father had to pay smartly for the broken crocks, and also for the damaged stall, or else allow his son to be brought before the magistrate on a charge of wilful damage.

It was a miserable ending to Will's sport. He had to go with his father to see the parents of the three other boys, who paid a part of the expenses; but as Will had been the leader," his father thought it only fair that he should pay twice as much as any of the others. It turned out the most expensive game Will had ever played at; for weeks afterwards he was without pocket-money. Never after that would the boys of Hayford School join in a game of "Follow the leader" if Will Harrison wanted to be the guide.

Now I hope all boys who have read this story will be careful when they are playing at this game that the "leader" is a boy whom they can trust. And if at any time the boy should want to lead them into mischief I trust they will stop, and choose rather to incur their schoolfellows' displeasure than run the risk of causing inconvenience or damage to other people and disgrace to themselves.

But there are other lessons to be learned from this story, or it is very likely I should never have written it. Although I daresay it never occurred to you before, and though it may sound rather strange to you now, it is nevertheless quite true that in a certain sense all of us, the oldest as well as the youngest, are playing at "Follow the leader." Life itself may be called a great game of "Follow the leader." Yes, and a very serious game it is, too, with most people! We are all to some extent running after and imitating our "leader," the ideal of excellence and perfection which we have adopted for our emulation.

In the story you have just read you must have noticed what a great deal depended on the qualities of the "leader." As long as Harry Holmes kept the lead there was nothing but merry and healthful exercise; but when Will Harrison took his place, though the race was more exciting, it soon ended in disgrace and punishment. But you know if the lads had been bent on mischief they might have gone out of their way to do it even while Harry directed them; and so if they had been cautious and prudent they might have declined to follow Will when they found he was leading them into danger.

Now it is just so in life. Our happiness, prosperity, and success depend on the choice of a "leader," and on the closeness with which we follow in his steps. The nearer we imitate a good "leader" the better; but if we find we have commenced to follow an unsafe one, why, we must either leave him at once and find a better, or walk very warily, and only emulate his example when we feel it would be wise to do so.

Of

The most important question is the choice of a "leader." course there are many sorts and many grades. I suppose the very smallest of the boys at Hayford School played occasionally at " Follow the leader," but the feats of their "leader" would bear no comparison

with those of Harry Holmes. I daresay you have often heard the old proverb-" It is better to be a king among cobblers than a cobbler among kings "-and however wise or foolish it may be it suits my purpose now to use it, as showing how it comes that we have so many little "leaders," who are almost unknown out of their own little circle of followers. But besides these petty "leaders" there are men who by great genius, force of character, or nobility of soul raise themselves to the proud position of great "leaders in grand social, political, religious, and philanthropic movements. But only one or two such men do we find in an age, for the great masses of the people are only qualified to follow in the wake of these mighty men, while all petty leaders must bring their various followers as regiments to join the glorious army, in which they must be content to take. subordinate rank.

I hope when my readers grow up to be men, and take their places in the busy world, they will look out for noble " leaders," and ally themselves closely with those movements which have for their object the physical, social, and moral advancement of their fellow-men.

I

But they want leaders now-they cannot do without them. would say then to every boy who reads this (and to girls too), try to imitate the best qualities of all around you. If there is a boy who is wonderfully clever at arithmetic, reckon him your "leader" for the time being in that particular study. Watch him closely, learn his methods, find out the secret of his success, and imitate and emulate him until you can work sums as well as he, and then you can look out for another "leader." Do the same by the boy who excels you in grammar, in geography, or in history. But chiefest of all adopt as leader" that boy who seems to you the gentlest, the bravest, and the most generous. Try to reproduce in yourself all that is good and true and noble in your fellows, and gradually your character will exhibit these good qualities more and more. You will become yourself a "leader" for others. You will lead a happy, useful life, and be loved and respected by all who know you.

GRASS.

ECAUSE grass is so common in the British Islands it shares the fate of most common things, and is less thought of than it should be; yet, perhaps, we should think more of it if we knew how much better off we are than many other nations as regards our grasses. They play such a leading part in the scenery of these islands as to win the admiration of many foreigners when they draw near our shores. There is nothing like them where they come from. The groves of Vallombrosa, for instance, are very famous, but even there you can hardly find a piece of green grass on which to lie down. Then, again, with us there

are very few barren spots-we find either trees, plants, or grass nearly everywhere. But it is not so in tropical countries. We light, for instance, on splendid masses of trees, but they take up all the soil, or are broken up into patches, leaving around them other patches covered-not with grass (as they would be here) but with ugly sand, on which the eye cannot rest with pleasure. The Rev. J. Geden noticed at one place in Egypt that the grass was so beautifully bright that the word "emerald" cannot describe it, nor, indeed, can any other word; but then, beyond this mass of verdure lay a barren desert, and the two, instead of melting gradually into each other, were divided by a wavy line, so sharp that the hand of man might have drawn it. It cannot be said of Great Britain as Van de Velde says of several very hot countries-" All is green, or all is bare." Even where there are no trees, shrubs, or plants the grass covers our soil all over with a soft carpet, which the frequent showers keep in a state of such bright green that our island has been compared to an emerald set in silver, because of the beautiful contrast between its verdure and the shining seas around. Why," say some of you, "I thought the sea was blue." So it is in fine weather; but we have far less of this than many other countries, and very often some such word as 66 silvery or "shining "would far better than "blue" describe the appearance of our British seas.

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Green is one of the most healthy colours for the eye. What a mercy it is that so common a thing as grass is of this colour! Suppose our meadows had been all glittering white or red, how the eye would have been pained by gazing on them; or, supposing they had been sober black or brown, how dull and gloomy they must have seemed! Grass grows where hardly anything else can; even the wide deserts of the East are in most cases covered during the winter and spring with a rich, tender grass, and the most dry and desolate wastes have their green spots, called oases, many of which are very large. Hence we read in the Old Testament of the pastures of the wilderness." Look again at the common annual meadow grass of our own country, which sheds its seed eight months in the year, which is so hard to kill, and which we try to get rid of with quicklime, salt, or even boiling water. No wonder so hardy a grass grows everywhere, even in the backyards of smoky London if there is but a pinch of dirt between the stones for it to lay hold of and drag its head through. In the country it is the most plentiful of all the grasses, but grows very short.

There are more than 2000 varieties of grass known to us, and careless observers would say that they are very much alike; yet when closely looked into they will be found to differ as much in form as one flower does from another. It seems a strange fact that a meadow sown with many kinds of grass yields a better crop than if sown with only one; this law of nature secures to the cattle a greater variety of pasturage, and adds much to the beauty of our meadows. Different kinds of grass ripen at different seasons of the year, ranging

from April to October. All the vernal grasses are fragrant, and where they are not grown there is none of that rich scent in the hay which is so pleasant just after mowing. Though the quantity would be small, we can still get grain that makes good bread from the grasses which grow wild in our fields. Mr. Miller goes so far as to say that wheat, barley, and rye were onte field grasses, but have by careful cultivation been made what they are. However, he does not pretend to know from which of the grasses they have been raised, and until he can tell us this his statement has yet to be proved. Still, if all we read about M. Fabre's doings be true, a very great deal may be done to improve even wild grasses in size and the quality of grain they bear.

Strange to say there is one grass in this country which grows in the sea; this is the well-known sea-wrack,* abounding on all parts of the coast. Though it has a root at the bottom of the sea it is no sea-weed, but a real grass, which in late autumn bears grass-like spikes fully developed. From this grass Mr. Harben proposed to get a kind of cotton during the Lancashire cotton famine. The idea has been laughed at, but one thing is certain-this gentleman got a large sum for it at the time.

The word "grass," as used in our version of the Bible, sometimes has a wider meaning than we now give it. Thus, in Matthew vi., 30, our Saviour describes the wild lilies as "the grass of the field"; here, however, Dr. Campbell translates "the herbage of the field" as coming nearer the meaning of the Greek. The fact is, the Hebrews divided the whole vegetable kingdom into two classes"trees" and "grass," or rather "herbage," and the latter included herbs and flowers whose stems die away in winter. Dr. Lindley, one of our greatest botanists, admits that to those who know nothing of botany the ancient division into trees, grasses, and herbs might seem very natural, and yet it is very unsatisfactory. Under it we should not know where to place the lavender, tree-mallow, &c. Lavender is an herb-like plant when young, and a small tree when old; the tree-mallow is an herb in the north of Europe, and a tree in the south; the castor-oil plant is an annual in England, and a tree fifteen feet high in Barbary and Spain; while the bamboo is a grass in leaves and flowers, but a tree in height. All this may be very true, but it does not tell in any way against the Bible. We have no proof whatever that the Hebrews thought their division into trees and grasses was scientifically correct, or even wished it to be so; they seem to have followed it for the sake of convenience. Arrangements of plants both may and must be made for other purposes than those of science, and we certainly have no right to complain if what was meant for one purpose does not answer another.

The Bible sometimes compares wicked men to the short-lived grass

*Zostera marina.

on the housetops. Eastern housetops are flat, and with a wall round them, and there the inhabitants pass much of their time. As they are covered with earth rolled flat and hard with a roller, it would be no easy matter for grass to grow on them, and if it did it would be soon trodden under foot. Twice in our version the word "hay" is wrongly used. In Isaiah xv., 6, we read, "For the hay is withered," &c. Now in the East grass is never made into hay, the sun dries it quite enough while growing. Dr. Taylor gives a better translation of the passage: "The tender risings of the grass are withered, the tender buddings of the grass are quite ruined." Proverbs xxvii., 25, he translates thus: "The tender risings of the grass are in motion, and the buddings of the grass appear, and the tufts of the grass collect themselves together."

In Numbers xi., 5, we read of Israel in the desert longing for "the leeks" which they had eaten in Egypt. Often in our version the word in the original is rendered "grass,' * and there is certainly one kind of grass which the modern Egyptians devour eagerly; indeed, a traveller tells us that he saw a group of men eat up their heap of it before the donkeys had finished theirs.† However, Hebrew scholars tell us that the word in question properly means not only grass but green things in general. If so, it might include leeks, which we know were grown in Egypt from a very remote age. It is rendered "leeks" in the most ancient Greek and Chaldee versions, and perhaps the leek may be the chief, though not the only green plant it refers to in this passage.‡

Everything in the Bible is important, even the names of plants, minerals, and places; if they were not important God would have taken good care that they should not be in the Bible. Well, if so, how much more important are its spiritual lessons, and many of these draw their illustrations from grass. One of the most striking of these is in Isaiah xl., 6, 7. Most of you know the passage-it compares man's strength and beauty to the withering grass and fading flower. "After all, the greatest trouble is to think that WE shall ever die. We admit in words that we must, but how seldom do we let our minds dwell on it till we FEEL it! Yet die each of us shall; you, brother, with all the rest of the children of men. a death-bed before me now. The attendants move about noiselessly; the lights burn dim; the sufferer lies breathing his last pale, exhausted; his soul sitting on his lips; life like a spent steed panting to the goal; the silver cord loosening; the golden bowl breaking; a few breaths more, and he will be gone. That death-bed is YOURS.

I see

*For instance, in 1 Kings xviii., 5; 2 Kings xix., 26; Job xl., 15; Psalm xxxvii., 2; &c. It is rendered "herb" in Job viii., 12; and "hay "in Proverbs xxvii., 25; Isaiah xv., 6.

† See a writer in The Christian Treasury.

See Dr. Kitto's "Biblical Encyclopædia"; Dr. Angus's Bible "Handbook"; and "Plants and Trees of Scripture."