movement should cease. In such cases, each member takes the same responsibility that he would if he went alone. At regular intervals the Committee of management (chosen by the members), assesses each member for his share of the current expenses. By the principle of co-operation these are kept within about half the amount that travelers are accustomed to pay; $700, (in gold) covering the cost of the round trip from New York and return. The necessity of passing by so many places of interest in Europe, is deemed a hardship by some of our correspondents, as if they suppose they can see the world and all that is in it for $700. Of course, after the solid and useful part of the excursion is over, if any of the members desire to expend time and money and scatter all the useful impressions they have received, among the theatres and dissipations of Europe, they may do so. But we should make a poor display of our studies in practical economy if we could not see that in this way $700 soon turns into $1400. Nor is that the worst; the mind, filled and enlightened with the great truths of Bible Lands, becomes inflated with the frivolities of modern Europe, and so the real benefits of an eastern tour are lost. How many persons in my acquaintance, I can point to, to whom these animadversions may be applied! We leave New York February 8, 1872; land at Alexandria, Egypt, March 4, and have eight days to visit the Pyramids, the Crossing Place of the Israelites, on the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal. Reaching Joppa, March 15, we tarry three days. Our agent, one of the directors of our Society, lives there, and will have everything ready for us in the way of transportation and provisions and native servants. We reach Jerusalem, March 18; Jacob's Well, March 31; Nazareth, April 5; the Sea of Galilee, April 8; Mount Hermon, April 14; Damascus, April 18; Baalbec, April 22; Beyrout, April 25; Gaza, May 13; Hebron, May 19; Jerusalem, May 24; Joppa, May 26; and embark there to arrive home June 24. Of course, these dates are varied a day or two either way, but the footing up is the same. To make this sketch plain, the reader will examine it on the map, and will see how thoroughly it bisects the country, and enables us, in the ample time allotted to the whole journey, to visit all important localities, from Joppa to Jerusalem-ten days for the circle, embracing the Dead Sea, &c.; Jerusalem northern, and embracing Bethel, Shiloh, Nablous, Samaria, &c.; Beyrout to Gaza embracing all the towns on the coast, Sidon, Tyre, Acre, &c. Seventy days amidst sacred scenes, spent industriously and systematically, is a period amply sufficient to familiarize the mind with places, customs of people, the animated creation, and the natural history of the country traversed. The places where Sabbath rests will be had, are: Alexandria, Egypt; Suez; Jerusalem (two Sabbaths); Jacob's Well; Sea of Galilee; Mt. Hermon; Baalbec; Beyrout; Mt. Carmel; Gaza; Hebron. The whole prospectus of these co-operative expeditions is in print, and will be sent free of charge, to those readers of the "Guardian," who contemplate a Holy Land journey.* It will be found exhaustive in answering all possible inquiries, having been prepared expressly for that purpose. To make a good companion, on such a journey as this, each member ought to be a Christian in action as well as heart, an earnest, outspoken, uniform Christian, a genial, warm-hearted friend and brother. Strict rules of morality and discipline will be subscribed to by each, and enforced by the majority. A religious tone will pervade all the proceedings. Members must go prepared to submit to some privations, although food, ample and healthful, warm and clean beds and tent shelter, will be guaranteed to all. None but males can join this expedition; this is simply on the score of expense. The reader contemplating such a journey should begin at once to make preparations, acquiring enough of the French phrases, to converse at least brokenly, familiarizing himself with maps and histories, and particularly the history of histories, the Holy Scriptures. Among the questions to which the expedition next year will give special attention, are these, and it is expected that each member will make a speciality of some one of them, viz: The capacity of Palestine to support the immense population accredited to it by ancient writers. The capacity of Jerusalem from the same stand-point. The probable change in the seasons of Palestine since historic times. The acoustical property of the atmosphere. The orange groves and fruit supplies generally. The ancient tombs. The ancient springs, wells, and fountains. The limit of the party is one hundred. Professional gentlemen, teachers, physicians, counsellors at law, and ministers, will be solicited to select topics more nearly within the provision of their studies and experience. Copies of all information collected, must be furnished to the Society for preservation among our files, but may be used by the members respectively in any way they choose. * Address, Dr. Robert Morris, at Chicago, Illinois. SECOND CHILDHOOD. A wounded boy lay on the field, I, crouching near to catch the word, With closed eyes he moans in pain; Quick tremors thrill thro' all his frame, His water flask I, filling, press A smile flits o'er his lifted face But while "If I should die," he says, Scarce breathing now, he seems to sleep, With pulsing, sunken cheek; "Poor lad!" I said, "a mother's prayer For Jesus' sake," he gasped aloud, Then sighed and breathed no more! A YOUNG HERO. Our readers will perhaps remember a boy, who, several years ago, was cruelly beaten to death because he refused to tell a falsehood. By inches was he tortured, yet firmly held out to the bitter end. The following tells of a boy equally heroic. Not long ago, on board an English steamer, four days out from Liverpool, a small boy was found hid away behind the cargo. He had neither father nor mother, brother nor sister, friend nor protector among either passengers or crew. Who was he? Where did he come from? Where going? Only nine years old, the poor little stranger, with ragged clothes, but a beautiful face, full of innocence and truth! Of course, he was carried before the first mate. "How came you to steal a passage on board this ship?" asked the mate, sharply. "My step-father put me in," answered the boy. "He said he could not afford to keep me or pay my passage to Halifax, where my aunt lives. I want to go to my aunt." The mate did not believe the story. He had often enough been deceived by stowaways. Almost every ship bound to this country finds, one or two days out to sea, men or boys concealed among the cargo, trying to get a passage across the water without paying for it. And this is often troublesome as well as expensive. The mate suspected some of the sailors had a hand in the little boy's escape, and he treated him pretty roughly. Day after day he was questioned about his coming, and it was always the same story, nothing less, nothing more. At last the mate got out of patience, as mates will, and seizing him by the collar, told him, unless he confessed the truth, in ten minutes he would hang him on the vard-arm. A frightful threat, indeed! Poor child, with not a friend to stand by him! Around were the passengers and sailors of the mid-day watch, and before him the stern first officer, with his watch in his hand, counting tick-tick-tick of the minutes as they swiftly went. There he stood, pale and sorrowful, his head erect, and tears in his eyes; but afraid? no, not a bit! Eight minutes were already gone. "Only two minutes more to live," cried the mate. "Speak the truth, and save your life, boy!" "May I pray?" asked the child, looking up into the hard man's face. The officer nodded his head, but said nothing. The brave boy then knelt down on the deck, with hands clasped, and eyes raised to heaven, repeated the Lord's Prayer, and then prayed the dear Lord Jesus to take him home to heaven. He could die; but lienever! All eyes were turned toward him, and sobs broke from stern hearts. The mate could hold out no longer. He sprang to the boy, took him in his arms, kissed him, and. told him he believed his story, every word of it. A nobler sight never took place on a ship's deck than this-a poor, unfriended child willing to face death for truth's sake! He could die; but lie-never! God bless him. Yes, God stands by those who stand by Him. And the rest of the voyage, you may well think, he had friends enough. Nobody owned him before; everybody now was ready to do him a kindness. And everybody who reads this will be strengthened to do right, come what will, by the noble conduct of this dear child.-Child's Paper. THE SETTING SUN. BY PROF. S. V. RUBY, A. M., PALATINATE COLLEGE, MEYERSTOWN, Oh! the sweetly setting sun, How it mellows at the rill, Thro' the vale and o'er the hill. In its splendor I would live, Welcome to its beauty then, When the dream of life is o'er, When the hour has come at last, I'll not look upon the past, But across that setting sun. There to view the golden shore, Far beyond this setting sun. PA. SAINT PAUL'S SOJOURN IN ARABIA. BY PERKIOMEN. St. Luke is silent concerning Paul's tarrying in the Syrian desert for three years-more or less. The reason for such a reticence is plain. Though the earliest of Church historians, Luke is still but an annalist rather, and records merely the public and official Acts of the Apostles.' He does not pretend to exhaust the personal and inner experiences of that choice order of holy men. Every member of the Apostolic circle came by his own peculiar ordeal into the sacred office-not by a way common to all. As the novitiate period of his Christian history belongs rather to Paul himself, than to the Church in general, who, beside himself, |