THE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.

WHAT

THAT times we live in! Many people travel now-a-days who never thought of such a thing formerly, and even those who stay at home can read in the newspapers all about what is going on in other places. Fifty years ago, if some great sight had been to be seen in London, labouring people in the country would hardly have heard of it, and certainly would not have been able to see it. But now crowds of people come from all parts to the International Exhibition; not rich people only, but farmers, tradesmen, mechanics, and labourers. Many bring their wives and children with them; and some come from a great distance. Every part of the kingdom sends numbers.

Look at these country people. Where do they come from? Some, very likely, are from quiet country places, a hundred miles or more from London. Yet here they are, looking about them in the great Exhibition, picking up information on many subjects, and enjoying the sight of all the wonderful things around them; and they have got here with no fatigue, and at the expense of only a few shillings. What would their grand

fathers have said?

But people have come from foreign parts, too, to see this Exhibition. Here are French, and Germans, and Dutch, and Italians, and Spanish, and Portuguese. Here you may see Russians and Poles, Greeks and Turks, and people from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. In fact, some are to be found here from every part of Europe. And not from Europe only. Here are people from Asia and Africa, and plenty from America; and the ambassadors from Japan may be seen among the visitors. Some wear strange dresses, and are of a different colour from us; and many who are white people as we are, and dress much as we do, yet look, somehow or other, very different from Englishmen. If there were nothing in the building but the people, it would be a wonderful sight.

It is a wonderful place in many ways. Look at the building itself. What a size! Look at the height of the great domes. Each of them is 250 feet high. Look along the length from end to end. Do you know how long it is? No less than 800 feet; that is, nearly one-sixth of a mile. It stands upon 24 acres of ground, as much as would make a small farm. And yet this great place is all covered in from the weather, and almost all floored, and painted, and beautified. It is not like some great barn. The main part of it forms a noble building of stone, and brick, and glass, and iron, and wood. It is said to have cost about £300,000, and it was built in the space of a few months. But the greatest wonder of all is, what is in it. The mind is almost lost in thinking of the vast number of things here. The pictures alone would take you several miles

of walking, to look at every one. Machinery of all sorts is here: steam-engines, farming implements and machines; curious manufacturing engines for making a variety of things more quickly and cheaply. You may stand and look at them all, and find out how they are made, if you can. How many clever heads and skilful hands have been employed on these things! And yet here they are, all brought together into one building.

Great things and small are to be found here; little delicate things and great coarse things; beautiful little things no bigger than a pin, and huge things weighing many tons. How they all got here is a wonder.

Many of them come from foreign countries. Part of the building is full of French things; another part has nothing but things from Russia. And so with almost every country in the world. Every land sends its best; the best things that the country produces naturally, and the best things that are made there. If you were to leave your home, and spend years in visiting different countries, you could not see so many different things, natural and manufactured, as you may see here in one day; though, if you want to see all thoroughly, you must spend many days about it.

It is called the International Exhibition, because it is not confined to one nation only, but is a thing in which different nations join. The word International means, what is between nation and nation. People of various nations here meet together, and see one another face to face, and look at one another's works. It will be leppy thing if this teaches them to be wetter friends, and not to go to war with each other. And though it is to be feared that there always will be war, as long as men are what they are, yet a friendly meeting such as this must do something, one would think, towards peace.

It ought not to make us proud, to see the wonderful things inan has made. On the contrary, such a sight as this ought to raise our thoughts to God.

For, in the first place, great as these works of man are, what are they compared to the works of God? This great building, long, and high, and wide as it is, is nothing to the works of God in nature. What are these great domes to the blue vault of heaven over our heads? A dashing river, or a great waterfall, is really more grand than anything here. If we could stand on the top of some high mountain which God has made, and look down on this great house, it would seem little indeed. And of all these beautiful and costly manufactures, there is not one so wonderful, really, as a little daisy growing in a field.

Besides, the building itself, and all in it, is not so much man's work as God's. The materials are all his. He formed the stone, the iron, and the lime. He made the clay from which the bricks were moulded; he caused the trees to grow from which the timber was cut; he made the flint, and sand,

and other things, which compose the glass; and he gave the mind and skill to work all the different materials into so many wonderful things. What could man have done here without GOD? We stand amazed, as well we may, at so many works of art, and strength, and science, and skill; but let us not forget that GOD is the first author of them all.

It is a happy thing that God has been acknowledged in this building from the first. Several sentences, written up in great letters in different parts of the inside, direct the thoughts to the great Author and Giver of all; and on the first day of May, when the Exhibition was opened in the presence of thousands of the rich and great, praise was offered to God, and his blessing was sought.

There is one thing that casts a cloud over the undertaking. That great and good Prince, the husband of our Queen, who bore a chief part in setting it on foot, was taken from among us while yet the building was going on. The nation mourned for his loss as with one heart; and even now many a thought of him who is gone is mixed with the feelings of interest and pleasure with which this Exhibition is visited. Our dear Queen (whom may God bless!), always thinking more of others than of herself, would have all go on just as if the Prince were living still. She would not let her private grief come in the way of a publie good, and of a thing meant for the pleasure and profit of her people. Long may she live, blest by God, and a blessing to this land! Never was Queen of England loved so well: never did Queen of England deserve so well her people's love. God bless the Queen, in sorrow and in joy, in her kingdom and in her family, in things temporal and things spiritual! God bless our Queen! and may ten thousand hearts say, Amen!

A

THE TWO COACHMEN. CERTAIN gentleman had once to advertise for a coachman; and among those who came for the situation were two who much took his fancy; but he was at a loss which to choose of these two, for cach brought a good character, and was said to be a skilful driver. To put them to the test, as far as words would go, the gentleman asked them both the following question :

"If you were driving my carriage along a road with a steep and dangerous precipice on one side, how near to the edge would you venture to drive it without fear of consequences?"

Said the first coachman, "I would not mind going within a foot of the edge, sir, and should have no fear."

"And if the horses should start, or shy, or slip, or stumble ?" suggested the gentleman.

"I would engage for the horses while the reins were in my hands, sir," replied the man, with a smile of self-confidence.

"Very good," said the gentleman; "and you, friend"-this to the second applicant"how near would you choose to venture?" "No nearer than I must, sir," replied this man, bluntly.

"How? do you mean to say you would be afraid?"

"I did not say I should be afraid, sir; but without being over timid, I would take care to keep on the safe side of the road, sir."

The gentleman smiled. "I must have you for my coachman," he said; and he hired the cautious driver forthwith.

He was a wise man, this employer.

Two young men started in life at the same time. They were on an equal footing as regarded early training and moral habits. Both of them knew that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and were forewarned that, while strait is the gate and narrow the way which leads to life everlasting, wide is the gate and broad the way that lead to destruction. They knew, also, that "the way of transgressors is hard," and that "the wages of sin is death.”

Let me do these two young men justice, by adding that they both not only professed to be seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, but were hopeful young Christians.

There was a difference between them, however. Archie was confident: Caleb was cautious. Archie was forward: Caleb was retiring. Generally speaking, among their Christian friends and acquaintance, Archie was considered the brighter of the two with respect to religious knowledge, the deeper of the two in Christian experience, the more promising of the two in regard to their future Christian course.

Well, they started in life, and in the ways of Providence were removed from former associations and restraints, were exposed to new temptations, were cast amongst new companions, had the choice of new friendships. The road before them was difficult, and dangerous, and untried. There were many stumbling-blocks in the way, and many precipices bordering the road of life, to be guarded against, as they were told.

Archie smiled when forewarned of these dangerous passes. He knew, or thought he knew, how near he could go with safety; was sure that he could keep a tight and firm control over the strong and spirited passions of youth, so that they should have no power over him. He would keep them under-never fear.

Caleb shrank from the same prospect. He had not much confidence in himself: he wished there were none of these dangers; but, as wishing would do no good, and he must go onward, he would give them a wide herth, as the sailors say; he would keep as closely as possible to the safe side of the road. He knew that his passions were un

ruly and strong; and while keeping control over them, he would also be watchful not to put them in the way of temptation.

Archie laughed at Caleb's precautions; and it may be that Caleb envied Archie his strong confidence.

"He that trusteth to his own heart is a fool." The Bible says this; and we know that the Bible must be right in all that it says. For a time, however, Archie went on prosperously. Success gave him fresh confidence, and confidence, with him, was presumption. He prided himself on going very near to the edge of the precipice; in defying temptation nearer and nearer. Like the first coachman just mentioned, he could drive within a foot of the fatal brink with firm nerves and a smiling face; the smile being a pitying, compassionate smile for the timid, cautious Caleb, who always kept on the safe side of the road.

"Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." On one sorrowful day, the self-confident young man needlessly put himself in the way of temptation. In that hour his passions were excited, plunged to regain their natural freedom, and defied the regain their natural freedom, and defied the feeble hold of their foolish master-not their master then. Bewildered, he looked round for one moment helplessly; and thenBut enough he fell,

Caleb heard of the fall. "It might have been I," said he, tremblingly.

Yes, it might have been Caleb; but his very weakness had been his strength; and the same gracious Spirit who had implanted in his heart the fear of temptation, had also put the prayer there, "Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts."

The Lord "giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah xl. 29-31).

silvery grey, mottled here and there with dark blotches.

We are particular in describing this little tree, because its value and its fame are great, and because its name is linked with some very sweet thoughts unfolded in the Bible.

From this tree is obtained the precious drug known by eastern traders as the "Balsam of Judea," but called in Holy Scripture, the "Balm of Gilead." The balsam is sometimes got by wounding the bark and carefully catching the drops that trickle down, and sometimes by crushing the berries and pressing out their juice. It was considered a cure for every hurt and wound; and as such it is still regarded in eastern nations.

The earliest mention of this precious drug is in Genesis (xxxvii. 25), where it is stated that Joseph's brethren "lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and BALM and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt." It was to these travelling merchantmen that they sold the brother who was afterwards to rescue them from famine.

Another touching mention of the same balm occurs in Genesis xliii. 11, where we are told that the aged father sent some of it as a small but costly gift to his unknown so in Egypt, together with other simple offerings, such as Egypt, with all her wealth and grandeur, could not yield. "Carry down the man a present," said Jacob, "a little BALM, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds."

The most favourable soil and climate for the ripening of this famous balsam seem to have been in the sunny, rocky valleys of Gilead, which accordingly gave to it its popular name, "the Balm of Gilead." On the plains around Jericho there were also productive gardens of the same kind, planted, it is said, by King Solomon. But these were all destroyed and trodden down by the Gentiles ages ago, and the traveller may now search in vain all through Judea and throughout all Gilead for a single solitary tree. Alas! there is now no balm in Gilead.

But it is not thus with the Divine gift, of which the healing balsam of Gilead is an image and representation. The Bible teaches us that there is still a balm to heal every hurt and every sickness of the soul. It tells us that there is still a Divine Physician ready to apply the remedy and to work the cure. Christ Jesus is this physician, and the precious blood which he shed for sinners, applied by faith to the soul, is the true balm of Gilead. It heals every wound. It cures every hurt. "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed" (Is. liii. 5).

SOME

A HELPMEET.

OME of our hard-working women at home, with their house cleaning, their cooking, their washing, and their baby, think they have plenty to do, and that they cannot possibly find time for more. I am inclined to agree with them; but what will they say to a woman who does all these things, and also helps her husband in his work?

It must be easy work, you will say. Far from that it is sawing through great logs of wood. Can he not get any one else to help him? No! and therefore this true helpmeet assists him cheerfully in his task.

She does not live in England, but in New Zealand, in a frame house which she helped to build. In frout is a pretty garden, laid out and planted by her own hands; for whilst she works hard at the useful, she does not forget the ornamental. Perhaps it may cheer some, who feel rather discouraged by the hard work and difficulties at home, to hear of those to be met with in a distant land.

I will give a few particulars gleaned from Mrs. J's letters. She lives forty miles from Auckland, and her nearest neighbour is about four miles off; there

fore there can be little gossiping, and no

shopping. How then can she get such grocery as she needs? If she does not know of any one going to Auckland whom she can trust, she writes. A post-office is within eight miles of her home, and the grocer in Auckland will send the goods to a boat, which brings them to this spot. Then "one of the settlers who has a team of bullocks brings them up to us for one pound; some for fifteen shillings." For some months after Mrs. J and her husband settled in the bush, they could not obtain any milk. This was a great privation. Now they have two cows giving milk, and possess six head of cattle. Mrs. J. says, "We should have had more, but two cows were killed, and a young bullock hung himself in the supple jacks (a kind of withe that grows in the bush). It is a dangerous country for cattle; there are so many creeks and swamps; and that is the reason we are anxious to get our land cleared, fenced, and sown in grass. We could live most

comfortably by our cattle if we had paddocks enough for them. Sometimes we have to go two miles into the bush for them: that takes up a great deal of time. This is the way nearly up a great deal of time. This is the way nearly every one about here has to do; some from mismanagement, some from want of capital. To begin farming here, to pay soon, we should have enough to get four bullocks and dray, and clear twenty acres for grass."

What are those to do who have not capital enough to do this? Our young friends were in that position, but resolved not to remain so. Mr. J found that in Auckland there was

a great demand for shingles. These are pieces of wood used to cover roofs instead of tiles or slates. He got an order for twenty thousand of these, and, assisted by his wife, set about pre

CLEARING THE BUSH.

paring them. Mrs. J thus mentions it: "I saw every one of the great Kauri logs for the shingles with A-. They are five feet through, so you can imagine the circumference. I can cross-cut now as well any man; but we look forward to the time we shall not have to work so hard."

Whilst the father and mother are thus at work, the baby boy is laid on the grass near them. From being much in the open air he is very healthy and strong for his age, and this we hear is the case with most children born in New Zealand. Mrs. J says, that in spite of her hard work she never enjoyed such good health. She is very happy, and does not wish to return to the old country, except to see her friends again. To these her heart still clings. She sends them feathers plucked from the birds shot by her husband; tusks of the wild boars that he has killed; ornaments worn by the natives; fine specimens of moss, and beautiful

ferns gathered in her rambles in the forest. Her kind heart seems to overflow to every one. In the middle of the night she rises, and taking her child in her arms, goes cheerfully some miles to help a sick neighbour. She has not only womanly sympathy, but valuable medical knowledge, and, above all, a firm reliance on the assistance of God. Thus, in every relation of life she fulfils her duty.

There must be some source from which these streams of love and of industry flow. What may it be? What renders her blessed and a blessing? It is trust in Jesus Christ, and the love of God for his sake shed in her heart. This is the root from which spring all the good fruits seen in her daily life. Morning and evening she and her husband read in their

family Bible; morning and evening they kneel in prayer. No wonder, then, that Mrs. J can speak of her home as one

"of love and peace"!

No

"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her" (Proverbs xxxi. 28).

EVERY LITTLE HELPS.
WHAT if a drop of rain should plead,
"So small a drop as I
Can ne'er refresh the thirsty mead:
I'll tarry in the sky"?

What if the shining beam of noon
Should in its fountain stay,
Because its feeble light alone
Cannot create a day?

Does not each rain-drop help to form
The cool, refreshing shower?
And every ray of light, to warm
And beautify the flower?

Children's Page.

A CITY SAVED BY CHILDREN.

THE city of Hamburgh is a large place, where

a number of merchants live who do business in all parts of the world: there is no other city in Germany better situated for commerce. It stands on the banks of the Elbe, a great river, by which it is enabled, by means of canals, to reach the other large rivers in Germany, and thus to send the goods brought to it by sea into the heart of the country. This famous city has undergone many troubles and misfortunes. It has suffered from floods; it has stood the horrors of sieges, both in old and in modern times; it has twice been nearly destroyed by fire; and once it was saved from destruction the most terrible by children. This last-named event took place more than four hundred years ago, and we will tell you how it happened.

came

In the year 1432, the Hussites, under their leader Procopius Rasus, against Hamburgb, with the intention of destroying it. The citizens of the place prepared to make defence, but it was impossible to fortify all the approaches in time to resist the besiegers, and they had not men enough to venture to give battle to the numerous bost drawn out in array against them. In those days it was a fearful thing for a town to be taken by siege. The war then carrying on was a religious war; and though the Hussites, who were men fighting for conscience' sake against the tyranny of the Pope, might have remembered mercy in the hour of victory, they could not have controlled

the mercenaries, or hired soldiers, whom they had in their ranks; and it is very certain that a fearful slaughter would have followed upon the fall of the city. The Hamburghers knew this very well, and a great dismay fell upon them all as they beheld the glittering ranks of the enemy preparing for the attack.

At this dreadful time a worthy man in the town, whose name was Wolf, proposed to the authorities that all the little children in the city who were old enough to walk, and under fourteen years of age, should be dressed in mourning, and sent out to ask mercy from the enemy. Some of the magistrates mocked at the notion, as of no use. Others were of a different opinion. They knew that many of the men who sought their destruction must have children of their own, and they hoped that the sight of these little ones pleading for their lives would

remind them of their own children whom they had left at home, and dispose their hearts to kindness. So it was resolved that the experiment should be tried. The children being first all clad in solemn black, were assembled, and, the elder leading the younger ones, marched and tripped out of the city to the number of thirty to forty thousand, and before long arrived at the enemy's camp.

The good man, Wolf, proved to be in the right. When the leader of the Hussites saw all this multitude of helpless children, and recalled to mind what would be their fate if his army took the city, the thought quite over

powered him. He at once granted their request; assuring them that he would spare the city for their sakes. Then he made them all be seated on the grass; and, as he had pitched his camp in the cherry-orchards, where the fruit was then ripe, he sent his soldiers to tear down boughs laden with cherries, and to give them to the children that they might regale themselves. After they had feasted and rested, the children went back to their friends, who were watching for them from the walls; and as they came onward they waved the green boughs of the cherrytrees, in token of the peaceful news they were bringing. There perhaps never was, either before or since, so joyful an end to so great a trouble. We may imagine how delighted the parents of these children must have been, and with what grateful hearts they returned thanks to God, who had mercifully saved them from destruction

by the intercession of their little ones; thus, "out of the mouths of babes and sucklings ordaining strength-to still the enemy and the avenger." There are things more powerful in the world than weapons of war. The rudest men may sometimes be disarmed by an appeal to their kindly affections; and if the heart be tender, there is no room for cruelty and strife. What a happy day will it be when the love of Jesus Christ shall have united men in love to one another, and the swords shall be beaten into ploughshares, and the spears into pruning-hooks!

Ever since that time the good citizens of Hamburgh have kept the memory of the children's

peace fresh and green. Even now, when the anniversary of that day comes round, there is a children's holiday regularly kept, and crowds of little children walk about the streets in procession, carrying green boughs pulled from the cherry-trees, and clustered over with the ripe fruit.

"WHAT'S O'CLOCK?"

PLEASE, sir, will you

tell me what's

o'clock ?" I look round, but see nobody. Again a voice says, "Please, sir, what o'clock is it?" And now I look up to where the sound seems to come from, and just over my head sits a little boy astride on the oak-branch that hangs over the path. He has been bird-minding all day long, and has got up there for a little change. Besides he can see all over the field from where he sits. Poor boy! he is tired of his job, or rather, tired of having nothing to do; and right glad is he when I tell him that he has only another half-hour to stay.

Bird-minding must be weary work; nothing to do from morning till night but to shout to the birds, and shake the clapper at them. It is a good thing bird-minding comes only now and then. I think if I had to do it, I should be very tired by the end of the day. Still a boy must not let the birds take the seed. We must mind our work, whatever it may be.

This boy was longing for the time to pass that he might go home to supper. Poor boy! it was but natural that he should. But how many people there are-grown-up men and women too -who ought to be busy, and yet are weary of their time, just because they are idle. None ought to be idle. Time ought to hang heavy on nobody's hands. There is plenty for all to do. A working man is far more cheerful than an idle man. Time was meant to be used, not merely to be passed; and whether we are rich or poor, we shall all have to give account of our time hereafter. Time is a solemn and precious thing.