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is a lesson which the Bible also teaches us. There are also two other lessons which we should learn from the Bible, and of which these little histories may put us in mind. One is, that when we lay plans for the future, we ought to remember how uncertain everything is in this world, and that, therefore, we ought not to be too certain about anything that we intend to do. I will read to you what the apostle James says about this. 'Go to now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that,' James iv. 13-15. Our own little disappointment may help us to remember this lesson, my dear boy; and let us be very thankful that nothing of more serious consequence than an injured eye hindered our journey. We might, one or both of us, have been taken very ill, or we might have died, instead of being alive and well, as we are this evening.

"Another lesson which these little histories teach, and which the Bible more plainly teaches, is that God rules over all our affairs by his providence. I will read to you what the Lord Jesus Christ said about this.

'Are

not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered,' Matt. x. 29, 30. Oh, my dear children, what a happy thing it will be for us if we can say, 'This God is our God for ever and ever; and he will be our guide even unto death!" Then it will not matter what disappointment we suffer, or what dangers we may have to undergo. All will then be well.

"Each of the stories I have told you, is about the dangers of the river or the sea, and how some person was saved from dangers by the providence of God. It happened that I thought of these first; but the providence of God is seen on the land as well as on the water; and many persons have been kept from danger on the land, as those I have mentioned were from danger on the water."

George. Do you think, father, that, if we had gone our journey yesterday, some danger would have happened to us?

Father. I cannot tell, my dear_boy, what might have happened; though I have no present reason to suppose that we should have been more exposed to danger yesterday, than we shall be to-morrow; or that we shall be more exposed to danger in travelling, than we should be in staying at home. Let us not forget that we are always in the hands of God, and let us love him, and trust him as

we ought; and then, whether we are at home or abroad, we shall be as safe as he designs us to be, and safer than this we never can be.

"And now it is quite time for you to go to bed; but before you go, let us ask God to keep us safely on our journey, and to keep your mother and your sisters safely too; and then you may say,

"I lay my body down to sleep,

Let angels guard my head,

And, through the hours of darkness, keep
Their watch around my bed.

"With cheerful heart I close mine eyes,
Since thou wilt not remove;
And in the morning let me rise,
Rejoicing in thy love."

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CHAPTER IV.

THE JOURNEY.

A letter to Emma Hardy from her Father.

MY DEAR LITTLE GIRL.

you

I told that I would write to you when we had got to your grandfather's house; and so I will now fulfil my promise. Your mother, too, will be glad to hear that we arrived here safely. She will be so kind as to read this letter to you; and then she, as well as yourself, will know all about our journey.

You will remember that when we got into the chaise which was to take us to the railroad station, your brother was a little-a very little-cast down at the thought of parting from his mother and his sisters, and of leaving his dear home and his garden, for so long a time. But after we had got a little way upon the road, he brushed away one or two shining tear-drops that would find their way on to his cheeks; and then he became very cheerful. I dare say that you, too, felt rather dull after we were gone; and I should not wonder if your sister Ruth wished us to turn back again. But I have no doubt that your kind mother soon made you both very happy, and that you now are reconciled

to the thought of losing us for the little while we shall be away from you. You will try to be happy and good, will you not? and then you will be so much the more happy when we return. I will now tell you about our

journey.

The road to the railway you know so well, that I need not say anything about it, except that, as it was such a fine dry morning and rather windy, the dust blew about famously; so that, by the time we reached the end of that part of our journey, we were both as dusty and almost as white as millers. The dust also covered the hedges and trees by the road-side, so as to hide the beautiful green colour of the leaves. But though this wind and dust made our ride at times rather unpleasant, we yet enjoyed the sight of the haymakers in the fields on each side of the road; they were very glad of the wind which troubled us. It cooled them in their hot work; and it helped to dry the hay which they were making. Do you know that there is an old saying, "It is an ill-wind which blows nobody any good." We thought of this saying when we were on the dusty road; and we said that if the wind did not do us any good just then, it did good to the haymakers; and this, I think, made us contented to bear it with patience.

Well, we were about an hour, or rather more, in getting to the railway; and when

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