man.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.' Surely

6

we can say with the Psalmist, The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.''

"And in addition," said Mrs. Perkins, "we have in this remarkable history renewed evidence of God's faithfulness to his promise. 'He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.''

After dinner, Mrs. Fraser, finding Mrs. Perkins so comfortable, left her.

As Donald was going out of the room, Mr. Perkins said,

"Donald, I think you are better entitied to this teapot than I am, and yours it must be;" at the same time handing it to him.

Donald declined receiving it at first; but Mr. Perkins was so earnest in urging it on him, that he finally accepted it. It was put on Mrs. Fraser's mantel-piece as a memento of a very pleasant chapter in their history.

XVIII.

A TIME OF TRIAL.

O, Donald, the Lord will not forsake us. Has not David said, 'I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor

his seed begging bread'?"

"But, mother, where is the money to come from? To-morrow we must pay our rent or leave the house, the agent says; and I am sure you cannot be moved in your present condition; and if you could, we have no place to go to. Then, there is the doctor's bill to be paid, where are we to get the money for that? And even for our daily food, what are we to do? We have just half a dollar left, and that will not last us beyond to-morrow. I do not care for myself, but I cannot bear

to see you suffer, especially when you are so ill."

"The Lord often tries his children to show their entire dependence on him; but that we shall actually want, painful as our prospect is, I do not believe. Just how this deliverance is to come, I cannot see; but I can trust the Lord to bring it to pass."

"I have prayed, day by day," said Donald, "that the Lord would show us what to do,would send help in this our extremity; but yet I do not see the help come, nor any prospect of it. If Uncle Niel had been living, surely we would have heard. from him before this time."

"It does seem so," said his mother. "Poor Niel! If he is living, I know he has written to us; and yet he may have written, and the letter miscarried."

This conversation occurred a year after the circumstances related in the last chapter. Mrs. Fraser had been very ill for many weeks. Their carefully preserved store of money had been used with the most rigid economy; but

as nothing could now be earned by Mrs. Fraser, it had been all consumed except the last half dollar. Donald might have found something to do, but his mother had been so ill that she could not be left alone, so that he had to be constantly with her.

These were sad days for the dear boy,days of great anxiety and responsibility for one so young. But he bore up under it manfully. He had no one to help him, for Mrs. Fraser was of such a retiring disposition that she had made no acquaintances. Mrs. Perkins, who would have been glad to reciprocate the kind attentions that had been shown to her when she was sick, had removed to California some months before this, and a strange family, Germans, who could speak little English, had taken the rooms that she and her husband had occupied.

Now that want stared them in the face, the poor boy's faith began to fail. He loved his mother with a marvellous affection, and that she should suffer was more than he could bear.

It was Monday night, and a drizzling rain with occasional hail added no cheerfulness to the evening.

Mrs. Fraser was considerably better than she had been, the crisis of the fever being over; but she was extremely feeble, and unable to rise from bed.

That night, as Donald took up his Bible, she asked him to read 1 Kings, 17th chapter.

Their desperate situation seemed to rouse her to the utmost, which was evinced strikingly in the earnestness of her petitions at a throne of grace. As Donald joined in these petitions, his faith revived, and he said to his mother, with a smiling face, as he kissed her good-night,

“I am sure the Lord will hear that prayer; we may both go to sleep trusting Him."

This simple confidence of her dear boy greatly cheered her heart, and if any strange eye could have peered into that house, less than an hour afterwards, he would have seen both mother and son sleeping sweetly. For the Lord "giveth his beloved sleep." The