Don't be too Venturesome.

SAM WHITE is one of the most venturesome lads I ever knew. Danger, instead of frightening, seems to attract him. He is all the readier to venture on an undertaking if there be a good bit of risk connected with it. And then, when once he has set his mind upon it, there is no keeping him back. It's of no use reasoning with him. Your best arguments go for nothing, or only make him more determined. If he grow wise-as I hope he may-these qualities may make him a great and a good man some day; and even now they help him wonderfully in getting on with his lessons. Sometimes, however, they bring him to grief. An instance of this occurred a few months ago, and though not very serious, it deserves mention. He and his friend, Jack Wills, being out in the country a nutting, came in the course of their wanderings to a clump of nut bushes, on the topmost branches of which there were some tempting clusters. To reach them, however, was not only difficult, but dangerous. Jack urged him not to make the attempt, and assured him he would hurt himself if he did. But Sam only pooh-poohed the fears of his friend, and sprang eagerly forward to secure the envied clusters. And he seemed likely to succeed, when, seizing the branch on which the clusters hung, for the purpose of drawing it to him, it suddenly broke, and losing his balance, down he came to the ground with a terrible thud. Happily, he was not seriously hurt, though for some moments he lost his consciousness, and had sore bones for many days after.

The Merchant's Clerk.

CHAPTER IX.

WHEN next James went to the Strand he found his teacher looking much worse than on his previous visit. There were dark circles round his eyes, and his face, which was always pale, had an ashy pallor on it which struck quite a chill to our hero's heart. 'You are no better, sir, I am afraid?' he said, going up to the chair where he sat and taking in both of his hands the hand extended to him.

'No, I am no better, James,' was the answer, 'rather worse I fancy; the apothecary tells me that I must give up work for the present, in fact, 'indulge in entire rest' as he puts it, as if that could be an indulgence to me !' and he sighed as he spoke. 'But it might be better for you to do So, don't you think?' James ventured to remark.

'Yes, I dare say it might be better,' he returned, 'if it were practicable to put all thoughts of work and everything else away; but the more I try not to think the more I think! and there is so much yet to be brought to light!' he added in an undertone, as though he were addressing the words to himself, 'science is only in its very infancy, and I thought-I hoped-to have done great things and to have made a name for myself in the world; and now everything seems slipping away from me ; I feel I know that my work is done!' Then happening to raise his eyes he met those of James fixed on him sorrowfully. 'I believe you care for me, my boy?' he said, stretching out his hand for one of his, which he retained in a close grasp; 'and your society has been a great pleasure to me, strange as it may appear. I seem to see myself depicted in you, for I was as a youth always anxious to acquire knowledge, it was as the breath of life to me! and as years went on the passion for it increased. I felt it was in me to do great things, but now He has brought down my strength in my journey and shortened my days!'

'But I will remember the years at the right hand of the Most High and live!' said James.

'Live' repeated his listener; alas ! there is only death before me, death, which means annihilation!' 'Then you believe, sir,' rejoined James with a great pain tugging at his heart-strings on hearing such words from his revered teacher's lips,-'that Christ died in vain !'

'I'm not sure that I believe in His death at all,' were the words that fell on our hero's startled ear; 'any way, I fail to see how that death can benefit

me.'

'He died that we might be saved,' replied James earnestly, all his heart and soul taken up with the subject; 'you believe that sir, don't you?'

'No! it is too wonderful a thing to be true; I could never bring myself to believe in so grand a fact, it is contrary to all one's ideas!'

'But God's ways are not our ways, sir, nor His thoughts our thoughts!'

'James!' said Mr. Williams, regarding him searchingly, 'you seem to have great faith in that doctrine; whence came it?'

'From my mother, sir!' he replied, a happy smile eradiating his countenance; 'she brought me up in it, and now it is as much as life to me to believe, nay, it is life, sir, for I should be dead even while I lived without it !'

'James' said Mr. Williams again, still looking at him fixedly, 'don't you think that if your faith were true, and that Christ really had died to save us, that I should believe in it-I who have digged deep into the mines of knowledge, and must know better about such things than you who have scarcely been taught at all?'

'No, sir, I do not! because the Bible says, 'Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes!'

Mr. Williams made no reply, and leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes wearily, as though the subject tired him; but it was not so, only that his mind was in a chaos of doubt and confusion. Presently he opened his eyes and said, 'James, it is a very terrible thing to have to die; I, who have never yet feared the face of any man, now shrink from death as from some sudden and unlooked for fo. I feel as though night were closing around me- -deep dark night—and that there was no escape and no rift in the clouds to comfort me!'

'As one whom his mother comforteth so will I comfort you,' says One who is Almighty to save!' said James, his heart almost bursting with sorrow as he spoke.

'The words are not meant for me, dear boy,' was Mr. Williams's answer, 'they are only intended for those who believe on Him, and have passed their lives in that belief,-not for me, not for me!'

'But Christ died for all, sir, not only for those who believe, but also for those who do not believe; and oh, sir! think of His great love, so great as to induce him to leave heaven and come down on earth to die! Oh dear, sir !' he pleaded, dropping on his knees beside his friend, and looking up beseechingly into his face, will you cast aside love like that?' 'Too late! too late!' was the sighing answer, 'I have passed through life without Him, I will die without Him also!'

'It is never too late to turn to Him!' said James earnestly; 'think of the thief on the cross! Oh, sir, while there's life there's always hope, and He's willing to save to the uttermost. You know, sir, the Bible says a bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench!'

'Yes, yes,' returned his listener, 'I have heard the words before, but they conveyed no meaning to my ears, words, idle words; but now-now.' Again he closed his eyes, and lay back in his chair sighing heavily a few times. So he remained for nearly half an hour, James watching him anxiously, and

feeling as if a great weight were pressing on his heart, causing a deep dull pain. Suddenly he opened his eyes and started as if awoke out of a dream, and seeing James close beside him, said, 'My dear boy, I ought not to have kept you here so long, I am afraid that you must be going now, for the night wears away-but you must come again soon-tomorrow; no, not to-morrow,' he added, correcting himself, 'I am expecting Norris, from Fleet-street; but the next day you must come; can you manage to do so, do you think?'

'O yes, sir! James replied eagerly, 'I shall only be too glad to come; it is very kind of you to allow me to do it.'

'The kindness is on your side,' Mr. Williams returned, the shadow of a smile crossing his countenance; 'I am the receiver, you the giver, I wish, I wish,-No! no! I am dreaming, dreaming!'

As James walked on his solitary way homewards a heaviness oppressed him, he felt as if he had received some sudden shock, and had not yet recovered from the effects of it. It was a lovely night. The full moon sailed majestically along in the deep blue sky, attended by myriads of stars. At another time our hero would have delighted in such a night, for he was an intense lover of nature; but then he hardly noticed it, all his thoughts were centred on one whom he greatly loved, who was hovering on the brink of a deep and terrible abyss, so near that there was but a breath between it and him!

As he was walking along slowly and meditatively, he all at once heard somebody coming up quickly behind him, who, on getting up to him, slapped him on the shoulder, saying,

'Hullo! Pickles! where are you bound for?

It was Mr. Hobson who thus addressed him, and whom James was very surprised to see, for his lodging lay in quite a different part of London.

'I'm going to Gray's Inn Lane,' he answered.

'You were going, you might say, for I intend you shall turn back with me and we'll finish the night by enjoying ourselves a bit. I have just come from Markham's, in the Strand; he was always bothering me to go and see him, so I thought I would tonight, but never again. No, never again!' and Mr. Hobson shrugged his shoulders and made a grimace, as expressive of his disgust and dissatisfaction at the result of the visit.

'Now then, Pickles!' he resumed, 'we're losing time standing talking here, let's be off and set about

enjoying ourselves. I know an awfully jolly tavern a few streets off, where we can start our jollifications; we'll finish up at the 'Dolphin,' in Cheapside.' 'No thank you!' said James, hurriedly, 'indeed I must go home now, Mrs. Pilcher would wonder what had become of me!'

"Bother Mrs. Pilcher!' was Mr. Hobson's polite ejaculation. 'What's she to do with you? who is she?'

'She's the gentlewoman with whom I lodge,' was the answer.

Gentlewoman, forsooth!' was the contemptuous rejoinder, 'a pretty gentlewoman, no doubt! However, who, or whatever she may be, has nothing to do with you; I invite you to go with me, and, what's more, intend you to go.'

Impossible!' replied our hero firmly, gently extricating himself from his friend's grasp, which was fastened on his arm. Some other time I will come, but not to-night.'

'When will you come, then, to-morrow?'

James hesitated, his mind was so full of Mr. Williams that he felt anything but inclined to accede to the proposal; then he said to himself that it was selfish to think so much of his own wishes, and as Mr. Hobson really seemed to desire his company, he should have it, so promised to be at his lodgings the next evening at seven o'clock. Although he was punctual to his appointment, he found several young men had arrived there before him, whom he was very much surprised to see, as he had not known anybody was to be there besides himself. They were all seated round a table (on which were sundry glasses and bottles), one of them impatiently shuffling a greasy pack of cards as James went in.

'Come! come! Pickles !' exclaimed Mr. Hobson on our hero making his appearance, 'what have you been about? we've been waiting for you ever so long! Here! take this seat,' pointing to one next him, and then I'll introduce you to the present company, all of whom are first rate fellows I can assure you.'

James took the proferred chair in silence, when Mr. Hobson, pushing one of the bottles towards him, said, 'Help yourself; and now to business, Simpson to business!' whereupon Mr. Simpson, a young man of about twenty-three or four years of age, with sandy whiskers and light blue eyes, began vigorously to deal out the cards one by one to those seated around the table.

'You needn't give me any, thank you,' James

said, a slight flush rising to his face as he spoke, 'I don't know how to play.'

'Oh! we'll soon teach you, Pickles!' said his friend.

'I would rather not be taught, thank you,' he replied, the flush on his face deepening; 'I will watch you play.'

'You young rascal,' cried Mr. Hobson jovially, pinching his arm and winking to the assembled company, 'you've your eye on the liquor, I see ! you think you shall have a chance of imbibing a drop more while we are taken up with our game !'

'Indeed I was'nt thinking any such thing!' he answered indignantly, his dark eyes flashing fire, ‘I never drink anything but water, and, what's more, never intend doing!'

'A saint! A saint!' echoed on all sides.

'Don't make a fool of yourself!' said Mr. Hobson crossly; 'come, drink this like a man !' pouring something into a glass as he spoke, and placing it before him.

'No!' said James, firmness and decision in his tone, 'nothing would make me touch it.'

'We'll see about that!' said his friend, springing to his feet in a passion. 'Here, some of you fellows, come and help me to make him break his word!' whereupon most of the young men rose from their seats and closed round James, who had risen also. His face was very pale, except for a bright spot of red on each cheek, but his eye looked fearlessly around him, as he stood waiting for what was to come next. Although he was only between sixteen and seventeen years of age, he looked a match for any of them, who were all older than himself. He was tall for his age, and though his figure was but slight, yet it was strong and flexible and his muscles sinewy.

'I have told you,' was the answer, 'that I shall not touch it, and I defy any one of you to make me break my word!'

'Ha ha!' shouted his friend, we'll see about that!'

'What's the use of bothering the fellow!' exclaimed Simpson at this juncture, who still kept on shuffling the cards; 'what do we care whether he drinks it or not? all the better I should say that he doesn't, as there will be all the more for those who do!'

'Hurrah for Simpson!' now resounded on all sides; 'right you are, old boy; I vote we kick him down stairs, and then begin our game-now then!'