WHICH WAY DO YOU LEAN.



"If the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall lie." Eccl. 11:3.

The tree will not only lie as it falls, but it will also fall as it leans; that is, we shall go after what we are inclined to is not that so? Which makes it all in all to us what the bent of our mind is.

Twenty years ago there were two boys in my Sabbath-school class, bright, lively fellows, who interested me very much, only one of them sometimes made me feel anxious. I often found him out evenings in company with young rowdies. When I asked him how it happened, he used to say he was only out on an errand; the boys spoke to him, and he could not help their speaking, he was sure. Perhaps that was so, still it made me uneasy. I once said to his mother: 

"Is not Willie out nights too much?" 

"Willie out nights! Oh, no; Willie don't go out nights." Was I mistaken then?

The other boy, whose name was Arthur, I never met among the rowdies. His evenings, I am sure, were spent at home. I always found him studying his lessons, or reading with his sisters, or amusing himself at home.

That was twenty years ago. Both boys had begun to show which way they were leaning, and how their tastes inclined them. Twenty years will show it plainer.

The other day I heard of Willie. 

Somebody met him in Chicago. 

"What is he?" I asked. "A good- for-nothing, certainly, if not worse," was the answer; "a shabby, idle, drinking fellow, whom nobody wants to employ."

"Oh, I am sorry to hear it, sorry, but not surprised. I wonder where Arthur is!"

"Arthur? Why didn't you know he has just been taken into partnership with that old firm he served his time with? They could not spare him, so they had to take him in."

"Good!" I said, "good! It is just what I should have expected. He leaned right as a boy." 



Sunshine




EXERCISE.




EXERCISE is a necessity; it prolongs life, and greatly improves living; it better fits us for our duties; without it we do not more than half live. He only who exercises sufficiently, can know the joy of good health, good appetite, good digestion, refreshing sleep. It causes the blood to circulate quickly, freely, and equally, and will drive away the blues. It increases respiration, thus bringing a larger quantity of the elixir of life, oxygen, to purify and vitalize the blood. It rounds and hardens the muscles, and educates them into ever- ready, faithful, and efficient servants of the will. It limbers the joints and strengthens every part of the body. 

It invigorates the mind, and renders it active and efficient in all its operations. 

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WEAR your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket; and don't pull it out to show that you have one; but if you are asked what o'clock it is, tell.