l has come. The books
are laid aside; the room is still; the boys expect the few words which
the teacher is accustomed to address to them, and looking up to him,
they listen to hear what he has to say.

"You may take your Bibles."

The boys, by a simultaneous movement, open their desks, and take from
them their copies of the sacred volume.

"What is the first book of the New Testament?"

"Matthew:" they all answer, at once.

"The second?" "Mark." "The third?" "Luke."

"The next?" "John." "The next?" "The Acts."

"The next?"

Many answer, "Romans."

"The next?"

A few voices say, faintly and with hesitation, "First of Corinthians."

"I perceive your answers become fainter and fainter. Do you know what is
the last book of the New Testament?"

The boys answer promptly, "Revelations."

"Do you know what books are between the Acts and the book of
Revelation?"

Some say, "No sir;" some begin to enumerate such books as occur to them,
and some perhaps begin to name them promptly, and in their regular
order.

"I do not mean," interrupts the teacher, "the _names_ of the books, but
the _kinds_ of books."

The boys hesitate.

"They are epistles or letters. Do you know who wrote the letters?"

"Paul," "Peter," answer many voices at once.

"Yes, there were several writers. Now the point which I wish to bring
before you is this; do you know in what order, I mean on what
principles, the books are arranged?"

"No sir;" is the universal reply.

"I will tell you. First come all Paul's epistles. If you turn over the
leaves of the Testament, you will see that Paul's letters are all put
together, after the book of the Acts; and what I wish you to notice is,
that they are arranged in the _order_ of _their length_. The longest
comes first, and then the next; and so on to the shortest, which is the
epistle to Philemon. This of course, comes last--No;--I am wrong in
saying it is the last of Paul's Epistles, there is one more,--to the
Hebrews; and this comes after all the others, for there has been a good
deal of dispute whether it was really written by Paul. You will see that
his name is not at the beginning of it, as it is in his other epistles:
so it was put last."

"Then comes the epistle of James. Will you see whether it is longer than
any that come after it?" The boys, after a minute's examination,
answer, "Yes sir," "Yes sir."

"What comes next?"

"The epistles of Peter."

"Yes; and you will see that the