A SINGLE WORM KILLED THE TREE.



DURING the summer of 1853, I was staying at Sudbrook Park, near Richmond, in Surrey. One day I was walking with some friends through the "wilderness," when Dr. Ellis drew our attention to a large sycamore tree, decayed to the core.

"That fine tree," said he, "was killed by a single worm."

In answer to our inquiries, we found that about two years previous the tree was as healthy as any in the park, when a woodworm, about three inches long, was observed to be forcing its way under the bark of the trunk. It then caught the eye of a naturalist who was staying there, and he remarked, "Let that worm alone, and it will kill the tree." This seems very improbable, but it was agreed that the black-headed worm should not be disturbed.

After a time it was discovered that the worm had tunnelled its way a considerable distance under the bark. The next summer the leaves of the tree dropped off very early, and in the succeeding year it was a dead, rotten thing, and the hole made by the worm might be seen in the very heart of the once noble trunk.

"Ah!" said one who was present, "let us learn a lesson from that single tree. How many who once promised fair for usefulness in the world and the church have been ruined by a single sin!"




 A TIMELY CAUTION.
IN a narrative of his personal history, Sir Walter Scott gives the following caution to the youth: 
"If it should ever fall to the lot of youth to peruse these pages, let such readers remember that it is with the deepest regret that I recollect in my manhood the opportunities of learning which I neglected in my youth; that through every part of my literary career I have felt pinched and hampered by my own ignorance; and I would this moment give half of the reputation I have had the good fortune to acquire, if by so doing I could rest the remaining part upon a sound foundation of learning and science."
How many idle, frolicsome boys and girls are wasting time and shirking lessons, and preparing themselves for just such reflections and regrets in days to come, if they are permitted to see them? 



Little Christian.




NATURE is a book of sweet and glowing purity, and on every illuminated 
page the 
excellence and goodness 
of God 
are divinely portrayed.