length saw what it all meant; and laying his hand on his boy's head, he blessed him, with as fervent a blessing as ever came from a parent's heart. And when the parents went to rest, they thanked God for having given them so good a son.

THE GLORY OF THE CREATOR.

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun from day to day,
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes in every land,
The work of an Almighty hand.
Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up her wond'rous tale,
And nightly, to the list'ning earth,
Repeats the story of her birth.

While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
What though in solemn silence, all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball;
What though no real voice nor sound
Amidst these radiant orbs be found-
In Reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice-
For ever singing, as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine."

ADDISON.

A little girl, whose name was Emma, happened one day to be left in the room by herself, while her mother went to speak to one of the servants. Emma was four years old; and her mother thought a girl of that age might surely be trusted by herself, without any danger of doing mischief; but Emma very foolishly took it into her head to light a piece of paper at the fire, which soon burnt to her fingers; and when she felt it hot, she let it fall. The fire then caught her frock, and directly spread up to her neck and face, and burnt her terribly.

Emma now began to cry very loudly; but as she often cried when she was not much hurt, nobody minded her; and she would have been burnt to death, if her mother had not hap

pened to come into the room again. She was very much frightened to see her little girl on fire, and taking a large green cloth that lay upon the table, she wrapped it round her to put out the flames.

Poor Emma still continued to cry, and she had then good reason; for though her mother had saved her from being entirely burnt, she was in such violent pain that she did not know what to do with herself. The skin was quite scorched off her neck, and one of her eyes was so much injured, that it was a long time before she could see with it again.

Her mother did every thing in her power to cure her, but it was many weeks before she could get out of bed; and after she was well enough to go out of doors again, every body was grieved to see how much her face and neck were injured in appearance, and how severely she was punished for her folly.

This dismal story made all the other little children who knew her, very careful never to light any thing either at the fire or candle.

Joseph was the son of poor parents, but he was a clever boy, and very honest. If he found a thing, he would try to discover the owner, and run with it to him; and he would not tell a lie, or do any mean action, for the world.

One day, Joseph was sent on an errand

to Mr Russel's, the linen-draper's shop, and a pound-note was given to him to get changed. It was dusk when he got home. He counted it by the candle, to see that all was right; when lo! among it he found that a sovereign had been given to him instead of a shilling.

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Away he ran back to the shop, with the money in his hand, and addressing himself to the shopman who had served him, said, Sir, I am come to tell you that you did not give me my change right." The shopman rather hastily replied, "But I am certain I did give it you right, and you must have dropped part in going home." "No, sir," returned Joseph; "it was quite safe wrapped up in my paper, and when I came to count it over, I found".

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it

"Ah!" interrupted the hasty shopman; does not signify telling us what you found; we have not time to attend to these kind of things; if it had not been meddled with from the time I gave it you, you would have found it right enough."

The master of the shop happening to overhear something of the dispute, came up and asked Joseph what he missed. "I do not miss any thing, sir,” replied the boy; "but I have brought back a sovereign, which was given me in mistake; will you please to take it, and give me a shilling instead?”

"Certainly I will," returned the master; “and I am very much obliged to you for your honesty. You seem to be a poor lad, and as the money was given in mistake, and you were not known at the shop, it would very likely never have been missed or traced: the thought of this must have been a strong temptation to

you to keep it for your own use; how was it that you resisted it?"

"I have been taught, sir," said Joseph, "that my duty to my neighbour is, to do to others as I should wish them to do to me, if I were in their place. I know that if I had given but a penny in mistake, I should wish to have it returned, much more such a sum as this. So I made haste back with it, before there was time to be tempted to keep it."

"You have acted wisely and nobly," said Mr Russel; "may you ever be enabled to persevere in the path of rectitude! But now, as you have judged so fairly, and performed so faithfully what I had a right to desire of you, tell me what do you think you can reasonably desire of me?"

"That you should think me an honest boy, sir."

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"I do, my good lad, and will give you a convincing proof of it. I have just now been inquiring after the character of an errand-boy, who has applied to me for employment; he is a much stouter lad than you, and his master tells me he is quick and clever, but inclined to be sly this is a character I cannot bear ; but your conduct, my lad, in this instance, is a good character for you. I value integrity far above the highest abilities; so go home to your parents, and tell them that if they are willing, you may come here to-morrow morning."

Joseph and his parents, you may be sure, could make no objection to so good an offer. He went to his place the next day, where he still continues, giving great satisfaction to his master by his fidelity, diligence, and civility; and the shop