The Little Gleaner Part 17

"KEEP THE STAR IN SIGHT."

On a wild spot on the coast of Cornwall I fell in with Will Treherne. He was as sound an "old salt" as ever manned a lifeboat or went aloft in a gale of wind. He was getting an old man when I used to see him sitting on the beach, when his day's work was done, smoking his pipe and gazing at the evening star. He told us boys stirring stories of sea life and adventure. One evening he narrated the following:--

"Thirty years ago, in just such a night as this, the wind whistling as it does now, with the sea rising, and with as crazy a craft as seamen ever sailed in, I found myself drifting along a dangerous coast.

"Our captain was an experienced one, and, when he saw what weather we were threatened with, he took his place at the wheel, and did his best to keep our courage up. He was in terribly poor health, but his spirits rose above his bodily weakness, and he gave his orders with a pluck and decision that made men of every one of us.

"'Will Treherne,' he cried, 'stand by me if you can be spared. My strength is going. Do you see that star right ahead?'

"'Yes, sir.'

"'If my strength should fail, steer right ahead for that, and you are safe. And oh, remember, Will, that there is another Star you must always keep in view if you are to get safely into port at last.'

"I knew what he meant. He was pointing me to the Lord Jesus Christ, for he was as good a Christian as he was a captain, and he never lost a chance of saying a word that might steady us youngsters, and make us think of our souls. I have heard many a sermon since that night in the storm, when he told me to keep the star ahead, but none took more hold on me than that one that night, when I lost my truest and best friend."

"Did you lose him that night?" I asked.

"Yes, my lad," the sailor answered, sadly. "His hour was come. When he could stand the gale no longer, he shouted as loud as he could, 'Keep the star in sight, my lads; keep the star in sight!' Then he was helped down to the cabin, and I never saw him alive again. I was lashed to the wheel, and though the spray well-nigh blinded me, yet I managed to keep the star in sight, as the first officer gave his orders for the working of the s.h.i.+p.

"After two hours of steering through a narrow and dangerous channel, we found ourselves in a friendly sea. The star had guided us right.

"When the s.h.i.+p was in safety, and my turn of work was over, I went down to the captain's cabin. A flag was thrown over his body, but his manly, resolute face, which even death had not much altered, was visible. I knelt down there and prayed G.o.d to guide me through the storms of life; and I believe I can say that, from that night, in spite of my faults and failings, I have kept the Star in sight. Now you will know why I am such a star-gazer; and if I may give you a bit of counsel, my lad, let me advise you to seek grace to begin and steer your course by the Star of Bethlehem; and, if your eye is fixed on that Star, you will come safely through the dangers of life into the port of peace at last."--_Chatterbox._

ANSWER OF GEORGE III. TO LORD GRENVILLE,

WHEN APPLIED TO ON THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BILL, MARCH, 1807.

MY LORD,--I am one of those that respect an oath. I have firmness sufficient to quit my throne and retire to a cottage, or to place my neck upon a block on a scaffold, if my people require it; but I have not resolution enough to break an oath--an oath I took in the most solemn manner at my coronation.

[G.o.d grant that the legislators of the present day may feel speedily the justice and wisdom of the n.o.ble sentiment of this ill.u.s.trious monarch.]

THE LATE PRINCE CONSORT'S OPINION OF POPERY.

"It is an open secret," says the _Christian_, "that the Queen insists on exercising her right of private judgment on all ecclesiastical affairs in which she has to act. Before giving her a.s.sent to the selection of a golden Ma.s.s bowl as her Jubilee present to the Pope of Rome, the fact possibly escaped Her Majesty's memory that the late Prince Consort's opinion of Romanism was summed up in Adam Smith's statement, as follows--'The greatest conspiracy ever hatched against human liberty, civil and religious, is the Roman Catholic Church.' This quotation appears on the t.i.tle-page of the 'Prince Consort's Speeches,' edited by His Royal Highness himself."

A BIBLE WITH PINS IN IT.

It was an old Bible, a family Bible, a well-worn Bible--the Bible of an old lady who had read it, and walked by it, and fed on it, and prayed over it for a long lifetime. As she grew older and older, her sight began to fail, and she found it hard to find her favourite verses. But she could not live without them, so what did she do? She stuck a pin in them, one by one; and after her death they counted 168.

When people went to see her, she would open her Bible, and feeling over the page after her pin, would say, "Read there," or "Read here"; and she knew pretty well what verse was stuck by that pin, and what by this pin.

She could indeed say of her precious Bible, "I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold; they are sweeter to me than honey and the honey-comb."

BIBLE ENIGMA.

The father of a blind man.

An ancient musical instrument.

A measure of time.

An immense fish.

A non-believer.

A foreign language.

A relation of Jacob.

An animal.

One of Joseph's sons.

A domestic animal.

A very valuable stone.

A particular time in the day.

Another word for a letter.

JOSEPH SMITH (Aged 12 years).

THRILLING SCENES AT THE FORTH BRIDGE WORKS.

Two more fatal accidents were, some time since, reported from the Forth Bridge works, making thirty-four since the work began. One of the engineers of the bridge, Mr. Benjamin Baker, recently gave a lecture in Dundee, descriptive of the work, in the course of which he gave the following account of the dangers of the undertaking:--

Much of the work, he said, required men of exceptional hardiness, courage, and presence of mind. In August last, six men were standing on a few planks hanging by iron hooks, at a height of about 140 feet above sea level. One of the hooks gave way without any warning, and in a fraction of a second the planks slipped away from under the men's feet.

Short as the time was, with the lightning quickness of thought, three of the six men saved themselves by springing at and clutching hold of pieces of the steel work. Another man plunged headlong down twice the height of the Tay bridge into the water. His hardiness was such that the terrible flight through mid-air and shock on striking the water--a shock which he had seen break planks like matches--did not incapacitate him from grasping the rope which was cast to him, or from resuming work after he had recovered from the immediate effects of the shock.

As regards courage, two of the men were left hanging by the arms with a clean drop of 140 feet below them. Although presumably unnerved by seeing their comrades take that terrible flight, the first man reached by the rescue party said, "I can hold on. Go to the other man; he is dazed." Such workmen upheld the best traditions of their fellow-craftsmen in the past.

OUR BIBLE CLa.s.s.

"_And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One._"--JOHN xvii. 22.

"The glory of the Lord endureth for ever"; and in this sublime prayer Jesus speaks of the glory that He had with His Father before the world began, and asks that He may be glorified in finis.h.i.+ng His saving work.