A HINDOO AT DINNER-TIME. BY THE REV. T. SMITH, D.D., LATE OF CALCUTTA. THE Hindoos are divided into a great number of what are called "castes." There are four great divisions. 1. The Brahmans, who are said to have come out of the head of Brahma, and have to do with all matters of religion and knowledge. 2. The Kshetryas, who came from Brahma's arms and shoulders, and are warriors and kings. 3. The Baishyas, who sprang from the thighs and legs of Brahma, are merchants and traders. 4. The Sudras are the offspring of Brahma's feet, and are employed in all kinds of trades, and in farming and farm service. It is impossible for a member of any of these castes to pass into another, whether higher or lower than his own. No one can rise; and if any one falls, he falls below all the castes, and becomes an out-caste. One evil of caste is, that however unfit a man may be for his employment, and however fit for another, he must remain in the employment to which he has been born. One of the great English missionaries to India was once a shoemaker; another was a weaver, Well, if they had been Hindoos, they must have remained Sudras all their life, and could never have been missionaries, for none but Brahmans are allowed to teach religion. Indeed, by the old law, if a Sudra even hear the sacred books read, he should have melted lead poured into his ear! Another evil of the caste system is, that it makes all the rest of the people no better than slaves to the Brahmans.. I have very often seen old people with gray hairs coming out of their houses with a basin of water in their hands, and waiting till a Brahman should pass by; and when they saw oneit might be a boy going to school - they would give him a piece of money to dip his foot in their water; and then they would take it into their house again, and keep it for drinking, or for cooking their food in ! But the greatest evil of all is, that it makes people break the holy commandment of God to love one another. I have seen a poor man fall down on the street with cholera. Every one that came up would ask, "What caste is he of?" If he were of a lower caste than his own, he would not so much as touch him, still less would he render him any help! There is nothing about which the laws of caste are so strict as the matter of eating and drinking. If a man of higher caste should eat or drink with one of a lower, or should eat or drink food or water which a man of lower caste had touched, his own caste would be broken. This, you can easily see, makes the people live in constant terror; and it is this terror that this picture is intended to represent. You have in it a Hindoo preparing his dinner. Well, as our friend is waiting for the boiling of his pot, he sees a low-caste man—a mehter, or sweeper, with his broom in his hand-approaching. What is to be done? If so much as the shadow of the sweeper should fall upon his pot, his dinner will be utterly spoiled. It must be thrown away, and he must go fasting. He is therefore waving off the intruder; as much as to say, "Come not near to me, for I am holier than thou.” (Isa, lxv. 5.) The Jews regarded the Samaritans as people of a lower caste, or of no caste at all; and the woman of Samaria was as much astonished when Jesus asked her to give him drink, as yon sweeper would be if a Brahman were to ask him to give him a cup of water. The blessed gospel puts h end to caste, and makes men love one another. 66 THE LEBANON SCHOOLS. The Training-School at Sook-el-Ghurb. MR. W. MACKINTOSH has long resided at Sook-el-Ghurb, the place for which the Lamp for Lebanon" is intended. Mr. Mackintosh, who speaks Arabic, labours for Christ in the district around, doing all the good he can. Lately he has made a journey to the south of Palestine, as far as Jerusalem. To show how the Lebanon Schools are known and valued, we give the following, from a letter lately sent by him to Principal Lumsden: "At five different places we had applications for the admission of boys into the school here [Sook]. Two offered to payone from Hasbeiyah, and the other from Boorkeen, a village near the ruins of Dothan. The first may probably come here in a few days; the second I considered too young for the present. Of the other three who sought admission free, I could only see my way to accept one of them, who is from Nablous [the ancient Sychar, in Samaria]-and that in hope that some one of God's people may be found willing to pay for him into the school fund the 600 piasters (about £6) required. The boy's relatives design that he should be trained here, and afterwards sent back to his native town as a teacher; and seeing their great eagerness to have him educated, as well as the great need of that town and district of good teachers, I felt that a special effort should be made to help them. I hold firmly that all who are able should pay for education; but, on the other hand, it is very hard to reject boys of promise who are poor and unable to pay. And to meet their case, may there not be found individual Christians in Scotland and elsewhere willing and able to take them up, each one a boy, and educate them? The boy from Nablous arrived here last night. "The second of the three is from Tiberias-a very interesting, promising boy. I should rejoice if some one would undertake to pay for him, so that he too might be brought here, and afterwards sent back to be a light to his native district on the shores of the Lake of Galilee. Would it not be more profitable for one of those who wish something tangible from Galilee, to have a living boy, than dead fish or shells? At the same time, I will promise to supply any Christian who will pay for this boy, with a few shells from the Sea of Galilee, some from Tyre, and a considerable number of most interesting coins from this land, including some of Alexander the Great, and some Jewish ones of the time of Herod and Tiberius Cæsar. "The third lad is a Christian now, but was originally a Mohammedan. He is at present at Jerusalem, and the native Protestant brethren there begged I would find a place for him in some of the school: here." COMING out from the Madelaine, I thought of going to another church, that has stood now for about seven hundred years-the Cathedral of Notre Dame. I went to see it. The parks and public gardens were crowded with walkers as on other days, and on the river Seine many steamers were to be seen decked with banners and crowded with pleasure-seekers, and often with bands of music on board. The Garden of Plants, too, was open free to all who wished to inspect its collections of plants and animals. And another exhibition, the strangest you ever heard of, I am sure, was open as usual-this was the exhibition of the bodies of those who are found dead or drowned, unclaimed. This is in a building called the Morgue, and stands in a chief thoroughfare. Here the bodies of the dead are shown on marble tables, and a square piece of leather thrown over the naked body. A high iron grating separates the bodies from the spectators. I looked in during the week once, and saw the body of one poor fellow stretched out stiff and ghastly. No one knew anything about him. Sometimes there are a dozen all shown at once. The people-men and women, boys and girls of all ages-hurry in and out all day long in a constant stream; nor do they seem in the least solemnized by the |