is it of any use? Besides, there may be nothing the matter after all—he has been often away before, and nothing ailed him. It is true, I feel sad when thinking of the reproachful look of that boy that died last winter. It haunts me yet. It seemed to say, 'Why have you been so long in coming?' He was away one sabbath. I did not see him till he could speak to me no more. But surely such cases are rare. I may defer a visit like this, as I intend to be busy this week. Children are always complaining. I'll call if he does'nt make his appearance next sabbath; and surely his parents will send me word if there is anything seriously the matter [will they ?], and I can pray for him lest it be so."

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When we are resolved not to do our duty, there is but little difficulty in finding excuses; and when we are at a loss, it is but too easy to make them. Would not such excuses as are referred to above, be better expressed in plain language: “I am not disposed to go." My heart is cold." The salvation of immortal souls does not seem of so much importance as I thought." My first love waxes cold, or burns with but a fickle flame." "I am getting weary of exertion in Christ's service." Alas! what a contrast there is between the way men serve the world and God! The one gets restless, persevering, untiring, enterprising energy; the other, feeble, languid, listless, half-hearted service. The length of our days is given to what is but perishing-the "shreds of our time' to our best Friend. Would that we longed to be more faithful servants of Jesus Christ!-Scottish Sabbath School Teachers' Magazine.

SCRAPS FOR TEACHERS.

"

EARLY EDUCATION.-A lady was once talking with Archbishop Sharp, upon the subject of juvenile education, and, after some time, the lady said, "Well, my Lord Archbishop, as for myself, I have made up my mind never to put my child under religious instruction until he has arrived at years of discretion." He replied, "If you neglect your child all that time, the devil will not,"

A LATE SCHOLAR.-A superintendent of a school wishing to ascertain the cause of the late attendance of scholars in the morning, bolted the door. Shortly afterwards a young person came for admittance, and on being questioned by the

superintendent, replied, "I have washed, dressed, and sent off six to school this morning before I could get myself ready, and I think it rather hard if I am refused admission." This was deemed a sufficient reason, and she was at once received. She was, probably, up earlier in the morning than some who were present at the opening of the school.

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A MISTAKE ABOUT READING.-"I don't care for hearing my teacher," said a little child. Why ?" "Because he always reads." It is right to read and study for the class, not in it.

FORGET-ME-NOT.-" Grandmother," said little Gretchen, "why do you call this beautiful flower, blue as the sky, growing by this brook, a 'Forget-me-not?"" "My child," said the grandmother, "I accompanied once your father, who was going on a long journey, to this brook. He told me, when I saw this little flower, I must think of him; and so we have always called it the 'Forget-me-not!'" Said happy little Gretchen, "I have neither parents, nor sisters, nor friends, from whom I am parted. I don't know whom I can think of when I see the 'Forget-me-not.'' I will tell you," said her grandmother; some One of whom this flower may remind you-Him who made it. Every flower in the meadow says, 'Remember God!' every flower in the garden and the field says to us of its Creator, Forget me not!"-From the German.

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FIERY TEMPERS.-Dr. Boardman writes :-If one membe of a family gets into a passion and is let alone, he will coo down, and possibly be ashamed and repent. But oppose temper to temper; pile on the fuel; draw in the other members of the group, and let one harsh answer be followed by another; and there will soon be a blaze which will enwrap them all in its lurid splendours. The venerable Philip Henry understood this well; and when his son Matthew, the commentator, was married, he sent these lines to the wedded pair:

"Love one another, pray oft together; and see

You never both together angry be:

If one speak fire, t'other with water come:

Is one provok'd? be t'other soft or dumb."

IDLENESS.-The devil tempts every man, except the idle man, and he tempts the devil.—Spanish Proverb.

BENEDICTION.

May the grace of Christ our Saviour, And the Father's boundless love,

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May the grace of Christ our Saviour, And the Father's boundless love,

b

Hallelujah, Hal - le - lu -jah, Hal-le- lu-jah, Praise the Lord,

Hallelujah, Hal - le - lu-jah, Hal-le-lu-jah, Praise the Lord,

Hallelu-jah, Hal-le-lu-jah, Hal-le - lu - jah, Praise the Lord

A SCENE IN SPAIN.

BY NATHANIEL CHEEVER, M.D.

Malaga, July 17th, 1837.-The number of saints' days, and Virgin's days, and holy martyrs' days, and other dias de fiesta in the Spanish calendar, make up a sum almost equal to half the number of days in the year. Many of them, as to abstinence from labour, are observed with much more strictness than the sabbath itself. Yesterday afternoon there was a procession called La Procesion de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, which sallied out of the church of that name, on the other side of the Guadal-Medina, between six and seven o'clock. First came a small guard of Nacionales, immediately followed by the full-length image of a feminine saint, dressed in a long white cloak, gaily ornamented, a crown on her head, and holding in one hand an inkstand and quill, in the other a book. She was carried on the shoulders of four men, and is called Santa Tenza, a saint that wrote a great deal, as a Spanish lady assures me, and was "Muy Literaria,” of which the book and quill in her hand are emblems. A priest followed next, bearing a banner, and at the distance of

a few rods came the celebrated Virgin, the veritable image of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, standing in a kind of custodium or tabernacle, having muslin curtains, drawn aside; the whole carried on the shoulders of men, who every now and then would stop and rest the weight of their holy burden upon upright posts placed upon the ground.

After "Our Lady" came a goodly company of priests with crosses, a military band of music, and, as a rear guard, another company of Nacionales. These, at her sallying out of church, fired a salvo of musketry, and also at her return; and the people, as the procession passed along, took off their hats, though they did not kneel. It passed on as far as the bridge, and when "Our good Lady " had arrived in a favourable situation to behold the sea, she most charitably blessed it with several gesticulations of her arm; and from this, the day of the procession in her honour, the ladies begin to bathe, and not before, believing that after receiving her benediction, the water can do them no harm. This kind act is performed by means of joints and hinges in the arm, which are made to give the necessary motion by means of a cord inside, pulled when the time comes by the hand of some friendly coadjutor, for whose assistance "Our Lady," surely ought to be very thankful.

There was a little fair of fruits and toys in the Calle del Carmen, through which the procession passed, and a large concourse of people, with more than the usual desecration of what in Protestant countries is considered, and in some measure observed, as the Christian Sabbath. But, alas! if one did not previously know the nature and obligations of that blessed institution, a half century of years spent in Catholic countries would not teach them to him from observation. Wherever Popery prevails, there the sabbath is prostrated, and instead of being a blessing, is, under that wicked system, turned into a curse, for during its precious hours, men's passions run to still greater excess of riot than on other days. I withdrew from the scene deeply pained at witnessing these superstitious, degrading rites, that cannot profit them that are occupied therein; and inwardly praying that the pure and blessed gospel might soon emerge, clear as the sun, from the stupendous mass of idolatry and error under which it now lies buried.

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