f our fondest care,
Those jewels of the heart.

We miss their smile in hall and bower;
We miss their voice of cheer;
We speak their names at midnight hour
When none but Thou dost hear.

God of their spirits! be their stay,
When from their parents' side,
Their boat is launched to find its way
O'er life's tempestuous tide.

Tho' toss'd 'mid breakers wild and strong,
Its veering helm should stray
Where syrens wake the mermaid song,
Guide thou their course alway.

Oh, God of goodness, bless the band
Who, moved by Christian love,
Take the young stranger's friendless hand
And lead his thoughts above.

May their own souls the sunbeam feel,
They thus have freely given,
And be the plaudit of their zeal
The sweet "_well-done_" of heaven.

L. H. S.

* * * * *

Original.

THE MOTHERS OF THE BIBLE.

NAOMI AND RUTH.

It would be only presumption in us to attempt giving in any other than
the beautifully simple words of Scripture the story of Ruth and her
mother-in-law. The narration is inimitable, and needs nothing to make it
stand out like a picture before the mind. Suffice it then that we now
attend only to the lessons which may be gathered from it, and endeavor
to profit by them through all our coming lives. Nor let any think the
lessons afforded by these four short chapters few or easily acted upon,
though they may be soon comprehended. They will amply reward earnest
study and persevering practice.

The first thing which wins our admiration is Ruth's faith. She had been
educated in the degrading worship of Chemosh, the supreme deity of Moab.
Probably no conception of the one living God had been formed in her mind
until her acquaintance with the Jewish youth, the son of Elimelech and
Naomi. How long she had the happiness of a wife we are not informed. We
know it was only a few years. But during that period she had learned to
put such confidence in Jehovah, that she was willing to forsake country
and friends, even the home of her childhood and beloved parents, and go
forth with her mother-in-law to strange scenes, and willing to brave
penury and vicissitude that she might be numbered among His people.
Firmly she adhered to her resolution. The entreaties of Naomi--the
thought of her mother--the prospects which might await her in her own
land--even the retreating form of Orpah--nothing had power to prevail
over he