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 next morning Donald awoke early, made the fire, and prepared their scanty breakfast. He was so busy with these domestic duties, that he did not observe what a change had taken place without. But after the work was all done, while waiting for his mother to awake, he had time to look into the street.

Everything had that clean look which usually follows a heavy rain in a great city. The clouds had passed away, and the sun was rolling upwards in the heavens in all his glory. It seemed to Donald then as if He who made this beauty could easily care for him and his mother. It was so much easier to trust the Lord in the glorious sunshine of the morning than it had been in the storm of the previous night.

She

While he was thus thinking, he heard his mother call him. He went to her at once. had slept the whole night through without waking, and now felt better than she had done for many weeks. Her appetite had been very poor, but this morning she ate, with considerable relish, what Donald had prepared for her.

After the breakfast things were cleared away

Donald took his seat at his mother's bedside, and was reading to her the 103d Psalm, when a tap was heard at the door.

He laid down the Bible and opened the door; when in walked Mr Robertson, the book-keeper for Light & Tasker. Donald did not recognise him, but his mother knew him at once. She was braced up with pillows, so she could converse without any effort, and, as he approached her bed, she held out her thin white hand to him.

Mr Robertson was evidently surprised to see her looking so ill, and, in a sympathising tone, inquired what was the matter. In a few words she explained the nature of her illness, at the same time assuring him that she was much better.

"I have a letter for you," he said, "from your brother Niel, and "—but before he could get further, he saw that Mrs Fraser was passing into a faint. Donald ran for water, which, being sprinkled on her face, soon brought her to; for joy seldom kills. As she opened her eyes, they heard her say, in a feeble voice, "O Lord, I thank thee!" As soon as she recovered her strength, she asked— "And is Niel really alive? Where is he?"

"At San Francisco, when my letter was written," said Mr Robertson. "And my letter conatined one for you," he said, after a pause, at th

same time taking the letter from his pocket and handing it to her.

Being relieved by knowing that her brother was alive and well, she was in no haste to read her letter, but continued the conversation. After a few general remarks, Mr Robertson said,—

"In my letter he says that he wrote to you from Rio de Janeiro, and again from Hong Kong, directing that your answer be addressed to San Francisco; but that he had been greatly disappointed to find no letters on his arrival there. He feared that his own letters had miscarried. In order to prevent this occurring again, he wrote to me, enclosing your letter and a draft for one hundred dollars. He made the draft payable to my order, thinking that it would save you trouble as well as insure the certainty of your getting it; so here is the money." With that he handed her the amount in five-dollar gold pieces.

Knowing that Mrs Fraser would be anxious to read her letter, he took his leave before she could say a word, so surprised was she at this most unlooked-for and yet sorely-needed relief.

As the door closed behind him, Mrs Fraser said, "Donald, read that psalm over again. If it expressed the thoughts of our hearts before, how much more fully does it do so now!"

As he read, in a clear voice, those beautiful expressions of thanksgiving, both hearts joined earnestly in the inspired words.

They then sang together, from the Scottish version of the same psalm,—

"O thou my soul, bless God the Lord:

And all that in me is

Be stirred up His holy name

To magnify and bless.

"Bless, O my soul, the Lord thy God,

And not forgetful be

Of all His gracious benefits

He hath bestowed on thee."

The prayer of Mrs Fraser abounded in loving gratitude to her heavenly Father for this signal and unexpected deliverance.

Then they read the letter together. It was full of anxious interest about them, and of loving words. He wrote that he was quite well; that he had made a successful and profitable cruise, and hoped to be in New York, via Cape Horn, in about six months from the date of his letter.

"I think I shall never distrust the Lord again," said Donald.

"I hope it will serve to increase my faith too," said Mrs Fraser; "for, though I never doubted the Lord's goodness or his faithfulness, yet it