MORGAN JONES; OR, HOW TO BE USEFUL.

MORGAN JONES was a country boy of a willing disposition. To do any one a good turn was a pleasure to him; for a kinder-hearted lad was not to be found. His parents being poor, and his health bad, he received only a little education.

It had so happened that Morgan's uncle Andrew was in the city in the month of May, and this afforded him an opportunity of attending several of the public meetings of religious benevolent societies. Great was Morgan Jones' delight in listening, on the return of his uncle, to the account of what he had heard and seen.

When Morgan had listened for some time to his uncle's narrative of the different languages into which the Bible had been translated; of the great good done by Sundayschools and Sunday-school libraries; of the millions of religious books and tracts which had been scattered through all lands; of the good that had been done by missionaries in our own land, and in distant climes among the ignorant heathen, he felt a growing desire to do something, however little it might be, in the cause of piety and humanity. There was, however, this difficulty in the way he had formed the mistaken notion that some amount of learning, riches, talents, books, and leisure time, must be necessary to enable any one to do good; and greatly was he surprised when his uncle advised him to become a friend and promoter of all the societies he had mentioned. The following is the conversation which took place between them :-

"You have listened, Morgan, very attentively to my account of some of the societies; and I hope that you will make up your mind from this time forward to support them."

"I wish I could, uncle. If I had riches, nobody should give more cheerfully than I would; but how can I do good, when you know that I have no money?

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"O, you may do well without money."

very

"Can I? That appears very strange. I thought that

everybody who helped such societies gave them money. And then I have no learning.”

"O, you may do much without learning."

"If I could do anything I would. Only tell me how to begin: for you know I have no talents."

"O, you may do much without talents."

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Why, you seem to think that I can help them without anything. I cannot give them books."

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'O, you may do much without books."

"You do surprise me. Those that help these societies must bestir themselves, and go about for them; and I have no spare time."

"O, you may do much without a great deal of spare time."

"I never heard of such a thing! Why, uncle, do you know what you have said? You make it out that I can do good to these societies without having much money, learning, talents, books, or spare time; what can you mean?"

"I will tell you. There is no doubt that those who have spare time, books, talents, learning, and money, may do more good than others; but there is no reason at all why you should not do as much good as you can. Listen to me, while I try to make it plain to you, that it is in your power to support all the societies that I have mentioned." "Do, please, tell me, and I will begin directly."

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Though you are not rich enough to subscribe to the Bible Society, and have no Bible to give away; though you are not learned enough to translate it into a foreign language; eloquent enough to plead for it at a publie meeting; nor have time at you disposal to go about in its service; yet this you may do-you may (seeking help from above) so recommend the Bible, by reading it, loving it, obeying it, and living a life in agreement with it, that others may be led to follow your example. Do this, and you will be a good friend and supporter of the Bible Society." "Thank you, uncle. I do really see, now, that the poorest person in the world may do good."

"You may not be able to open a new Sunday-school,

nor to teach a class, nor to write a book; but you can be a punctual and diligent pupil, and the good of your example will be felt by every person in the school; and you could find no better way of advocating or spreading the noble institution than by becoming a good specimen of its fruits."

"Religious books and tracts are now very cheap; but if you have neither tracts, nor money to buy them, the best way will be to look upon yourself as a tract—praying for Divine grace, that no one may see or find in you, from day to day, any other than Christian qualities; such as uprightness, diligence, kindness, love, peace, faith, hope, and charity. Do this, and you will be doing what tracts are intended to do. You will be setting forth the beauty of piety, and will thus become a real friend and promoter of the Tract Society."

"You make it quite plain to me, uncle. I never saw things in this light before. I will try my very best to do all that you say. But tell me how I can help missionary societies."

"By becoming a Missionary yourself, though in a very humble way. If you cannot go abroad, you may be useful at home. If you cannot go through all the country, be content to remain where you are in your own neighbourhood. Whenever you meet with any one less informed than yourself, try to render him wiser by telling him something useful that he does not know. And should you fall in with one who appears to be ignorant that all have sinned, and that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour-young as you are, you may venture to make it known to him in a very humble, kind-hearted way, and then you will, in reality, be lending a helping hand to missionary societies." “Thank you, uncle. You have shown me how to be useful in a way that I shall not forget."

"We are all of us too apt, Morgan, to think of the great things we would do, if we occupied the stations of others, instead of doing the best we can in our own. I have supposed a boy who has no money, but you have many pennies in the course of the year which you spend

without profit to yourself or others. A little industry or economy would enable you to send a ten-dollar library (such as the American School Union publishes) to some poor Sunday-school at the West; or, perhaps, half-a-dozen Bibles, such as can be had, in good binding and good print, for twenty-five cents; or, it may be but a single Testament, which costs only six and a quarter cents; or, at the very least, a two-cent Hymn-book, which may be the means of saving some child's soul from everlasting death. Every one who has a willing mind, and who looks up to his heavenly Father for a blessing on his endeavours, may do good in a hundred ways, and be a helper in the cause of benevolence and piety. Surely you can pray for these societies, and thus help all their operations. Look out for opportunities of being useful, and you will be sure to find them. Be humble; but be also active and in earnest, bearing in mind the words of the poet:

"Though thou hast neither talent, skill,

Nor learning's golden store :

Yet do thy best with right good-will;

The wisest do no more.""

American Child's Companion.

THE NEW BOOK.

"ANOTHER new thing, Cecil!"

"That is right, uncle! that is right! I do love to hear you say, another new thing! How old is the new thing that you are going to tell me of?"

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Only about five or six thousand years."

"Five or six thousand years! and yet you call it new!" "Yes, Cecil-I call it new on account of the new purpose to which you are to apply it. The new thing you are about to hear of, I shall call a new book, and you must learn to read it."

"But has it any pictures in it?"

"Pictures! It has nothing but pictures in it! Some

of these are grave, some fearful, some beautiful, and others so transporting, that you cannot look at them without the tears coming into your eyes in a moment.”

"Show it me, uncle! show it me! Are there many pictures in it?"

"It is made up of pictures-thousands of pictures; and then they are so large!"

"Thousands of large pictures! O, let us have the book spread out on the great round table. I see we shall have a fine treat. The book the book, uncle! The new book!"

"As to spreading out the new book on the great round table, that will be impossible; for it is far too large for any table to hold it."

"I never heard of such a thing! A book larger than the great round table! That must be a curiosity! We will open it then on the parlour floor."

"The parlour floor is not half big enough."

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Uncle, you

astonish me! But we must have the book opened, however big it may be; we shall find room for it on the lawn, I am sure."

"Not so, Cecil; for the book of which I have been speaking, is bigger than the world!"

"What! bigger than the world! Now, uncle, how can you possibly make it out that this new book, let it be what it will, is bigger than the world?"

"I think you will admit that it is so, when I tell you that the new book is THE SKY, and that the pictures are the heavenly bodies and the beautiful clouds which adorn it."

"The sky! But why should you call it a book? A book is to be read, and how can we read the sky ?"

"With a little instruction, I trust you will be able to read it very well. You have heard of the two great books of our heavenly Father: the book of Revelation and that of Creation. Now, if creation be called a book, why should I not call the sky a book, if I find that it sets forth much of our great Creator, which I am able to read ? "