Olive was moved from the workhouse to Mrs. Payne's, where she spent a month in learning her duties; and every day she went to Mrs. Morton to read with her, and receive such instructions as fitted her for her very important task.

She was for some time quite overpowered by the feelings of joy and gratitude, and, at the same time, of fear that she should not be fit for her charge; it required a great deal of encouragement to persuade her that she might undertake it. It was a happy evening when she took possession of her new home, and looked round at the gifts of her kind friends, her little bed and chair, her box with her new clothes in it; they were neat, and strong, and looking respectable, though coarse. There was her little cupboard, where she kept her Bible and Prayer-book, with a few little books lent or given. And there were some treasures besides, -a pin-cushion made by Harriet, and some little keepsakes from her friends in the workhouse, and a work-box bought by Stephen out of the first wages he had from his new master.

When all was settled in her bedroom, she looked round the schoolroom-that room of which she was now mistress! How neat and pleasant it looked! and how many nice smells of lilac and sweet-briar came in at the windows! How could she be thankful enough!

She knocked at Mrs. Perry's door, and asked “if she could do any thing for her this evening?" They bade her come in. Every thing looked very tidy; and the two old people were sitting by the fire, which had boiled their kettle-they were chilly in the evening, though it was spring.

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Nothing-thank you kindly," Mrs. Perry began to say. But her husband stopped her: "Perhaps, my dear, the young woman would read us a chapter, as she must be a scholar. My grandson used to read to us most nights," he said to Olive; "and my mistress and me do miss him terribly, for our eyesight be very bad."

Olive was pleased; and opening the large Bible, covered with green baize, which Mrs. Perry took down from the shelf, she read the evening lessons.

They both thanked her, and said she read as fine as Jem, and minded her stops better. And then they told her a good deal of their own affairs, and their children's, and the history of the cottage, and the little bit of land on which, by hard work, they had managed to live.

Her

Having begun so comfortably, she went to bed with a light heart, and woke very early with the thought of her great duties. She could sometimes hardly believe that such a trust was to be hers. breakfast was put away, and her floor swept long before the school-hours; and she sat anxiously waiting for the first little step. And whose should the first be but Harriet's? overjoyed with the prospect of coming to be her scholar for two years, till she should return to Mrs. Payne, who was now to take no children under eight years old. Olive had taught her there, so it was no new thing; but the child's happy kisses and fond words were delightful, and they sat coaxing and hugging till the next comers arrived. All the twenty scholars were put on benches, looking very bright and tidy, when Mrs. Morton came to open the school. She read prayers, and sang the morning hymn, in which the little voices joined as well as they could. Olive's was a clear and sweet voice, though to-day it trembled from joy and thankfulness.

Then Mrs. Morton went through all the lessons for the morning, and gave Olive directions about setting the elder class to work in the afternoon, and amusing the very little ones. Every morning for some time she came to direct and help, till she felt confident that Olive could go on well by herself. Then she only looked in from time to time, with smiles and words of encouragement.

Thus Olive taught and managed very well and

very happily; and I have no doubt she is there teaching still.

Do you know what it was that made me think of the story which I told you last month, about "naughty and wicked?" It was a great many years ago when that happened to me; but I recollected it lately, when I was reading about the coal-mines, and how sadly many children are treated there.

Do you know what a coal-mine is? I suppose you all do. You know all the coal we burn is dug out of the ground, and a great deal of it comes from deep pits, a great deal deeper than the deepest well. It is quite right that the coal should be dug out; God made it on purpose to be dug out, and He put it deep in the ground, because it is much better for us to have to dig for it before we have it to burn. But I was very sorry to hear that in some of these deep pits (which are called coal-mines) they make little children work all day in the dark, and treat them very cruelly. This, of course, is not right at all; and I am sure the Queen and the Parlia ment will stop it, now they know all about it. I will tell you some of the things that have been done.

There are a great many little children, between six years and a half and ten years old, who have been taken down these deep mines every day in the year except Sun

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days for several years, and are kept there every day from six in the morning till six at night, and they are all set in a dark passage, which goes all that way under ground, and each one stands there all day, quite by himself, with no light at all any more than if it were the middle of the night, and nobody ever to speak to, and no play, and nothing to do. The reason they are set there is this: that there are doors in these passages, and they want somebody to stand by each door and open it for the workpeople to bring the coals through every now and then, and then shut it when they are gone through; and these poor children are made to stay each quite alone all their lives in the dark, a long, long way under ground, and where it is very often very wet, to do that.

I might tell you other stories about work they are made to do, and how cruelly a great many of them have been treated: but I shall not. Only I want to say, that there are many children who think it hard to be told to sit still a little, while in school or even in church; and there are some poor people's children who think it hard they have not got the same things that rich people's children have. Now I hope all such children will remember that Almighty God might have made them like these poor children in the mines. Let them think how much better it is to have light and fresh air, and to have time to play in the fields and to gather flowers, and to watch the butterflies and the birds, and to have other children to play with; and yet all this is what God gives to the child of every labourer in the country. And, most likely, to you who are reading this, He has given a great deal more— kind friends and good teaching (or else you would not know how to read), and a great many more things than I can tell you of. Try to think of some of them yourselves. And now was not my dear papa right when he said it was wicked to be so ungrateful to God as to cry and fret about little things?

Precious Stones.

I SUPPOSE you all know well enough what stones are; but perhaps you may not know so well what precious stones are, though you may have read of them. They are spoken of in several parts of the Bible, though not always by

Olive was moved from the workhouse to Mrs. Payne's, where she spent a month in learning her duties; and every day she went to Mrs. Morton to read with her, and receive such instructions as fitted her for her very important task.

She was for some time quite overpowered by the feelings of joy and gratitude, and, at the same time, of fear that she should not be fit for her charge; it required a great deal of encouragement to persuade her that she might undertake it. It was a happy evening when she took possession of her new home, and looked round at the gifts of her kind friends, her little bed and chair, her box with her new clothes in it; they were neat, and strong, and looking respectable, though coarse. There was her little cupboard, where she kept her Bible and Prayer-book, with a few little books lent or given. And there were some treasures besides, -a pin-cushion made by Harriet, and some little keepsakes from her friends in the workhouse, and a work-box bought by Stephen out of the first wages he had from his new master.

When all was settled in her bedroom, she looked round the schoolroom-that room of which she was now mistress! How neat and pleasant it looked! and how many nice smells of lilac and sweet-briar came in at the windows! How could she be thankful enough!

She knocked at Mrs. Perry's door, and asked “if she could do any thing for her this evening?" They bade her come in. Every thing looked very tidy; and the two old people were sitting by the fire, which had boiled their kettle-they were chilly in the evening, though it was spring.

66

Nothing-thank you kindly," Mrs. Perry_began to say. But her husband stopped her: "Perhaps, my dear, the young woman would read us a chapter, as she must be a scholar. My grandson used to read to us most nights," he said to Olive e; "and my mistress and me do miss him terribly, for our eyesight be very bad."