and she was immediately appointed to the duty of caring for them.

She was introduced to a temporary hospital, in which was a room filled with her wounded countrymen, fresh and wild from the scene of strife, and refusing to submit to authority. The language of those whose work was to oversee them was the rough and hated German, and its tones only roused the delirious Frenchmen to new fury, and meanwhile their >wounds were improperly tended, and there was cause for fear that the employment of force. would endanger the lives of some of the number.

In this critical time the slight and feeble, but high-spirited Frenchwoman arrived upon the scene, and proved equal to the occasion, resolving to enter alone the room in which the passions of powerful and almost insane men were finding full vent. The moment that she passed through the door, one of the wildest of the crew came forward to strike her; but she, all unresisting, merely uttered in soft tones a single sentence in his native tongue, and its effect on him was instantaneous; he spoke the single word "Mother "and his arms dropped harmless at his sides.

Her victory over the wild ones, thus happily begun, was quickly completed ; and soon, as the result of the weak Frenchwoman's efforts, the scene of suffering, and confusion was changed into one of order and comparative comfort, all the wounded ones submitting to necessary operations, and showing gratitude for kindly ministration.

And how good an illustration of one kind of conversion does our story bring before us. How often has the heart of a real penitent been much like the room in which those poor wounded, maddened Frenchmen were found. Formerly, peace dwelt therein, but it was the peace of death; and now, as the result of the convincing power of God's Spirit, the character of its iniquities is manifested, and the poor soul is torn with contending passions. For years its possessor has gone on sinning with a high hand; but now..his crimes all stare him in the face; he sees them in something of the

there is no endeavour of yours, or mine either, that can bring life, or, in plain words, save a dead soul. That power belongs alone to Him who says, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.'1 Those who try to save themselves by their own endeavours (no matter if they are the best in the world) are just beginning at the wrong end. Oh, neighbour, may you never find this out too late!"

"I should like to know what you mean by beginning at the wrong end. I have always held up my head in this market and elsewhere as a fair-dealing, honest woman, who never feared to hand up her baskets to the inspector of weights and measures; and what is more, my word is as good as my bond for miles round our village: so if I have not begun at the right end, I don't know who has."

"Right enough; no one knows that better than Farmer Wilson, who has dealt years with you, does-but

"But what?"

"But these endeavours all begin and end with this world, neighbour. I speak of a different sort of reckoning that we have to make when we've done with markets and buying and selling. I mean that time when the question to be answered will be, not,' Have you done your endeavours for salvation?' but 'Are you saved?' And to be saved there is but one way, and that is, by, through, and in Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, who died that we might live, and lives that the work concerning us might be perfected."

"You talk like a parson preaching," half sneered Mrs. Hill; but that she felt uneasy beneath these words of truth was certain; for, after fumbling about her baskets for a minute to hide her look of displeasure, she raised her face towards Farmer Wilson, saying,

"You tell me what the wrong beginning is quick enough ; but why don't you tell a poor body what the right beginning is? Surely one must make an endeavour of some sort ?"

"Well, if you wish me to speak out, I will say how I did myself when first the Holy Spirit led me to see that I was 1 John xiv. 6.

a sinner needing salvation. I did what most poor fools do first. I tried, and got no better; I tried, and got bad; I tried, and got worse; I tried, and felt as if I must throw all up and roll myself in despair; I tried again, and then, blessed be God, I did throw up all my endeavours, and just

"Came to Jesus as I was,

Weary, worn, and sad;
I found in Him a- """

"And what then?" eagerly asked Mrs. Hill. "What then? Why everything, my friend. Just where my own endeavours ended, the Lord's began; and what I could not do-no, not even with my life's blood, He did in a moment."

"How?" again interrupted Mrs. Hill.

Farmer Wilson did not reply for an instant; then in a voice of great solemnity said, "I can't do better than tell you in His own sweet words. He said nothing more nor less than this to me: 'Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.' And then, didn't my endeavours begin -that's all; for I had hold of the right end. I worked for love. All my endeavours came from Christ, and therefore naturally found their way back to Him; for waters always seek their source, Mrs. Hill-always seek their source. Good afternoon, neighbour; let's have a shake of your hand, to show there is no offence over this bit of talk."

Mrs. Hill shook hands heartily, saying as she did so,

"P'raps after all I've got the right end somewhere, only it's all of a tangle."

"Shake it out then-shake it out; there is no sort of peace for us poor sinners till we've got hold of the right end, which draws us straight to Jesus-the right end of a strong threefold cord you will find it, neighbour Hill, I can tell you."

I could not hear more, for a general stir in the yard 1 Matt. ix. 2.

brought the various country folk to their traps; and the farmer's wife was soon rattling homeward; but there is one question I would fain ask the reader: it is this—Are you striving to win your soul's salvation by "doing your endeavours," or are you looking to the Lord Jesus Christ for it as a free gift, the purchase of His precious blood upon the cross? If you are doing the former, you will, like Farmer Wilson, at first be ever trying, but never succeeding. If you are happily doing the latter, you can never be disappointed; for Christ's own invitation and promise is-"Look unto Me, and be ye saved."

Look for salvation! look for peace! look for glory! Look, for all your happiness, both present and future, depends on your looking unto Jesus.

The French Nurse in the German Hospital.

URING the last Franco-German war there was a French nurse in the home at Kaisersworth, .in Upper Germany. She had been for some time resident there, and was a favourite in the establishment, her cheerful and winning ways, as well as her evident piety, gaining her the esteem of all; but, after the war broke out, her position became peculiarly trying. Her sympathies were altogether with her countrymen, and yet she was living on terms of closest intimacy with those whose feelings were exactly contrary.

As wounded Germans were, from time to time, brought from the war, parties of nurses were drafted from Kaisersworth to assist in attending on them; but the French lady shrunk from performing this office for those whom she regarded as the oppressors of her country; nor did the authorities insist on her entering upon it; she grieved, however, at being useless in a time of effort, and a way was soon found out of her difficulty. French wounded prisoners began to arrive,

and she was immediately appointed to the duty of caring for them.

She was introduced to a temporary hospital, in which was a room filled with her wounded countrymen, fresh and wild from the scene of strife, and refusing to submit to authority. The language of those whose work was to oversee them was the rough and hated German, and its tones only roused the delirious Frenchmen to new fury, and meanwhile their wounds were improperly tended, and there was cause for fear that the employment of force would endanger the lives of some of the number.

In this critical time the slight and feeble, but high-spirited Frenchwoman arrived upon the scene, and proved equal to the occasion, resolving to enter alone the room in which the passions of powerful and almost insane men were finding full vent. The moment that she passed through the door, one of the wildest of the crew came forward to strike her; but she, all unresisting, merely uttered in soft tones a single sentence in his native tongue, and its effect on him was instantaneous; he spoke the single word "Mother "and his arms dropped harmless at his sides.

Her victory over the wild ones, thus happily begun, was quickly completed ; and soon, as the result of the weak Frenchwoman's efforts, the scene of suffering, and confusion was changed into one of order and comparative comfort, all the wounded ones submitting to necessary operations, and showing gratitude for kindly ministration.

And how good an illustration of one kind of conversion does our story bring before us. How often has the heart of a real-penitent been much like the room in which those poor wounded, maddened Frenchmen were found. Formerly, peace dwelt therein, but it was the peace of death; and now, as the result of the convincing power of God's Spirit, the character of its iniquities is manifested, and the poor soul is torn with contending passions. For years its possessor has gone on sinning with a high hand; but now his crimes all stare him in the face; he sees them in something of the