orchis speckled with purple; the jagged pink blossoms of the ragged robin; the showy ox-eye daisies; the tall, stately foxglove, to which one must look up; the sober, dark, crimson-brown flowered hounds-tongue; the yellow rattle, with its funny, large, flat seed-vessels, in which one hears the seeds rattle with every passing breeze; and the tall, flaunting buttercups, and hosts of daisies, that make the grassy meadow look so cheerful, and remind one of the simple child's rhyme-

'Buttercups and daisies,

Oh, the pretty flowers,

That blossom in the sunshine,
And tell of happy hours!'

The hedgeways are now beautiful in their abundant blossoms of the dog-rose, with its thorny branches and pretty leaves; also, the sweet-brier rose, or eglantine, which may be distinguished from the other by its fragrant foliage, and smaller flowers of deeper pink colour. The hips of these roses afford in autumn an abundant store of food for the birds.

The privet, too, often forms a part of our hedge; and

very beautiful it is. It was formerly called primprint, from, I suppose, the formal appearance of its small white pyramids of snowy blossoms, and its stiff, dark, glossy foliage.

Waving its tapestry of pretty leaves and delicate pink bells over the hedgeway, is the sweet-scented convolvulus, and also the larger flowers of the great bindweed, which, though devoid of all fragrance, are exquisite in the grace and beauty of their snowy purity.

The honeysuckle mingles its sweet breath with that of the hay-field, from whence comes floating on the soft morning breeze the laughing voices of merry-hearted haymakers.

The broom, the bonnie broom,' with its myriads of golden flowers, is glittering on the hill side.

'Yellow, and bright as bullion unalloyed,
Her blossoms.'

All around us is beauty in its many varied forms, bringing such true joy to the soul, as only those who, in looking upon nature, see and feel it to be the work of an Almighty hand, can fully understand. Then the song of a bird, the hum of a bee, the scent of a flower, are all delightful to the simplest mind, the rudest heart.

Let us now hasten down to the streamlet's side, and gather the beautiful torquoise-blue blossoms of the forgetme-not;

'That blue and bright-eyed flow'ret of the brook,
Hope's gentle gem, the fair forget-me-not.'

Waving its tall, bright yellow flowers, so delicately pencilled with dark brown, is the handsome yellow iris, with its mass of sword-like leaves, fringing the borders of the stream. There too we find in abundance the small white blossoms of the water-cress, that furnishes us with so pleasant and wholesome a salad. Take heed that you gather not with it some sprays of the water-parsnip, which is likewise common in the stream, but highly poisonous.

How exquisite are the handsome flowers of the yellow and the white water-lilies, with their large, oval, smooth, shining leaves !

'Stilly and lightly their vases rest

On the quivering lap of the water's breast.'

So fresh and cool do they look, that one almost longs to be, like Ariel in the bell of the cowslip, a fairy to rest in

'Their white canopies,

Upward turned to catch the heaven's dew.'

Close by the water's brink,

'The meadow-sweet its luscious fragrance yields ;'

its tall, abundant, snow-like blossoms bending so gracefully to the faintest breath of wind. But we must not

linger over the lovely aquatic flowers, for a host of other beauties is claiming our acquaintance.

In the corn-field, so beautiful in its yet fast-closed

sheaths of secret wealth, is the beautiful scarlet poppy, with its satin-black eye, waving in stately splendour to every passing whisper of the warm summer air.

'Who so gay as he, when drest

In his spotted scarlet vest?
What pretence is in his air;

Mark him in the corn-field there!'

There also we see the rich blue corn-flower; the purple corn-cockle; the shepherd's needle, or Venus-comb, with its small white flowers, which are succeeded by the peculiar, tapering, sharp-pointed seed-vessels, which give it its name; the corn gromwell, with its white-haired, narrowpointed leaves; and the beautiful, glistening, scarlet pimpernel, the weather-glass of the shepherd.

'Now look! our weather-glass is spread

The pimpernel, whose flower
Closes its leaves of spotted red,
Against a rainy hour.'

The valuable flax of commerce, from which our linen is made, is now in bloom. Its pale-blue erect bell is very delicate, and falls with a touch; but the fibres of its bark are strong, and compose the tow, which is first spun into yarn, and then woven into linen.

Let us fail not to gather the blue succory, or chicory, which grows in the hedgeway. Its large pale-blue blossoms, composed of rays, give it a star-shaped appearance.

The chicory flower, like a blue cockade,
For a fairy knight befitting.'

The roasted roots are much used in the adulteration of coffee.

What schoolboy has not gathered the common sowthistle as food for his rabbit? And here are the large leaves of the common burdock, with its dull purple blossoms, not unlike the thistle; the common black horehound, with its dusty foliage, and whorls of dull red flowers; the lovely yellow blossom of the rock-rose, so rich in its golden beauty of soft, wrinkled petals, which is thought

by some to be the rose of Sharon mentioned in Scripture ; and the tall, purple or pink snap-dragon, bending 'neath the soft wind.

There, on this crumbling wall, let us gather a bunch of the yellow, biting stonecrop, whose clustering flowers grow in low, thick patches, a perfect constellation of small starry blossoms.

The upland moor is now gorgeous in its array of the purple bells of lovely heath, with which the Highlanders thatch their cottages; the common ling is also here, which has lighter, smaller flowers than the heath; and beside them we shall find the graceful blue pendent blossoms of the harebell, and the exquisitely sweet odour of the wild thyme.

Soon the corn-fields will be ripe and brown, ready for the reaper's sickle, bringing beauty to the August landscape, and the remembrance of much Scripture story to our minds. My little friends will remember the ears of corn spoken of in Pharaoh's dream—the seven ears on one stalk, which is not at all an uncommon thing in Egyptian wheat; they will think of gentle, loving Ruth gleaning in the field, of the disciples, who being an hungered, plucked the cars of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands,'-of the harvest that shall be the end of the world, when the reapers will be angels. Ah! my dear little friends, let us remember that when the Son of Man shall send forth His angels, they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend; but the good wheat shall be gathered into His barn. The righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.'

The harvest of the Lord

Is ripe to gather home;
And with the flaming sword,

The angel-reapers come,

In fiery wrath to fling

The tares that choke, and clod,

The wheat in sheaves to bring

To the treasure-house of God.

L. P.

THE WAY TO BE SAVED.

AN ADDRESS.

BY THE REV. THOMAS ALEXANDER, M. A., CHELSEA.

N the last verse of the thirty-seventh Psalm you will find these words: 'He shall save them, because they trust in Him.' If anybody, therefore, wants to know how to be saved, the way is here in brief. Will my

little readers consider it with me?

And first of all let me remark, that often you get much information out of the Bible by taking good heed to what it does not say. And, look, it does not say here that God shall save them because they are good, nor because they are holy, nor because they deserve it, nor because they are better than their neighbours, nor because they wept much, or prayed much, or gave much. It is for none of these reasons that God saves anybody; though some, or even all of these things, and a great many more good things, might accompany salvation.

Notice, therefore, that there is only one reason given here why God saves anybody. It is simply because they trust in Him for salvation. That is all. They trust in God that He will save them, and God does it. They do not save themselves, they leave it all to God to do. They trust Him, and it is done; and it is done because He does it; and He does it to all those that put their trust in Him.

Do you know the meaning of this word trust? Do you know what it is to trust in anybody, to trust to anything? I shall try to make it plain to you.

When you sit on a chair, you trust to it. Sometimes a chair breaks down, and the person who trusts to it falls with force to the ground. If you go to sea in a boat, you trust in it. If you go to Australia in a large