though worn in body and spirits, remained firm and undaunted. His rock was the truth: he rested on it, and found peace.

He then resolved to go to all the villages of his relatives, with two believers, in order to tell them of the reason of his being outcasted, and proclaim the ་་ Gospel of the grace of God." He was, however, soon recalled from this work by the summons of his government, in reference to matters of revenue. Désái appeared in the court of the functionary at Baroda, and was asked, before all his people, whether he had indeed become an apostate, and embraced the religion of the impure foreigner? He answered, not in words of his own wisdom, but began to read some portion of the Scriptures, or a tract, and said, "Judge ye whether I have embraced the truth or falsehood."

He shortly after resigned his official position under the government, declaring the impossibility of performing the acts of injustice and oppression which would devolve on him in such a position. He was at one time entreated, and at another threatened; but he still persisted in his refusal to sustain office, and drew out a document whereby he resigned all connection with the government. The perpetual struggles of Désái with the arts and wiles of the functionaries of Baroda, and with the entreaties of his own family, were enough to wear out the patience of ordinary Christians.

Désái had a surviving daughter, named Jita, of about eight years of age, who had been betrothed some years previously. He was anxious, for the sake of his daughter, to preserve her from the connection. His own language was, "I betrothed her to the world, when I knew no better; but now that I myself have come to the light, how can I, a Christian, send my own child into a heathen family?" The high principle involved in such a conclusion as this, can be appreciated only by those who know how inviolable the contract of infantile marriage is considered by Hindu families.

Désái, one Sabbath morning, came with his wife and children from his village, intending never to return to

it; and having broken off the ivory armlets which encircled his daughter's arms-the symbols of marriage,-he said, "She is not mine: she is Christ's. Let her be baptized, and let the Lord dispose of her." The wife also was baptized on the same day. All requisite to Dé-ái's happiness seemed now complete. But a trial soon ensued. He had no sooner gone on his evangelistic work, with his wife and children, and taken up his residence in my tent, at a distant village, than his younger brother, enraged at having lost all the family, and desirous of recovering them by any means, entered the tent with a drawn sword, seized the two children, and, swearing that he would kill whoever dared to follow him, ran off with them.

On my arrival from camp at sunset, I heard of what had taken place; and knowing that Désái, if found in the Guicowar's districts, would probably be apprehended, I immediately went in person to recover the children. I crossed the river Mahí in a ferry-boat at midnight, unyoking the bullocks, and making them swim across. On my arrival at the village of Désái's brother, I demanded the children. After much prevarication, they were delivered up. I had placed them in my cart, and was proceeding out of the village, delighted at the history the little girl was giving me, when the soldiers of the government, having been secretly apprized by Désái's brother, stopped me, upbraided me for having come to their village as a thief in the night, and took the children from me. I then went to the British camp,-presented the case to the Resident, who promised to use his influence with the Guicowar. The relatives of the children then passed them over to the prince, and besought him not to surrender them to the Christian parents. The Guicowar, incensed at our missionary operations, and fearing lest our influence should withdraw his subjects to British territory, would have seized this opportunity of prosecuting Christianity. The natives looked on with interest, to watch the proceedings of the respective governments. Our hope was in God. Our prayers were directed, to Him. Incessantly were

Never did Désái's faith shine out more clearly than under the following circumstances. His wife, after having given every evidence of conversion, yielded to the solicitations of heathen relatives to return among them, and forsook her husband, taking with her the two children. She was induced to do so by the consideration that we were about to establish the village; and that, as soon as the Christian families were located apart from the heathen, all possibility of ever marrying her children among the people of her own caste would be cut off. Désái was thus for a while bereft of all. The very children, whom by strenuous efforts we had secured from the Guicowar, were taken from him. He was like a tree stript of all its leaves and blossoms. How did Désai act? His mind seemed to us shaken. We feared that he might lose his senses. Such a climax of protracted trials seemed too great for his reason, and we could not look on without alarm. In a few days Désái was gone,-we knew not whither. We sent to his village, fearing lest he should have gone to his relatives; but nothing was known of him there. We knew that he had with him neither money nor provisions. Reader, what do you think

afterwards told us, lest, if he remained within the reach of temptation, he should be drawn away by Satan, as his wife had been, had gone on the Lord's work, without purse, staff, or scrip, preaching at every village, sleeping sometimes in the fields, and sometimes in the public resting-places, and finding food according as the hospitality of villagers might afford it. He visited two mission stations, and returned refreshed from his converse. The faith which Désái had exercised was soon rewarded. Shámbái, his wife, for a while resisted every effort on our part to induce her to return. She seemed as though, to use the convert's words, being in the domains of Satan, Satan had really entered into her. Well do I remember her throwing herself at my feet, and declaring that were I, by any means, to take the children, she would drown herself in the well,-a threat which Hindu women not only make, but very frequently fulfil. Eventually Shámbái and the children were recovered, and are now in the "Beautiful Garden." In her last letter to me, she writes:

"O, Sir, we acknowledge your kindness. You have brought us out of the evil world, and have shown to us the way to God: therefore we are grateful to you. Oh, my dear Sir, may the Lord give you a reward for the labour you bestowed on me. If you had not come here, we should have perished. Pray for us, that we may walk in the path of the Lord. We place our trust in God."

The missionary writing respecting her, says, "Shámbái generally takes the lead in the women's prayer-meetings. She is, we hope, truly pious. Her influence over the other women in every way is for good."

SIR,-Allow me to thank you for your valuable Article on this subject, which opportunely appeared to strengthen

my resolution to give up smoking. While I do not assent to every head into which the objections are divided,

I think there can be no contradiction to the assertion, that if the advantages and disadvantages of the use of tobacco are weighed, the latter will very greatly preponderate.

It needs no elaborate discourse to prove the moral obligation of every one to do what he can, consistently with the discharge of all relative duties, to preserve his health-to render his physical frame, and, conjointly with it, his mental constitution, as energetic and enduring of fatigue as possible--to do nothing to foster or induce feebleness or inertness of either. Now it cannot be denied, that the use of tobacco has, either in its immediate or subsequent results, this latter tendency, from its operation on the nerves. For the same reason it is also a habit which tends to increase to excess, as with other stimulants. I have known very many smokers-and never knew one who did not at times confess he smoked too much, and wished he could give it up. Yet how difficult is it to get medical men to condemn it. Who can believe that the juice or oil of tobacco can do good either to the stomach, the heart, or the brain? A poison which will so speedily kill smaller animals, cannot be altogether neuter in its effect on the human

frame-it must then be injurious. Shall I, then, voluntarily persevere in a habit which, apart from the time consumed in its indulgence, may be shortening my existence upon earthmay unfit me for the energetic performance of one (if only one) duty?

Then as to the expense. Who can say that the habit is (if lawful) expedient on this score? To smoke one good cigar a day, costs £4 11s. a year. Christian smoker, think of this. Set the privilege of giving so much away in charity, or in God's service, against the self-denial involved in giving up the luxury. In conclusion, Sir, I think this single act of self-indulgence is, in its influence, a type of others, in themselves so apparently trifling as to pass unheeded, but which, even singly, but still more collectively, may be hindering usefulness, causing stumbling-blocks, and retarding growth in grace; being, in short, among the "every weight" which we ought to lay aside. Let every Christian judge for himselfseeing to it that he judge righteous judgment, and act accordingly. If he have a doubt, let him not hesitate which way to act; for to doubt is to condemn, or be condemned.

I am, Sir, your obliged servant,
AN OLD SMOKER.

THINGS TO THINK ON: MY DEAR FRIENDS,-As you are the hope of the country, let me set before you a few facts relative to a very important subject. Of the elder men, your fathers, I have no hope. Of you I do not despair. There is a power in truth, which you will not resist, and to

A WORD TO YOUNG MEN. you, therefore, I make my appeal. I am very anxious to familiarize your minds with the statistics of the all-important subject of Strong Drinks, since I believe very few of you are aware of the evil which results from their excessive use, nor do you know the extent to which this excess is carried. In Liverpool alone, for example, there are

no fewer than 1,480 public-houses, and 700 beer-shops; making in all 2,180: so that, taking the population at 350,000, there is one public-house or beer-shop to every 100 individuals, men, women, and children. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the Judges expressed themselves as they did at the late Assizes. The Recorder, in addressing the Grand Jury, intimated that the mass of the crime which came before him was the result of the public-houses; and that in the localities where these houses most abounded, crime was most multiplied. His lordship said, Nothing would so much tend to diminish crime, as the prevention of drunkenness ;" and further added, that "many young children, brought up by drunken parents, became the victims of intoxication;" so that a generation of drunkards are in the way of being reared.

The following particulars are extracted from a paper read in the statistical section at the late meeting of the British Association in Edinburgh: -It will hardly be credited, that of £50,000,000 of taxes raised annually in this kingdom, £30,000,000 are paid as duty on what goes down the throats of our population. Take the items of spirits, beer, and tobacco, the yearly expenditure for which articles in the United Kingdom amounts to a sum which appears almost fabulous until shown to be the result of fair calculation. The quantity of spirits of home production consumed in 1849 within the kingdom was-In England, 9,053,676 imperial gallons; Scotland, 6,935,003 gallons; Ireland, 6,973,333 gals.; the duty thereon was £5,793,331. The whole of this enormous produce would be, including the duty, about £8,000,000. Distillers admit that the consumers of spirits pay, in the long run, about three times the duty; so that the actual expense for British spirits alone, in 1849, was £17,381,643, viz.: England, £8,838,768; Scotland, £5,369,868; Ireland, £3,173,007. Next comes that of rum. The consumption, in 1849, was 3,004,758 gallons,-the duty paid on which amounted to £4,142,855; the value to the consumer about £3,428,565;-making the total value for these two descriptions

of ardent spirits, £20,810,208. Assuming the population to be in 1849 what it was at the last census in 1841, the consumption, per head, in the year, was, in England, 0.569 decimal parts of a gallon; Scotland, 2.647 ditto; Ireland, 0.853 ditto. Brandy is not so much drank by the lower orders, but the quantity consumed in 1849 was 2,187,500 gallons; the first wholesale cost of which was £546,875; duty thereon, £1,640,282: total, £2,187,157. The value of this brandy to the consumer will be about £3,281,250; which added to the value of the other ardent spirits, will amount to £24,091,458. The number of bushels of malt subjected to duty in 1849, was 37,999,032; these, when worked up into the various forms of ale, porter, and table-beer, would reach the value, to the consumer, of £25,383,165; sold mainly, according to a return to the House of Commons, by brewers, 2,507; by vic tuallers, 88,496; by beer-houses, 38,070. In 1849 the duty on manufactured tobacco was paid on 27,480,C21 lbs., and on snuff 205,006 lbs.,-yielding a revenue of £4,408,171; the total value paid by consumers, about £7,588,607. It will therefore appear that the people, and chiefly the working classes of England, Ireland, and Scotland, tax themselves for the enjoyment of only three articles, neither of which is of absolute necessity, to the following amount:- British and colonial spirits, £20,810,208; brandy, £3,281,550; total of spirits, £24,091,758: beer of all kinds, exclusive of private famihes, £25,383,165: tobacco and snuff, £7,588,607;-total, £57,063,230.

Nothing like this can be said of any other nation on the face of the earth, nor anything even approaching to it. It is really astounding; and, but for the indisputable truth, as sustained by the Parliamentary documents of the country, it would be utterly incredible. Is it not, then, the duty of every good man to inquire what can be done to diminish it? Is it not most mournful, that while there is so much poverty, there should be so much drunkenness ? and is it at all wonderful, that while there is so much drunkenness, there should be so much crime?

A CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPIST.

VANT MAIDS.

JUGGLERS, gypsies, fortune-tellers, and all sorts of impostors, have been accustomed to look on you as their lawful prey. Nine-tenths of their guilty gains are composed of your well-earned money. This is no libel upon your respectable body; it is nevertheless but too true, not as concerning the mass of you-among whom there are multitudes of persons distinguished for excellent sense and superior prudencebut as comprising still a large number of amiable, well-intentioned, but simple-minded girls. But the plunder thus procured by these clever deceivers is not confined to your own property; it often-far more generally than is known-extends to the property of your employers. A curious illustration of this recently occurred at the Warwick Assizes, which we shall set before you as a warning. The material part of the case is as follows:

Matilda Cooper, aged 43, William Hill, 27, and Thomas Madden, 28, were indicted, the former for stealing, and the two latter for receiving, a vinaigrette, a gold locket, a gold key, a gold ring, a gold chain, and other articles, the property of Dr. Jeaffreson, of Leamington. Mr. Willmore conducted the prosecution. The female prisoner was a gipsy, who practised fortunetelling, and apparently a great adept in the art of imposture. Sarah Strange, who was the principal witness for the prosecution, gave the following remarkable narrative:-She was in the service of Dr. Jeaffreson, of Leamington. The prisoner, Matilda Cooper, (she said) came to me, and persuaded me to let her rule my planet. (Laughter.) She produced to me a paper covered with stars, and at first she said that she should require a shilling, which I gave her. The next time that she came she said that she should want 7s. more. I gave her the 78 Every time

either money or clothes. She said that the planet would not be ruled unless she had them-(laughter)-but she promised to return them. In this way she got from me upwards of £4 of my own money, seven dresses, five shawls, five petticoats, two night-dresses, three yards of ribbon, a pair of boots, a pair of stockings, two aprons, three brooches, all my own. Nobody was present during our interviews. It was necessary that we should be alone. The next time she came she said that she had had a great deal of trouble; that mine was a very difficult planet to rule(laughter)—that she should be as glad to get it done as I should; but she could not without more money or money's worth. I told her I had given her everything I had. She said, "If you have not more of your own, you can get it. I know as well as you yourself whether you can get it or not." I said I could not. She said, "You can get a dress of Mrs. Jeaffreson's, which I will bring back." I said, "I will not touch a thing belong

ing to my mistress." She said, "You can get a shirt of Dr. Jeaffreson's, for you need not be afraid but that I shall bring it back, for I have everything of yours done up in a bundle at home, and I shall bring them all back." She added, "I know you can get it, and I must have it; you need not be afraid of me; I have children of my own, and I would not mislead you; I have more of other people's clothes than I have of yours; and I am very particular in keeping everything right to bring it back." She persuaded me, and I gave her a night-shirt of Dr. Jeaffreson's. It was not marked; but I told her it was the doctor's. Next time I gave her another night-shirt of Dr. Jeaffreson's. On the next day she had a pair of sheets of my master's. I told her they were his; and they were marked. The next time she came I gave her two linen shirts, which were marked, and which I said were his. The next time a gold chain, a vinaigrette, a locket, a ring, and a key-all of which I told her were Mrs. Jeaffreson's. She told me that she did not want the things for herself, that she had plenty of money of her own, and