cousin was rendered as beautiful in features and person, as she was before lovely and intelligent in her character."

"Well done, Mary," exclaimed Julia, laughing. "Now do stop and take breath while I talk a little. Mother, did I ever hold my tongue so long before."

"You are an impudent prattler, most certainly," returned her mother. "I am very much afraid that tongue of yours will get you into great trouble

some day or other.”

"It very often does, as it is, mother," answered Julia, half gaily, half sadly; "for I say a dozen wrong things sometimes to one that is right."

"Mother," said Mary, earnestly looking up, "I think I do try to be good, and I do pray for the help of God, yet I find it very hard to do right."

"Do you mean, my child, that you find it hard to love the God who made you the Saviour who died for you?"

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No, mother," replied Mary, while tears came into her eyes, "I think I do love them; but I find it so hard often to obey the will of God, and do right."

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"Alas! my child!" exclaimed her mother; you only feel what the best and wisest have ever felt. We are by nature inclined to consult our

own inclinations, whether they are right or wrong; and when the law of God condemns them, it is very painful to deny ourselves, and obey His will."

"But must it always be so?"

"Not always, Mary. If you are patient and persevere, using every means to improve your own character, while you depend upon God to render those means effectual, you will find 'your labour shall not be in vain.' Even in this world, you will find sin becoming less powerful and virtue more lovely. You will find duty easier and more delightful. You must daily deny yourself, and take up your cross, if you would follow your Redeemer; but the time will come when you shall reap the full reward of your efforts. Seek in this world to walk as a child of the light,' and in your Father's house on high you shall be made perfect, and serve Him forever."

"It is a long time to wait, mother," said Julia. "The husbandman soweth the seed, and hath long patience for it," replied Mrs. Maxwell. "You yourself know, Julia, when you have planted the seeds in your flower garden, that you do not feel wearied or discouraged because they do not come up immediately; on the contrary, you continue to water the ground, and wait in patient hope.

Will you not then do the same for yourself? Will you not use every means of improvement, and trust in God for His blessing? You will receive it daily-constantly; and in due season you shall reap a more abundant harvest if you faint not.' Only seek for the Water of Life,' my dear child, as earnestly as the young prince did, and believe me you shall derive benefits from it, greater than he ever knew."

"What do you mean, dear mother?" asked her daughter much surprised.

"There is a fountain, my dear girl, whose waters possess a more wonderful power than those which the prince found. They can heal the worst sickness, even the disease of sin-the sickness of the soul; they can remove the deformity of guilt, the hideousness of a depraved nature, and render the soul truly beautiful-they bestow happiness-they give us that peace the world gives not, and cannot take away. There are dangers attending the path; there is a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour;' temptations, too, often delude the traveller from his way; worldly honour courts him, and he seeks to gratify his ambition. Pleasure invites, and he listens to her call. Like the second brother he treads the flowery path; happy if like him, he is at last brought back,

though faint and wounded, to the right way-to the living waters."

"Mother, dear mother," said Mary eagerly, "tell me what you do mean?"

"Have you not heard, my dear child, of the river of the water of life, pure as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb? Have you not heard every one who thirsteth invited to the waters, and whosoever will, bidden freely to partake of that blissful fountain ?"

"Yes, mother, yes! I know now-the influences of God's Spirit are like that pure water-they wash the soul from guilt-they make us truly lovely and happy. Satan, like the lion, seeks to destroy us; the world tempts us away-but the Bible guides us thither-and we may drink of the waters. Is it not so, dear mother? Am I not right?"

"You are right, my love," replied her mother, tenderly. "Will you not ask, and receive them from your Heavenly Father for His Son's sake. Then will you daily become purer and more happy, till death shall take us all home to our Father and our God!"

The children then knelt down by her side, while in the silence and beauty of nature, the mother offered a prayer that they might be early made partakers of the divine nature, and children

of the living God. The hearts of all were full when they arose; too full to speak. The remembrance of that hour never left them; and most happy should I be could I hope, that any of those who read my story, would be led by it to seek for that water which Christ gives, and which shall be in them a well of water, springing up unto everlasting life.