38

Who is my Neighbour?

"WHO IS MY NEIGHBOUR?”

I

F. H. BOWMAN, F.R.A.S., F.L.S.

SAW

a stranger in the land
With weary look and garments torn,

His step was feeble, and his hand
Shook like the aspen leaf at morn;
A look of misery and disgrace
Marked every feature of his face.

Beside the stormy path of life

With careworn brow and heart he stands, And asks amid its din and strife,

"Will none outstretch the friendly hands? Will none a word of comfort speak To strengthen one who else is weak?

"The burden and the care of days,
The heavy weight and load of sin,
The memory of my wicked ways,
All make my spirit sink within :
I seem an outcast from my race
And find no rest in any place.

"Who is my neighbour? Is there here

No help for those who fall so far?
None to bid hope and joy appear,
And point me to a morning star,
Bright herald of a dawning, when
I yet may live in peace again."

Lo! who is this who passes by?
With tender look and anxious face,
Who greets him with a loving eye,
And utters words of truth and grace;
And stretches out the hand to bless,
With tears of love and tenderness.

I know the Master by his look
Of calm serenity and peace;
He who the guilty one can brook,
And give the burdened soul release ;
Who can the fallen ones upraise
And turn their cry to songs of praise.

"They Say."

O Jesus! give the strength I seek,
To work as Thou didst here below;
To raise the feeble and the weak,
Nor bid the stranger from me go;
And stoop myself to raise above
The fallen by the power of love.

To seek the lost ones when they stray
Far from the safe and narrow road;
To point them to the better way,
And help to bear their heavy load,
And speak the word in season, too,
As Thou would'st also have me do.

Give me to hear in that great day

When Thou shalt come, the Judge of all, And small and great, a vast array,

Stand answering to the trumpet's call, Thy voice proclaim-"Well done," for see "Ye did it also unto Me."

"THEY SAY."

"THEY

HEY say "-Ah! well, suppose they do,
But can they prove the story true?

Suspicion may arise from nought
Save malice, envy, want of thought;
Why count yourself among the "they,"
Who whisper what they dare not say?

"They say"-well, if it should be so,
Why need you tell the tale of woe?
Will it the bitter wrong redress,
Or make one pang of sorrow less?
Will it the erring one restore,
Henceforth to go and sin no more?

"They say "-Oh! pause and look within,
See how thine heart inclines to sin:
Watch, lest in dark temptation's hour
Thou, too, should'st fall beneath its power.
Pity the frail, weep o'er their fall,
But speak of good or not at all.

39 40

"For the Good of the Service."

THE LARK IN THE CAGE.

W. R. EVANS.

In Hunga

N the dusty, smoky city,

lark against a wall,

Warbling out a cheerful ditty,

Heedless of his cage's thrall.

"Lark!" exclaimed a chirping sparrow,
Lighting on a window-sill,
"Prison'd in a space so narrow,
Canst thou sing so blithely still?"

Said the lark, in accents ringing,
"Sparrow, I would have you know,
That a lark in bondage singing,
Half forgets his weary woe.

Sang I not, too, here in prison,
Were I to escape some day,
In the sky, when I had risen,
Should I recollect my lay?"

So, O soul! on earth to cheer thee,
Let thy spirit-song arise
Unforgot, till angels hear thee
Chant it far above the skies.

"FOR THE GOOD OF THE SERVICE."

REV. JAS. SMITH, M.A.

IR GARNET WOLSELEY, who has served in many

&c. arrived at the conclusion, from personal observation and experience, that spirits are not at any time good for the British soldier. That they are so he regards as nothing better than an old superstition. He urges, therefore, the entire disuse of spirits; but in order to attain this desirable end he considers the co-operation of the officers indispensable. Their wine is to them what spirits are to the common soldier, and they must

"For the Good of the Service."

41

give up their own luxury before they can consistently ask their men to give up theirs. They may consider that somewhat hard, but there is an argument which should make it easy. However pleasant their wine is, however harmless they may regard it, they see that the corresponding liquor used by those under their charge is in many ways highly injurious to them and therefore they should sink personal and selfish preferences in the higher and more patriotic consideration of what will be best for the good of the

service.

This argument turns every way-like the cherubim at Eden's gate-to guard, not the tree of life from man's intrusive grasp, but man himself from the destructive and deathdealing influence of the fire-water. The good of the serviceif the service be one worthy of being engaged in-requires self-denial. The soldier sacrifices even himself at his country's call on the battle field: surely any good soldier in a good cause should be ready to sacrifice a little of his own inclination for the public benefit. Strong drink is an enemy to every department of worthy service, and the esprit de corps should unite all who seek the good of the service to drive it out and keep it out.

Do you wish to serve your neighbour, your country, your God? Your neighbour you will serve very effectually, if you act as a moral guard and support to him amid the temptations by which he is surrounded. Tell him to let strong drink alone and shew him how to do it. Your country you can serve in no way more beneficently than endeavouring to rid her of the incubus which the liquor traffic lays upon her, and to set her free from its manifold and varied woes. The service of your God requires the same sacrifice at your hands, if you be yet so ignorant as to regard it as a sacrifice to be contented with natural and health-giving beverages and to let alone those which are not only unnatural but also unhealthy.

Do you not see all around you how religion suffers, how the gospel is impeded, hearts hardened, society demoralised,

42 The Blind Men and the Elephant.

the church weakened, and souls lost through strong drink? What are you doing for the good of the service in this direction? Are you sitting at your ease, pleasing yourself, indulging your depraved appetites, and allowing others to do all the needful service? How different such a spirit from that which does noblest work and achieves the noblest memorial either on earth or in heaven.

Choose some department of worthy, noble, unselfish service, and you will speedily discover, whatever your choice may be, that one of the most bitter and persistent foes of that service is intoxicating liquor, and that the good of the service demands a war of extermination against it.

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT.

I

[A HINDOO FABLE.]

J. G. SAXE.

T was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me!--but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried: "Ho!-what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a spear!"