the children lessons in reading and writing, while the lady takes the Bible classes and gives them religious instruction in so interesting a manner, that every eye is fixed upon her, watching her words with eagerness as she explains to them the chapter they have read. She also teaches them to sing hymns; and if you were there, my young readers, you would be pleased to hear them singing in their own language many hymns which are old friends of yours, such as 'The Happy Land,' 'Rock of Ages,' etc., the tunes being the same as your own, though the words are translated into Marathi. The little girls in this picture form but a small class in the school, which contains a number of children, some of whom are very young. The man with the turban teaches them to know the letters, by making them write them upon boards strewed with sand, as they sit on the floor squatted like little monkeys. Their Marathi alphabet is a very difficult one, containing many more letters than ours. After they have learned to write them on sand, they have slates put in their hands, and begin also to learn the first reading-book for children, which contains very nice little lessons, and also many pictures. I wish I could show my young readers one of those books, which I have now before me, which was given to me by a little girl in one of these schools. After they can read pretty well, they receive as a lesson-book, one which I am sure my young friends here know well,-and if they do not know it, they ought to do so, the story of Little Henry and his Bearer. This beautiful and true story has been translated into Marathi, and is as great a favourite in India as in England. Another of their books is the Peep of Day, also translated into their own language. And you see the little girls in the illustration are all provided with the Book of Books. What book is that? I am sure all my readers will answer, The Bible!'

One day when I was visiting this school, I told the children that I had come from England, and that there the little children gathered their pennies, and put them

into little boxes with a hole in the lid, and then sent the money to India to buy Bibles, and to provide teachers for them. I wish you could have seen the pleased look of surprise with which those little girls turned round to each other, saying, 'How kind of them!' 'How good of them to think of us so far away!'

The children in this school are day scholars only, they go home to their parents after lessons are over; therefore you see them wearing all their native ornaments, which the children who live in boarding-schools are not accustomed to do. They wear bracelets of glass, and sometimes of silver, on both their arms and their ankles; and some of them have very wonderful ornaments called nose rings, hanging from their poor little noses in a way which I am sure neither you nor I can admire. These mark the girls that are engaged to be married, and to English eyes look very ugly as well as uncomfortable. Some of the children are marked with red spots of paint, some with white, and some with yellow upon their foreheads. These are the marks of the caste to which they belong, that is to say, they show what idol their parents worship. I observed some young girls, who, though like the others in every other respect, were not marked with these signs on their foreheads; and on asking the reason of this, the gentleman, who was examining the school, said to me, 'Just listen to their names.' He asked them one after another, 'What is your name? and yours?' when, to my great surprise, I heard the fine old queenly names of the daughters of Zion, as the little maidens replied, 'Abigail!' 'Esther!' 'Miriam !' They were Jewesses! I was then told that there are a great number of Jews in India. They have become as dark as the Hindoos, and dress ike them, except that they do not wear on their foreheads the hateful sign of idol worship. Many of their children attend the missionary schools, and learn about Jesus, the true Messiah of whom their own Scriptures of the Old Testament bear witness.

The missionary school is a very different thing to these

native children from what your schools are to you, my young readers. You have Christian parents, Christian churches, Christian books to instruct you, as well as your schools and teachers. They have no means of instruction, except this school. They have no one at home to tell them that God made them, and that Jesus Christ died for them; on the contrary, they see their parents "bow down to wood and stone!' No one ever told those children that it is a sin to steal, and to lie, and to take God's name in vain, until they came to school and learned it there. Therefore it is right and good that we, who have so many advantages, should help those who have so few; and I hope you will not forget this when you put your pennies into the little boxes with a hole in the lid.

I mentioned that there are boarding-schools as well as day schools for those poor heathen children. We had a little Topsy in the house in which I lived,—as wild a thing as ever was seen, the daughter of my African ayah, and it was delightful to see the improvement which a few weeks of an excellent boarding-school made upon her. Her real name was Pasquine, and we heard it often enough; for before she was sent to school, all the mischief that was done about the place was set down to her account. Her mother never thought of teaching her anything, and only laughed when we wished to send her to school, as if it was perfectly absurd to think of Pasquine ever learning anything. Sometimes, however, when the little woolly head had contrived something more mischievous than usual, her mother came down upon her with a tremendous whipping. But this plan did not succeed very well; for after one of those chastisements, Pasquine frightened her mother and threw her into great distress by fairly running away. After a time she returned, very hungry and miserable-looking; and it was then that we succeeded in getting her mother to take her to an excellent school, where we knew she would be well cared for. The girls were under the care of a dear friend of ours, who devoted herself to their

good; and it was always a pleasure to go among them and see the happy Christian home in which they were brought up. My ayah asked leave to go one Sunday to the church which they attended, and came back to me quite charmed with 'Pasquine's church,' as she called it. 'Oh, Mem Sahib, Pasquine's church good church! Mahratti church; all Mahratti people; sing Mahratti hymn; all sing; minister speak Mahratti; good church!' And then she finished off as usual with laughing from ear to ear, showing her white teeth, and dancing the baby.

Who will accompany me in a drive to visit this school? The sun is setting, the air is beginning to be cooler, the sea is glowing with the reflection of the crimson sky, as we drive down a beautiful road between the rocks and the shore. Graceful feathery palm-trees crown the bank; and as the rains have begun, it is now all green with long grass and climbing plants, covered with lovely flowers. On the other side of the bay we see high mountains lighted up with sunshine, and we can also see the tall buildings of the Fort, which is the chief part of the city of Bombay. As we reach the foot of the hill we get among thick groves of cocoa-nut trees, and we hear a frightful noise of drums, and gongs, and most harsh singing. What can this be? It is a procession of men dancing and singing before a palanquin, carried on the shoulders of four; and in it we may see, as we pass, a hideous image of an idol, with the body of a man and the head of an elephant. This is Ganpati, whom the poor creatures are worshipping.

Then we pass a temple dedicated to some other horrid idol, and from it also we hear strange and barbarous noises of drumming and shouting. How pleasant is it to turn from all this into the quiet and happy house by the shore, where our friend and her little maidens live! They crowd to the door as we drive in, for their lessons are over for the day; and it is a pleasure to see the smile of welcome with which they greet us, as we hand out from the carriage into the arms of the oldest and

steadiest among them, the Chota Sahib,' or 'little master,' as they call him,-the precious baby. Pasquine is among them with a wonderfully quiet and subdued, though perfectly happy expression on her dark face; and there are others whom we know and like, and whom we believe to be Christian girls not in name only, but in deed and in truth.

We go into the house and visit our dear friend, the lady who presides over this large family, with the assistance of a well-trained teacher from Scotland, and a native matron to look after the younger ones. We afterwards see the girls at their supper of curry and rice; and we hear them sweetly singing their evening hymn, and take leave, for the short Indian twilight is over, and it is time for us to go home.

The moon has risen, and now casts a flood of glory, unknown to northern skies, over this fair Eastern scene. The groves of cocoa-nut trees never look so beautiful as when seen in this softened light, with their long branches waving gracefully over our heads, and their stems forming avenues, at the end of which we can just catch a glimpse of the glittering moonlight sea. Myriads of brilliant fireflies twinkle all around and above us, like lovely little wandering stars, which the 'Chota Sahib' tries to catch in his tiny hands; and could he succeed in doing so, they would not hurt him, for though these beautiful creatures look like sparks of fire, they do not burn. A burst of insect life seems to have awakened as the sun went down. The air is full of sound, proceeding from the cicada and the field cricket, insects which keep up a continual loud chirr! chirr! during the whole night. The deep croaking of the frogs forms a bass to this music, sometimes varied by the wild shrill cry of the jackal, echoed by all his friends and relations, till it rises into a dismal prolonged howl. Thus we see that though in India night is a very beautiful time, it is far from being a quiet season, and little children in England may be very glad that there are no such noises to disturb their sleep.