THE NETTLE TREE.



IN Australia, the nettle grows to be a tree. It has large, round, furry leaves, and is an evergreen. But though it makes an imposing appearance, the trunk is really nothing but a tube filled with pith. One blow with an ax will cut down a tree, of which the trunk, is a foot in diameter. 

The tree is very common, and very carefully avoided. If a leaf is touched, it causes extreme pain, reaching up the arm, and finally making it feel paralyzed, and perfectly useless. A swelling as large as an egg will come under the arm in five minutes, and re- main for hours, while the unpleasant sensation lasts for weeks. 


Selected.



"I AM NEUTRAL."

A YOUNG man was asked by a Christian lady, "Are you on the Lord's side or on the side of the world?" 

"I am neutral" (on neither side), was the reply, which we pronounce a cowardly one indeed, and one that shows the deceitfulness of the human heart. The young man might strive to deceive himself into the belief that he could serve God and mammon, but Christ declares plainly that it cannot be done. "Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve," is the solemn charge given to us all; and upon our choice eternity is hung.

Let no thinking individual believe that he can be on neither side in this matter. "He that is not for me is against me," says Christ; and no one who is for him will say,"I am neutral." 

It is the worldling and they who are halting between two opinions, who give this cowardly reply. If you consider yourself neutral, then you are serving sin; for one element needed to make a Christian is decision.

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." There was no neutral ground taken by Joshua, and there can be none taken by us. Be too honest and brave to give the young man's reply, "I am neutral." 


American Messenger.