ever, persisted in her declaration, and said she wished she might die in his house if she had not spoken the truth. Awful to relate, she was immediately taken ill, was removed to another house, and soon expired, never once speaking after she had left the shop. The money was found in her pocket exactly as the shopkeeper had described.

THE WOMAN WHO HAD HER WISH.-A poor woman in the work house at Milborn Port, being once charged with having stolen some trivial article, which was missing, wished God might strike her dumb, blind, and dead, if she knew anything of it. About six o'clock she ate her supper as well as usual-soon afterwards, her speech faltered, her eyes closed, and before seven she was a corpse, without any apparent cause.

THE LIAR TAKEN AT HIS WORD.-A young man, a labourer at Liverpool, employed on the railway in 1830, having committed a particular sin, and wishing to escape detection, got it given out to the parties seeking him, that he was killed on the railway, and buried in Child wall church-yard. Awful to relate, on the following Monday morning, he was instantly killed on that same railway, and was buried in that same church-yard.

These events mark the displeasure of God in this life against lying; but there is more awful vengeance awaiting the liar in the world to come. For God hath declared that "All liars shall have their portion in the lake that burneth with brimstone and with fire." The sinner may often escape the judgments of God in this life, but vengeance is sure to find him in the world to come.

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CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S GIFTS.

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THE interesting season of Christmas and the new year is drawing on. The former reminds us of the great event of the Redeemer's birth, the latter tells us of God's abounding mercy in sparing our lives and supplying our need during another year. Both demand our gratitude to the Giver of all How shall we express our thankfulness? words only. Words may indeed copiously flow in appropriate anthems and songs of praise, uttering the genuine emotions of the heart; but actions must speak as well as words. There must be a full dedication of ourselves to God. This is the first duty; and there must be a vigorous effort to glorify God by trying to spread abroad in the earth the richness of his goodThis is the second duty. Now how can this be done? Little children and very young people cannot go forth to

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distant lands to preach the gospel. But there is a plan by which they can spread God's glory abroad in the earth, even better than if they left their homes and went into foreign lands to do this themselves. They can help us to send others there; they can collect and contribute funds to support good men who are willing to leave home, brave the dangers of the ocean, and endure the labour and privations of the missionary life. Now what time so suitable to make a special effort as the season of Christmas and the New Year? This is the period when people are generally very cheerful, and disposed to help a good cause. Away then, my young friends, with your cards and your books, and tell your friends, in smiling good humour, that you want a Christmas-box or a New Year's gift for the missions. Tell your friends that the Methodist New Connexion has sixty-six missionaries employed on fifty-two stations, and that we have loud and numerous calls to many places both at home and abroad to which we cannot attend for want of means. Don't be discouraged if you are now and then refused. Persevere, press the claims of the mission cause, patiently answer all objections, and you will be sure to succeed. If every Sunday scholar in our Connexion could beg just one sixpence, either as a Christmasbox or a New Year's gift, the whole would make one grand sum of above eleven hundred pounds! Now just look at this, and see if it cannot be done. If the scholars of the Methodist Reform Sunday schools would kindly help, the sum would be still greater, and we should be very glad of their help. Now let all unite and see what can be done.-ED.

THE principal characters which distinguish the rat are found in all countries, but there are several species. The black rat

is that which first inhabited this island; but it has been nearly driven out by the brown, which is, without any foundation, termed the Norway rat. It came from India, Persia, &c., and is said to have appeared in Europe after a great earthquake in 1727. The celebrated Mrs. Lee' states that they do not make the least ceremony of devouring each other in times of scarcity; so that on one occasion, in Africa, when she and her companions stood a chance of being starved, they felt sure that the violent screams and struggles they heard going on among the rats behind the planks, arose from the meals which the strong were making upon their more feeble brethren.

Rats are nocturnal in their habits, and like to live in subterranean or mysterious abodes. They are found in islands lying in the midst of the ocean, till the moment of their discovery to us, supposed not to have been visited by man. There is now no known spot free from the Norway rat, and the greater the number, of course the more impudent they become. In Ceylon, we are told, where they are innumerable, they perch on the top of a chair, or screen, and sit there till something is thrown at them, on which they slowly retreat. A noise is heard in the verandah close by you, and you see a party of rats disputing with a dog for the possession of some object. A traveller in Ceylon saw his dogs set upon a rat, and making them relinquish it, he took it up by the tail, the dogs leaping after it the whole time; he carried it into his dining-room, to examine it there by the light of the lamp, during the whole of which period it remained as if it were dead; limbs hanging, and not a muscle moving. After five minutes he threw it among the dogs, who were still in a state of great excitement; and to the astonishment of all present, it suddenly jumped upon its legs, and ran away so fast that it baffled all its pursuers.

Mrs. Lee remarks in her beautiful volume of "Anecdotes of Animals:"

"One evening, when at Bathurst, St. Mary's, I was sitting at work in an upper room, and in the midst of the stillness, heard somewhat breathing close to me. There was no other person in the chamber except my child, who was asleep in bed. Although startled, I did not move, but casting my eyes round, I saw a huge rat, sitting upon the table at my elbow, watching every movement of my fingers. I could scarcely help laughing at his cool impudence, and suppose I had been too much absorbed by thought, or employment, to notice his approach. I gradually laid down my work, and slipping quietly out of the room, as if I had not perceived him, called

the servants. It was supposed that there were nests of rats in the chimney; for that Government House had been wisely provided with the possibility of having fires in the rooms during the rainy season; and the hunt began. I jumped on to the bed, not only to be out of the way, but to keep the rats from the place where my child was. Two of the men, furnished with sticks, routed the enemy from their hiding-places, and four others squatted at the corners of the room, holding a cloth spread between their hands. They said it was most likely the rats would run round the walls, and they should therefore catch them in the open cloth. The event proved them to be right; the frightened animals rushed to them, were immediately inclosed, and their necks were wrung in a moment. After the hunt was ended, they were thrown over the verandah into the garden, to the number of at least fifty. In the morning, however, they were all gone, but the footmarks of the Genet cats told how they had been removed. Some squeaks the next day in the chimney betrayed the presence of some very young ones, and a fire of damp grass being lighted, their destruction was completed by suffocation. This was perhaps cruel, but it was necessary in self-defence; and I shuddered to think of how I and my daughter might, in our sleep, have been attacked by these animals.

"One afternoon, the commandant of Bathurst was quietly reading, when he heard a violent squeaking and hissing in the room below him, which was even with the ground, and contained stores. He took the key, and followed by his servants armed with sticks went to ascertain the cause. On opening the door they beheld a rat and a venomous serpent engaged in mortal combat. The rat had retreated for a moment, and stood with flashing eyes; the head of the serpent was reared to receive a fresh attack; again and again they closed and separated, but the reptile, although much bitten, gained the victory; the rat fell, foamed at the mouth, swelled to a great size, and died in a very few minutes. The serpent glided away, but was afterwards dis-i covered in her nest with several young ones, in a crack of the store-room wall close to a stair-case which we were in the habit of descending daily, and where, in fact, I had often seen the serpents' heads peeping out, and had waited till they were withdrawn.

"Of the brown rat Mr. Jesse tells the following story :'The Rev. Mr. Ferryman, walking out in some meadows one evening, observed a great number of rats in the act of migrating from one place to another, which it is known they are in the habit of doing occasionally. He stood perfectly still, and

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the whole assemblage passed close to him. His astonishment' however, was great, when he saw an old blind rat which held a piece of stick at one end in its mouth, while another rat had hold of the other end of it, and thus conducted his blind companion.'

"The Water-rats, or Voles, eat fishes, frogs, and_toads, besides other food, and do infinite mischief to banks and dams, which they undermine. Their smell is so acute, that they will not approach a trap over which a hand has been passed; and they are particularly abundant in all places where herrings are cured, leaving them when the season is over. The thing of all others which attracts rats of all kinds is a piece of roast beef; of which they are so fond, that they have been known to kill a companion who has eaten some, that they might devour the contents of his stomach.

"Rats have often attacked children who have been left in a room by themselves; and infants have even lost their lives from the blood which their bites have caused to flow.

"The following instance of sagacity deserves to be recorded. 'During the great flood of the 4th of September, 1829, when the river Tyne was at its height, a number of people were assembled on its margin. A swan appeared with a black spot upon its plumage, which on its nearer approach proved to be a live rat. It is probable, that the latter had been borne into the water by some object, and observing the swan, had taken refuge on its back for safety. As soon as the swan reached the land, the rat leaped off and ran away.'

"Besides these brown rats, a bush rat, as it is called, infests the forests, and is about as large as a young pig. When I first saw this, and felt myself surrounded, as it were, by familiar animals increased to such magnitude, by multitudes previously unknown to me, and others of which I had only heard, and yet none of us were devoured, I could not but feel with tenfold depth the Creator's command, that man should have the dominion over them all. His own strength alone could never enable him to walk among them unarmed." -Mrs. Lee's Anecdotes of Animals.

THE BIBLE CLASS.

JOSHUA-HIS CHARACTER AND HISTORY.

JOSHUA was a young man who had shown extreme affection for Moses, and had become his faithful follower long before the death of that distinguished servant of the Lord. There is something very interesting in his name. In Num