citizens of San Francisco were celebrating the Fourth of July in the large American theatre, which was packed to its utmost capacity. General Sherman was chief marshal, and occupied a seat near the front of the stage. The orator had completed his oration, the poet begun his song, when one of his aids, white with fear, made his way down the middle aisle to the footlight, and beckoning the general's ear, whispered to him that the theatre had settled a foot and a half in one of its side walls, under the weight of the crowd, and might be expected any moment to tumble on their heads in ruins. The general commanded him to sit down where he was, without turning his panic-stricken face to the audience, and to say not one word. He then quietly sent an aid out to report the condition of the wall, then gave his apparent attention to the poem, expecting every moment, as he said, to see the pillars reeling and the roof falling in; but nevertheless certain that any sudden movement and affright of the people would hasten the catastrophe and aggravate the ruin, while by the ordinary slow method of dispersion the danger might possibly be escaped. The exercises continued calmly to the close. The audience left the theatre quietly, without suspecting their peril, and the terrible destruction was averted by the presence of mind, the self-control of the brave soul who, contemplating at one glance all the possibilities of the case, decided upon the policy of duty, and waited, without one betraying glance, or treacherous change of complexion, the uncertain, tremendous consequences. NO DIVISIONS IN FRONT OF THE ENEMY.-The following incident in the life of Lord Nelson contains a lesson for Christians:-On the day before the battle of Trafalgar, Nelson took Collingwood and Rotherham, who were at variance, to a spot where they could see the fleet opposed to them. "Yonder," said the admiral, are your enemies; shake hands and be good friends, like good Englishmen." What a lesson for us! With the world, the flesh, and the devil combined against us, it is no time for us to fall out about trifles, to encourage any bad feelings about one another, or to keep aloof from each other; rather we ought to look upon our enemies' lines and shake hands like Christians. Let us, overlooking our personal conflicts with the flesh and Satan, confine our thoughts to the world which is to be subdued for Jesus. PAPISTS AND RITUALISTS.-It is said that during the recent restoration of a church in Brighton, occupied by the advanced Ritualists, one of the workmen employed, ascending the pulpit, exclaimed, "I publish the banns of matrimony between this Church and the Church of Rome." "And I," said another artisan, turning toward the first speaker, "forbid the banns." "On what ground," inquired he of the pulpit. "'Cos the parties is too near akin," was the reply. THE FIRESIDE. TRIAL AND TEMPTATION.-To be tempted is to be tried. Trial develops strength and matures principle. Christ forewarned His disciples of the trials they would be necessitated to bear, and called such ones blessed. The apostle James says, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." The blessedness is not in the endurance of trials, but in the final results thereby secured; "for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life." Such things are inevitable. None are exempt. Christian, meet them; meet them calmly, believingly, submissively, heroically, Christ-like. Are the robes made white without the great tribulation? The blessed ones above, whose voices are ever uttering joy, gained the promised crown only by bearing the cross. No cross, no crown. No action, no reward. The one is a sure guarantee of the other. The battle fought, the faith kept, makes certain the reserved glory and immortality. The Fireside. A MOTHER'S VOICE. NOT long ago, in the Western States of America, an Indian camp was captured, together with a number of prisoners, including squaws, and some half dozen white captives, boys and girls, from five to twelve years of age. Word was sent through the country, inviting those who had lost children to come to the camp and identify, if possible, their children, as none of them could give any account who their parents were, or where they were taken from, so young where they when they were taken captives by the Indians. Numbers went to the camp-many more than there were children—and of course many of them returned with heavy hearts at being unable to find their lost ones. Among the number who went hundreds of miles to the camp, was a mother who lost two children-a boy and a girl, one three and the other five years old-years ago. Efforts were made to persuade her not to go, and so long a time had elapsed, it was certain she could not identify her children, even if they stood before her. But she could not rest-she must go, and go she did. On arriving at the encampment, she found the captives ranged in line for inspection. She looked at them first from a distance-her anxious heart bounding in her bosom. But she did not see her children—at least she saw nothing in the group that bore the slightest resemblance to her baby boy and girl as they looked when playing about her door steps. She drew nearer and peered deep into the eyes of each, who only returned her look with a stony gaze, yet anxious one-they, too, hoped to see something in her that would tell them she was their mother. She looked long and steadily at them, as her heart began to sink and grow heavy in her THE PENNY POST BOX. bosom. At last, with tears and sobs, she withdrew, and when some paces off she stopped and turned about quickly, as, apparently, a thought had occurred to her. Drying her eyes, she broke forth in a sweet hymn she had been wont to sing to her children as a lullaby. Scarcely a line had been uttered when two of the captives-a boy and a girl-rushed from the line, exclaiming, "Mamma, mamma!" The mother went home perfectly satisfied she had found her long lost children. The Penny Post Box. SELF-EDUCATION. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN was a self-educated man. So was Benjamin West. The one was among the most distinguished philosophers, and the other among the best painters the world ever saw. Each had a good teacher, because he taught himself. Both had a better teacher daily, because both were advancing daily in knowledge and in the art of acquiring it. Baron Cuvier was also a self-made man. He was at all times under a good teacher, because he was always taught by Baron Cuvier. He, more than any other man, perhaps than all other men before him, brought to light the hidden treasures of the earth. He not only examined and arranged the mineral productions of our globe, but ascertained that hundreds, and even thousands of different species of animals, once living, moving in the waters and upon the land, now form rocks and ledges, and even mountains. Cuvier thought, however, that he owed a constant debt of gratitude to his mother for his knowledge, because, when a child, she encouraged him in linear drawing, which was of the utmost service in his pursuits. To the same encouragement the world is, of course, indebted for the knowledge diffused by Cuvier among all nations. Sir Humphrey Davy, by "self-instruction," made more brilliant and more important discoveries in chemical science, than any one who preceded or followed him. Farmers, mechanics, housekeepers, and many others, are now enjoying the benefits of his labours. Elihu Burritt, by self-instruction, had acquired, at the age of thirty years, fifty languages; and that, too, while he was labouring vigourously over the forge and anvil from six to twelve hours daily. The late Dr. Bowditch taught himself until he exceeded all who had gone before him in mathematical science. Roger Sherman, whose name will descend to posterity as one of the ablest statesmen and brightest ornaments of the American Congress, taught himself while working upon his shoe bench. FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY. George Washington was a self-made man. His name will fill all future ages with reverence. There were hosts of others, who in former ages moved the intellectual and moral world; also among those who now move and elevate themselves. Such must be the fact in all future ages. Every child is his own teacher. He teaches himself things, and every thing coming under his observation-animals, vegetables, minerals, tools and operations of farmers, mechanics, and housekeepers, science, and art. He teaches himself by seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling, talking, handling, using and comparing things, and their operations with each other; also cause with effect. Every child of common talents learns a language before he is three or four years of age. Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry. Facts. CURIOUS FACTS ABOUT WATER. THE extent to which water mingles with solid bodies is really wonderful. Of every twelve hundred tons of earth which a landlord has in his estate four hundred are water. The summits of Snowden and Ben Nevis have many million tons of water in a solidified form. The air we breathe contains five grains of water to each cubic foot of its bulk. The potatoes and turnips boiled for our dinners have, in their raw state, the first seventy-five per cent., the second ninety per cent. of water. If a man weighing ten stones were squeezed in a hydraulic press, seven and a half stones of water would run out, and only two and a half of dry residue remain. A man is, strictly speaking, forty. five pounds of carbon and nitrogen, diffused through five and a half pailsful of water. In every plaster of Paris statue which an Italian carries through our streets for sale there is one pound of water to four pounds of chalk. Hints. Being at sea, sail; being on land, settle. A hundred load of thought will not pay one of debt. He who once deceives is ever suspected. He that hath one hog makes him fat; and he that hath one son makes him a fool. An ill labourer quarrels with his tools. He that respects not, is not respected. He that sins against man may be discovered; he that sins against God is sure of it. Gems. There are some men so proud that they will not enter the church until they become so good that they can confer an honour upon the church by entering it. There is no enduring happiness apart from God. Nothing that comes into the world in the way of divine truth is ever lost. POETIC SELECTIONS.-THE CHILDREN'S, CORNER. Religion, in one sense, is self-denial, just as husbandry, in one sense, is a work of death. Death is the dropping of the flower that the fruit may swell. Becoming a Christian is not becoming better than one's neighbour; it is becoming better than one's self. Camping down upon the edges of a sin from which a man has just escaped is dangerous work. Christians who are ever living on their own experiences are like a leaf which has got into an eddy in the river, where it keeps whirling round and round in its own track. Poetic Selections. HEART HYMN. BEAR the burden of the present, Wrap thy cloak around thy form; God is mightier than the storm. Steadfast hope and faith unshaken Animate the trusting breast; Step by step the journey's taken Nearer to the land of rest. All unseen, the Master walketh By the toiling servant's side; Comfortable words He talketh While His hands uphold and guide. The Children's Corner. SHUT YOUR EARS. SHUT your ears when bad words are said. Do not let them get into your memories, for they may trouble you all your lives. If you are not made low and wicked by them, says a writer, but grow up to be pure men and women, you will be all the more sorry for the impure spots left in your mind, which will stick like pitch to you, and which you cannot burn out or wash away." |