THE POWDER-PLAY.

woman bore a name which at once conveyed a meaning to the hearer in his own tongue. A few of these names survived through the Middle Ages, because they belonged to popular saints, as in the case of Edward, which was borne by the Confessor, our last English King; or of Edmund, which commemorated the martyr of Bury St. Edmunds, and the saint of Canterbury; a few more have been revived in modern times, as in the case of Alfred, Edgar, and Edwin, which owe their present popularity to the renewed interest in our early history; but the vast mass have been so utterly depressed by the foreign intruders that their very memory has passed away, and when we see them now in the pages of Mr. Freeman or Mr. Green, they seem like strange and uncouth importations from some forgotten tongue. A few examples of thes true English names will suffice to show their general character. Most of the best known, which are really royal names, are compounded of athel, "noble," Ethelbald, Æthelberht, Ethelred, Æthelstan, and Ethelwulf; or of ead, "rich," as Eadbald, Eadberht, Eadward, Eadmund, and Eadric: or of alf, an "elf," as Ælfred, Ælfhæg, Ælfric, and Ælfwine. Of course, there are many other common elements, which enter into such names as Oswald, Oswin, Ecgberht, Swithun, Wulfstan, and Leofwine; but these will probably be more than enough for the modern reader. Many of them have undergone sad havoc at the hands of historians and latinizers. For example, Godgifu, the gift of God, has degenerated into Godiva; Eadgith, the name of the Confessor's Queen, has taken the forms of Edith or Editha; and Ethelthryth, after passing through the intermediate stage of Ethelreda, has finally settled down into Awdrey. A little later, the Scandinavian colonization introduced a number of new Northern names. Of these, Harold alone still holds its place; but Cnut, Swend, or Swegen, Tostig, and others of like character, find frequent mention in our history. The Cornhill Magazine.

THE POWDER-PLAY.

SEVERAL times during the year, in Morocco, the Arab inhabitants of a town hold certain half-religious festivals called the Feasts of the Aissouia, which, in many ways, are as revolting as the orgies of the lowest savages.

Though the Arabs are shy of foreign eyes at their rites, the tourist may get an invitation to these performances if he happens

THE POWDER-PLAY.

to have a friend among the natives. Following his guide through a maze of tortuous streets, and up a great many flights of stone steps, he will finally be conducted to a small hall of Moorish architecture, with the characteristic horseshoe arches supported upon marble pillars, and no roof except, perhaps, a fragment of striped awning. Around the inside runs a gallery occupied by veiled Moorish ladies, and ornamented with a few flags, which alone relieve the glare of whitewash on all sides of this queer building. The floor is laid with octagonal tiles of red and white, and upon red mats, around a small "altar" in the centre, sit the musicians and performers, while the spectators find places behind.

The chosen performers will dance barefooted upon red-hot plates of iron and on beds of living coals; will lick rods of redhot iron; will take burning torches between their teeth, and hold flaming oil-wicks until the blaze has burned straight into the palms of their hands; will swallow nails and stones; will even snatch up a living scorpion and crunch it between the teeth, with as keen a relish as that with which a newsboy eats a shrimp. All this is gone through with (for money) to the harsh tumult of half a dozen rude drums and horns, which make a fit accompaniment to these horrid remnants of pagan fire-worship.

A much more interesting, though no less noisy, recreation, is the powder-play, a game that may take place on foot or on horseback, for these Moors, as everybody knows, are nearly as much at home in the saddle as afoot. The horsemen engaged in the game ride at an exceedingly rapid pace, carrying loaded guns, which they discharge as they dash about in all kinds of positions,-above, below, on either side, and straight forward. The noble horses seem to enter into the wild rush and noise of the fun as much as their masters, and the celerity with which the various movements are executed is wonderful. Not only do the younger men take part in the sport, but old, grey-headed men enjoy it with keen interest and equal spirit. Another kind of powder-play is performed on foot. The band strikes up a fearful din under the name of music, and in the midst of the distracting medley two lines of men, that have formed opposite one another, rush together, and throwing their bodies into wonderful attitudes, fire their guns, and shout and yell as though in actual battle. The Arabs call this powder-play, Lab-el berode.

POETRY.

Poetry.

BLIND.

"And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and said, 'Surely, the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.""

THE Patriarch, toiling o'er the desert sand,
Had felt no want, had known of no alarms;
Refreshing fruits were ready for his hand,

And wells of water, shadowed by the palms.
But he was blind, and he had failed to trace
In this the presence of the Hand Divine,
Which sets the loaded fig-tree in its place,
And fills the purple grapes with cooling wine.
So he lay down upon the stones to sleep,

Beneath the glory of the Syrian sky.

He saw the myriad, God-poised stars, that keep,
Like sleepless sentinels, their watch on high.
And as he scanned their wondrous, quenchless flame,
Their awful grandeur hushed his heart with fear;
But, being blind, he did not read the name

In flaming letters traced on every sphere.
Surely, to him the Lord was wondrous kind-
He waked him with the music of His voice,
He flashed His glory on him, though so blind,
Revealed His love and made his heart rejoice.
And then, astonished and ashamed, he cried,
"I knew it not, yet God is in this place!
Oh, blind! I knew it not, though here abide
The light and glory of Jehovah's face.
"This is His house, and here beneath His eye
I laid me down and slept, and did not know,
Until I heard Him speaking from the sky,
And saw the swift-winged angels come and go."
And we, like Israel, slumber on the sand,
The desert sand, our stony bed unblest,
And, being blind, we do not see the Hand
Whose cooling shadow gives us peaceful rest.

Nor see the ladder rise from earth to heaven
On which the shining Seraphim descend;

Nor dream such honour unto us is given
That round our couch these angel guards attend.

But, sometimes, they have touched our poor blind eyes,
And o'er our souls distilled the dews of grace;
And we, awaking, know, with sweet surprise,
That we are blessed, for God is in the place.

WHAT is this? It is a "Stag Beetle," and is so called because it has horns like a stag. You will see these horns if you look at this picture. This beetle is large, if not one of the largest found in England. From the tips of its jaws to the end of its body it measures two and a half inches in length. The stag beetle lays its eggs in the bark of trees, and when the eggs are hatched the grub bores away into the heart of the wood, and makes the inside of the tree where it bores like sawdust. Great damage is sometimes done in this way to fine trees. The grub does not become a full grown stag beetle until it has been boring away in its woody-home for five or six years. It then makes a nest for itself in the earth, and rolls over and over in it to make it hollow.

The beetle, when full grown, lives on the sap of twigs and leaves, and its fine branching horns are used to pierce the leaves and scratch the twigs that the sap may flow out.

Do not be frightened at these creatures. They have no sting, like the bee and wasp, and will only bite when they are very much teased. They all have wings, which are shut up when the insect crawls on the ground. The wings of the stag beetle in this picture may be seen under the hard

ANECDOTES AND SELECTIONS.

shell or case which covers them up. Perhaps the beetle has just alighted on the ground after a long flight, and so has not had time to cover up the net-like wings with the hard shell or case.

It is an old saying that men are sometimes "as blind as a beetle.” But however blind some men may be when they will not see, there are no beetles that are blind. Some of them have very large eyes, and can see a long way off. The reason why beetles sometimes fly against us both in the day and in the night when we are out in the fields or gardens, is, that the wind blows them along so fast that they cannot stop themselves. The beetle is much more alarmed when it hits against our cheek than we are. Do not, then, be angry with the poor insect when it next dashes against your face.

Look how full of knobs or jagged edges the legs of this beetle are. So are the legs of all beetles. These edges are joints, and are as useful to the beetle as the joints on our fingers are to us. There is also a hooked joint at the end of each leg, almost like the claw of a bird.

All these useful things are proofs of the wisdom and goodness of our Father above, who made, not only great elephants and great whales, but little things to creep about on the earth. He is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His work. Even beetles show that God cares for them. The Psalmist says, "The works of the Lord are great; sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.”

Anecdotes and Selections.

HAVE YOU A HOPE?-I have come in contact with those who hope at the last that all will be right; they hope to get into heaven. Many, too, I am sorry to say, consider that they will be able to climb up some other way than the way which Jesus has told us; but in the Bible we read that there is only ONE way, only ONE Intercessor whereby we can be saved. There are many that hope to get on in the world-to be in a better position. The drunkard, too, hopes to reform-he hopes to be a sober man. Let me say that we have to go to the great Source, the great Fountain, whence cometh help and real happiness-that Fountain is Jesus, the Sinner's Friend. What is your hope? Read your Bible, pray over it, and ask God to help you to understand it, then your hopes will be centred in Jesus. Can you say,

"My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness ?"

The Bible tells us not to set our affection upon the things of this world. Let us use our talents and influence for the good of those around us. A poor boy, to help the missionary cause, made some little things which he sold, and gave the money to the furtherance of the cause. A little tract, I have read, was the means of bringing the gospel to