Year: 1870

Mrs. Doldrums, with sarcastic acri-
mony. awe shall have to have the
bell-hanger now, as well as the mason.'


The upshot of the matter was that
DR.. and Mrs. Doldrums separated
that morning in mood of mind thor
oughly uncomfortable.


They were two perfectly sincere
Christians, who would either of them
have gone to the stake for their relig-
ion, and loved each other so truly that,
if need were either one of them would
have shed blood and laid down life
for the other, and yet the frame of
mind in which they parted for the day
was neither Christian nor loving.


The March winds, the blues, the
smoky chimney, the tidiDgs of falling
stocks, had quite got the victory over
the splendid vision of the last even
Iing's prayer.meeting; all the heaven
ly fragrance and aroma were gone.
The Doctor was turning a corner,
fgoing to his business, when a feeble,
piping voice arrested him. He turn
ed, and saw the thin, wan face Of
poor Jerry, a miserable cripple, who,
having lost both legs, was compelled
to scuff round the world on a much
lover level than the majority of his
brethren. Jerry was a pensioner on
the aims of the church, and a con-
stant attendant at prayer-meetings.


Il wanted to thank you for what
You said to US last night at prayer
meeting" said Jerry. at made me
happy all night. o, Doctor, what a
blessed thing it is to be Christian
You made me realize it as / never
did before. You made me feel that
it's no matter what happens to US
here, so long as nothing can separate
US from the love of Christ. You see,
Doctor, have such pains nights that
can't sleep much, and sometimes I've
been kind o tempted to murmur; and
then thinkin what a poor cripple !
am, and kind o wishin' things was
with me as they used to be, is a great
temptation; but you helped me to get
over it. o, Doctor, I wish l had
your faith"


The Doctor felt heartily ashamed
Of himself.


"Jerry," he said, you don't know
me- and the Doctor, sitting down by
Jerry On the steps of the Exmoutt
Chapel, which happened to be near
by, made a clean breast Oft, aud told
him all his frailty.


"Well, Doctor" said Jerry, you
see the difference between you and
me is. you've got so much more of the
world. Now | ha'nt got any thing
I'm fallen so low | can't 60 no lower
and this great and precious promise
is all have left, and so it's all
think of; and the more | think Of i
the more it grows on me. I'm al
alone, old and poor and crippled, bu
Christ gives me this great, glorious
hope, and nothing can take it away
and l think Of it day and night. And
! Doctor, | really don't know but it's
worth losing all, as l have, just tt
know what it is.


The doctor pondered as he wen
that day on his business.


What if the words OF Jerry wer,
true? What if there were such a iov
such glory possible in his Christian
life that to attain it would be wortl
the loss of all things? Was there no
One who spoke of pearl so preciou
that man might sell all that he haC
to be possessed of it? Why then dit
he tremble and shiver at even an init
nation of uncertainty in his world,
goods, when this great treasure, thi
wonderful joy, was yet in his powe
was yet his own?


as there truth in what I have bee
saying?' he said to himself. as ther
anything in it If there is anything
is there not every thing, and should
not be the thought that swallows u
all others ?"


Then it struck him that the Bibl
certainly was written in such a wa
that its most glorious promises an,
most triumphant hopes were for pee
pie in trouble. "Couut it all Joy whel
ye fall into divers afflctions" seemed
as he remembered it, to be about th
tenor of the New Testament. "An,
yet" he said to himself, ~ quake q
the mere distant shadows of an affiit
ton, and am utterly uamanned at th
thought of losing treasures which
profess to believe of only secondar
value, while yet l have and hold ths
glorious hope Of a treasure that
more than heart can ask or think, an
) is eternal"


Whether the Doctor succeeded
;, making his future life square with h
l belief, is yet to be seeu.-Christia
Union.