soft sheath, sobs frenziedly; the
sand rises. The sand reaches his shoulders; the sand reaches his neck;
the face alone is visible now. The mouth cries, the sand fills it;
silence. The eyes still gaze, the sand shuts them; night. Now the
forehead decreases, a little hair flutters above the sand; a hand
comes to the surface of the beach, moves, and shakes, and disappears.
It is the earth-drowning man. The earth filled with the ocean becomes
a trap. It presents itself like a plain, and opens like a wave.

Could anything more graphically describe the progress of a young man,
from the first cup of wine to the last?

"ONCE AGAIN."

Lord, in the silence of the night,
Lord, in the turmoil of the day;
In time of rapture and delight,
In hours of sorrow and dismay;
Yea, when my voice is filled with laughter,
Yea, when my lips are thinned with pain;
For present joy, and joy hereafter,
Lord, I would thank thee once again.

--_Elmer James Bailey._

"WHAT SHALL IT PROFIT?"

"Why, Archie Allen, you are not ready for church yet; we shall surely
be late," said the young wife as she entered the elegant library where
her husband sat reading a choice volume of poetry. It was Clara's
first Sabbath in her new home. She had but lately left the sheltering
roof of a kind great-uncle, who had taken her to his home when a
lonely orphan, and reared her very tenderly, surrounding her with
every comfort and many of the elegancies of life. A gentleman some
years her senior had won her heart's affection, and now she was
installed as mistress of his beautiful city home. Six months before
she had publicly professed her love for the Saviour, but she was yet
in the morning of her religious life. She needed the fostering care of
an experienced, devoted Christian. Would she meet with such aid from
him who was to be her future companion and protector? "Marry only in
the Lord," was the advice of an aged friend to the young girl.

"Archie is not a professor of religion," she reasoned with herself;
"but he respects religion, I know, and who can tell what influence I
may exert over him?"

"You are not really going to church to-day, Clara, dear, cold as it
is?" said the young man dropping his book and looking up with a smile.

"Why, who ever heard of such a thing as staying at home from church
unless one was ill!"

"I think I am not very well, Clara. Won't you stay at