their perplexity and distress, his ready answer was fraught with hope.

"Does not the interpretation of dreams belong to God ?" he said; "tell me them, I pray you."

As he thus spoke, I think he must have remembered the dreams of his boyhood; he must have thought gratefully, though perhaps tearfully, of the years through which he had travelled since that time.

Encouraged by Joseph's kindness of manner, the butler came forward and told his dream.

He thought he saw before him a vine, with three large spreading branches, and buds and blossoms and fruit altogether upon it.

Perhaps, dear children, you have never been in a country where the vine is cultivated; you have never seen it spreading its beautiful net-work over the hills, or clustering, as it sometimes does, in sturdy shrubs, along the mountain-path, and over the fields.

And then the vintage, or grape-harvest, is a pleasant time-a time of hilarity and rejoicing, a time of song and laughter, of loving words and youthful gleaners.

You have, I dare say; looked forward with delight to the summer hay-making; and your holiday evenings spent in the pleasant fields with the fragrant hay, and your gleeful companions around you, will be long remembered,-will return to you, perhaps, in a dream

of the night, when you have travelled far on the pathway of time.

Wine, however, was not as plentiful in Egypt as in Greece, for the soil in Egypt was not very favourable to the culture of the vine.

The general Egyptian drink was beer; not beer made from hops, as ours is, but a fermented liquor, from barley; and they had a saying among them, that Osiris, their great god, favoured those who lived where the vine did not thrive, by allowing them to have an excellent liquor from barley.

The butler had been cup-bearer to the king at his festivals. These cups were very handsome, and generally wrought from pure gold.

Sometimes they were made like our flower-vases, for many of our light ornaments of that kind are taken from old Egyptian models. Some were queer, squarelooking things, and others again spread out widely, and resembled our salad-bowls.

There was, however, in spite of their differing shapes, a grace and elegance about them all, which showed that, even at that early time, the Egyptians had made considerable progress in taste and luxury.

But we must return to the butler, who is eagerly listening to Joseph, as he interprets his dream. His eyes brighten, and the smile that has been long absent

from his countenance tremblingly returns, for Joseph tells him that by this dream was signified the king's intention to restore him to favour, and that he would in a very short time hand the wine-cup as formerly to his lord the king.

After thus making known to the butler the meaning of his dream, Joseph said, "And when it is well with thee, remember me, whom thou wilt leave a prisoner here; shew kindness unto me by making mention of me to Pharaoh; and bring me out of this house, where, notwithstanding all the consideration shewn me, I cannot help remembering that I am a prisoner still."

Then he told the butler his short life-history; how, in his early youth, he had been stolen from the land of the Hebrews; and how he was now imprisoned in that place, though he was innocent of the crimes laid to his charge.

The baker had been listening to the interpretation of the butler's dream; and when he heard the good fortune it typified, he eagerly told his own.

The dream was simple enough. He thought he had on his head three white baskets, and that in the uppermost basket there were all kinds of bake-meat for Pharaoh; such, no doubt, as he had often prepared for him whilst he was royal baker, and then he saw in

his dream birds come and eat up the meat in his basket.

Joseph told him faithfully that this dream foreshadowed no good, for its hidden meaning had been made clear to him by God; and how could He be an unfaithful interpreter? It was not by any sagacity or foresight of his own that the young Hebrew made this discovery; he was weak and erring and frail, dear children, as you are, and it was only according to the measure of the wisdom he received from God, that he was able to unravel the mystery of men's lives, and to trace the hand of Jehovah in every passing event of life.

"In three days," Joseph said, "Pharaoh shall lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee."

Poor man! He stands pale and trembling; he knows well that Joseph is no impostor, no magical diviner of dreams; he knew it was a holy enlightenment filling his soul, and he felt that death was before him. No doubt Joseph tried to console and soothe him, by telling him of One who, if he called on Him, would answer-One who would walk side by side with him through the valley of the shadow of death.

On the third day all that Joseph had foretold came to pass the baker was hanged, but the chief butler

was restored to his situation in the royal household; yet he did not remember Joseph. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of ?"

XX.

It was well for Joseph that he had learned to rest on the Unchangeable; it was well that, amid the shifting sands of human aid his soul was anchored on the Rock of Ages.

Joseph could watch and pray, and wait and hope even against hope. There were some parts of his liferace so dismal and dreary that he could never have run with patience had he not kept his eye fixed on his father's God. And there was a secret regarding that peace, which sometimes, in spite of Joseph's sorrows, shed over him a tranquillity, at which all wondered.

Amidst the din of life, its thronging cares, its harassing business, its arduous duties, he stood still to listen to listen to the voice of his Father.

It is a still, small voice, children, so gentle, and oftentimes so low, that if we do not pause in the study or the play we do not hear it; but if we stand still and listen, oh, how encouraging, how harmonious are the tones that reach us! "Fear not, for I am with thee;