good Mrs. G., again forgot to speak to the girl. She passed out of the
church slowly, and did not come again.

I thought she must have left town, as I had not seen her for several
days; but one Sabbath, as I attended another church, I saw her again.
She seemed a little more at ease, I thought, and there was a quiet smile
on her face. After the services were concluded, I saw many a pleasant
smile given to the stranger girl, and I understood the secret of the
changed look upon her face. I made some inquiries, and learned that she
had joined this church, and was earnest and active in all its work.

I also learned that she had made a profession of religion just before
coming to our village, and had an unusually happy experience. How much
the indifference of our own people had to do with her finding a home in
another church, I know not.

Several years have passed since this occurred, but I have never
forgotten it. Many a stranger's hand I have clasped, as I thought of
Anna Linton's sweet face.

I was young in Christian experience then, and that lesson was a
profitable one to me.

Speak to the stranger, Christian friend, with the assurance that God
will bless your efforts to throw sunshine and cheer and welcome into the
hearts of others--strangers though they be.

* * * * *

LIVE FOR SOMETHING

Live for something; be not idle--
Look about thee for employ;
Sit not down to useless dreaming--
Labor is the sweetest joy.
Folded hands are ever weary,
Selfish hearts are never gay,
Life for thee has many duties--
Live for something, while you may.

Scatter blessings in thy pathway!
Gentle words and cheering smiles
Better are than gold and silver,
With their grief-dispelling wiles.
As the pleasant sunshine falleth
Ever on the grateful earth,
So let sympathy and kindness
Gladden well the darkened hearth.

[Illustration]

JENNIE BROWNING

The light of a beautiful Sabbath was fast fading, and the last golden
gleams fell softly upon the form of a light-haired little girl who sat
by a cottage window, her head leaning upon her hand as if in deep
thought.

The sun had departed like a grand old monarch, leaving behind him a
glory of purple and gold more beautiful than his own full splendor. Yet
the little girl saw nothing of all this beauty. She was thinking of the
story in the Sabbath school book she had been reading,--the story of a
child's l