THE HALF-PENNY EXHIBITION.-PART II. "Now you are going to see a fine sight. There, what do you think of that? There's a ship for you! That is the very ship which has the missionaries on board, with all their packages. There is the Captain, standing at the head of the vessel with a telescope in his hand. There are the sailors in their blue jacketssome on the deck, some on the shrouds, and some at the mast head; and the two missionaries are standing by the mainmast, admiring the wonders of the mighty deep, and raising their hearts to Him who 'holdeth the sea in the hollow of His hand.' The winds are blowing, the billows are rising, the pendants are flying, but the ship sails steadily along. Let us hope she will get safe into port, without a drop of water sprinkling the packages, or a hair of the missionaries' heads being injured. I cannot show you the porpoises, the dolphins, and the whales, for they are all under water. But come, you have looked long enough at the ship; let her go on her course, while I pull another string. "There! I knew you would all be surprised at that. There is the great idol Juggernaut. The crowd of poor half-naked Hindoos on each side are worshipping the idol, instead of praising God. The men with the cords are pulling the idol along, that the wheels of the car on which he moves may pass over the bodies of the poor wretches who have thrown themselves on the ground before him. What a sad sight! Look to the left; that miserable wretch has held up his arm so long in that posture that he cannot put it down again. It has been in that position for years; and he first held it up in that manner that the poor ignorant natives might think him a devout man, and give him money. On the right, yonder, you see a large pile of wood smoking. On that pile, in the middle of the smoke, is a woman being burnt alive with the dead body of her husband. This cruel practice has but lately been put a stop to: but there are other cruel practices amongst the heathen which I hope will also give way before the light of the gospel. All these people are ignorant of the Bible, and are idolaters. But let us pull another string, for it is painful to see such things as these. They will know better when they get Bibles, and understand them; for then they will cast their idols 'to the moles, and to the bats,' and acknowledge Him whose name is above every name. But now I will show you something worth looking at. "There is a picture for you! It represents the four quarters of the earth-Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. That is Europe on the left hand. See! in one part there is a congregation at worship, for it is the sabbath day: the sabbath-school children are in the gallery. In the back-ground you see people differently employed: some reading the Bible, others visiting the sick; others distributing tracts. But look at Asia. Why, there is a congregation too; and the poor natives are huddled together round one of the very missionaries whom you saw before they crossed the sea! They arrived safely. That is one of them with the natives round him preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus; and the other is up the country at a different station. Their Bibles, and their books, and their tracts, have not been useless. See! there are elephants among the tall trees further up. But now look for a moment on Africa. The black people you see crouching down on the ground are the negroes, the natives of the country. They have been instructed by missionaries, and are now met together for divine worship, in the name of the most High. Look ! yonder is a lion asleep under a bush. Oh, it is a sad country for wild beasts! The great river that runs in the distance is the Niger. Some say, that, after running more than a thousand miles, it loses itself in the sandy deserts of the country; but lately it has been found to run into the ocean. And now take a peep at America, and you will see that missionaries and Bibles have found their way to every part of the world. The group of tall people, with feathers on their heads, are American chiefs. Their faces are tattooed all over—that is, marked with a sharp-pointed instrument; and they have brought some of their people with them to hear the missionary, and to worship the Great Being who sent both the missionary and the Bible to instruct them. "There now! you have seen a grand picture of the four quarters of the earth; of the noble invention of printing, which has enabled the people of Great Britain to send Bibles all over the world; of the two missionaries, large as life; of the ship which carried them across the seas; of the great idol Juggernaut ; and of the woman being burnt alive;- and you have seen how differently people employ their time whereever our blessed Saviour and the Bible are known, to what they did before: and all this has cost you but a single half-penny. And now I shall return to all of you your money again, and give you a tract to read into the bargain, which you must go over with great care when you are sitting with your playmates and friends. Surely you will think this one of the best and the very cheapest exhibitions you ever saw in your lives. I met a little cottage girl, She was eight years old, she said; That clustered round her head. "Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many ? seven in all," she said, And wondering looked at me. "And where are they, I pray you tell ?" She answered, "Seven are we; And two of us at Conway dwell, "Two of us in the churchyard lie, Dwell near them with my mother." "You say that two at Conway dwell, Yet you are seven; I pray you tell, Then did the little maid reply, "You run about, my little maid, "Their graves are green, they may be seen," The little maid replied, "Twelve steps or more from my mother's door And they are side by side. "My stockings there I often knit, “And often after sunset, sir, |