cry, and tore after him up the court, while one of the obsequious females removed the fish, and called Corney "a divil of a heart-break."

Quickly as he ran, his infuriated mother was too swift for him, and snatching up a piece of broken board from the cellar window, she dealt him a blow that sent him reeling into the gutter.

Then I was so sorry that I had said anything to rouse her anger, that I strove to quell it, and found it a difficult thing to do. The women closed around Corney protectingly, and I went away, leaving Mrs. Murphy waving her stick, and losing sight of the original provocation, excitedly declaring that she was of "as good stock as any that ever left ould Ireland; and that rich or poor, she was the aiquil of any one that belonged to Ameriky."

It was not an encouraging scene with which to close a work of philanthropy. I felt that my labors were just begun; this was ploughing and putting in seed; so the ground was naturally rough. A day or two would show another picture; cleanliness, comparative comfort, and industry would crown the field, and I would come and rejoice, and further aid the good work. This was on Tuesday, and on Thursday afternoon I took one of Mrs. Manly's daughters with me, and a nice basket of good things, to make an improvement on the onions and herring, and show that the ways of virtue are ways of decent food. Kitty Manly is a short girl, with a very sharp pair of eyes. She is good natured, but not at all sentimental, and viewed the expedition as a joke, on account of which I preserved an unusual gravity of demeanor.

When we reached the neighborhood of Lane street, Kitty, who knows the city, remarked: "Well, we're a-coming among a nice lot, I must say, Miss; why this is where the fighting Irish live."

I replied with dignity that it was not to fine neighborhoods or elegant localities we usually carried benevolent gifts, and we turned into Prior's Court, where a terrible excitement reigned, and two policemen kept guard over an open cart. Yells and shrieks, mingled with a confu

sion of loud sounds, came out of the narrow alley running past Mrs. Bond's grocery, and I stood aghast as I recognized Mrs. Murphy's furious tones above the rest.

Suddenly there was a rush and a shout; the alley seemed pouring out upon us, and Kitty and the basket and I were almost lifted up and set on the grocery steps, close to the side-door. It afforded us an excellent view of the scene, but we were rather crowded by the elbows and shoulders of the courtiers, who all tumbled out of their houses to enjoy the excitement too.

I was too frightened to do anything but cower in the shelter of Mrs. Bond's dirty door-way, but Kitty seemed really to enjoy the tumult. "It's a drunken woman, Miss," she said, "and O, what a row they do make when they set to work; see, there they are bringing her out. O, look at her face; isn't it clawed and scratched though, and isn't she fighting with spunk!"

I looked, and my heart sank. There was the result of all my hopeful efforts. Mrs. Murphy, in a state of rags and tatters compared to which her Tuesday's appearance was refined and elegant, was being borne in the arms of the police toward the waiting cart, fighting as she went with the blind ferocity of a wildcat, and shrieking abuse in a perfect frenzy of rage at her escort.

They got her in and started the conveyance, amid shouts and laughter from the lookers on, who seemed to enjoy the spectacle; then the officers took a miserable man in charge, and followed after. When I asked who it was, a civil policeman answered me:

"Why, that's Murphy, Miss; they've been drinking and fighting steady for the last forty-eight hours, and the neighbors are all pretty much to blame for helping them on. You see some green sort of lady made the old woman a present of a lot of money, and she just went off on a regular spree, and treated the alley till she got 'em all started in a regular fight. The old woman herself has the worst of it, but she'll soon come round all right."

I could scarcely speak, but managed to falter: "And the boy, where is he?”

"O, he's a skulking round till the row's over; he's a young sharper, and used to such things."

And I, who had meant to rescue and reform, was guilty of inciting to riot and disturbance of peace instead. I turned away despondent and chagrined, and Kitty only laughed.

"That's nothing, that aint," she declared; "them alley folks would die if they couldn't fight and drink. It's their nature as much as swimming is a fish's, or flying belongs to birds."

But I do not believe it; they can be rescued, or Miss Progress would not say so, and I will try again.

Then, while the storm rushed wildly by, And shook his cottage door,

Sweet visions came of brighter days,

The happy days of yore.

The group that circled round the hearth,
Their shadows on the wall,
Their looks of love, the hopes of youth,

Came back at mem'ry's call.

And voices that are silent now,
Or childhood's laugh of glee,
That once in joyous innocence

Rang out so merrily,

Reechoed down the aisles of Time,

Like some remembered tune,
Far sweeter than the thrilling song
Of birds in leafy June.

Life was a pleasant journey then,

And glad its summer hours; For all the thorns along the road Were hidden by the flowers.

But as on ruined castle walls,

The clust'ring ivy clings,

And o'er the mould'ring rock beneath,
Its robe of beauty flings;

So memory from the distant past

Brought back the bright and fair, The joy and love that crowned his life, And hid its grief and care.

'Twas thus the hours passed, one by one, Until his sight grew dim;

They were the last of earth, but fraught
With happiness to him.

So when the morning, chill and bright,
Had touched his cheek with gold,
He heeded not the purple light,
Nor felt the bitter cold.

for the Divine authorship of the Bible, can be drawn from its consistent record. Even a genealogy, carefully studied, will blossom like Aaron's rod with the buds and flowers of holy purpose. And like that rod, it seems to have been laid up in the ark of God's testimony for the encouragement of after times.

Now I do so fully believe in this truth, that I am about to map out the story of a family which is a practical illustration of it. Nothing teaches like a plain fact. And all I shall try to do will be accomplished, if I simply set facts in order. As the magnet moved under the paper of iron filings brings them into symmetry when it would not otherwise have been possible, so the magnet of faith will help us to gather these scattered truths into one story.

Levi was the third son of Jacob and Leah. His own brothers were Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon, and he had one sister whose name was Dinah. For her sake, Simeon and he took terrible vengeance upon Hamor and Shechem his son, and upon their city. And because of this act of cruelty, Jacob, in his dying prophecies about his children, gave a harsh prediction concerning these two, "Cursed be their anger for it was fierce, and their wrath for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." This was remembered in the division of the tribes, and the Levites possessed cities and boundaries by lot out of the various portions of the land given to other tribes when Joshua assigned the territory to each.

The sons of Levi were three in number-Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. And from the family of the Kohathites,

rebellious priest. The sons of Kohath and grandsons of Levi were Amram, the father of Moses; Izhar, the father of Korah; Hebron and Uzziel-four in all. Moses and Korah were therefore first cousins, and both were born under the Egyptian bondage.

Aaron having been appointed high priest, this highest dignity descended through his line. And as his father Amram was the eldest son of Kohath, the Kohathites received special honor henceforth. We read (Num. iii. 29) that they were to pitch their tents "on the south side of the tabernacle, southward; that their number of men and children was 8,600, and that their special service was to keep the charge of the sanctuary." Under their care were the ark, the table of shew-bread, the golden candlestick, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary, the hangings, and all the service thereof." Eleazar, Aaron's son, was put over these men as their chief. Upon the correct performance of their duties depended very largely the success of the tabernacle worship.

Of this family of Kohathites was Korah, the son of Izhar and grandson of Kohath. Those fairly allotted to the work of keeping the sanctuary were between thirty and fifty years of age, and of these, including Korah, there were 2,750. To this company was assigned a special duty, (Num. iv. 4-16.) They were to wait until Aaron and his sons had first covered the ark of the testimony, and had placed cloths of blue and of scarlet, and mantles of badgers' skins over the table, altar and vessels of the sanctuary. Then they were to come forward and bear these holy things, remembering that they must not touch them upon pain of death. They simply bore from place

to place and set up in their destined spot the sacred emblems of the wilderness church.

We read again (Num. vii. 9) that the sons of Kohath received no oxen or wagons, which the princes of Israel gave for the use of the tabernacle. And as a reason, we are told that their precious burden was to be carried "upon their shoulders," in order that it might have greater care. The children of Gershom and Merari, Kohath's brothers, would establish the tabernacle before the Kohathites would come up, and then these would set down their loads and depart to their tents.

The history proceeds to tell us that after the burning at Taberah, and after the quails and manna had been given, and after the appointment of the seventy elders and the sedition of Miriam, Moses chose twelve spies and sent them over into Canaan. The result of this expedition was fatal to any hope of a speedy possession of the land. And just at this point we hear definitely of Korah, the law-giver's cousin.

The rash attempt of Korah and his company to depose Moses, their foolhardy and impious offering of strange fire, and their terrible and sudden fate, are among the most familiar parts of Scripture. But we may not have noticed how the patient leader asks them, "Seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the Lord God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, to stand before the congretion to minister unto them?" And we may not have noticed that the New England Primer is in error when it says, (with a toppling wood cut to enhance the horror of youthful minds,)

"Proud Korah's troop

Was swallowed up."

For Korah and the two hundred and fifty who offered incense, having come near with their censers, were destroyed by a fire from the Lord. "Notwithstanding, the children of Korah died not. (Num. xxvi. 11.)

And perhaps we have failed to take any notice of Eleazar going about collecting the brazen censers out of the fire which destroyed the rebels. For those plates became a covering to the great altar, and were a sign to all Israel that no one who was not of Aaron's descendants should come near to offer incense before the Lord." (Num. xvi. 37—41.) The doom had fallen because they took with unholy hands what had been forbidden to them.

This now is the lesson which I am about to develop from the fragmentary statements of subsequent Scripture: That God, who can be awfully and suddenly just, can be also mightily and patiently merciful. He who can visit parent's sins upon children for four generations, in this instance, pauses before he strikes. And how great his mercy is, the story itself will show.

Korah's sons were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. As these were neither burned up or swallowed down, we are to suppose that they continued-with their families

Here

-in the same service as before. occurs a hiatus (valdo deflendus) in the account of the Kohathites, whom I shall henceforth call "Sons of Korah," also.

The ark of God was at Shiloh. It was the time of the Judges, and the Levites were falling away from their old standard, as witnessed that young priest who served Micah the Ephraimite, with his teraphim and graven and molten images. The sons of Korah may or may not have escaped the general declension, but their services, so long as the ark was stationary, were not required.

They are first mentioned after this (in 1 Chron. xii. 6) as coming to David in Ziklag, while he kept close from Saul. They are," Elkanah, and Jesiah, and Azareel, and Joezer and Jashobeam, the Korhites." In all but one of these names, there is a difficulty of identification, which opens up singular questions. Jashobeam, for example, is perhaps "Jashobeam the Tachmonite," David's mightiest captain. Elkanah's is the only name of which we are absolutely sure.

Shortly after this date, David brought the ark from Kirjath-Jearim, to which it

had been taken, but got it no further than the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite. This was in consequence of the trespass of Uzzah—another of our New England Primer acquaintances, unless my memory

is at fault.

When the king again undertook the business, "they that bare the ark" (doubtless sons of Korah) brought it into the tabernacle at Jerusalem, with sacrifices and dancing and gladness and a great feasting time. And as their ancestors had once paused in the waters of Jordan when crossing to the further shore, so these paused in their progress, while the king offered sacrifice and danced before the ark.

During Absalom's rebellion the Kohathites were summoned, and with Zadok the high priest, before them, they crossed the brook Kidron; but their fears were dispersed, and they returned to the city and set it again in its place.

The references are now more frequent, and the history of this strange family is not so doubtful. We read (1 Chron. vi.) of those whom David "set over the service of song in the house of the Lord." Without perplexing ourselves by a list of them, it may be noted that in this genealogy occur the family names of the house of Korah, such as "Assir, Elkanah and Ebiasaph," (Korah's three sons.) And then, by direct descent, we reach Heman, a singer."

It would seem as if the story of the Kohathites culminated in this man, for after him the records are but scanty and of no advantage. David addressed to him the 88th Psalm-or, as others translate it, Heman himself wrote the psalm for the sons of Korah. And this last theory may well be true, for he is called elsewhere (1 Chron. xxv. 5) a "seer" as well as "singer." To understand the title, we must remember that "Maschil" is a "song of instruction," and "Mahalath Leannoth," an instrument of music of a plaintive sound.

gave in his allegiance to David at Ziklag. And that this Elkanah is the same as the one mentioned in 1 Samuel i., there is not a doubt. Comparing his ancestry with that of Heman's great grandfather, we find Jeroham in both lists, then Eliel for Elihu, Toah for Tohu and Zuph, again identical. And now we have a most important picture of the life of the sons of Korah. They remained in their places of abode and were secularized, except that once a year they went up to the house of God at Shiloh to worship and do service there.

Here we emerge on the pathetic story of Hannah and Eli and of the child Samuel, who became the great prophet and seer of Israel. Into such a glorious man did the family of the rebel Korah ascend. He was the last of the Judges, the anointer of the first two kings, and the patron and counsellor of the second. It is needless to mention the well-known incidents of his life, his majestic power, and his mighty acts.

But his sons, Joel and Abiah, were evil men like the sons of Eli. Nevertheless, Joel's son was Heman, who was possibly a wiser and even greater man than his grandfather Samuel. Solomon is said to have surpassed "Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all nations round about." This may be our Heman, but there is a difficulty in the way. For " "Ethan, the Ezrahite," of the 89th Psalm, and "Heman, the Ezrahite," of the 88th, have been taken to be descendants of Zerah, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob; and there is additional force in this, when we find Calcol and Dera (the Chalcol and Darda, whom Solomon excelled) among the brothers of Heman and Ethan. "Ezrahite" may also be the easier form of "Zerahite."