e action was over, he visited every wounded officer and man
before he would receive the surgeon's attention himself.

His heart was greatly cheered by an answer given to him by a young
subaltern, Lieutenant Gomm, of the Forty-sixth Regiment, who, in the
heat of action, was wounded in the eye.

'I hope you have not lost your eye, Lieutenant,' said the General.

'I believe I have, sir,' replied Gomm, 'but with the other I shall see
you victorious this day.'

The brave young fellow had his wish, and history tells us that the
French General 'was driven back with shame and with loss.'

A QUIET CONSCIENCE.

The famous Dr. Watts once said, when suffering from a dangerous illness,
'I thank God that I can sleep quietly to-night without being uneasy as
to whether I awake in this world or in the next.'

How many of us can say that our consciences are so untroubled as that?

THE SHADOOFS AND DRAW-WHEELS OF EGYPT.

In the greater part of Egypt rain never falls, and if it were not for
the Nile the country would be little better than a desert. But every
year, at exactly the same time, near the end of June, the river begins
to rise and overflow its banks. For three months it continues to swell
and spread, until it floods nearly the whole of the valley in which it
flows. It then begins to fall as steadily as it has risen, and retires
gradually into its proper channel, leaving the land which it has
overflowed covered with fertile mud, which has been brought down from
the interior of the continent, where the Nile rises. This rich soil and
the annual flooding of the valley by the river have made Egypt one of
the most fertile countries in the world.

The Egyptian farmer knows well the advantages which he reaps from the
overflowing of the Nile, and he cuts many canals to lead the water to
his fields, and builds dams to retain it when the river goes down. But
the overflowing of the river, even when helped by canals and dams, is
not enough for the proper irrigation of the land, and the Egyptian
farmers and field-labourers have to spend much of their time in raising
water from the river, or the canals, and distributing it over the
fields, especially upon the higher ground, which the annual flood does
not reach. Along the banks of the river, especially in Upper Egypt, may
be seen great numbers of machines, which are used for raising water from
the river into reservoirs, from which it is distributed through the
fields.