should rather be a warning. Tell my girls so,
for they have their temptations even in this direction; there is so much
attention paid now to head knowledge in all ranks and classes, and such
a danger of neglecting heart knowledge and Christ knowledge. Show them
how it has been with me. Tell them how I feel now on looking back.

"What have I really gained by this eager pursuit after earthly fame?
Nothing. I have strained body and mind in seeking it--strained them,
probably, past recovery. And what have I lost in the pursuit? I have
lost peace; I have lost a thousand opportunities of doing good which can
never be recalled; I have lost the happy sense of Jesus' love and
presence.--Dear father, would you give me that open book?--These words
just suit my life, Thomas:--

"`Nothing but leaves! The Spirit grieves
Over a wasted life;
O'er sins indulged while conscience slept,
O'er vows and promises unkept;
And reaps from years of strife--
Nothing but leaves! Nothing but leaves!'"

She paused, and hiding her face in her mother's breast, wept long and
bitterly.

Thomas Bradly had listened with deep emotion to every word, but had not
yet been able to command himself sufficiently to speak. But now he
stretched his hand forward, and took up the little hymn-book from which
Clara Maltby had been reading, and, as he turned over its pages,
said--"I don't doubt, dear Miss Clara, but you've just said the plain
truth about yourself; I've grieved over it all, and prayed about it.
But that's all past and gone now, and the Lord means to bring good out
of the evil, I can see that, and you'll let me read you these lines out
of your book, as I'm sure it ain't going to be `nothing but leaves'
after all. Listen, miss, to these blessed words, for they belong to
you:--

"There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold;
But one was out on the hills away,
Far-off from the gates of gold,--
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd's care.

"`Lord, thou hast here thy ninety and nine:
Are they not enough for thee?'
But the Shepherd made answer: `This of mine
Has wandered away from me;
And although the road be rough and steep,
I go to the desert to find my sheep.'

"And all through the mountains, thunder-riven,
And up from the rocky steep,
There rose a cry to the gate of heaven,
`Rejoice! I have found my sheep!'
And the angels echoed ar