ne she concluded to send the five dollars.

She went to her husband and read her letter to him. "O," said he, "I'm
afraid we are too poor to give so much." With a little feeling of
disappointment she said, "Well, give me the change and I will send what
I had intended at first." "No," said he, "you have given it, and I dare
not take it back."

And so with a prayer that God would accept and bless the gift she signed
her letter, "A Friend of Missions," thinking, as no one would know the
author, that was the last she would hear about it in this world.

The ladies of that congregation were accustomed to meet weekly at the
parsonage to sew for those in need. The next week a lady who was
visiting in the place came with her friends, and as she entered the
parlor she tossed a bundle into the lap of the minister's wife, saying,
"Mrs. ----, here is a present for you."

The present was a dress pattern of the same kind of material she had
intended to purchase. And as she thought to herself, "God has given me
this in place of what I have given," she was reminded of the words,
"Give, and it shall be given to you." But that was not the end.

A short time afterwards she received a letter from the Secretary of the
Board of Missions, enclosing a printed copy of her own letter, and
asking if she were the author of it; and added, "If so, a large-hearted
man in New York has authorized me to send you twenty-five dollars, with
a special request that you purchase a dress worth five dollars, and give
the rest to your husband and children." There was her five dollars back,
with four times as much more added to it.

THE BROWN TOWEL.

The editor of _The Christian Woman_ tells the story of a poor woman who,
in her anxiety to give to the Lord, could find nothing but a poor brown
towel.

"They must be very poor who have _nothing_ to give," said Mrs. Jarvis,
as she deposited a pair of beautiful English blankets in a box that was
being filled by the ladies of the church to be sent to the poor.

"And now, ladies, as you are nearly through, I would like to tell you an
incident in my history; I was once very poor."

"You once very poor?" said a lady.

"Yes; I was once _very poor_. There came to our village a missionary to
deliver a lecture. I felt very desirous to go; but having no decent
apparel to wear, I was often deprived of going to church, although I was
a member.

"I waited until it was late, and then slipped in and took a seat beh