SMILING MAY.

BY LOWELL MASON.

Smil-ing May comes in play, Mak-ing all things fresh and gay;

From the hall, come ye all, Thus the pretty flowers call.

Fra-grant is the flow'r-y vale, Spar-kles now the dew - y dale,

UNCLE WILLIAM AND HIS HEIRS.
CHAPTER VI.-THE VISIT NEXT DOOR.

WEEK after week passed away, and still no tidings came of the Pearl, the ship in which Mr Leigh had sailed. How anxiously did his wife scan the shipping intelli

F

gence in every newspaper she saw, hoping to learn something of the vessel!-but in vain. At length, her eye caught the long-sought-for name; but, alas! it was only to find the Pearl mentioned in the sad list of " Missing Vessels!"

Who can describe the agony of doubt and uncertainty which those feel who have beloved friends in a missing ship! Mrs Leigh would lie awake listening to the never-ending moan of the sea, and the sighing of the winds, till she could almost fancy she heard her husband's voice crying for help; then she would sleep to have the same idea more vividly presented to her in dreams, when she saw him struggling with the waves, or clinging to the wreck.

Still she did not give up hope: when all else concluded that the Pearl was lost, and when the captain of another vessel told how one night in a fearful storm he had seen a ship, supposed to be the Pearl, in great distress, driving before the wind, and firing frequent guns of distress, while he was unable to aid her; even then Mrs Leigh clung to the hope, that though the ship was lost, her husband might be saved, and she buoyed herself up with recollecting all the stories she had heard of marvellous escapes from shipwreck.

But "hope deferred maketh the heart sick," and when weary of thus vainly hoping, and feeling weighed down with care and sorrow, Mrs Leigh had a better comforter than hope itself, and that was prayer. Oh, it is good to pray when we are sad or suffering, to cast all our care upon God, knowing that "He careth for us; just as the little child weeps out its tale of sorrow on its mother's bosom, and feels comforted.

Uncle William now came to reside with Mrs Leigh, thinking that it would be the most delicate way of rendering assistance, of which he knew she stood in

need, but he was too considerate to mention this as his

reason.

No one in the house was more glad to have Mr Garner as an inmate than was Nancy, for she regarded him as peculiarly her friend, the best friend she had in the world. Besides, Nancy too was in trouble, and felt the need of some one to sympathise with her; not but that her mistress was very kind to her, but then, somehow, she could not speak so freely to her as to Mr Garner. Nancy's brother Jack had sailed in the same ship as Mr Leigh, and the poor girl was in the greatest distress on his account.

"Oh, sir," she said to Mr Garner, "I wouldn't care, if Jack had been fit to die! But he wasn't! I don't believe he ever thought a bit about his soul; and if he's drowned, oh, what's become of him!"

Poor Nancy! A year before this, she would never have thought of her brother's soul, or her own either; but now, she had learned what a precious thing that soul is which must live on through eternity in heaven or in hell.

Mr Garner reminded Nancy that her own salvation was just as important as her brother's, and that she too was in danger of perishing.

"I know that, sir," said she, throwing her apron over her face and weeping very much; "and I've often wanted to tell you that I couldn't stand it no longer."

“What do you mean, Nancy? What is it you cannot stand?" asked Mr Garner, kindly.

"I mean-I know as I'm in danger of being lost, and I can't stand it—I must get my soul saved!"

"And do you not think the Lord Jesus would save you, if you asked Him, Nancy?"

"I suppose He would. He never sent the folks away when they came to be cured, did He?"

"No; He healed all that were sick."

"I wish I was a better scholar," sighed Nancy; "it seems as if I never can rightly remember the things as you tell me from the Bible."

Mr Garner then explained to her that she had no great thing to do, no difficult truth to understand, in order to be saved; she was only to ask Jesus to save her, and to trust in His promise.

Perhaps, dear reader, if you had been at Nancy's side, you would have thought of many a precious text which would have taught her how she might find pardon and peace; you could have pointed her to "the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world."

Think, what

Well, take heed to your own soul. will it avail you at the Last Day, to say, "I knew that Jesus was the Saviour," if you have never asked Him to save you!

Nancy was now more anxious than ever to be able to read the Bible for herself, and made rapid progress; for it is astonishing how quickly a person learns who is thoroughly in earnest. She marked in her Bible those texts which Mr Garner repeated, and read them over and over to herself till she knew them off by heart; and in this way learned to read many sweet passages of Scripture.

Nancy was by no means the only one of the household who was made better by Mr Garner's presence among them. Dora did not venture now to play the tyrant, or scold Nancy so often as she used to do, for fear Uncle William should know of it; and even Herbert was becoming less passionate and self-willed.

My readers must not suppose, however, that Uncle