possible. But here was, in addition, an actual proof how untrue this opinion is. Here, not a low caste, but a high caste Hindoo, yes, one of the highest order of the Brahminical caste in India; not an ignorant man, but one who, having gone through a long course of European learning and science, and thoroughly acquainted with Hindooism, deliberately rejected the faith in which he was brought up, as a tissue of absurdity, superstition, and cruelty; not a rash enthusiast, but one who, in his ignorance of a better faith, had been led to deny the very being of a God, but was persuaded to examine the claims of natural and revealed religion; one who, having had his understanding opened to discern the resistless force of evidence, and his heart deeply affected by a sense of the suitableness and adaptation of the Gospel remedy to his condition as a guilty and helpless sinner in the sight of God, publicly and solemnly embraced the Christian faith, through the sacred ordinance of baptism. Such has been the stedfastness of his walk and conversation for the last eight years, that even the bitterest enemies among his own countrymen now, with one accord, acknowledge his sincerity. Nor has he been inactive in his Master's service. Naturally endowed with no common degree of energy and force of character, he has laboured diligently and successfully as a teacher, a catechist, and now an ordained minister of the Gospel of salvation. He preaches regularly, on Sundays and week-days, in Bengalee and in English, to suit the wants of this country, to men who have, or have not, acquired a European education. Nor has he laboured in vain. Through his faithful ministrations not a few have been shaken out of their idolatries; several educated natives of high promise have professed Christianity, and some already act as his fellow-helpers in advancing the cause of the Redeemer in this benighted land. Who can dare to gainsay facts so notorious and decisive? And are they not a decisive proof of the untruth of the statement, that it is impossible to convert high-caste Hindoos? Shall we glory in being able to appeal to such demonstrations? Never-so far as man's instrumentality is concerned. But we glory in the Lord. His is the kingdom, and his the power, and his too, and his alone, must be all the glory! It is the doing of the Lord, and "marvellous in our eyes."- From the Church Missionary Gleaner. RHYMES FOR THE PARISH. (The Christening.) My little baby, slumb'ring there, Soon must thy tender form appear, The taint that Adam's sin hath wrought, And they whom Jesus' love hath bought, Baptiz'd and offer'd to Him there, For thee shall rise the heartfelt pray'r There cleans'd and purified from sin, The Cross upon thy forehead sign'd, And thou shalt leave the hallow'd place,- Thou know'st not yet, my baby, why Their vows must be thine own. And if thy Christian course be run R. A. S. AN INDUSTRIOUS WIDOW. EXAMPLES of successful industry and perseverance are encouragements to the deserving, helps to the desponding, and lessons for the idle and improvident. We always like to teach by example, because it not only gives the doctrine in a plain and intelligible form, but it is also itself the proof that the doctrine is true. The happy effects of "doing our best," will be seen in this little story, taken from the Labourer's Friend Magazine :— "A labourer at Hasketon, in the county of Suffolk, occupied four enclosures, containing fourteen acres of pasture land, at a rent of 137. per annum, upon which he kept two cows. He died in 1779. and these two cows, with a very little furniture and clothing, were all the property that devolved upon his death to his widow and fourteen children, the eldest being a girl under fourteen years of age. The parish is within the district of one of the incorporated houses of industry. Upon being made acquainted with the situation of the family, the directors immediately agreed to relieve the widow by taking her seven youngest children into the house. This was proposed to her; but with great agitation of mind she refused to part with any of her children. She said she would rather die in working to maintain them, or go herself with all of them into the house, and work for them there, than either part with them all, or suffer any partiality to be shown to any of them. She then declared that if her landlord would continue her in the farm, as she called it, she would undertake to maintain and bring up all her fourteen children without parochial assistance. She persisted in her resolution; and being a strong woman, about forty-five years old, her landlord told her she should continue his tenant, and hold it the first year rentfree. This she accepted with much thankfulness, and assured him that she would manage for her family without any other assistance. At the same time, though without her knowledge, Mr. Way, the landlord, directed his steward not to call upon her at all for his rent, conceiving it would be a great thing if she could support so large a family even with that advantage. The result, however, was, that with the benefit of her two cows and of the land, she exerted herself so as to bring up all her children, twelve of whom she placed out in service; continuing to pay her rent regularly of her own accord every year after the first. She carried part of the milk of her two cows, together with the cream and butter, every day to sell at Woodbridge, a market-town two miles off; and brought back bread and other necessaries, with which, and with the skim-milk, butter-milk, &c., she supported her family. The eldest girl took care of the rest while the mother was gone to Woodbridge: and by degrees, as they grew up, the children went into the service of the neighbouring farmers. She came at length and informed her landlord that all her children, except the two youngest, were able to get their own living, and that she had taken to the employment of a nurse, which was a less laborious situation, and at the same time would enable her to provide for the two remaining children, who, indeed, could now almost maintain themselves. She therefore gave up the land, expressing great gratitude for the enjoyment of it, which had afforded her the means of supporting her family under a calamity which must otherwise have driven both her and her children into a workhouse." J. I. B. ON ANGER. THE following little anecdote, taken from a newspaper, will serve to show how the spirit which marks a Christian may be seen in the common transactions of life: 66 "I'LL DO IT AGAIN."-The horse of a good man living in one of the States of North America happening to stray into the road, a neighbour of the man who owned the horse put him into the pound. Meeting the owner soon after, he told him what he had done," and if I catch him in the road again," said he, "I'll do it again." Neighbour," replied the other, "not long since I looked out of my window in the night, and saw your cattle in my meadow, and I drove them out, and shut them in your yard; and I'll do it again." Struck with the reply, the man liberated the horse from the pound, and paid the charges himself. "A soft answer turneth away wrath." V. AUTUMNAL LEAVES. We all know that it is a universal practice among gardeners to sweep up and carry away the dead leaves of autumn, which at this season are strewing the ground in all directions. When these are too near the house, the constant dampness of them is considered unwholesome, and, moreover, the neatness which must be maintained in a garden seems to render this labour necessary. In the eyes of nine-tenths of the world the man who permitted the dead leaves to accumulate among his shrubs would be set down as a sloven; and yet that man would be a better gardener than he who is constantly exercising the broom and the rake, and treating his garden as a housemaid treats her chambers. When nature causes the tree to shed its leaves, it is not merely because they are dead and useless to the tree, but because they are required for a further purpose-that of restoring to the soil the principal portion of what had been drawn out of it during the season of growth, and thus rendering the soil able to maintain the vegetation of the following year. Every particle that is found in a dead leaf is capable, when decayed, of entering into new combinations, and of again rising into a tree for the purpose of contributing to the production of more leaves and flowers and fruit. It is true that the soil would bring forth, even without the help of these leaves; but still the less we rob the soil of the perishing members of vegetation which furnish the means of annually renewing its fertility, the more will our trees and bushes thrive; for the dead leaves of autumn are the organic elements out of which the leaves of summer are to be restored in the mysterious laboratory of vegetation. The dead leaves of autumn then should not be removed from the soil on which they fall. Neatness, no doubt, must be observed; and this, we think, will be sufficiently consulted if leaves are swept from walks and lawns, where they do no good, and cast upon the borders in heaps, where they will lie and decay till the time for digging has arrived, when they can be spread upon the earth like so much manure. Or, when planting is going forward, a quantity cast into the hole in which the young trees are to be stationed, and |