who are wanted at home in the week, and the boys at work, should be instructed on Sundays at least, till they are old enough for Mr. Miller to prepare them for confirmation."

"There were a great many tall boys and girls in school to-day," said Miss Dennis.

"Yes," Mrs. Miller answered, smiling and sighing at once, 66 you know it was the reward-day. However, they have attended tolerably ever since the dinner that was given in the garden of the great house at Whitsuntide, and they do look forward to the confirmation next September, and wish, I believe, to be allowed to attend it. Mr. Miller and his curate took great pains the last time the bishop came to confirm, and arranged that their candidates for confirmation should go and return in an orderly manner. Mr. Miller was pleased with several of his pupils then, but he had many disappointments afterwards." And saying this, Mrs. Miller stopped quite; and Miss Dennis hardly liked to ask her any more questions.

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"Tom Brown," Mrs. Miller went on, was one of our best scholars; but he grew self-conceited, and about two years ago he joined a Dissenter's school at our nearest town, since which time I hear of his having preached in the meeting-house there, though he is not yet nineteen. Several, both boys and girls, have gone to meeting-houses from curiosity, though, if they had been asked the question, they would have said that such places of worship were not consecrated, nor the ministers appointed by God. Sally Medway, who used to come every Sunday, now goes flaunting by the school-door in a set-up bonnet and ear-rings under her long ringlets; and I am often in a fright about her younger sister Harriet, when I see a dirty gauze handkerchief round her neck, and a tawdry glass brooch stuck into her gown."

Then, again, Miss Dennis could not help smiling; and Mrs. Miller, though she looked anxious, smiled a little too.

"Some have done worse than all this," she went

on very sadly, after a pause, "too bad to talk to you of. Boys have taken to the alehouse, or learned of their parents, alas! to pilfer; and girls have fallen into bad company, and become a disgrace to their families, and a grief of heart to us. It is because I have seen bad endings, that ill beginnings make me anxious: over-love of praise, jealousy, vanity, giddiness, all make me tremble, since I have seen how they grow, and what they lead to. Even the innocent laugh sometimes gives me a heart-ache, when I think of mirth which is not innocent. But I do not mean to talk to you in a repining spirit; I know it would be wrong to despair. I know we have some instances to make us thankful,-such as Martha Hope, my tidy housemaid, whom you noticed this morning. I believe she is really a good girl; and we have others, thank God, both boys and girls. I only mean that you must not think it an unmixed pleasure, but a pleasure very deeply prized and deeply felt, bringing with it, as I said at first, much care, much disappointment, and much sorrow."

Miss Dennis listened very gravely, and at last almost sadly, to her friend; and when she lay down that night after her bright happy Sunday, she was convinced that the charge of a Sunday-school was one which could not be borne without many a fervent prayer to the Only Strength of those who seek Him. [To be continued.]

The Eagle.

THE eagle is called the king of birds; he lives amongst rocks and mountains; his eyes are bright and keen, and his wings and claws so strong that he can carry off lambs to his nest for the food of his young. There have even been instances known of an eagle carrying off children in this way. A woman in the north of Scotland left her child for a short time in a field, from whence an eagle carried it across a lake, and then set it do wn; some people

herding sheep saw it, and hearing the infant cry, hurried to the spot, and found it unhurt. The name of the child was Neil; but he was afterwards called by a word which in the language of that country means eagle.

The crest, of the eagle and child, which is borne by the Stanley family, is supposed to have been founded upon a story of one of their forefathers, which is thus told in an old book of English history. Alfred, king of the West Saxons, went out one day a hunting, and passing by a certain wood, heard as he supposed the cry of an infant from the top of a tree; and forthwith diligently inquiring of the huntsmen what that doleful sound could be, commanded one of them to climb the tree; when in the top of it was found an eagle's nest, and, lo! therein a pretty sweet-faced infant, wrapped up in a purple mantle, and upon each arm a bracelet of gold, a clear sign that he was born of noble parents. Whereupon the king took charge of him, and caused him to be baptised; and because he was found in a nest, he gave him the name of Nestingum ; and in after-time, having nobly educated him, he advanced him to the dignity of an earl."

In the parish of St. Ambrose, near New York in America, two boys, one of seven and the other of five years old, were amusing themselves by trying to reap, while their parents were at dinner. A large eagle soon came sailing over them, and with a sudden swoop attempted to seize the eldest, but happily missed him. The bird, not at all dismayed, alighted at a short distance, and in a few moments repeated his attempt. The bold little fellow, however, defended himself bravely with the sickle, and when the bird rushed upon him, he struck at it with all his might. The sickle entered under the left wing, and killed the bird.

The gamekeeper of a Scotch nobleman, when out on the moors, saw an eagle rise from the ground with something which it had seized as its prey; for a time it flew away steadily, when suddenly it began to struggle and flutter, flew upwards to a great height, and then ceasing to flap its wings, fell headlong to the ground. The keeper made what haste he could to the spot, and found the eagle quite dead, and a wounded stoat struggling by its side. On examining the body of the eagle, he soon discovered the cause of its fall. The stoat, when in the air, had con

trived, according to its custom in attacking rabbits, hares, rats, and other small animals, to open a vein in the eagle, and sucking the blood from it, kept firm hold of the wound which it had made.

Another case is told, of an eagle attacking a cat, when a battle took place in the air, and lasted some minutes. The cat, aware, it may be supposed, of her danger, clung with her claws to the eagle, and prevented him from letting her drop. At length, tired of struggling, and hindered by the clinging of the cat, he came down on the ground, where the fight still continued, till both were taken by some lookers-on. A cat, however, if once within the fair grasp of an eagle on firm ground, has but a poor chance. One, tempted probably by some pieces of raw meat, was seen to make its way through the lattice-work of a large hut in which a fine golden eagle had been long kept. In an instant the bird was seen to pounce from his perch, and seize poor puss so rudely and suddenly with his claws, that she was killed in a moment, without seeming to struggle.

Some kinds of eagles are gifted with such wonderful clearness of sight, that from a great height in the air they will distinguish fish swimming in the water, and shooting down as swiftly and speedily as an arrow in its course, will seize the fish in their claws.-From Rev. Ed. Stanley's History of Birds.

Early English Church.

CHAD, BP. OF LICHFIELD-ALDHELM, BP. OF SHERBORNE. BESIDES the holy men whose histories have been already told, there were many more in the early times of the English Church. Of these, some were bishops, who governed the Church, and some of them were men of all ranks, who chose a life of labour and study in the service of God, or preached the Gospel in foreign countries. Among the bishops was St. Chad, whose name is duly honoured by the beautiful cathedral-church at Lichfield, dedicated to his memory. He was consecrated Bishop of York, and shewed himself in all things a pupil of the good Scottish bishop Aidan, living in the most self-denying manner, and journeying about on foot to preach at cottage or castle, village or town. He afterwards resigned his bishopric to Theodore, and was made Bishop of Lichfield. Theodore having for some time in vain entreated him to use a horse upon his journeys, at length ordered one of his own horses to be brought, and insisted upon his mounting it. Theodore is also said to have made St. Chad promise that he would have with him, in case of need, a horsewaggon, or jaunting-car, which was probably the kind of carriage then used by persons of quality on peaceful travels.

Thus provided, he journeyed diligently about the counties of England which were in his bishopric, and was much honoured for his Christian virtues. He died in March 672. It is recorded of him, that he was deeply moved to adore the power of God in the mysterious wonders of the wind and storm. If he heard the sound of it as he sat reading, he would stop to utter a prayer that God would be merciful to the children of men. As it increased, he would shut the book, and, falling on his knees, remain fixed in inward prayer. But if it grew very violent, or thunder and lightning shook the earth and air, then he would go to the church, and pass the time in supplications and psalms. "Have you not read," he would say, "how it is written, 'The Lord thundereth out of heaven, and the Highest uttereth His voice?' God moves the clouds, wakens the winds, shoots forth the lightning, and thunders from heaven, that He may arouse the dwellers upon earth to