their rooms, and clothe themselves and their children. When, besides poverty, there comes into such dwellings the other gaunt visitor, sickness, then the woe becomes terrible indeed. The rickety bed and thin bedclothes go to the pawn-shop, and the sick person must lie on the floor. The chairs and stools are sold for food; and those who watch by the sufferer have to crouch at the side of the couch. Many of these poor folk have no regular way of earning their living; and when they do get a little money for their work, they are too commonly tempted to leave their bare, cold, cheerless room for the Alas! it is awful to think spirit-shop, and there waste that in some of our great money which might furnish cities, where there seems to be money in abundance at every call of luxury and amusement, there should be cases where men, women, and children, die literally of hunger and cold. While, therefore, in this bleak season we bless God for our comfortable homes, we should think with pity on the very poor. Blessed are they who can assist in relieving 66 the destitute and suffering. Blessed are they who sympathize truly with the wretched. From the low prayer of want, and plaint of woe Oh, never, never turn away thine ear! Forlorn in this bleak wilderness below! Ah! what were inan should Heaven refuse to hear. Children's Prize. Stepping Stones. EIGH HO! weary life I lead of it," thought Martha Bean, as she crossed the brook carrying home her milk-pail. "I'm sure 'tis work, work, from morning till night. I might as well be an African slave. There's poor mother, crippled with the rheumatism, not able to rise from her chair without help, much less to look after the half a dozen children that my brother has landed upon us, so all the trouble and nursing and work come on me. I'm sure that to be kept awake half the night with a squalling baby, when I've to labour hard all the day, is enough to drive a girl wild. It's never a holiday I get; and as for a new dress or bonnet, where's the money to buy it, with all those children to feed and clothe ?" "It's a weary life," Martha repeated as she entered the cottage, where her sick = mother sat wrapped up in flannels by the fire, with the baby asleep in a cradle beside her. Mrs Bean was weak and full of aches and pains, but from those gentle lips no murmur ever was heard. 'Well, Martha, you're home early," she said, greeting her daughter with a smile. "Yes, mother, because I have not now that long way to go round by the bridge." "It was an excellent plan to put those convenient stepping-stones across the river," said Mrs Bean. Martha set down her pail on the brick-paved floor, and threw herself on a chair, with a weary sigh. "I wish that there were stepping-stones over the river of trouble," cried she, for I don't see how poor folk like us are ever to get across." "There are stepping-stones, dear Martha," said her moth"and many a one has found them that would have er; The Snowdrop. INY Snowdrop, pure and white, All the more, meek Winter's child, We must love thee, pretty one, Teaching us, in darkest days, RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN AT BAALBEC, FROM A PHOTOGRAPH. rom the East. (Continued from page 28.) ABOR is in appearance the most remarkable mountain in the Holy Land. It stands alone in the plain of Esdraelon, and its gracefully VOL. VI.-No. 4. rounded form is a conspicuous feature in the scenery of central Palestine. Oaks, pistachios, and other kinds of trees and flowering shrubs, cover its sides to the very summit, which is tolerably level, and over which are scattered the ruins of a fortress, now overgrown with brushwood and gigantic thistles. The ascent is easy, and we took our horses to the top, which commands an extensive view in every direction. Looking towards the west, we could trace a considerable part of our previous day's journey-Nain and Endor lying opposite, at the base of Little Hermon. Tabor is the traditional scene of the Transfiguration, but the fact that its summit was at that time occupied by the fortress, of which the ruins still remain, deprives the tradition of any degree of probability. It is not mentioned at all in the New Testament, but was the scene of some of the events of the wars during the time that Israel was ruled by Judges. "Hath not the Lord commanded," said Deborah to Barak, "Go and draw towards Mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand." And here Zebah and Zalmunna slew the brethren of Gideon,-" each one resembled the children of a king." Our ride from Tabor towards Tiberias was not specially interesting, until suddenly the ground seemed to open before us, and the Sea of Galilee burst upon our view, lying a thousand feet below the level of the plain across which we had just passed. It was a lovely scene; the blue water, smooth as glass, reflecting the mountains which shut it in, "Graceful around thee the mountains meet, Thou calm reposing sea, But, ah! far more, the beautiful feet Of Jesus walked o'er thee." During the steep, and (on horseback) somewhat difficult descent to Tiberias, we had opportunity to examine and fix the different points of the view in our memory. We found our tents pitched on a grassy slope close to the water's edge. Close by was Tiberias, one of the sacred cities of the Jews, many of whom live here, about 800, out of a population of 2000, being Israelites It presents a very ruinous appearance, the walls being rent and shattered by the great earthquake of 1st January 1837, and there does not seem to have been any attempt to repair them. Close to the town, a little boat was sailing, in which were some fishermen preparing their nets. This was, at the time of our visit, the only boat on the lake. The Sabbath was passed at Tiberias, but the heat was so oppressive that we were obliged to remain under shelter of our tents the greater part |