God told Elijah to say to Ahab, that there should not be dew or rain for many days; not until God allowed Elijah to shew himself to Ahab again. Ahab was too wicked to think of this; but when no rain fell, of course neither grass grew for animals to eat, nor corn for men to make bread of, so every one was hungry; none had enough to eat, and many died; this is called a famine. Then Ahab thought of what Elijah had said to him, and he sent to every country and to every place to try and find Elijah, but of course he could not, because God was hiding Elijah.

When he had told Ahab of the coming famine, God ordered Elijah to go and live by a little brook or stream which ran into the river Jordan, and to hide himself on its

banks; he was to drink of the water, and God said he would send ravens to feed him. Good Elijah believed God, and knew He was able to do anything; so away he went to live by the brook Cherith, and when he was hungry he saw some ravens flying towards him; they came near, put down some bread and flesh, and then flew away again! Every morning and every evening for many days these ravens brought food to Elijah, who was too thankful to God for sending it to him, to care about what birds brought it. Ravens are very greedy, yet they were good servants to Elijah, and brought him his food without devouring it.

Wentworth. Did Elijah live long by the brook?

Mamma. No. As no rain fell, the water

in the brook soon dried up; still God took care of Elijah, and sent him to a place where he got food, also in a wonderful manner. At the end of three years, God allowed Elijah to go to Ahab; when that wicked King saw him, he said "Art thou he that troubleth Israel!" but Elijah told him he did not trouble Israel, but that Ahab himself by his own sins had caused the famine.

Elijah then made Ahab and his people bring all the images they worshipped to one place, and pray to them to send rain. They did this, and prayed, and fell on their faces, and bowed down to their gods, but of course no rain came, as images of wood and stone could not hear. Then Elijah prayed to the true God; rain came and all the people were obliged to acknowledge His

power and goodness. When they heard from Elijah, how he was kept alive during such a famine, they must have praised God more and more for sending him food by ravens.

THE SERPENT.

Mamma. The first story in the Bible, you will hear to day. It is about the sin of Adam and Eve, in disobeying God, and I think you can guess what our story for S will be.

Wentworth.

Yes, mamma, the serpent who made Eve eat the fruit, God had forbidden her to touch. I want to know if all animals could speak in the garden of Eden. You will, I am sure, answer that no one can tell exactly. But do tell me, what you think.

Mamma. After you hear the story of Adam and Eve, and the serpent, and listen to it attentively, you will better understand what I tell you of my thoughts; therefore I