who brought young children to him to bless them. You remember the sweet words he said: "Suffer the little children to come unto me." And though he is now in heaven, he loves to have the mothers bring them to him in prayer. I am sure he heard the prayer of Bessie's mother, for he answered it. Do you expect answers to your prayers? Bessie's mother did, and she knew the answer had come when the little girl began to watch her temper for herself. When she found the naughty spirit coming she would say, "I think I had better go and pray." Then she would go alone and ask Jesus to help her, and come back bright and happy. She had faith in Jesus. You know what it is to have faith. It is to believe in Jesus and trust him. That was just what Bessie did.

Bessie began now to pray for other things. When her mother was very sad because grandma was so very ill, she said, " Cannot we pray Jesus to make her well?" And, without waiting for her prayer-time to come, she knelt down directly and prayed, in her own earnest, childish way. She was not satisfied with praying once, and yet she was not sure that she might venture to trouble the dear Saviour so often. So she asked her mother, " Would three times a day be too often to ask Jesus to make grandma well 1"

Dear children, this is a true story. Are your happy homes ever darkened by the storms of ill-temper? Do your mothers know of " the prayer-cure " 1

GOD'S SPAEROWS.

A GOOD woman, searching out the children of want one cold day, tried to open the door in the third story of a wretched house, when she heard a little voice say,

"Pull the string up high! Pull the string up high!" She looked up and saw a string, which, on being pulled, lifted the latch, and she opened the door upon two halfnaked children all alone. Very cold and pitiable they looked.

"Do you take care of yourselves, little ones 1" asked the good woman.

"God takes care of us," said the older one.

"Are you not very cold 1 No fire in a day like this!"

"Oh, when we are cold we creep under the quilt, and I put my arms around Tommy, and Tommy puts his arms around me, and we say, 'Now I lay me;' then we get warm," said the little one.

"And what have you to eat 1"

"When granny comes home she brings us something. Granny says God has got enough. Granny calls us God's sparrows, and we say 'Our Father' and ' Daily bread' every day. God is our Father."

So the good lady that God sent fed these little attic sparrows. Remember that not one of the sparrows, or the children, or the men, or the women is forgotten by Him to whom we say, "Our Father."

WHAT WE CAN NEVER CATCH.

CHILDREN, what is it that you can never catch, even if you were to chase after it, as quick as possible, with the swiftest horse in the world 1

You can never catch the word that has once gone out of your lips.

Once spoken, it is out of your power; do your best, you can never recall it.

Therefore take care what you say, for— "In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise" (Prov. x. 19).

IN the olden times, a knight was known on the battle-field by some mark on his helmet, shield, and banner. As the knights were covered with armour from head to foot, so that their faces were hidden, it would not have been easy to know one from another without some kind of mark. Each man, therefore, chose 'something by which he became known—the figure of a lion, an eagle, a rose, or some other animal or flower; and he often wrote under it the words which he used as his motto—such as, Aye Ready, For King and Country.

Every one knows the bunch of ostrich feathers—three large feathers tied together

—which forms the badge of the Prince of Wales. This first became the badge of the Princes of Wales more than five hundred years ago, on a battle-field in France. Let me tell you the story.

Near the forest of Crecy, a small town in the north of Prance, King Edward the Third, with a body of English soldiers, was fighting an army led by the King of France. Edward claimed the crown of France as well as that of England, and this was the cause of war between the two countries.

Edward had with him his son, who was called the Black Prince, some say from the

colour of his armour, and others from his dark skin. King Edward wished to leave the leadership in the battle to this son, then a brave young knight of only sixteen years. The king watched the battle from the top of a windmill on a hill overlooking the field.

In the midst of the battle, when the prince was hard pressed by the enemy, a knight rode to the king to ask for help. "Is my son dead, or is he wounded 1" asked the king.—" Neither," said the knight; "but he is in great straits."—"Then," replied the king, "let the boy win his spurs; and let the day be his." The knight returned with the king's message, and fought by the prince's side till the battle was won.

In the French army there was the old King of Bohemia. He was both old and blind, and yet he was very eager to join in the fight! When it was fairly begun, he said to his knights, " Take me, I pray you, so far forward that I may strike one stroke with my sword."

His knights did as he told them. Two of them tied the reins of his bridle to their horses, one on each side; and so they rushed on the foe. The old king struck out wildly with his sword, and killed several of the English; but he and his knights were all slain. After the battle, the bodies of the knights were found beside that of the old king, and their horses tied to each other.

Near the king's body there lay his banner, on which was the picture of three ostrich feathers, with the motto, "I serve," in German words. As the Black Prince walked over the field of battle with his father, he came to the spot where the body of the blind king had lain. Bending down and