thus saved from death by mere starvation. Since the opening of the Asylum in Playhouse Yard, in 1820, one hundred and fifty thousand men, women, and children, have been received within its walls. Nor are these results so strange when we consider, that besides the hundreds who are daily drifting into homelessness, there are no fewer than fifty thousand whose homes are in the streets - the nomadic race of London, "distinguished, like all other nomads," as their historian, Mr Mayhew, informs us," for their high cheek-bones and protruding jaws, for their use of a slang language, for their lax ideas of property, for their general improvidence, their repugnance to continuous labour, their disregard of female honour, their love of cruelty, their pugnacity, and their utter want of religion." It is one of the chief recommendations of these Refuges, as they are conducted in London, that besides saving many nightly from starvation, they seem often to inspire in the minds of those whom they temporarily receive, the courage to "breast the blows of circumstance," and try the fate of life once more. During twelve months in the recent history of one of the institutions above mentioned, no fewer than twelve hundred of those received into it from street life,-that is, from extreme poverty and profligate vagabondism,-were placed in positions of independence, and enabled to work and live by their work. But a source which fills such institutions with still more painful cases of destitution, is that standing evil of underpaid solitary labour, especially of slop-workers and needle-women. Political economy, indeed, tells us that this is an evil which no partial or eleemosynary efforts can ever meet, and it doubtless demands both preventive and remedial measures. Neither of them will do alone. "Emigration" and "employment of women" must occupy the attention of thinkers and of statesmen; for thus alone can we hope to see the bitter waters gradually drained away. But, meanwhile, while they are laying their plans, human bodies and souls are perishing, and the grinding wheels move on relentlessly. The evil is so great as to call for more immediate remedies than the doctrines of free trade embrace, lest the modern, like the mystic Babylon, be judged as trading in all kinds of merchandise," and souls of At a meeting held in London some years ago, about a thousand female slop-workers attended, Yet, after we have read the book, the conviction and of these 5 only had earned above 6s. a-week; recurs that, while the plan is good, and it is sur28 had earned 5s.; 13, 4s. 6d. ; 142, 3s.; 150, 2s. 6d.; prising it has not been tried before, it will still be 71, 2s.; 82, 1s. 6d.; 98, only 1s. a-week! Eighty-dependent for its efficiency on having the right sort eight of these last stated they were entirely dependent on their own exertions for support; 92 had earned under 18.; and 223 had no work at all during the whole of the week! Facts like these, while they would almost sanction any legislative interference, to secure a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, (provided only that a means could be found by which such interference should not become nugatory,) call at least unmistakeably for individual and collective benevolence. tion of communities," and the moral amelioration is most hopeful which is received in connexion with help and teaching as to the things of this world. But the female agency which has been found most valuable is that of reliable Christian women drawn from the same class of society as those among whom they labour; and various good reasons are assigned for this. This "native female agency' of Biblewomen, who have a knowledge of the necessities of those among whom they labour, has already proved itself to be acceptable to the poor. Working-men do not complain of them in the grumbling tone which they are apt to assume towards City Missionaries and Scripture-readers, who come about their houses. "They have always met with a genuine welcome from the Lower House of Lords, who know that their wives want teaching in the common arts of life, and that even their own comfort depends upon the lesson being learned." "She may point them to their forgotten duties, or to acts which they never saw to be duties-may shew them how their children look when they are clean; may teach them the use of soap; instruct them in the preparation of food; get their windows opened, and their floors purified; teach them the comfort of clean linen and clean beds; and bring them eventually, 'clothed and in their right mind,' to sit at the feet of all and any who may be in any degree the 'ministers of Christ." About the best example of what a fraternal pen calls this "gospel of the scrubbing-brush," this "evangel of saucepans, and fresh clean beds, and tidy gowns, which tends onwards to the washing of the soul in the laver of regeneration," is to be found in Mrs Bayly's little book on "Ragged Homes, and How to Mend them;" and the same sort of results which are there recorded as having sprung from the exertions of one lady, have been multiplied wonderfully by the wisely-chosen and well-worked agency the operations of which "The Missing Link" professes to record. We must agree with the able and excellent authoress of this work, "that it certainly seems that a native female agency, drawn from the classes we want to serve and instruct, has hitherto been a missing link, and that such a supplementary work might now perfect the heavenly chain which shall lift the lost and reckless from the depths of their despair." men. Another well-tried and fully-proved institution in our large towns is that of the City Missionary, and in the clear and most interesting narrative entitled "The Missing Link," we have an important modification of this proposed, which certainly seems to have been surprisingly successful, so far as it has been tried. It is urged, in the first place, that the agency employed for such work should be women. "The woman is appointed for the physical civilisa of people to work it-episcopai like L. N. R., and agents like "Marian." "The spirit of the living creature must be in the wheels." Without zeal and love, fed and sustained from an adequate Source, this, and all other links, by which we attempt to bind together the framework of society, will form but a rope of sand. "The Missing Link" is a hopeful and practical book; yet it is affecting to trace the dark shadows that lie upon the page. One woman said to the "Bible-woman," "I tell you what it is: poverty is a curse-a curse. It works all the good qualities out of you, and you ponder, ponder; it takes all your thoughts to know how you are to get bread." old man, who was the fellow-lodger of one of the female agents when she was a little girl, and who was kind-hearted, though an atheist, had taught her to read a little, but bade her never read the Bible"it was full of lies: she had only to look round her An in St Giles's, and she might see that there was no God!" And even for those who reject the lying lesson, and know that the darkness is but the shadow of His holiness falling upon a sinful race, it is sad to watch the double gloom resting upon young lives, where "the children of six years old look like fifty, with their hunger-bitten faces-they are not at play -they sit gazing out of the dark courts; and boys of twelve, smoking short pipes, lie outside the doors." Many of the incidents remind us forcibly of the thrilling narratives of Mr Vanderkiste, in his "Dens of London ;" a strong expression, but not too strong for scenes such as that where he found a poor girl, seized with malignant typhus fever, who "was but seventeen years of age when I found her in this miserable abode, and during the delirium of fever she would alternately sing hymns and utter pious expressions-the sunshine of her life was then passing before her; afterwards in her delirium came the storm of her life-abominable songs, wretched expressions, the thunder and lightning of wickedness, such as she had sung and uttered in her darkness." Narratives such as these are not written for those of whose case they treat. They are written for those whose dwellings are fixed in providence on the sunnier slope of life; who have round them a sufficiency of temporal, and an affluence of spiritual blessings. They who have got the birthright, and the mess of pottage too, are surely bound, before all others, to hear that "exceeding loud and bitter cry" that rises from the waste places of the earth, "Bless us, even us also, O our Father!" A SUMMER'S STUDY OF FERNS. "No, you shall haunt that wood no longer!" | longing for in the wood, it resembled rather the exclaimed Esther, as, having crossed the foot-prickly ferns; but it was broader than they in the bridge over the brook, I turned to middle, and tapered has very gracefully to the apex and the base. Plentiful seedmasses were sprinkled over the backs of the slightly notched leaflets, and, upon using my lens, I found that home the covers were kidney-shaped. This, then, must be what is commonly called the Male-Fern, (Las træa Filix-mas, figs. 1 and a.) a take the path to the right which led directly up the little wooded dell. "I am going to take you on to the hills to-day, that you may experience the invigorating influence of the moor air." I sighed heavily. Going regularly on with my dear fernbook, I had come to a group of ferns called Lastræa, or Shield-Ferns, and characterised by having a kidneyshaped cover over their seed-masses. I remembered the elegant ferns that waved over the fossil rocks, and I knew that they had covers of this shape. But Esther was bent on my going on the moor! A noble crown of graceful fern was growing beside the ascending path; and I observed it just as I had groaned over my small disappointment. I ga thered a frond. Instead of it being triangular in form, like those I was 1.Instræn Filix-mas 2-Lastren Oreopteris. 3.-L. Dilitata. I called Esther's attention. "Here, you see, is a member of the third group of the second family of ferns. The seed - masses being covered and placed on the back of the frond prove it to belong to the Aspidiacea, and the covers being kidney-shaped proves it a Lastrea. This is the commonest of the Shield-ferns." Esther was greatly interested. She plunged into the thicket, and brought out a handful of the very fern that my heart was longing for. blance to the Spreading Shield-Fern; but it was smaller, less decidedly triangular, and the paler foliage was much curled. It answered the description of the Prickly-toothed Shield-Fern, (Lastraa Spinulosa, fig. 4.) The covers, though small, were undoubtedly kidney-shaped. "This is the most graceful fern we have, at least according to my fancy," she said. "The hue of its foliage is most beautiful in spring, and even now its freshness is charming. Give me your glass. Yes, you see the covers are kidney-contour of the Male-Fern. shaped." They are less decidedly so than in the MaleFern, but I am satisfied that this is also a Lastræa. You observe that there are a double set of pinna -little pinne branching from the larger pinne these are called pinnules. The frond is triangular in form, the base being nearly as broad as the sides are long. This is the Spreading Shield - Fern, Lastraa Dilitata," (fig. 3.) By a little gate we passed from the steep wood to a yet steeper pasture; but as from time to time we paused for breath, the view that we turned to behold became more and more extensive and beautiful. The pretty wood at our feet-my woodwith here and there a glimpse of its noisy stream, the sloping lawn around my cousin's house, and the wild rocks and woods topped by purple moors above it-all this lay right before us; while to the left, bounded by hills grayer and yet more gray, stretched the wide valley of the Swale. As we passed along the foot-road across the fields, I referred again to my book. Within it lay a fern which covered its page, and a part of a frond of another kind. These had come in by the post that very day from a friend in Cheshire, to whom I had written with much enthusiasm regarding my new pursuit. I had been examining them when called upon by Esther to prepare for our ramble, and so had laid them within the book and brought them with me. Esther inquired what they were. “This,” I said, referring to my friend's letter, "is a fern principally found on mountains in the north of England. This frond is from a plant which grew on Ingleborough. On the lower pinna the leaflets are opposite, on the upper alternate. The general form of the frond is that of a long triangle; but sometimes the lower pinna are shorter than the middle ones, and so make it more in the form of the Male-Fern. Its kidney-shaped covers prove it to be a Lastræa, (fig. 6.) This, of which there is only a portion, comes from a bog on Knutsford Moor, near to where my friend lives. It grows in wet ground; hence its name, Marsh ! Shield-Fern, (Lastraa Thelypteris, fig. 5.) Some of the fronds are barren, and some fertile. The fertile fronds appear first, and the seed-masses are placed between the mid-vein and the margin of the leaflet. In the earlier stages of their growth, a small, white, kidney-shaped cover lies upon the centre of each seed-mass; but this falls off before the seed attains maturity. The rhizoma is slender and creeping, and the stalk long and slight. The form of the frond is what is called linear-that is, much longer than broad, and tapering to the ends." Emerging on to the moor, the air seemed laden with the sweet perfume of the Ling. The rich purple was varied by patches of verdant green; and upon reaching one of these, I found two ferns decidedly different from those that I had hitherto become familiar with. One bore a great resem The other fern was of the gracefully sloping The pinne grew quite to the bottom of the stalk, each becoming smaller than the last by almost imperceptible gradations. The seed-masses, with their kidney-shaped covers, were arranged in a faultless line around the edge of the leaf, while, in the more advanced fronds, the extreme margin of the leaflet was turned back over the seed-masses. A line down the centre of the rose-tinted stalk gave a peculiar delicacy to its appearance, and sweet odour hung about the plant, which ever must remind those who have once inhaled it of hills and moors. Every point of the description answered to that of the Heath ShieldFern, (Lastræa Oreopteris, fig. 2.) And on the bare ground at its foot, contrasting strikingly with its delicate green, grew a plot of the scarlet cupmoss, its brilliant little knobs of red fruit crowning the glaucous, hornlike branches of the small plant. It was a little landscape of rare beauty; and I tried to grasp it more entirely, and to love it better, than the wide prospect of hill, and wood, and valley beyond it. Truly, it is a weakness of our mortal sense to imagine a thing trifling because it is small. The vast peat-mosses, which furnish fuel for thousands, are formed of an insignificant plant; whilst mountain ranges are composed of the skeletons of animals too small to be perceived by the naked eye. A tiny flower or insect testifies the wondrous wisdom of the Creator, and raises the heart of the earnest-minded Christian observer in adoring gratitude to Him. "A thing is great or little only to a mortal's thinking, But, abstracted from the body, all things are alike important." That day had brought in a rich harvest to my collection-six different species of the third group of Aspidiacea! Truly, the Shield-Ferns must ever henceforward be as old friends to me. The Spreading Shield-Fern was nearly three feet high, the Male-Fern at least two, while the Prickly-toothed and Heath-Ferns were but little short of that height. The Rigid Shield-Fern was not quite one foot in stature; but the portion of the Marsh-Fern in my book gave indication of its vying with the Male-Fern in height. "I like collecting with you," Esther said, "for you don't go on to another group till you are quite clear about the present one. What will be the next ferns that you seek?" "I shall tell you. when time and opportunity for seeking them comes." GOOD WORDS FOR EVERY DAY IN THE YEAR. JUNE 8. "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country."-HEB. xi. 13, 14. Do I declare this plainly? Am I willing to be known as one of those strangers and pilgrims who do not make themselves at home on the earth, but are known to be seeking another country? Or am I content to do as others do, and pass for one of the world's children, without being observed to differ from them in any way, so as to incur the reproach of Christ? Ah, there are too many, who, while not willing to give up the narrow way that leadeth unto life, are yet ashamed to be seen in it. Lord, grant that I may fully follow Thee! Far from me and mine be this half-heartedness which shrinks from declaring plainly, the hope, and the faith, and the love, which are the only things worth living for! May the example of these early saints stir me up! How much more clear is the light vouchsafed to me than any that they had, when they saw afar off objects of faith which they yet grasped so firmly! May the same Spirit who led them be my guide to the "heavenly country," which they have long ages ago safely reached! "In Thy footsteps now uphold me, That I stumble not nor stray; JUNE 9. "This man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood."-HEB. vii. 24. Blessed be God that we have such an High Priest! Without Him how could we dare approach the throne? How could we dare lift up our guilty faces before Him? Blessed be God for the one, perfect, once-offered sacrifice, and blessed be God for the continued, powerful, all-prevailing intercession of our High Priest. Since St Paul wrote these words concerning this priesthood, how many centuries have passed away, how many generations have vanished from the world, and how many poor sinners have been reconciled to God, by Him who, in His unchangeable priesthood, "continueth ever!" Of all the great multitude before the throne--a multitude which no man can number-not one has been brought there without the work and intercession of this High Priest; how great, then, is His glory in man's salvation! Without Him, none can be saved, for "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Of those who are in Him, none can be lost, for "they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand." Keep me thus safe in Thy hand, O my Saviour! "Where high the heavenly temple stands, The house of God not made with hands, A great High Priest our nature wears, The guardian of mankind appears. "He who on earth our surety stood, And pour'd on earth His precious blood, Pursues in heaven His mighty plan, The Saviour and the Friend of man.' How is it that he who speaketh evil of his brother, speaketh evil of the law? Against what law does he offend? Not that of the ninth commandment perhaps, for he may not be guilty of bearing false witness against his neighbour; he offends against a wider law, even that which says, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;" "love worketh no ill to his neighbour," and love speaketh no ill of him. 66 'Lord, have mercy upon [Edited by Norman Macleod, D.D. us, and incline our hearts to keep this law." Its requirements are exceeding broad; they bid us speak no evil, write no evil, think no evil, one of another. They bind us together as brethren, yes, and closer than some brethren are bound. And to fulfil them as our heavenly Father would have us do, we must seek to have His Spirit, the spirit of love dwelling in our hearts, that we may not only exercise that passive charity which will speak no evil of our brethren, but the active charity which speaks good to them, and (if possible) good of them, the charity which will lead us to be "kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." JUNE 11. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." -Ps. ciii. 13-14. God has given us the love of fathers and of mothers to teach us what His own love is. He gave to parents' hearts those deep feelings, that devoted love, that tender care; He then speaks to us in His Word, and tells us that these are types, and but feeble types of His own care, and tenderness, and love. "Can a woman forget her sucking child? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." But where the faith that should answer this love with returns of that perfect confidence which happy children place in loving earthly parents? If we are indeed of the number of those that fear Him, the thought of His fatherly pity ought to be a continual source of comfort and strength to our hearts. He pities us because He knows us; and He knows us better than any on earth-better than we know ourselves. Many a friend would turn from us if they knew us as He does; remembers that we are dust." O heavenly Father, who but even because of His knowledge He pities, for "He because Thou knowest our frame," mercifully look upon art so loving because Thou art so great, and so pitying our infirmities, and in all our dangers and necessities through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." stretch forth Thy right hand to help and defend us; "Then let our hearts no more despond, JUNE 12. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."-2 TIM. i. 7. How rich are His gifts! How complete is the man who has the spirit of power, the spirit of love, and the spirit of a sound mind; while the spirit of fear is cast out, for "perfect love casteth out fear, "-and all this is recognised as being the work of God's Holy Spirit in that renewed heart. Let us consider what great things God has promised to do for us, that we may ask largely, for has He not said, "Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it?" Let us seek deliverance from the spirit of fear; it proceeds from a sense of guilt on the conscience, let us therefore take all our guilt and sins to the blood of Christ, and seek by faith in His perfect work and atonement, to be delivered from all our guilty fears. Then we are to ask and expect Him to give the spirit of power; strength to resist temptation, power to work tempered with the gentler graces of the spirit of love, our Lord's work on earth; and this is to be sweetly for this is the very Spirit of Christ, and we cannot be true Christians without it. The spirit of a sound mind is of no less importance to us; this does not mean the natural wisdom and sound judgment which many per sons possess who have not been taught of God, but that spirit of a sound mind which is full of heavenly wisdom to see the things of eternity in their true light. Lord, "that we may obtain that which Thou dost promise, make us to love that which Thou dost command." |