f her blessings, as she sat down to her little pile of mending.
Very busily and quietly she worked, puzzling all the time over what her
husband could have meant by starting a singing school. A singing school
and the widow--how queer! What possible connection could they have?

At last she grew tired of the puzzling thought, and said to herself, "I
won't bother myself thinking about it any more. He will tell me all
about it when he comes home. I only hope we may be able to help the poor
widow and make her 'poor heart sing for joy.' There," she exclaimed,
"can that be what he meant? The widow's heart singing for joy! Wouldn't
that be a singing school? It must be; it is just like John. How funny
that I should find it out!" and she laughed merrily at her lucky guess.
Taking up her work again, she stitched away with a happy smile on her
face, as she thought over again her husband's words, and followed him in
imagination in his kind ministrations. By-and-by two shining tears
dropped down, tears of pure joy, drawn from the deep wells of her love
for her husband, of whom she thought she never felt so fond before. At
the first sound of footsteps she sprang to open the door.

"Oh, John! did you start the singing school?"

"I reckon I did," said the husband, as soon as he could loose his
wrappings; "but I want you to hunt up some flannels and things to help
to keep it up."

"Oh, yes! I will; I know now what you mean. I have thought it all out.
Making the widow's 'heart sing for joy' is your singing school. (Job.
xxix:13.) What a precious work, John! 'Pure religion and undefiled is to
visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction.' My own heart has
been singing for joy all the evening because of your work, and I do not
mean to let you do it alone. I want to draw out some of this wonderful
music."

IT PAYS TO GIVE TO THE LORD.

"A clergyman states, that soon after he dedicated himself to the service
of Christ, he resolved, as Jacob did, 'Of all that thou shalt give me, I
will surely give a tenth unto thee.' Of the first $500 he earned, he
gave $130, and in such a way that it incited a wealthy friend to give
several hundreds more, including a donation of $100 to this clergyman
himself. For four years, the clergyman says, 'My expenses were small, my
habits economical, and the only _luxury_ in which I indulged was the
luxury of giving. In the two first of these years I was permitted to
give $500.' 'On a review of my mini