wherever you are. I live on a street which has a smooth asphalt pavement greatly in favor with wheelmen and women, and there are few hours between morning and bedtime when young people are not flying up and down its lengths on their magical machines.

A very pretty girl came sweeping along, managing her bicycle with the graceful ease of a confident and skillful rider. Her face was glowing with health, her dress was most becoming, and her whole air was that of one accustomed to the courtesies of polite society, and used, on her own part, to much gentleness and consideration. Yet, when another girl, evidently a novice, swerved awkwardly and narrowly escaped colliding with her, the pretty young woman shocked and amazed the elderly lady in the shadow of the curtains, by exclaiming angrily, "Great Scott! I wish you would look where you are going!"

There was a bit of wholly unconscious revelation of character. I saw that my beautiful maiden was not like the King's daughter, "all glorious within." She had caught, perhaps from a schoolboy brother, the trick of slang; she was impatient, she was hasty of speech and temper, and she failed to make allowance for the inexperience of another. I was saddened, and I wished with my whole heart that the young girl could realize how unfortunate for herself was the frame of mind and the habit of petulance which had made possible her impetuous remonstrance. Life may discipline her by greater trials than the clumsy blunder of a fellow traveler on the road, and by and by she may learn to repress the vehement word of irritation. But what I long for, when I think of her, and of thousands like her, is that they may not feel the impulse to needless vexation with the errors or even with the carelessness of others. It is a splendid thing so to live that the face, manner, voice, and what the Bible aptly terms "walk and conversation," are the expressions of inward poise, serenity and sweetness.

"Such a one does not love her sister," said a friend not long ago, coming

from a home where an invalid had been lying at death's door for weeks.

"Why do you think so?" was the inquiry, a very natural one in the circumstances.

"I notice," the reply came slowly, "that she has nothing to say of Jean's sufferings, or of Jean's marvelous patience and fortitude; that she is only impressed with Jean's occasional forgetfulness to thank her for a kindness, and that she dwells mainly on her own fatigue, and the number of invitations she has had to decline, owing to this ill-timed illness on Jean's part. Love suffereth long, and is kind; love vaunteth not itself, is not easily provoked; therefore, love would lead the sister who is well, to take a different tone about the sister who is laid aside on a bed of pain."

"She would disclaim any lack of affection," said the other, "and there is the excuse for her, too, that she has had a long strain, and is tired."

"That last I grant; nevertheless, whether she is, or is not, aware of it, she is not in love with Jean. The revelation on her part is entirely unconscious; but it is a plain revelation."

Perhaps you have often heard people say that what one is, is of more consequence than what one does, and you have fancied the saying rather trite. It is, however, profoundly true. One who goes on his way living the Christ-life, brave, honest, fearless, unselfish and magnanimous, wins others to the Christ, because he shows forth the spirit of the Master. One who has not kept his soul a spotless chamber for the indwelling Christ, will constantly reveal, when he does not dream it, the insincerity of his professions. We must be good, if we would do good. We must reveal ourselves in a thousand ways, whether we mean to or not; and if Christ be in us, as the lamp that guides, we will reveal Christ.

Wasting Our Time.

I am not about to recommend to my readers that exceeding thrift of time which keeps on hand a book or a piece of embroidery for odd minutes, and which from sun to sun never indulges in repose. The person who is most conscientiously and most constantly employed is often the person who wastes time, for employment is not invariably good economy, and it is sometimes the best saving which is also wise spending.

To most of us, day in and day out, it happens that we do waste, or at least misuse, precious hours. We start on a new day with a feeling that it is all too short for what we have to do. We lavish our strength on tasks which seem worthy of accomplishment and endeavor, and yet, were the whole truth known, neither we nor the world would have suffered had we let those things go by. The toil has been put in the wrong place and our time has been wasted.

For example, we spend a great deal of time in talking about what we mean to do, planning over and over what may as well be settled at once, and going into the minutiae of things which are not sufficiently important to be thus regarded in detail. In domestic affairs we hesitate and change our minds, and cannot come to a decision about the parlor curtains or the kitchen closets, and meanwhile the day is slipping by, and our small boy is playing in the street, and growing familiar with companions we would not choose for him. After all, the mother's first work in life is her small boy, and compared with him carpets, curtains and kitchen. plenishing are of the very smallest account.

We waste time in reading, for example, by trying to master the contents of the whole of the daily or weekly newspaper, whereas, in many instances, the summary of news made up by a hand skilled in condensing and selecting, an

editorial or two, and an article on some instructive topic would be quite enough for us. Our reading grows scrappy and does not feed us mentally because we take no time for the strong and wholesome books which promote intellectual vigor. We have the time, if we knew how to manage it, how to utilize it, if we steadily every day spent some part of it in consecutive reading of a thoughtful kind, along lines which we have deliberately chosen. Time is well spent which is spent in

"We do not waste time when we take outdoor exercise."

resting when we are tired. A lady past middle age, but with the fresh complexion and clear eyes of a girl, told me the other day that this was her only secret: "Early in our married life," she said, "my husband, who was a physician, urged me to take an hour every day for myself. Let that hour be absolutely uninterrupted, he said, by household cares, by children, by any one. Do what you please in it, lie still and shut your eyes, or read a book you like, or sit still in

your rocking-chair and knit, but don't do anything which taxes your strength, and always secure your hour of rest." That was wise advice.

We do not waste time when we take outdoor exercise. This, too, some of us need to remember. When we are ordered by our medical counselors to walk or drive every day, to get the air somehow and set the blood in motion, we are ready to obey, but a more sensible way would be to anticipate the prescription and take the exercise so that we may keep well.

We may set it down as without exception that time spent in worry is recklessly wasted. It is hard not to worry, particularly when we see the troubles and mistakes of those who are dear to us. Faith halts when we are anxious and distressed in behalf of our sons and daughters, whom we long to help and for whose good we sometimes long in vain.

But even here our worry is futile. Even here we should cast the burden on the Lord. Do thy best and leave the rest is a safe motto for the Christian.

The Everlasting Love.

There is no rest for the weary heart, no balm for the sorrows of life, no ease for the back bowed with the daily burden like the realized thought of the everlasting love. Blessed thought which comes to us in the night watches, calming disturbance, and soothing the eyes which care holds from slumber. Sweet words of faith and dependence spoken by holy men of old sing themselves to the tune of our modern melodies, as our lips move softly and we say, "The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him in truth. Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications. I stretch forth my hands unto Thee, my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land. Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” Verse after verse from the Psalms rises in memory, as stars arise in the sky, and, though we may be grieving over our dead, or yet sadder experience, grieving over our living dear ones, we still can say, 'Because Thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless Thee while I live, I will lift up my hands in Thy name. Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice."

In the midst of the day's toil, as in the wakefulness of the night, it is blessed to call to mind the assurances given by our Heavenly Father that He will always support and sustain us. "As thy day shall thy strength be." "Fear not, little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear."

The disciple of Christ need never be cast down nor discouraged, let circumstances be adverse or opportune. For the one cable which holds against all strain of our infirmities, our wants, or our yielding to temptation is the cable of the ceaseless love of God. We are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. We do not keep ourselves. We are kept.

When we look about us in the world we cannot help seeing that earthly love and human friendship are subject to changing conditions. The staunchest plank of human affection may give way in a storm. The wife may grow cold and indifferent to the husband of her youth; the husband may cease to show the tenderness and consideration which once made her life a dream of delight. The child going forth from the home and forming other relationships, apparently is weaned from the early loyalty and the fondness he once felt for the parents to whom he was all in all. The father and mother may be disappointed in the daughter and the son, and no longer treat them with the proud fondness of a happier time. Brothers and sisters drift apart, and perhaps for weeks and months together they do not mention the names which once were spoken every day. Mrs. Hemans made a true statement of fact in her poem, "The Graves of a Household," about the scattering of many a family who "grew in beauty side by side, and filled one home with glee," but we do not always wait for the cold hand of death to come and separate beloved kindred. Life wields a surer and sharper knife of division than death. The love that lasts is not the earthly love. It is a love of finer tissue and stronger fibre, and it is eternal, being hid with Christ in God.

Shall we not cling closer to that endless love? "O Love Divine, how sweet thou art !" Shall we not comfort ourselves with the knowledge that we cannot be lost from the clasping embrace of the everlasting arm which fainteth not, neither is weary? Shall we not by prayer, by study of God's Word, by meeting with God's children, by faithful means of grace, and by frequent contemplation, dwell more than ever in the blessedness of a life of entire trust, in the confidence of the Father's enduring love?

How to Entertain a House Party.

In deciding to entertain a house party, the initial steps are taken in the mother's room, and she has the deciding voice in the matter. The trouble which is caused by the enlarged family, the setting aside of the ordinary family routine, and the breaking up of the family quiet, are affairs for the housekeeper's canvassing before a single invitation is sent. But granting that mother, bless her heart, sees no objection and will be happy to forward the plans of the young people, the