looks go, and decent raiment befitting their
station, I'll match them with any man's wife and children.
And now, madam, I tell you, as you told a friend of yours one
day last year, that ''tis the FOOLS' PENCE which have done
all this for us.' The fools' pence! I ought to say, the pence
earned by honest industry, and spent in such a manner that I
can ask the blessing of God upon the pence."

When Mrs. Crowder and her daughters were gone, George Manly
sat without speaking for some considerable time. He was deep
in thought, and his gentle, pious wife felt that she knew on
what subject he had been thinking so deeply; for when he woke
up from his fit of thought, a deep sigh stole from his lips,
and he brushed away the tears which had filled his eyes.

"Susan," he said, "what can I render to the Lord for all his
goodness to me? From what a fearful depth of ruin have I been
snatched! Once I met some of my old companions, who so set
upon me to draw me to drink with them, that I thought Satan
must have urged them on. Another time, I went walking on, and
found myself at the door of the poison-shop, without knowing
how I got there; but God gave me strength to turn instantly
away, and not linger a moment to daily with temptation.

"I could not help thinking, as I was reading this holy book,
when that showy dame came in from whose hand I so often took
the poisonous cup, how much I owed to God for saving me from
ruin, and giving me that peace and satisfaction in religion
which I now enjoy; and making me, I hope, a blessing to you
all. O, what a love was the love of Christ to poor sinners!
He gave his own blood as our precious ransom; he came to save
us from our sins, that we may serve him in newness of life."

* * * * *

The above history, which is taken from a Tract of the Religious Tract
Society in London, has its counterpart in the case of multitudes in our
own country. Let him who would not shorten his days, and make his family
wretched, and ruin his own soul, resolve with George Manly, "_never
again to put the intoxicating glass to his lips_;" and like him, let him
go humbly and with childlike confidence to God for strength to keep his
resolution, and for grace to pardon all his sins, through the blood and
righteousness of Christ. Then shall he have peace of mind, and be a
bless