POETIC SELECTIONS THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

Portir Selections.

STAND LIKE AN ANVIL.

The Message of Ignatius to Polycarp.

STAND like an anvil,” when the stroke Of stalwart men falls fierce and fast; Storms but more deeply root the oak, Whose brawny arms embrace the blast. "Stand like an anvil," when the sparks Fly far and wide, a fiery shower: Virtue and truth must still be marks,

Where malice proves its want of power.

"Stand like an anvil," when the bar

Lies red and glowing on its breast; Duty shall be life's leading star,

And conscious innocence its rest.

"Stand like an anvil," when the sound Of ponderous hammers pains the ear; Thine, but the still and stern rebound

Of the great heart that carmot fear. "Stand like an anvil," noise and heat

Are born of earth and die with time; The soul, like God, its source and seat, Is solemn, still, serene, sublime.

-Bishop Donne.

SUPPLICATION.

O God, who made this world so bright,
With all the sparkling stars of heaven-
Great God, who spake, and straightway
light,

The precious light to earth was given,- |
Great God, who made the sun and moon,
The earth, the ocean, and the sky:
Strewed with fresh flowers the walks in
June,

And scattered beauty for the eye;—
Tinged, as with silver, now the lake,

And then with gold the verdant hill:-
Filled with sweet balm the air we take,

And bade us go and breathe at will;

Now charms with music from his lyre.
Then awes the soul with thunders loud;
Now startles by the flashing fire,

That leaps so brightly from the cloud;
Then spreads His beauteous bow above,
E'er to remind us of His care,

Of His rich promises and love

That His dear children He will spare. O God of heaven! great God, supreme, God of true mercy, hear my prayer; Let pleasures in my pathway gleam, And keep me ever in Thy care.

The Children's Corner.

TWO WAYS.

I KNOW a boy who, when his little sister runs up to see what he is doing, and he does not want her so near, says, "Please, sissy, go away now; go, sissy, please." Is not that better than to cry, "Get out!" as some boys do, and perhaps make it rougher with a knock?

I know a little boy who, when he comes home hungry from school, runs into the kitchen, and says, "Biddy, if you are not too busy, will you be kind enough to give me a biscuit, or spread me a slice of bread and better?" Biddy is happy to leave her work, and oblige a boy who speaks so. Is it not more polite than to rush in and cry out, "Give me something to eat, quick ?"

I know a little boy who says, "Mother, if you are willing, I should like to go to Eddie Brown's to-night." And I know another who said, "I am going to Eddie Brown's, whether or no." Which way of speak. ing becomes a little boy best?

WITCHCRAFT.

A VISIT has just been made to Salem, Mass., which, in its early history, was the place of the terrible delusion of witchcraft, and which proved for a time destructive to social happiness, law, order, justice, and to life itself. Some places, where the scenes took place, were seen and examined with a melancholy interest. A few notes of them will be given. But first, some sketches of the his

tory of witchcraft may be put down.

Man is fond of the wonderful, and delights in the marvellous. With a knowledge of science and of Divine Revelation, he contemplates with interest the works of creation, and with ineffable delight bows down and adores God for the plan of redemption and saving grace. In ignorance of the true God and with reason unenlightened, he is liable to embrace the supernatural, though wild, fanatical, and delusive. Under this comes witchcraft. It has been somewhat prevalent in the heathen world. It has prevailed in almost all ages and among nations enlightened by the gospel.

It is sorcery, enchantment, intercourse with evil spirits. It is a juggling pretence of supernatural power or knowledge, gained by entering into a compact with the inhabitants of the spiritual world, called "familiar spirits." In the full belief of it, the late Dr. Thomas Dick of Scotland well says: "A witch, generally an old woman, it is believed can transport herself through the air at pleasure, and torment the absent."

Such characters as are defined above are mentioned in the Scriptures. God forbids consulting them. "And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits and after wizards, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people." Lev. xx. 6. Witches also were to be cut off. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Ex. xxii. 18. In Gal. chapter five, witchcraft is named as one of the works of the flesh, and is classed with adultery, murder, and drunkenness.

The belief in witchcraft was common in Europe in the dark ages, but was very prevalent in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Those accused were punished by death. In the village of Lindheim thirty were burned in four years, ending in 1665. For two hundred years, ending in 1650, according to the accounts of some, one half of the population of Europe was either bewitching or bewitched. Five hundred were executed at Geneva

WITCHCRAFT.

about 1515; a thousand in the diocese of Como in a short time, and a hundred a year for a while after. In Loraine, during fifteen years, ending in 1595, nine hundred were burned. In France, in several years, 1,520 were destroyed. In Wurtzsburg and Treves in one century it is said that 15,700 were put to death for this alleged offence. In England, as late as 1670, Sir Matthew Hale, who had been active with Cromwell the Protector, and was at length judge of the king's bench under Charles II., tried and condemned persons accused of witchcraft.

The first suspicion of witchcraft in America appeared in Springfield, Mass., in 1645, but twenty-five years after the settlement at Plymouth. Not far from this time one was executed at Charlestown, one at Dorchester, one at Cambridge, and one at Boston. In 1658, Susanna Trimmings was tried at Portsmouth, N.H. Others were tried soon after. In 1688, a woman was tried and executed in Boston.

Salem is fifteen miles north of Boston, and was settled about 1630. Sixty years later, that is, in 1692, the most destructive manifestations of witchcraft ever known in America were exhibited here. The first cases were two children about eleven years of age. They began by acting in a peculiar and unaccountable manner, creeping into holes, under chairs, using unnatural gestures, and uttering ridiculous observations, destitute of sense. Many children have appeared almost equally strange since. But there was much ignorance and consequent superstition then, and the course taken fanned the sparks of evil to a terrible fire. The neighbourhood was excited by the conduct of these children; physicians were called; they could explain nothing, save one of them, who most gravely gave it as his opinion that they were bewitched. This was at once considered decisive. Persons were accused of witchcraft and committed to prison.

We may give some other particulars how those supposed to be bewitched conducted themselves. Some began by thinking they were struck with fire on the back; and then turning, they would see a woman vanishing out of sight, and assuming the shape of a cat. Sometimes the breathing was difficult. Some felt as though they were pricked with pins; some would have spots on the flesh; and some had no feeling in portions of their bodies. Some saw ghosts or spectres, and these resembled certain persons whom they would then accuse of bewitching them.

WITCHCRAFT.

Dr. Cotton Mather, pastor of the old north church in Boston (now Hanover-street, Unitarian), from 1685 to 1728, was a firm believer in witchcraft, and gives an account of it in Salem and other places in his book entitled "Magnalia." He ascribes the work of witchcraft to demons and devils, witches being much in league with them.

How is all this to be accounted for? is the age of the world. We may not answer fully.

question at this Probably, howDestroy the mighty and beneficial power of attraction in the universe, and

ever,

errors.

disordered mental action causes most of the cases.

.

"Earth unbalanced would from her centre fly,
Planets and suns run lawless through the sky."

Let reason in the mind be perverted by ignorance, superstition, and fanaticism, and men run into the wildest delusions and Dr. Mather acknowledges and deplores in the "Magnalia" that many persons, the young especially, had been led away by sorceries; and that they would practice detestable conjurations with sieves, keys, peas, nails, and horse-shoes. He says also that wretched books had stolen into the land wherein fools were instructed to become fortune-tellers.

Those imprisoned in Salem were brought to trial. It was 177 years ago. The house in which some were tried is still standing. In our visit we found this. It is at the corner of Essex and North streets. It is of large size, and the oldest chimney is plastered on the outside. The mind was filled with sadness in going back to the scenes enacted there. Persons really guilty of no crime, were brought before magistrates and charged with bewitching others. Some accused were of high social and moral standing. It is related that some were calm and dignified in trial. They bore themselves nobly, but doubtless felt when adjudged guilty, that "justice had fallen in the streets," and that terrible crimes were committed in the name of the law. Those pronounced guilty were sentenced to death. But by a strange inversion of justice, if any confessed themselves guilty, they were allowed to go free. About twenty were put to death. The place of execution is a mile or more from the central part of the city. We visited that. It is hilly, rough, and barren. Ever since, it has been known as "Gallows Hill." It is said a number of the executed exhibited a forcible example of the strength of moral principle and virtue. They suffered courageously and nobly, rather than confess what was untrue.

A JUGGLER'S TRICK.

In the midst of these things and the prospect that the trouble would spread widely, the question was, Where will these things end? Right reason began to resume sway, executions and accusations were abandoned, the storm-clouds passed, and the delusions of witchcraft in process of time ended ;-in civilised countries it is trusted, for ever.

A JUGGLER'S TRICK.

REV. NORMAN MCLEOD, in an account of a visit to Bombay, gives a description of a juggling feat known as the "bamboo trick." says:

He

"While the tom-tom was beating and the pipe playing, the juggler, singing all the time in low accents, smoothed a place in the gravel, three or four yards before us. Having thus prepared a bed for the plant to grow in, he took a basket and placed it over the prepared place, covering it with a thin blanket. The man himself did not wear a thread of clothing, except a strip round the loins. The time seemed to have come for the detective's eye! So, just as he was becoming more earnest in his song, and while the tom-tom beat and the pipe shrilled more loudly, I stepped forward with becoming dignity and begged him to bring the basket and its cover to me. The juggler cheerfully complied. I examined the basket. It was made of open wicker-work. I then examined the cloth covering. It was thin, almost transparent, and certainly there was nothing concealed in it. I then fixed my eyes on his strip of clothing with such intentness that it was not possible it could have been touched without discovery, and bade him go on. I felt perfectly sure that the trick could not succeed. Sitting down, he stretched his naked arms under the basket, singing and smiling as he did so; he then lifted the basket off the ground, and, behold, a green plant, about a foot high! Satisfied with our applause, he went on with his incantations. After having sat a little, to give his plant time to grow, he again lifted the basket, and the plant was now two feet high. He asked us to wait a little longer that we might taste the fruit! But on being assured by those who had seen the trick performed before that this result would be obtained, I confessed myself 'done' without the slightest notion of the how. I examined the ground, and found it was smooth and upturned.