But I have known boys and girls that were more foolish than that. I think that some of you are more foolish sometimes. I will tell you how.

How do boys or girls know when they are doing wrong? How do you know it is wrong? ?

"Conscience tells us."

What is conscience? Can anyone tell? "Something in the heart. 'A still small voice.'

How is conscience like the compass? "Because it is to tell us when we are going wrong."

God has put it in our hearts to be our guide. He has given it to me and to youto everyone. There is no child here so

little but he has a conscience to tell him when he is going wrong. But I have known boys and girls who were so foolish that when the conscience said, "Stop, stop, you are going wrong," they did not pay any attention to it, but went on with the wrong just as before. That is more foolish than a sailor would be who did not mind the compass. It is not only foolish, but wicked. But I was to tell you about the compass bewitched.

There was once a convoy of vessels sailing over the ocean. There were thirteen vessels altogether in one fleet, or convoythat is, in one company. They were sailing together, so as to protect each other from the pirates. On every vessel there was a compass. All day long, as they sailed, they could see each other's vessels, and thus keep together. All night, in the darkness, they all kept on in the same course, steering

by their compasses; and when the morning came they looked for each other again, and were always glad to find that they were altogether. But one morning they were surprised to find that one vessel was gone. It had disappeared. What could the others do? Could they go

after the lost vessel? Ah, but which way should they go? They did not know whether she had turned off to the right or to the left, or had turned around to go back. Perhaps she had not turned away at all. Perhaps she had sunk. The convoy could do nothing. And so they went on without her.

But this vessel did not sink. She turned away from the others. This is the way it

came to pass :

On board of that vessel were some very wicked men, who did not like to earn their livelihood by honest labour, but wished to turn pirates. They knew the captain would not consent to any such thing. They knew, too, that if they attempted to mutiny while they were in the convoy, he would get aid from the other vessels, and defeat their schemes. So they wanted to get the vessel away from the convoy. Therefore, one dark and cloudy night, one of them brought some iron and put it by the compass. He put it in such a position that the needle was turned away from the true direction; but the man at the helm did not know this, and so, as he steered all night by the compass, he steered wrong; and in the morning the convoy was nowhere to be seen. When the captain came on deck and saw that they had lost their way, he knew by the position of the rising sun that the compass was pointing wrong. He said he thought it must be bewitched, because, instead of pointing to the north, as it ought to, it pointed directly toward the rising sun. While he stood looking at it, and wondering what was the matter, the mutineers rushed forward and took him prisoner, and turned the vessel into a pirate ship.

Now this is just the way that evil people try to do with us sometimes. When a bad boy wishes to persuade a good boy to become bad like himself, he knows that the good boy has a conscience which points out the right way, and sometimes the only way he can succeed in his purpose is to pervert his conscience.

There were two boys walking by a garden in which grapes were growing. One said, "Let us crawl through the fence and pick some. The other said, "No; it would be stealing." The first said, "Oh, there would be no harm in that. I would not take a

THE TR

whole basket full; but they will never miss a bunch." He was trying to pervert the other's conscience, so as to lead him astray.

Conscience is our guide in life; if we wish to come safely to our journey's end, and be happy all the way, we must obey conscience. That is our compass. And if we do not want to be misled, we must not let anyone pervert our conscience. You can tell when the attempt is made. If some try to persuade you to do a wrong thing, saying that it is not so wrong after all, that there is no great harm in such a little thing, remember the compass bewitched.

RANK CAREY was visiting his uncle in the South. Frank's home was in Massachusetts. There he could name most of the trees and many of the wild flowers; for he was not a boy without eyes, and very few things about him escaped his notice or his comments. One day his cousin Roger came in from a long tramp, and, opening his tin botany-box, called Frank to show him a curious plant.

"What funny bristles on the top part of this leaf!" said Frank, touching the curious, open, rounded top with his finger.

"You ought to see it growing," said Roger. "If you could but stand a tramp through sand and bogs, I'd show you what a regular fraud this plant is. If your finger was a fly and brushed against these bristles, it wouldn't be caught there again." "Oh! is this a Venus fly-trap? I've read about it in one of my books. How does it catch flies, Cousin Roger ?"

"It is curious to watch it, as I did this one to-day. The fair, open leaf looks as innocent as can be, but the moment a fly or bug alights on it-presto! it snaps together like that." And Roger clapped his hands with a good crack close to Frank's

ear.

A MORAL.

"Then it holds the little struggler, and hugs him tighter and tighter-loves him; so you see he just hugs him to death.” "Haven't you got two of these, so I can have one?" said Frank.

"I shouldn't wonder," said Roger, drawing out another and finer specimen. "Are you going to be a botanist?"

"I can't tell about that; but this 'trap's' got a moral to it as well as a catch, and I want to press it, and fix it up nice, and give it to a boy I know at home."

"What is the matter with your boy?" asked Roger.

"He won't join our Band! He pretends we're foolish; says he's man enough to keep straight without putting his name to a pledge. But, you see, he'll get caught yet in one of those nice-looking shops with pictures and candy at the windows. He's smart, too. If I just give him this flytrap,' and tell him how it works, I shan't need to say anything about saloons and boytraps!"

"Good for you, Frank. You'll manage it, I'll be bound. Here's your 'Venus,' moral and all. Always stand by your principles."-Youths' Temperance Banner.

HINTS

EVEN kinds of company to be avoided :— 1. Those who ridicule their parents, or disobey their commands.

2. Those who scoff at religion.

3. Those who use profane or filthy language.

4. Those who are unfaithful, play truant, and waste their time in idleness.

5. Those that are of a quarrelsome temper, and are apt to get into difficulty with others.

6. Those who are addicted to lying and stealing.

7. Those who are of a cruel disposition, who take pleasure in torturing and maiming animals and insects, robbing birds of their young, &c.

All these sorts of company are to be avoided; for if you associate with them, they will soon make you like themselves; and, remember, "the companion of fools shall be destroyed."

W

CORAL

E dare say most of the girls who read the HIVE have seen a coral necklace ; probably some of them possess one. But some of our readers may not know where the coral comes from, or how it is formed. Let them look at the picture on page 88, and there they will see a number of objects which look like the branches of trees. Now these objects, which might at first be taken for some sea-weed, are coral. Indeed, it was formerly supposed to be a plant, but it is now known to consist of the cells of minute animals, so built upon one another as to produce a branched tree-like structure, often very beautiful in form and colour, and exceedingly hard. Coral is found abundantly in various parts of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and in the Pacific Ocean. Indeed, the South Sea Islands have been chiefly formed by these curious little marine animals. Each tiny creature brings its atom of lime and adds to the heap, and so it goes on increasing year after year, and age after age, until at length the heap rises above the water and becomes dry land. And then the winds

REEFS.

blow seeds thither, and they take root and grow and shed their leaves, and in the course of ages a soil is formed on these coral reefs. Birds are driven there by storms, and at last men arrive in ships, and thus the islands are peopled and cultivated.

Coral fishing forms the laborious and dangerous occupation of a large class of men. The coral is preferred when it has. grown about ten inches, and it takes about ten years to reach this height. The fishing ground is divided into several portions, from each of which the coral is removed only once in ten years. It is of various colours, from black or brilliant red to a dull white, and varies exceedingly in value, some selling for as much as eight or ten guineas per ounce, while others are not worth a shilling a pound. Some of the ornamental articles made of coral are very costly. Besides necklaces, and the trinkets called children's corals, the material is wrought into bracelets, ear-ring drops, cameos, carvings, and statuettes. The material is very hard to work.