CHILDREN OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

24 THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN. o T the same time that Elisha lived near Carmel, or lodged at the house of the great woman in Shunem, whose son he raised to life, Naaman lived in Damascus. He was a captain in the army of the king of Syria, a brave man, and a favourite with his master; but yet he was miserable, for he was a leper. Leprosy is a dreadful disease, making those who have it wretched in themselves and hideous to look upon, so that men shun them; and in Eastern towns to this day the lepers are compelled to live outside the gates; moreover, this leprosy baffles the skill of the physician, and cannot be cured. Once, when Naaman's soldiers had gone out to fight in the land of Israel, they had brought away among their prisoners a little maid, and she waited on Naaman's wife. As Naaman's soldiers had perhaps taken this little maid from some happy home in Israel,-torn her away from father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and made her a slave in a strange city, it would have been no wonder if she had not been sorry for Naaman's sickness; but she had learned to return good for evil; and so, one day, she said to her mistress, “Oh, how I wish that my master were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy " Strange to tell, these words of the little maid were repeated till they reached the ears of the king of Syria, Naaman's master, and he sent Naaman to the king of Israel, with a rich present, and he wrote a letter asking him to recover Naaman of his leprosy. When the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his clothes, as a sign of grief, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy % Wherefore, consider, I pray you, and see

rent thy clothes? let him come now to

me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So in due time Naaman came, with his horses and his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha; and Elisha sent a messenger unto him with these words, “Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thou shalt be clean.” But Naaman was very angry, and said that he thought Elisha would have come to him, and stood before him, and called on the name of his God, and struck his hand over the marks of the leprosy, and cured him. He said, too, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean 7” (2 Kings, v. 12.) The rivers of Damascus to this day flow bright and clearthrough valleys, which are changed into dark green groves of stately trees, and gardens of abundant fruits, as far as the waters can be carried by little canals, while all beyond and above is rocky and barren. The Jordan is very different, for the most part it has little either of beauty or richness on its banks; which explains the speech of Naaman, and why he was so proud of the rivers of his own land. But Naaman's servants were wiser than their master, and as they stood at the door of Elisha one of them came near and spake unto him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? How much rather, then, when he saith unto thee, Wash, and be clean 7" Then Naaman went down and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, as Elisha had told him, and his flesh came agai like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean, and he went back to Damascus rejoicing in health and strength. Surely he would send back to her own home the little maiden whose kindly words had led to the miracle of his recovery May the story teach many children, living in free and happy English homes,

that even their words may have power to bless those older and wiser than themselves, and that it is self-forgetting and loving hearts that prompt these words ; and may they ask of God to make their hearts and lips ever-flowing fountains of happiness and comfort to those around them!

Then the shepherd lad answered, " At the back of Pomerania lies the Diamond mountain, which is a mile high, a mile broad, and a mile deep ; every hundred years a little bird comes there and sharpens his tiny beak on it, and when the whole mountain is rubbed away, then the first second in Eternity is past."

The king said, “Thou hast solved the three questions like a sage, and thou shalt henceforth live with me in my royal castle, and I will consider thee as my own child.”

C. C.

THE SHEPHERD LAD.
Bank (A Tale by Grimm.)

HERE was once a shep

herd lad who, on account of the wise answers which he gave to every question, was

famous far and near.

The king of the country heard about it, but did not believe it, and sent for the boy. Then

he said to him: “If thou canst answer me three questions, which I will put to thee, I will look on thee as my own child, and thou shalt dwell with me in my royal palace."

The lad said, “What are the questions?”

The king said, “The first is this: How many drops of water are there in the ocean?"

The shepherd lad answered, “O king, let all the rivers in the earth be stopped, so that not a drop may run into the ocean before I have counted it, and then I will tell you how many drops there are in the ocean."

The king said, “The second question is this: How many stars are there in the

LEECH-CATCHING. THE region of La Brienne is one of the 1 most dreary in all France. The landscape is gloomy, the people look sickly, the few cattle are lean, and the very fish are tasteless; only one thing is to be found there in abundance and excellence, that is leeches.

As the traveller passes through this desolate region he sees here and there a pale man, with uncombed hair and shaggy beard ; a dark woollen cap covers his head and is drawn down to the eyebrows; a garment of gray linen is wrapped round his body. With naked, skinny arms and legs, and with his head bent towards the ground, he paces with slow steps by the side of the narrow river.

If you watch him for a little distance, you will see him after a while, when he has chosen a suitable place, walk in to the stream till it comes above his knees; then wading into a shallower water, he slowly lifts first one leg and then the other above the surface, and carefully examines them all over; and then he goes into the deeper water again, and comes out only to repeat the same strange movements.

A stranger to the district might think that he was some madman who had escaped from his confinement; but he is no more than an ordinary leech-catcher: when he has traced his prey to their hiding-places behind the water-plants, rushes, or slimy stones, he makes a present of his legs to the little bloodsuckers. Numbers of them fasten on his limbs, and from long custom he scarcely

The lad replied, “Sire, give me a great sheet of white paper !" and then he made so many fine dots on it with a pen, that they could scarcely be seen, much less counted, and they faded before the eyes when one looked on them. Upon that he said, “ There are as many stars in the sky as there are dots on the paper here; count them only.” But no person was able to do so.

The king said, “The third question is this: How many seconds are there in Eternity ?"

feels the sharp pricking, by which they make known to him their welcome presence. If the weather and the season of the year be favourable, the sack which the pale leech-gatherer carries on his back is generally filled in a few hours with several hundreds of these little animals. Sometimes the leeches lie rolled together in balls among the slime, or swim about so slowly on the surface that they can be easily taken with the hand. At other times the leech-catcher provides him

self with a sort of harpoon, at the point of which he fastens pieces of half-decayed flesh, and then sinks it in at spots in the river where he thinks the leeches are plentiful; and when they have begun their feast he pulls up the harpoon and shakes them off into a jar filled with water. The leeches thus collected are sent to all countries of Europe, to bear their useful part in relieving the pain of sick and suffering men and women and children.

« MARY." said Jessie to her cousin, one lovely summer's morning, “I cannot think how it is, but you seem as happy and contented lying on your bed and suffering from that dreadful cough, as you did when you were down-stairs and doing so manythings that make home so bright, and that must be left undone now you are not there ; I wonder you are not always worrying about it.” Mary smiled a peaceful smile, and said, “No, Jessie, I cannot worry. My Father once said, Mary, be up and doing, and now He says, Mary, lie still and cough.

II I can but see His will and do it, I cannot be unhappy anywhere.” Children, try and think of God, as Mary did, and then you will be less likely to fret and be out of temper when things go wrong (as the best of things will sometimes). God *. our lot, however humble, just as He does that of kings and emperors, and expects us to do our best in it, though what we have to do may happen to be the last thing we should have chosen, or what we have to bear, may be just that which seems the hardest

that could happen to us. –