CHAPTER XXXL MES. BLOUNT. _ One day when Nessa had so far that she could sit up in bed wi help, pain, to find a occupied by ” the tip of her nose. r 7 ‘ i her li p tain gharectar of decision to the lower part of her face, in protest to the lines eyes, which denoted a tendency and laxity. A soft, means a common sort of face and French curls had not p ‘act. After taking half a dozen smile as she nodded and dear.” “+ Good-afternoon,” said Nessa. “(Now I daresay you wonder and how I came here, and said the old lady, laying down her taking off her spectacles, with her tightly screwed up. ‘ Well, m Blount--and blunt’s my nature She shook an expression that seemed to say, ‘‘Do not make a mistake and think I’m an easy-going, soft-speaking old n”—* and I’ve come here to take care her curls and assum w of Ye while Miss Grace gets a exercise and fresh air. And k you” than The old lady gave a nod of she stood with her hands folded before her ample person, looking down on Nessa. “You have a very pretty voice, glad to see that tronage in her tone. ike me to go on with my knitting, you like me to talk to you? Iw uncommonly short.” “If you could knit and talk at time,” suggested Nessa. That’s a very sensible idea,” said the old lady, screwing up her eyes again t lasses. ‘Do you know, I'm most with and even change her position without : she awoke out of her afternoon sleep feel’ little easier h white kerchief round hor throat, fastened with an antique minia- tte brooch, set round with pearls, and a black silk dress, showed that she was by no person, even i stitches she glanced round ut Nessa, and secing the girl’s eyes wide open, and fixed upon her, expanded and her eyes puckered up in a said, ‘‘Good- who I am, all the rest of it,” you have very pretty ners also,” she said, with a certain degree of “Now, would you ould offer to read something, but my sight is getting . THE BATTLE WON you understand—well Sweyn is thirty-two, But, y recovered ; ; 4 very poor, his practice brin hin in next a little oth # would like to i el theo tlhcouanally seated at her bedside it | seen ; and I think it would fret him to keep M ae stranger was a stout, apo sas old ays with a cap and French curls of white, silvery : . hair, a fresh complexion, a good-natured ex- n¢ her money. pression, and a pair of spectacles resting on She was knitting, and hae Arnold. s¢e : Arete = ts ovey. He's been to sea surgeon, ving ® Cer | that makes man manly. Still, he’s got his delicate feelings, about the : to. mirt a doctor, and > ° "4 roved the no | OT her lips | take care of the baby. And you may be sure of this, my ducky, f he don’t like it she won't do it. i a husband is strong and be, and a wife is lov work an eyes very name is ” ing, to be sure! “I fear Miss Arnold has been sacrificing herself for me,” said Nessa, after 4 pause. “Sh , my dear,” replied. Mrs. Blount, h most decided nod. “She’s knocked heraclf up for your sake. little rest now fust from our side w her. No. Night and da over you ; and she wouldn’t have gone away his afternoon if I hadn't come ; and not heii if you had been in any danger.” “Why?” asked Nessa, wondering. did not know me. She doesn’t know me now. I might the-moat undeserving creature in. the world.” “That wouldn't make a pin of difference to her ; except that I Believe she would ca t own, and t a approval as and I’m man- | heart !” or would ] aes Sl fidget about their souls-—like a neighbor of mine, with about sixpenn’orth of furniture in his house, who can’t rest o’ night for fear of being burned out - who do right becansz it’s a duty. Her goodness comes natural, and is owing to nothing but the loving kindness of veart ; and there’s not a bit of fear or selfishness in it— the same o put on agree’ble sur rised in you " she ac ed, turning her , 6 ’ face to Nessa as she adjusted her “IT know what you were, you kr raised her knitting and shook her warning lunt. for my dear you asleep ; and it’s still harder your nice, honest eyes open, voice, and rogues, bless their hearts !—there, could have believed that you were but a regular young lady, born and rd. “Don't you think a rider in a circus bea lady?” “Well, they may, my dear ; but Idon't think they are. Was nuss in a nobleman’s family for eighteen years, and_ lest society, all my life I've lived in the very but show ’ and jamp Reon ea $e and carry on . re . ” Meg's diversions of that kind. “But [ didn’t wear short frocks or jump ¥ through houps “Then I your time of life. My gracious! would kill me to see my dear gal ¥ a-standing on one leg with hardly | of clothes to her back !” The idea of Miss Arnold in this almost frightened Nessa. “Ah, she san angel, old lady, with 2 slow shake of the her knitting ; ‘‘and I suppose we o grateful she is such ; but I other yooe ladies, and take a li care of herself than she docs of others. ahetold-you-of this new sckeme of hers, my on dear?” dropping her voice to a discreet “No more she has me, She's ono .of those who don't like to_be to let people know of tho g It’s something to do with young women like vou— nussing, or something—I d exactly; but, anyhow, it means soing to give her time and her fortune to aiiog good to others. Well,she can’t spend her money better, I suppose, than in such work; but Ido hope she won't sacrifice health aud happiness as well. A dearer lived—nor a sweeter, nor a pretticr, to my mind ; and it does seem a pity—though so—that she joy herself going to operas, and Crystal Pal- aces, and wax-works, and the France in the winter if she’s got —Mrs. Blount hezitated a moment between the dictates of high principle and womanly i~ J feeling and then letting the latter take its sway, she added, in a tone of deep exasper- ation-—‘‘these horrid hospitals and things on ker mind? ‘« Miss Arnold is engaged to Dr. is she not 7” Nessa asked, with ay; curiosity in that subject which will render the most prudent young lady indiscree Mrs. Blount turned round at vigorously, with a significant wink and o = weoming smile. was quite a babe; and so I did my dear Miss Grace likevise, the families being related, now. hat she was about to be extgemely You were a horse-rider in a sukkus, boy, Mr. Sweyn, told ime.so, though I Souda hardly believe it when I and here your sco how prettily you be yourself ; and if they hndn’t told me who ever yet deceived me, even when I nussed ’em as children—and children. are little, ps ‘m heartily glad to hear it, for I can't think it becoming to young persons at she is,” pursued the can’t help wishing at times that she would goa-pleasurin,’ like I that there ain’t. With these words Mrs. Blount took her knitting, and picking up a stitch went on in her confidential and less-emotional tone. “She's not strong, you know, my dear, bodily i it's her untiring spirit that-kee ” needles, She curls asa see | her up, and leads her on to do things she row see | Ought never to attempt. Lord bless you! she'd never have sent for me to help her, but just kept watching you day and night till she dropped if Mr. Sweyn had not seen that she was overdoing it. Ife wrote to me telling me all xbout it—for I live at Brixton, which isa tidy way off; and you may be sure I didn’t take long to consider how Sti hould answer his letter. Olf I came by the very first train this morning. and now [am here I mean to stay till you don’t want any more nussing.” “Oh, L hope Miss Arnold is not very ill,” said Nessa, reproaching hersel for not hav- ing noticed any change in her friend’s appearance. “She's not ill, dear. I should hope Mr. Sweyn loves her too well to let it come to such a pass as that. worked herself ill if he had let her. isn’t ill. She won't allow that she is fa- tigued even, though the glass would show her that by her paleness and the dark lines under her eyes. She only needs rest, fresh air, and that she can get now I'm here. ‘hey're gone for a drive together, and I as- sure you she looked better the very moment she got out of doors, and wonderful pretty too, with her fine eyes sparkling and happt- ness in her face as she sat beside that fine, - I never anything in gencral I think it Liss Grace ralf a yard condition head over | Pig, handsome boy of mine, as I must call ucht to be | Jim. And, between you and me, lovey, o and having im all to herself, will do her just as much ’ good as the fresh air and the exercise.” “Iam very glad of that, It must make ne-feel_very-happy- to hare hi dearest going ont with her sweetheart, a ttle more las friend in the world to one’s self. “fo be sure it does ; and it makes even ap old, old woman like me happy to see two nice, young people swecthearting honestly too, And _now,-as-Llook at you with that ‘}sadness in your face, I shouldn't wonder if ’ your're pining forsome handsome young gentleman that you haven't seen all these weeks.” , “No,” said Nessa, quietly. “Sure-ly you've got a sweetheart, dearie. I mean one that you like better than all the rest.” on't know ; that she's “No. There is not one that I care for more than another. Not one that I care for at all in that way—as Miss Arnold cares for Dr. Meredith, for example.” “Then, you ought to have, my dear, said Mra. Blount, emphatically. ‘Why, every young woman of your age ought to have a sweetheart. What have you been thinking about ?” “Why, I suppose I have heen’ very much about something else. answered, with a smile, thinking of passion- ate delight she found in the area, But the smile died away quickly, and a heavy load seemed to press upon her heart. ‘lL must not think of that,” she said to herself, attri- buting the depression toa before-felt pre- monition that she should never return to the International. Still that weight la upon her heart when she turned her thoughts to her friends, Grace Arnold and Sweyn Meredith, and pictured them together in the sunshine, happy in their mutual love, {To BE CONTINUED.) e gal never ; _ 8 thinking Sonth of ” Nessa all these” Meredith, sardonable t. ai nodded La Presse takes exception to Sir Charles Tupper’s proposition to forward to Canada delegates from Great Britain and Ireland in order that they may acquire personal know- ledge of the country and induce immigration thereto. It clams that French interests should not be ignored in the scheme. * A Mother's Ocasoless Love... 4 . The Liguer Trafic. ve, Sad Vizil of Rizpaly : * tno time in the history of England the tw ental, the have so many good men and women been 80 SUNDAY READING. : The. § Z co » eu the king : : God in Nature. daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, | °¢tively en | there in efforts to surpress “ All Thy works praise Thee.” Armoni and Mephiboeth ; and the five sons the liquor evilas during the last decade. Thou art, O God, the life and light of Michal the | eid of Saul; whom she ehost eminent cler of all creeds, who brought up for Adrie} the son Barzillai the have come together with hearty~unanimity u = no Bee latform, have come to- gether cordially upog that of temperance. Societies almost without ieasber bave bec established throughout the United King- dom, newspapers have been published to ad- yocate i Meholathite ; and he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hang- ed them in. the hill lefore the Lord ; and” they fell all seven tozether, and were put to death in the days iarvest, in the he- ‘er we turn, Dey glories shine, And all things fair and bright are Thine ! When day, with farewell beam, delays ginning of the barley harvest. _ And Rizpah, te temperance, missionaries have been Among the opening clouds of even; e daughter of Ainb, took sackcloth and appointed in nearly all parts of the country And we can alniost think we gaze spread it for ber upon the rock, from the be- | ° preach the doctrine va temperance, i P Throngh golden vistas into heaven, Those hues that make the sun’s decline So soft, so radiant, Lord, are Thine! When night, with wings of starry gloom, _O'ershadows ail the earth and skies, Like-some dark, beauteous bird, whose inning of harvest, til water dropped upon them from out of leaven, and suffered neitherthe birds of the air to rest on them | * e Y by-day, nor the beast<of the field by night.” made by a united — J, Samuel XX1., 8-10 anthropic men and women, tistics just published by the Governmentshow with unnumbered eyes, That sacred gloom, those fires divine, So 2d, 80 cor : d, are Thine! When youthful spring around us breathes, Thy Spirit warms her fragrant sigh ; And every flower the summer wreathes plume Js sparklin i year during the entire decade the friends of tem ght so hard and faithfully for the abatement or if ‘The entire popu- yet it is very questionable whether in all} these years the world has furnished a more | modification of the evil. | lation Is born beneath that kindling eye. pathetic: story than tiis, of ee alte es ceiinetes te: Ue acon yricng tte Where’er we turn, Thy glories shine, mother of our many su:rows,” of the ancient | souls, and the aggregate increase of the ex- And ail things fair in fight are Thine ! Jewish world. The avful story is told in a penditure of the year forintoxicating liquors ; few words. To appease the unslumbering | '8 set down as $40,000,( One of the most . —{Tuomas Moore. j vengeance of the ~ Gibeonites, whom! discouraging features of the s‘atistics isthat _—_— Saul in the days of his wer had, Which shows that the increase of consump- SERMONS TO CHILDREN. shamefully wronged, seven of his sons | tion was of spirits and beer, or of those were cffered in bloody sacrifice. Seven | Hauors ie _ pi ashi one of 7 = . ’ crosses “were erected o} Cher the poor. For beer alone the increased ex- BY THE REV, &. W. ADRIANCE, of Gibeah, and the vie poe heights | emtieure over 1S883 was upwards of $25,- became sad examples of the sins of a father 1 000,000, and the increase in the matter of coming upon the chillren with awful sad-| ® irits was but 310,000,000 lees. Mr. Gos- ess. It was in the lcginning of the barley ichen, the C hancellor of the Exchequer, who, harvest when these mei were crucified, and | Upon the occasion of the presentation to their forms were left te rot beneath the rays | Parliament of the annual Budget, of the sun Quite a chorus of voices seem to he say- ing, “Preach to the children.” A large nuin- ber of answers were drawn by a contenipor- ary some time since on this subject. They were from the pastors of widely separated churches. Many stated that they were in the habit of preaching five-minute sermons lit-j : y. e up the morning} service'to the children and preached a long- | er sermon, while still a third class said that they endeavored to have each sermon con- tain something suitable to the capacity of guard kept by the sad mother of two of ing the year past was chiefly due to the en- these young men, On the day they were | crucified she took a roigh sack-cloth blanket —she, the tender wonan whe ha: been ac- i 1; He customed to royal spleadors, and whose sun i stated that he did not propose the addition- was turning slowly to the west—and spread | al tax aso Ff ° ag Tse it onthe rock, and ther, day and night, week economic and moral one. We have here in, week out, from the beginning of the har- | simply stated the increased expenditure of vest till the latter rains of October began to} 1889 over 1888 for intoxicating liquors in fall, she kept -her sad wd sacred watch, The | the United Kingdom. The total expendi- light had gone foreverfrom the eyes of her | ture for the ERY amounted to the enorm- sons, and from the eye of those others who, pous son of $650,000,000. This is a remark- many. not being her sons, wee probably comrades | able exhibit when ¢ 1 in oth 1. It is worth not a little to the minister. | of her boys, at least they were one in a com- | with the wide-spread efforts made hy British It introduces him to the whole circle of | mon shame, and in her large mother’s heart | philanthropists to reduce the liquor evil child life. It makes the children of his| Rizpah found room forthem all. Poor boys! | #™0"g their countrymen. It would seem flock personally intcresting to him. He gets | what wrongs had theydone? The Gibeonites | t° indicate that temperance societies should to know them ‘by name, and bows to them | had wrecked their \ engeance on her hapless | be assisted by high or restrictive license on the street. HKspecially-if he thinks he}sons and theif fricids. ‘The Gibeonites’ laws, In-London ‘alone very casual obser- has no knack of preaching to children does it, their preference between the last and the first or second, that tho last would get very few votes, And the reasons for direct | preaching to children are not few but} had their revenge, and Riapah had her dead. | vation will suggest that there are enough walled “ gin palaces” to serve the reason- he himself need to do o bring the} She could not call them back to life, ,*? great teachings of the Gospel intointelligible}but she could ,save hem from the last table wants of all England.. shape for these little ones is a grand theo- | indignity. No beak of vulture, no tooth | > logical training. His style of speaking will of jackall should ‘ouch their sacred | Dr. Parker's Dilemma. be changed unconsciously. Short words, | flesh, A brief referrice to the Inok of | direct words he is compelled to use. He} Psalms serves to show hat the Jewish mind | Dr. Joseph Parker, of City Temple, Lon- must forget his Latinized words, Hz must write his first sermon to the children, and} after it is written he will be compelled to} revise it again and again substituting one syllabled words for the longer. This will bring him nearer to Bible language, which is suited to children. And, if mistake ot, one year’s drill will do wonders in freshening a minister's own spiritual life. | Talking to children clears away doubts, It) makes one young. It is like getting down | or the floor and playing bear or leap frog | grace. Hear this wail som the Poet Asaph ; —"O God ! The heathm'are come into thine inheritance ; The hey temple have they detiled ; they have laid dersualem on heaps. The dead bedies-of-tiy-servant® have they given to be meat unt: the fowls of the hea- ven, the’ flesh of thy ‘aints unto the beasts | of the earth.” So Fizpah, onee the con- | sort of a King, keepsvigil day and night to companions | quotes” 3 is nowhere said in the Scripture that Christ pend points vital doctrine of with them. j trom this Inst disgrace. What a picture of | the very Jbrenth of his life and the iz ira- 2 It will be worth a great deal to the! motherly devotion | fT Rizpah was such a | tion of his ministry, 15 that Christ died for Then he sup- older adults in the congregation. There is! the sins of the whole world. no question about their liking earnest ser-| have been to the living. ere js a song mons to children. You will hear more, for thepoet, better than his landings of kings | thanks for the sermon from the fathers andj} and warriors, Here i subject for the mothers than even from the children. Aud, artist far more worthy of his skill than ta of course, I am not speaking of the cheap, portraits of Popes, or Saints, decked with! one cent sermons full of trash, which disgust | the tiara of authority, or su roundel with the children. The advantage to the peo ale! the nimbus of imaginary sanctity, Ob Art- : . is not confined to the particularsermon, The! ist ! paint us a picture of Rizpah’s vigi dist preacher - Spurgeon’s pulpit habit of preparing sermons for the children | we will stand before it, and feed our grati- vould honestly proclaim that Jesus Christ willchange many aclergyman'sstylebyaqniet | tude to God for his gift te men, the gift of died as a substitute for all men, that he is but effective revolution, More and more} a mother’s ceaseless love. ° | for our sins and not for ours will short words creep into all his sermons. —_—— | only but for the sins of the whele world.” He will not so often fire way above the heads Others of his hearers. His sermons will become | The Queen Breaks the Scbbath. | divine have been impressed with the feature more direct, more clear and more convinc-; A short time ago her Majesty sanctioned | of | the ailing practice ‘ ing, because more positive. Children de-| Calvinists are invited to mand positive preaching. So do the adults. | And inany a thinly attended service will be | filled ifthe principles governing children’s | sermons should gcovera all sermons. | . Preach sermons to children forthe child- | ren’s sake. If sermons are preached to them | they will come to church, ‘The church will | become dear to them. ‘The great gaps betwe n the receiving of new converts into the church | will be less Pana It is astonishing how | much will take place in two years of a boy's | life. He is ten to-day, and two years will! shoot him up wonderfully. He willsoou want | to unite with the church. He has been re-| mother to the dead what a mother she must r re basis of Methodist doctrine, while the Metho- ~ breach of the day of rest. F te Eni 1 tion ha¥ just been formerly acknowledged | oi. ‘ a by her Majesty in the nsual way, and with. | Toronto University and Me(ill College out comment, It will be interesting to wateh | are to be congratulated upon tne good for- and see whether anything more comes of the } tune in being incladed in the list of colonial matter, and whether the- Queen will think Universities, which ine een CHOECH fit to express her views on the rights or | 2are i the annual grant ot £5,009 which wrongs of Sunday music. - i the Commissioners of the Exhibition of. 185} propose to spend upon thee Jucational insti- tutions of the Empire. The object of the Coniiuiasioners is to foster the study of th cognized in the pubhe service. The pas- tor is the boy’s pastor, and that is « power- ful magnet. No one is more loyal to his pas- torthan the boy towhorm the pastor pic “4 sore than Shak. eaperenaay Sapte sermon to} The statement made J his Honor Lieuten- branches of science (such ag physics, me- nn te ‘hee 7 if vaaatic, a ol ant-Governor Anger before the meinbers of | chanics aud chemistry), which are special mon ongregation. He will get more) the American Forestry Association, which | important in extending the industries of the out of that than he has ever gotten’ before. | met in Quebec last week, shows how much! nation, The money is te Le divided into Such special ministering to _the children | {hat province is in need of an application o holarships of #150 cach, tenable for two would result in large ingatherings of young; the principles alvocated by the Assoviation. ! ears, (and in instances recommended by people and children into the church, andthe} Mr. Anger pointed ont that “from 1367 to the Cominissioners to three), provided that youth of our land would be reyolutionized in | 1887, 16,430,000,000 feet boardmeasire, and the work done in the previous year is satis a few years, . | 69,600,000 cubic feet of wood were ent down | factory to the scicutitic appointed by the 4. Preach to the children for the sake of | inthe »rovince of Quebec, while the revenue | C issi A scholarship when award- those who do not go to church. This is one | aevicel from lumber has been 29,800,000. > ed shall be tenable in any Universit , either eof the very best ways to get them. Their | rear’ enue wag above onc million | : foi noe Berle y y s | Last year’s revenue was above one million! at home or abroad, or in some other institu- } eatin carry ao the sermon. This| dollars.” Every person who coyiprehends | tion to be approved of by the Commission- yegins the work. ieir increasing interest | the significance of these figures will sce that | ers, The holder of a scholarship must give leads them to beg the mother to go. Then father is besought and [ am contident if a vote were taken from pastors who preach paratively few years before they will be en- to children this fact would be testified to in| tirely exhausted, if this wholesale slaughter | many instances, that the seed of the child- | js permitted to continnd, If Quebec is wise | ren’s sermon had been taken by the child! she will impose some restrictions upon those and planted in the parents’ hearts. {who would selfishly destroy this source of 5. Preach to the children for the stupid , her wealth. hearer’s sake, He will not sleep, you may | depend upon it, during that five minute} . : a sermon. Yo can thus havea chauce to get! theintervention of the courses: lo settle was | hold of him. } the other day made on the Tewi ¢ ouncil of | Preach tothe children for the tired 'Stratford-on-Avon by Lord Sackville, 4 mother’s sake. It will rest her more than | Lord of the Manor, who laid a claim for the longer sermon, and besides she will} encroachment and rent in respect to the herself get hints of some ways of preaching | fountain and clock tower donated by Mr. | to them. She has been wishing her sphere in, “SOT8® W. Childs, of Philadelpiia, in honor | life had been greater, She might have done| of the peerless poet. The council have de- | some great work, She oes to church feeling | cided to oppose the claim, contending that | herself a drudge, and Jife an intolerable bur- | 2oF hundred years the spot in which they vast as are the timber resources of that pro- i are t ° ian undertaking that he will wholly devote vince, it will only be a question of 2 com- himself to the object of the scholarship, and that he will not hold any position of emolu- ment during its continuance. Of the twenty- five provincial ad colonial universities em- pracedl in the choice of the commissioners, two are in Canada and four in Australia, The present allotment gives one scholarshi each year to Canada, McGill College an Toronto University to take it alternately. It is the desire of the Committee that the scholarships shall be of a higher order than those now existing, and that their functions shall begia where the ordinary educational curriculum ends. A singular demand which may yet require | & —— M. DeGiers, the Russian minister of foreign affairs, is said to be completely satisfied with the result of the recent interyiew betweem den, Your sermon to her boy nd girt makes | fountain stands has been used as a public | the Czar and Emperor William, “The meets iermore interested in them. If her minister | market and that unless Lord Sackville can] ing, be ‘said, constituted a h ‘and thinks her children important enough to be | prove his manorial rights over the middle gojemn affirniation of the good relations preached to from the pulpit, she takes heart, / the market Tt the. there has heen ates | existing between Russia and Germany and and goes home thinking that perhaps it is a . If the repr tations already | would certainly contribute toward the great calling, after all, to bring up her boys | Tecelve e correct, many will heartily | maintenance of the peace of Europe. So it and girls, ‘ wish that the grasping lord may be taught) appears that the trip of the “gadabout Em- _ “There is, indeed, every reason for preach- teint eee - seh rnp ly needs, | pera. has’ not been altogether fruitless of ing to the children, e doesn own t ew Ole oar ra ni ls 7 ; ; i E \ a“ °. ae as se on 3 om oa if 4