LITTLE ANNIE'S PRAYER, OR THE BLUE AND THE PINK TICKET.-One Sabbath afternoon I had been talking of prayer to the sixty dear children who gather in my infant school. I said that "it is not praying, unless we mind the things we say;" and that "God, for our Savior's sake, listens to the wants of even his little children." Then, with folded hands, closed eyes, and low voices, we all said, "Our Father who art in heaven," and I dismissed the school.

As the scholars, one after another, left their seats, all paused to say, "Good-by, teacher," till it came to little Annie's turn. She lingered one moment, then pressed close to my side, and looking up in my face with earnest eyes, said,

"Miss A, if we ask God for any thing that we want very much, will he give it to us?"

I had only time to answer, "Yes, dear," and she was gone.

Another six days, and the bright Sabbath afternoon found teachers and scholars assembled once more in the school-room. The hours passed quickly by. Each child had received a ticket, for they were all good, and, of course, happy. In our school every little boy and girl who is quiet and attentive gets a ticket, and after they have four blue ones, a large pink one; and then after four pink ones, comes a beautiful book, full of pictures and stories, to keep for their own.

This day, as I was about to say "good-by" to little Annie, I thought she looked rather sorrowful. I asked her if she were not well. One second she was silent, and then said, with tearful eyes and quivering lips

"Yes, ma'am. But you did not tell me true last Sunday. God will not hear me when I pray."

I put my arms around the dear child, and after the others had gone, I took her on my lap and said"Now, my darling, tell me all about it." "O, Miss A., you know next Sunday the books are to be given out, and I have only three pink tickets and three blue ones-because one Sunday I was not here and did not get any, and I want the book so much. So last Sunday I ran home as fast as I could, took off my bonnet quick, ran up stairs, and when I had shut the door I kneeled down by a chair and turned all the white sides of my tickets up, and then I prayed to God as hard as I could to make one of my blue tickets turn pink. But when I looked they were all the same color yet. Then I thought, perhaps I did not mind enough the things I said. So I put the white sides up again and prayed. I told God how much I wanted the book, how happy it would make me; and I said what you told us, to ask and ye shall receive. But it is not of any use, for here they are now-three of each color;" and she opened her little hand while the tears streamed fast down her rosy cheeks.

I quietly took one of her blue tickets, and in its place I put a new bright pink one, on which were these words: "I write unto you, little children, be

LITTLE THINGS.

A THOUGHT is but a little thing,
That nobody can see;
Yet a real joy or sorrowing,

That thought may come to be.

A word! 0, what can well be less!
And yet by every one
There comes sweet peace or bitterness,
A good or ill is done.

An action! all the little deeds

That ripple through the day,
What right or wrong from each proceeds,
Before they pass away!

Great God, my action, word, and thought
Are all observed by thee;

May I, by thy good Spirit taught,
Live always carefully!

MARY DUNCAN AND HER LITTLE BROTHER.-When Mary Lundie Duncan was about four years old, her little brother struck her on the cheek in a fit of anger. She instantly turned the other cheek and said mildly, "There, Corie." The uplifted hand was dropped; and when the child was asked who taught her to do that, she replied that she heard papa read it one morning out of the Bible at prayer-time.

"I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matt. v, 39.

"Love suffers long with patient eye,
Nor is provoked in haste;
She lets the present injury die,
And long forgets the past."

THE FAITH OF CHILDHOOD.-Why can not we who profess to be "as such" have as simple and firm faith as "these little ones?" Among other petitions in morning devotions at school one frequently was, "If it is thy will, heavenly Father, preserve us today from accidents and dangers." One family of children, who had some distance and rather a lonely

way to come, were very timid-made so, perhaps, by

a mother's fearful anxiety. Not long after the term commenced the little brother of eight came home cheerful with the responsible care of two younger sisters, saying, "Mother, you need n't worry any about us while we are gone to school this summer.' "Why, my dear?" "Because the teacher prays every morning for God to take care of us; so I don't think any thing bad can happen us." M. M. A.

A PLACE IN THE BIBLE WHERE THEY ARE ALL METHODISTS. Our little boy came to me one day, after he

had been reading in the Bible, exclaiming, "Pa, pa, I have found a place in the Bible where they were all Methodists!" "How so?" said I. "Because all the people said, amen."

strange yearning to see God.

J. W. A.

GOD'S EYE.-One day, when about three years old, the heart of our little Anna seemed filled with a "O, mamma, where is God? I do want to see him so bad," she said with I strove to soothe pleading tone and gushing tears. her, telling her God was in heaven. She left me and climbed up to the window, where she remained for over an hour looking intently upward, saying she was "watching for God." It was a very dark daysince morning the sun had been vailed with clouds. At length it suddenly burst forth, and for a moment looked out clear and beautiful. Wild with delight Anna exclaimed, "Mamma, mamma, I see God's eye!" E. A. B. M.

PUT WATTS INTO THEM.-A correspondent of the Baptist (English) Magazine, narrates the following incident of the Revolution: "A party of British soldiers having fired into the parsonage of a Presbyterian minister named Caldwell, in Connecticut, and shot his wife, who was at prayers with her infantthough, I believe, there is some doubt as to the intention the exasperated minister turned out and fought like a fury in the ranks of his townsmen. The ammunition of the patriots, in the article of wadding, failing them at a critical moment, the minister rushes into the chapel, and soon reappears bearing in his arms a pile of hymn-books, which he scatters along the line of combatants, exclaiming, 'Now, my lads, put Watts [wads] into them!' After this, it is unnecessary to say which party was victorious."

REMOVING THE CAPITAL.-One of the most amusing scenes in the Legislature of Pennsylvania occurred on a motion to remove the capital of the state from Harrisburg to Philadelphia. A matter-of-fact member from the rural districts, who had heard of the great facility with which brick houses are moved from one part of a city to another, and who had not the least idea that any thing but moving the statehouse was in contemplation, rose and said:

"Mr. Speaker, I have no objection to the motion, but I do n't see how on airth you are going to git it over the river."

TWO OBJECTIONS TO FIGHTING A DUEL.-In his "Cyclopedia of Wit and Humor," Mr. Burton quotes from a work published in 1797, entitled, "Modern Chivalry," the following reply to a challenge: "Sir, I have two objections to this duel matter; the one is, lest I should hurt you; and the other is, lest you should hurt me. I do not see what good it would do me to put a bullet through any part of your body. I could make no use of you when dead for any culinary purpose, as I would a rabbit or a turkey. I am no cannibal, to feed on the flesh of men. Why,

then, shoot down a human creature, of which I can make no use? A buffalo would be better meat; for, though your flesh may be delicate and tender, yet it wants that firmness and consistency which takes and retains salt. At any rate, it would not be fit for long sea voyages. You might make a good barbecue, it is true, being of the nature of a raccoon or an opossum; but people are not in the habit of barbecuing any thing human now. As to your hide, it is not worth taking off, being little better than that of a year-old colt."

THE FAST MAN AND THE ECCENTRIC PREACHER.-A "fast" man undertook the task of teasing an eccentric preacher.

"Do you believe," he said, "in the story of the prodigal son and the fattened calf?"

"Yes," said the preacher.

"Well, then, was it a male or female calf that was killed?"

"A female," promptly replied the divine. "How do you know that?"

"Because"-looking the interrogator steadily in the face-" I see that the male is alive now."

MR. PEPPER'S FRIENDS.-A son of Douglass Jerrold gives the following pun as having been perpetrated by the great wit. He went to a party at which a Mr. Pepper had assembled all his friends. Jerrold said to his host, on entering the room, My dear Mr. Pepper, how glad you must be to see all your friends mustered!"

DOUGLASS JERROLD ON PEWS.-What a sermon might we not preach upon these little boxes! small abiding-places of earthly satisfaction, sanctuaries for self-complacency-in God's own house, the chosen chambers for man's self-glorification! What an instructive colloquy might not the bare deal bench of the poor church-goer hold with the soft-cushioned seat of the miserable sinners who chariot it to prayers, and with their souls arrayed in sackcloth and ashes, yet kneel in silk and miniver!

THE WAY TO A WOMAN'S HEART.-The same wit says: "The surest way to a woman's heart is to take aim kneeling."

GUNSHOT WOUNDS.-One of the editors of the Tribune, in an article on brave men confesses-"We never went into battle, for various reasons, of which the most important are, that we had rather live than die, and that gun-shot wounds are considered dangerous by the doctors!"

THE COCKROACH IN VERSE.-A work has recently appeared in England entitled, "The Insect Hunters, or Entomology in Verse," written in the peculiar versification of Hiawatha. Here is the poet's account of an unpoetical insect:

"Next in order the cockroaches
Swarming in our country kitchens,
In the cupboard, in the pantry,
In the bread-pan, in the meat-safe,
Every kind of food devouring,
Every kind of food defiling,
And most disagreeably smelling,
Greedy gluttons, eating all things,
Hiding always in the day-time,
Hating daylight, hating sunshine,
Up and eating in the night-time.
Their antennæ long and tapering,
Long and thin and very thread-like,
Very, very many-jointed,

Head bent down beneath the thorax,
Fore-wings large and tough and leathery,
Folding over one another,

Folding over both the hind wings;

These are folded, too, beneath them,
And,all lying on the body;

Their legs are alike and simple,

Formed for running, not for leaping,
And their feet are all five-jointed-
Such are cockroaches Blattina."

APPRENTICED TO THEIR MOTHER.-It was a judicious resolution of a father, as well as a most pleasing compliment to his wife, when on being asked what he intended to do with his girls, he replied, "I intend to apprentice them to their excellent mother, that they may learn the art of improving time, and be fitted to become, like her, wives, mothers, and heads of families, and useful members of society."

MRS. ELLIS'S TALK TO THE "LITTLE DEARS."-My pretty little dears, you are no more fit for matrimony than a pullet is to look after a family of fourteen chickens. The truth is, my dear girls, you want, generally speaking, more liberty and less fashionable restraint, more kitchen and less parlor, more leg exercise and less sofa, more making puddings and less piano, more frankness and less mock-modesty, more breakfast and less bustle. I like the buxom, brighteyed, rosy-cheeked, full-breasted, bouncing lass, who can darn stockings, make her own frocks, mend trowsers, command a regiment of pots, and be a lady withal in the drawing-room. But as for your pining, moping, screwed-up, wasp-waisted, putty-faced, music-murdering, novel-devouring daughters of fashion and idleness, with your consumption-soled slippers, silk stockings, and calico skirts, you won't do for the future wives and mothers of our land.

OPPOSITION AND USES OF DIFFERENT MINDS.-There is a strong disposition in men of opposite minds to

despise each other. A grave man can not conceive what is the use of wit in society; a person who takes a strong common-sense view of the subject is for pushing out by the head and shoulders an ingenious theorist, who catches at the slightest and faintest analogies; and another man, who scents the ridiculous from afar, will hold no commerce with him who tests exquisitely the fine feeling of the heart, and is alive to nothing else; whereas talent is talent, and mind is mind in all its branches. Wit gives to life one of its best flavors, common-sense leads to immediate action, and gives to society its daily motion; large and comprehensive views cause its annual rotation; ridicule chastises folly and imprudence, and keeps men in their proper sphere; subtilty seizes hold of the fine threads of truth; analogy darts away in the most sublime discoveries; feeling paints all the exquisite passions of man's soul, and rewards him, by a thousand inward visitations, for the sorrows that come from without. God made it all! It is all good! We must despise no sort of talent; they all have their separate duties and uses-all the happiness of man for their object; they all improve, exalt, and gladden life.

PAID IN HIS OWN COIN.-At a hotel a girl inquired of a gentleman at the table if his cup was out. "No," said he, "but my coffee is."

The girl was confused; but she determined to pay him back in his own coin if occasion should look up. While at dinner the stage drove up, and several coming in the gentleman asked

"Does the stage dine here?"

"No, sir," replied the girl, laughing, "but the passengers do."

The gentleman good-humoredly acknowledged the sell.

OVERMUCH SALT.-Arguments are the salt of life; but as salt is good at a pinch and not in buckets full, so you should not argue overmuch.

LEARN ITS VALUE BY ITS LOSs.-If a man has failed to estimate the affection of a true-hearted wife, he will be very likely to mark the value of his loss when the heart which he loved is stilled by death.

GRAVE OF WASHINGTON.-There is a grave sarcasm in the following lines. Shameful to our country is its neglect of the home and grave of Washington. May the Mount Vernon Association succeed in casting this obloquy from us!

"Dead millionaires at Greenwood

Lie royally in state,
Their tombs have rich appointments-
Marble sculpture, metal gate;
But the grave of Pater Patria
Is desolate and bare,
Though it nets on exhibition
A nice income for his heir.
The groves of England's Windsor
No woodman's ax invades;
They stand as when the Tudors

Chased deer beneath their shades,
But the forests of Mount Vernon,
Guarding Washington's remains,
Are being sold on speculation,
To be peddled out in canes."

HOW TO CURE COLDS.-Hall's Journal of Health says the moment a man is satisfied that he has taken cold, let him do three things: 1. Eat nothing. 2. Go to bed, cover up warm, in a warm room. 3. Drink as much cold water as he can and as he wants, or as much hot herb tea as he can, and in three cases out of four he will be almost well in thirty-six hours.

If he does nothing for his cold for forty-eight hours after the cough commences, there is nothing that he can swallow that will, by any possibility, do him any good; for the cold, with such a start, will run its course of about a fortnight, in spite of all that can be done, and what is swallowed in the mean time in the way of physic, is a hinderance and not a good.

"Feed a cold and starve a fever," is a mischievous fallacy. A cold always brings a fever; the cold never beginning to get well till the fever subsides; but every mouthful swallowed is that much more fuel to feed the fever, and, but for the fact that as soon as a cold is fairly seated, nature, in a kind of desperation, steps in and takes away the appetite, the commonest cold would be followed by very serious results, and in frail people would be almost always fatal.

These things being so, the very fact of waiting forty-eight hours, gives time for the cold to fix itself in the system; for a cold does not usually cause a cough till a day or two has past, and then waiting two days longer, gives it the fullest chance to do its work before any thing is done.

WHEN TO WEAR INDIA RUBBERS.-We have noticed that many persons wear India rubber over-shoes in cold, dry weather, to keep their feet warm. This is an injurious and evil practice. India rubber shoes are very comfortable and valuable for covering the feet during wet, sloppy weather, but they should never be worn on any other occasion-their sole use should be to keep out water. They should, therefore, be put off whenever the wearer enters a house, and be worn as little as possible, because they are airtight, and both retain and restrain the perspiration of the feet. The air can not be excluded from them, or from any other portion of the body for any length of time, without sensibly affecting the health. It is our opinion that no habit tends more to good health than clean feet and clean, dry stockings, so as to allow the free perspiration of the nether extremities. Sci. American.

ALMOND CUSTARD.-One pint of new milk or cream; one teacup of white sugar; one quarter of a pound of almonds, blanched and pounded; two spoonfuls of rose-water; yolks of four eggs-stir these ingredients in a spider, over a slow fire, till it is the consistency of cream, then remove it quickly to a deep dish or cups. Beat the whites of the eggs with a little sugar, a few drops of essence, and lay lightly on the top. M. L. S.

GOLDEN PIE.-Take one lemon, grate the peel, and squeeze the pulp and juice in a bowl-be sure to remove every seed-to which add one teacup of white sugar, one teacup of new milk, one tablespoonful of powdered starch, and the yolks of three eggs, well beaten; pour this mixture into a nice paste crust, and bake slowly. Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, and when the pie is just done, pour it over the top evenly, and return to the oven, just to stiffen, not brown. M. L. S.

A RICH CORN-BREAD.-Take two quarts corn meal, one quart wheat flour, a little salt, and four eggs; add sour butter-milk enough to form a stiff batter; mix well; then add two teaspoonfuls of soda dissolved in a little warm water. Stir it well and pour it into greased pans, so that it will be about two inches thick when baked. Bake in a hot oven till done-say about half an hour.

INDIAN TOAST.-Place two quarts of milk over the fire. When it boils, add a spoonful of flour to thicken, a teaspoonful of salt, a small lump of butter, two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Have ready in a deep dish six or eight slices of light Indian bread toasted. Pour the mixture over them. Serve hot.

SCOURING KNIVES.-A small, clean potato, with the end cut off, is a very convenient medium of applying brick-dust to knives, keeping it about the right moisture, while the juice of the potato assists in removing stains from the surface. We can get a better polish by this method than by any other we have tried, and with less labor.

TO KEEP PRESERVES.-Apply the white of an egg, with a suitable brush, to a single thickness of white tissue paper, with which cover the jars, overlapping the edges an inch or two; when dry, the whole will become as tight as a drum. To prevent jams, preserves, etc., from graining, a teaspoonful of cream of tartar must be added to every gallon of the jam or preserves.

STOVE POLISH.-Make a weak alum water, and mix your British luster with it; let the stove be cold, and brush it with the mixture; then take a dry brush and luster, and rub the stove till it is dry. Should any part, before polishing, become so dry as to look gray, moisten it with a wet brush, and proceed as before. By two applications a year it can be kept as bright as a coach body.