stead of troubling yourself about what Adam and Eve had to do."

"Well," said Ellen, "Adam was a gardener, then. But he was turned out of the garden before Cain and Abel were born; what do you suppose they found to do ?"

"The Bible tells us that, too," replied Martha. "You know, don't you? You have read it a hundred times."

"I don't know," said James, as he looked in the Bible again.

"Oh! yes I did know too," said Ellen, when she had looked over a few verses. "Abel tended flocks and Cain tilled the ground. But I shouldn't have thought of it. How strange that we should forget things that we have read a hundred times!"

"I don't believe you will forget after this, what was the business of Cain and Abel. It is because we read the Bible so carelessly that we forget so much of it. You have read the story of Cain and Abel so many times, that it doesn't interest you as a new story would, and so you pass over a great many important things, without noticing them."

"Do you remember, Martha, all about every thing that you have read in the Bible ?" asked Ellen.

“Oh ! no indeed,” replied Martha; “I very often come across a story as interesting as the story of Moses or Daniel, that I have forgotten almost entirely, and that seems almost as new as if I had never read it before. It is because I think of a great many things that I never minded when I used to read them over and over again. I was reading an account of a battle the other day, between two kings, that I did'nt remember a single word about. King David heard that one of the neighboring kings had

lost his father. The king who died-I can't think now what his name was-he was not a very particular friend of David's; but David remembered that, upon a certain occasion he had received some kindness from him. So he thought he would send some messengers to his son with his compliments, to say that he sympathised with him in his affliction. The messengers went; and were treated shamefully; and there was war about the matter. The account of the battle is very interesting, and the whole story seemed as new and interesting as if I never had seen it before; but I suppose I had, a great many times." Well, tell us the whole of it now, Martha,” said James. "I never read it."

"I don't remember a word about it," said Ellen. “Well, we will find it some time,” said Martha, " and read it. There are a hundred others that we can read over together; so we shall always have work enough for Sunday evening. If we had ever read the first chapters of Genesis with as much interest as we have looked into them to night, we should have always thought of Adam as a gardener, of Cain as a farmer, and of Abel as a shepherd. We shall all remember it now."

'I should think Cain might have had enough to do to raise things for the table," said Ellen; " but how would they need a great many sheep?"

"What are the uses they would make of sheep," said Martha. "Let us enumerate the things they are good for."

They would want them to eat," said James. "And the wool for clothes," added Ellen-" and there is nothing else that they are good for."

"I can think of something else;" said Martha, "can't you James ?"

"Why no; ours are good for nothing but to eat, besides the wool ?"

"Well, now recollect the picture in the place where you have just been reading.”

"Oh! yes," said Ellen, "sacrifices."

"What did they use to offer sacrifices for ?" asked James.

..

"I can't tell you a great deal about it," said Martha; "and if I could, I don't think you would understand it very well."

"Well, after all," said Ellen, "if they had ever so many sheep, I shouldn't suppose it would be necessary to attend to them all the time. Ours don't need tending constantly. Why do they have shepherds any where?”

"That is another thing I can't tell you much about," replied Martha. I believe you and James will teach me to think, by the questions you ask. But really, as much as is said in the Bible of shepherds and their flocks, I never considered how the time of a shepherd was spent."

Well," said Ellen, "you know there are shepherds now days. You remember the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, and the Shepherd of the Mountains."

"There is a picture in my reading," said James, "of a shepherd with a crook."

"Yes, we have seen pictures of them;" said Martha, "but I suspect neither of us ever saw a real shepherd, that is, a person whose whole business it was to tend sheep; and I don't know that there are any such shepherds in this part of the United States if there are in any parts. I don't know that any very large flocks are raised by any persons in these parts. But in very ancient times, a man's riches would very often consist

altogether of flocks and herds. When you read in the Bible of any very rich man, you will find that it will be told how many sheep and oxen he owned. I presume, that, at the present time, in some parts of the country, individuals get their living altogether by raising sheep, or by tending them, for other people. Such a person would of course be a shepherd."

"Oh! how I should like to see a real shepherd with a crook;" said James, "What do you suppose they have those crooks, for, Martha ?"

"I don't know," said Martha; " perhaps they are of some use in guiding the flock.”

Perhaps," said Ellen, "the shepherd uses his crook as the constables do their poles-to keep the sheep from going where they ought not to."

"Ah!" exclaimed Ellen, as if she had thought of something new, "do you remember the hymn, that begins, "while shepherds watched their flocks by night.” It seems that their flocks needed watching in the night. I wish we could find out something more about the shepherds of those days."

66

Well," said Martha, "I think it very probable that we may find all we want in The Natural History of the Bible. We shall certainly find sheep, and that probably will speak of the manner of treating them. -I will try to borrow that book some time before next Sabbath."

"I am afraid we shall forget some of the things we are to find out," said Ellen; 66 we have got so many."

"Well, we will write them down together," said Martha," and collect our information as we may happen to have opportunity. You mention what they are, and I will make the list."

"You are going to tell me what makes some water soft and some hard," said James.

"Well, Hard and soft water, I write," said Eliza, taking pencil and paper.

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"About rivers overflowing their banks," added Ellen. 66 And, about Shepherds, by all means,' Martha, she wrote the word shepherds.

"Yes," said Ellen, "I do want to know what the people found to do with so many sheep. I just thought of Joseph's brethren, being all shepherds every one. When Pharoah asked them what their occupation was, they replied that they were shepherds and their father's before them. There was a whole family of eleven sons, all shepherds."

"David was a shepherd, before he was a king," remarked James.

"So we have found out that the people in Bible times did have something to do besides walking about, and talking and having war," said Ellen.

"Oh! I was going to ask you to look along a little further in the chapter about Cain and Abel,” said Martha," and see if you couldn't find mention of some other trade besides a shepherd's and farmer's. We will examine that, and then stop for tonight."

Why," exclaimed Ellen, as all three looked over the chapter, "artificers in brass and iron !—and " "And they made harps and organs," continued James.

“Why,” said Ellen, “I shouldn't have thought of their having those things so early."

"How early," asked Martha.

Why, when there were so few people," replied Ellen.

"But it wasn't in the time of Cain and Abel, you