iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies." Psalm ciii. 1-4. We are fed and defended, consoled and directed by his powerful and gracious hand. Most justly does he say unto us, "Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, my Father, thou art the guide of my youth?" Jer. iii. 4. Blessed be His name, we may each say unto him:

"Thy providence my life sustained,

And all my wants redress'd,
While in the silent womb I lay,
Or hung upon the breast.
"Unnumber'd comforts on my soul
Thy tender care bestow'd,

Before my infant heart conceived

From whom these comforts flow'd."

Gratitude is a source of enjoyment to those who cherish it. Happiness depends more upon the disposition of the mind and heart than upon outward circumstances. The grateful poor are far happier, with their mean and scanty fare, than the ungrateful rich with their luxuries and abundance. Gratitude is a pleasurable emotion, and the more so as it is the more intense; a love for pleasure therefore should lead the young to cultivate a grateful disposition. Gratitude is well-pleasing to those who witness it. And especially when it is seen in the young; it is so lovely that it meets with general commendation. A desire to please is by no means contemptible; there is much wisdom, as well as goodness, in an humble and honest endeavour to gain the good opinion of others. We would encourage the young to aim at this, and that they may be successful let them be careful to manifest a grateful spirit.

.

Gratitude for benefits received is the way to have them continued and increased. We cannot reasonably expect further benefits till we have gratefully acknowledged what we have received. Ingratitude is repulsive, it is likely to create enemies, it can procure no friends; but gratitude will attract the good-will of those who can assist us.

Gratitude is acceptable to the blessed God. He will never despise the sacrifice of a grateful heart. It is the

homage which he requires, for gratitude for the mercies of God will enable us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, which is our reasonable service, holy and acceptable unto God.

BRADFORD JUVENILE MISSIONARY MEETING. To the EDITOR-Dear Sir,

As you were kind enough, last year, to insert in your excellent little Magazine, an account of our last Juvenile Missionary Meeting, I venture to trouble you with an account of one just held, hoping it will meet with the same reception.

Last Sunday afternoon we held another of those increasingly interesting meetings in Bridge-street chapel; the body of the chapel was crowded with an attentive audience -principally young people-who listened with evident interest to the speakers.

The first address was by M. S. Redman, on the necessity of Christian Missions, followed by Messrs. J. Edmondson, T. Ruddock, R. Pease, M. Milburn, and T. Saul, on topics appropriate to the occasion. The secretary, Mr. Thomas Tate, then read the report, which stated that the sums collected by the scholars during the Christmas season amounted to 47. 4s. 7 d. being an increase of one-third upon what was raised last year. Mr. Charles Wright then awarded a number of excellent books and cards to those who had been collecting; interspersing each gift with suitable remarks, and advice to the receivers. A collection was made, realizing 17. 3s. 74d.

Hoping that similar meetings will be held in every Sunday-school in the Connexion, and that we may all be disposed to increase our exertions in this divinely appointed labour of love, I remain, sir, yours very truly, T. T.

THE WIDOW AND THE FATHERLESS CHILD. Lines by W. HEATON, Luddenden, near Halifax.

A widowed woman one day lost

A lovely female child;

Her heart was with affliction tost,

She cried, in accents wild,

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"O, have you seen her by the brook,
Or by the green wood side?
Or have you seen her with her book
Close by the river wide?”

Fresh tears again bedewed her face,
She cried, and tore her hair;
"Ah! wretched, wretched, is my case,
I'm tortured by despair.

"I'll go unto that sacred spot
Where her loved father lies;
Despair and anguish is my lot,
How hard my fate," she cries.
She hastened to the lone church-yard,
And on the new-raised mound
Poor Mary Ann lay on the sward,
Her fingers tore the ground.
"Get up, kind father, come to me,"
The little orphan cried;
"I will again be kind to thee;
Come seat me by thy side."

The widow could look on no more,
The tears ran down her face;
She cried aloud in anguish sore,
And did her child embrace.

"He's gone where sighs are done away,

And sorrows never come;

Yon bright abode of endless day,

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Our everlasting home.

Dry up your tears, again we'll meet
When time with us shall cease;

And there we shall your father greet,
In everlasting peace."

WINTER TRAVELLING BY SLEDGES.

IN Russia, in North America, and other countries, in which the winters are long and severe, the ground is for a long time covered with snow, and the rivers are frozen over; and the ice is so thick as to become capable of bearing immense weights. Sledges are there used for travelling, and for the conveyance of all kinds of merchandise. Skating also is extensively practised. The frozen rivers become roads, over which the sledges and the skaters travel. Sledges are conveyances without wheels, which slide over the snow on the public roads, or upon the ice of the frozen rivers.

Our engraving represents a Russian sledge. Travelling in Russia is very different to what it is in England. The roads, inns, and conveyances are generally very inferior. The Russian nobility, when they travel, take with them bedding, rugs, furs, provisions, cooking utensils, and other articles of convenience. Between Moscow and Petersburgh the road is excellent, and good accommodation can be obtained. Therefore those who travel between those places do not require to carry with them such articles for their accommodation, as are needed to be taken when travelling in other parts of the country.

In Russia the shortest day is only five and a half hours long. The cold is very severe; and those who go out have to wrap themselves up in very warm clothing. Furs are extensively used, on account of the great protection which they afford against the cold. Frost continues, in some parts of Russia, for about five months. The ice on the rivers becomes nearly three feet thick.

We are told that travelling in sledges over the ice is very pleasant, when well wrapped up in furs. The sledges, drawn by swift and sure-footed horses, glide swiftly and smoothly over hardened snow in good roads. In clear frosty weather, day-break, on a vast plain, is very beautiful. In the east the sober grey is first faintly streaked with a pale red tinge, that gradually deepens into crimson, till the sun rises above the horizon, and pours his beams on the pure white snow. The snow-crystals catch the rays of the sun and glitter like gems. In the air, sometimes, float innumerable minute frozen particles, that dance and glisten like diamonds in the rays of the sun.

When Spring approaches the scene greatly changes. As the sun ascends in the heavens, and his rays become less inclined, the temperature increases, and the snow and ice rapidly dissolve. Sledges are laid aside, and other

vehicles are employed.

The Greenlanders use sledges, which are drawn by dogs, to travel over the ice. It is said that they thus travel over the frozen sea fifty miles from land, and sometimes greater distances, to the rifts and clifts of the ice, and catch dolphins, and seals, which come there in great numbers from under the ice to obtain air. The spoil is carried home on the sledges drawn by dogs, which may be driven one hundred miles in ten hours.

The Northern Indians, of Hudson's Bay, at the beginning of winter, construct sledges of thin boards, which they sew together with narrow strips of parchment, made of deer's skin. The head or fore-part of the sledge is turned up, to prevent the sledge from driving into the snow. A piece of leather is fastened to the head of the sledge, and the other end of the leather is fastened to a collar, which