teachings of God's holy word; and it is most encouraging to find that as year by year rolls by, its circle of readers is steadily widening, and, it may be inferred, its interest and usefulness are proportionately augmented. In the preparation of the volume now completed, the Editor has been aided by a large staff of able and willing helpers. While all of these cannot be particularised, he desires to record his obligations to the translator of "The Golden Mill," and to Miss Isabella Fyvie, for their acceptable tales and sketches; to K. L. G. and Mr. J. R. S. Clifford, for their interesting biographical sketches; to Uncle James, for his admirable "Parables of Nature," and other articles; and to Mr. G. Day, for his Notes of Continental Travel. Nor must the young writers whose prize compositions have been deemed worthy of permanent publication be forgotten. Such competitive efforts have of late formed a prominent feature in our Magazine, and it is designed to continue them during the coming year. Many other features of interest are contemplated, for which our young friends will doubtless eagerly look. Meanwhile the Editor would affectionately say to each of his readers,--" In these days of unsettlement, and in view of all the uncertainties of life under its most favourable aspects, form your principles according to the Bible— aim high in all things-cultivate noble and generous dispositions -decide for Christ-" be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might." December, 1869. THE Bible Class & Youth's Magazine. THE GOLDEN MILL. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. CHAPTER I. THE GOLDEN MILL AND ITS OCCUPANTS. Wake up, thou spirit weary; Are soon to pass away, Na mountainous part of central Germany there stood, in the first half of the last century, a little mill that went by the name of the Golden Mill. It did not receive this appellation because gold instead of corn was ground there, nor because the miller was rich, but because hard by it stood a stream which was called "the Golden Brook," both from the sparkling brightness of its waters, which glanced like gold in the sunshine, and from its priceless value to the tired traveller, who thought a taste JANUARY, 1868. of its coolness worthy to be purchased with gold. It flowed with such force and rapidity that only fifty steps from its source it was able to turn the mill. Certainly the Golden brook turned only one wheel, and indeed the mill had but one, but that was a very large one, and threw the waters up so high, that they fell down again brawling into the depths. Whoever the person was who built the Golden Mill, his taste must have been peculiar, for it was planted quite up in the cleft of a hollow rock. The mill with its machinery almost filled up the hollow valley, on the two sides of which sharp rocks towered up on high. There was, indeed, just sufficient space left between the mill and the rocks for a cart to pass along, but this seldom happened. Customers brought fruit and vegetables on the backs of their mules and donkeys, and received flour in return. For horses the road was dangerous on account of the numerous boulders continually rolling down from the rocks. B There was certainly one advantage romantic spot, which the traveller which this Golden Mill possessed. The miller had guests and customers for the whole year round. For when all the ponds and brooks were hard and the miller saw no hope of a thaw, he still pursued his calling, for never within the memory of man was the Golden Brook known to be frozen. Hence most of the miller's customers came in the winter time, excepting when the snow lay so thick, as it sometimes did, as to render the hollow impassable. That was indeed a sad time for the occupants of the mill. There were, indeed, but few bright days for the inhabitants of this shady spot, even in summer. When the sun had long risen over the hills and valleys, when the lark had long heralded the day, and a fresh new life was over all things, the Golden Mill was in twilight. The sun had to be high up in the heavens before he could pass a few hours in shining over the mill. For there was that between the hills, concerning which there went a saying among the people, "That it was not worth the sun shining upon it." The mill gave shelter to few living things within its narrow bounds. No sparrow made its nest under the thatched roof, and no swallow built under the eaves or over the housedoor. Only robin redbreast might be seen sometimes hopping among the elder bushes that covered the sides of the defile, and the lizard sunned its painted sides in the few rays which stole over the rocks at noon, and looked sadly and enviously at the snake which had just found a guat in a dry blade of grass. In short, the mill was a most set down in his sketch-book with a few bold strokes, writing underneath name and date, and dreaming all sorts of charming things about stillness and solitude. Had he in the year 1725 contemplated that quiet life as it existed in the Golden Mill, had he asked for a cup of milk or a morsel of black bread from any of the inhabitants, had he seen the miller Christopher Lieder with his grey bushy eyes, had he inquired his way of Hans, the deaf millservant, or had he met the shy look of Christina the maid, the poor orphan child who lived on such charity as they gave her at the mill, then I think the tourist would have wished to be back among the hills where the lark sings and the pine boughs wave. There he might have found peace and stillness, but not in the Golden Mill; here, indeed, dwelt human beings, but the peacebringer was not with them. The possessor of the mill was a young man of thirty, a silent, reserved, sullen person, who during his whole life had scarcely ever left the Golden Mill. He was the only son of parents who had probably been brought up in as great seclusion as himself, and knew nothing of the outer world excepting what he heard from his customers, or what he saw himself in the villages where he sometimes went to make purchases. As soon as the particular business which called him to them was over, he invariably shunned all intercourse with mankind. Knowing nothing himself of love or friendship, he imagined every kindly glance from human eyes to be a trick, and every offered hand |