SUNDAY READING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1612, 21 January 1903, Page 79 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING.

otD_HTMN. v Therefs a lot of prusjio in/em—the hymns <;> r of long -agcK- . v -> A --v . And. when some gray-ha,ired brother sings ; I sorter wAnt to take h hand.- I think of - - ; days gone! by— .-••■. :■ ; . "Oh-Jor dfyh' s stormy banks I stand and • •: cast -a wistful eye/' "" ' '' . • t ' a lot of niu-sic in 'em —those dear, - . 'sweiet hymns- of oldT— v v Aytth visions bright of land of light,' and 'shining streets of gold; . . . ) And. I hoar /om singing, singing, where Y ; f mem’ry, dreaming, stands, ; :V'v '"From Greenland'® joy mountains to In- ■ dia , s;.cdr^; : strandß. ,, ;'.'. : v;' ; ;v^'>:-'.''- *. so> I dove, the Old hymns, and when %?my timeshall'comer' JBeforft . the-light has left meV and my .singing Kps are dqtnb, - \ If y .cap.hear 'ent sing them then I'll pass : without.. a sigh. ' l “To "Canaan's fair and happy land, where . . my /posaessionslie/': ■ '.-‘V; V; -: : —The Cooking Club. ■ - • '•■ >- ■ IK THE GRIP OF THE tcE. ■ : (By a Banker, for vine "New Zealand ■ . ; .V /0 Mann /. . * ago at the foot of one of the Swiss glaciers the frozen body of a yalpht: many years before, was discovered : protruding- from the ice. Jlis identity haying been 1 revealed by documents found ' in ' pocket book, it was remembered .' that- thirty or forty years previously this • gentleman while on liis marriage tour had fallen into a deep crevasse several miles higher up the glacier. 11 is <1 iscon«clate young widow, having learnt that , ■ ail glaciers lhoye slowly, onwards towards | • ‘.the moraine at their foot, and that therefore, that cold sepplchre would in course •of- time give up her. dead, and that she would be able to reclaim from its icy grasp' the' loved; mortal remains of him to whom she had plighted her troth, and with whom she had hoped hand in hand to .travel along life's chequered path, had from time to time proceeded to that •ever-moving tomb in the hope of once ‘more claiming him of whom she had v been iso cruelly bereft. . , They were exphTTfng together the higher reaches of the .nraghificent glacier, i revelling in the glorious mountain air, and entranced with the sublime grandeur •of the scene—mighty pinnacles of pure ice on all sides, buttressed fortresses, and ■cloistered cathedrals; grotesque misshapen ffffins, and snow-crested billows, fdieer, cloud-capped, rugged precipices, and outspread fields of glistening driven

I snow; all surmounted by the giant monv archs of the snows, whose peaxs and crests to weired high info the aether. But Suddenly, with a cry of despair, he sinks deep, down, into a partially covered cleft l ih. the ice, far out of reach of human help; and he whom, she had loved so well is ruthlessly, parted from her for all time, held fast in that deadly icegriP- - i - „ ' '■'■■■.‘ ; ■ ■ 1 / And now, having learned that her long deferred hopes would be realised, she hastens to the scene, and once more sees the companion of her youth, untouched by time and still the same as when on that fatal morning they so gleefully wandered together over that treacherous glacier. But not so with her; for those I long years have silvered her* hair as white as the snow itself; ancP now the one, though cold as marble, is apparently in the prime •of while the other, stricken by the aging hand of time, venerable and wrinkled, has put’on the sere and yellow leaf, and before long m ust too quit this mortal scene; once more, she hopes, as an ethereal, beautified spirit, to join him who, it was decreed, was to be parted from her ere they had scarce began that united earth-life, which,, as they had fondly hoped, woulch unroll so* long a vista of happiness and joy for them both. And if they each had served their God, and had accepted the pardon, offered in virtue of the Redeemer's vicarious sufferings, those -hopes of reunion must most assuredly be realised. But what if both had forgotten their Creator? IN THE SERPENT'S COILS. (By a Banker.) Of all the varied forms of animal life, perhaps the snake is at once the most repulsive and the most dreaded. It is ; true- that a lion, or a tiger, or a puma, is not a desirable antagonist to meet, but the hunter or the explorer would rather risk an encounter with the king of the forest than with for instance an enormous anaconda or a boa constrictor, hve and twenty or thirty feet in length. For lie knows that if toy a dire mischance his bullet- have failed to' strike a vital part, and the lion is upon him, that immediately that it lias seized him the animal gives him a series of sudden quivering jerks, similar to the action of a cat with a mouse, which appears, according to the testimony of those who have, undergone the experience, to beimmb the brain and to produce immediate stupefaction. The tropical forests of Central America, which are the home of these gigantic crawling monsters* are described as a very paradise of beauty. Spikes and clusters of gorgeous flowers, in all manner of brilliant colouring -bloom in luxurious profusion, long racemes of magnificent and graceful orchids depend 1 from the boughs of the stately forest trees, their manykued flowers resplendent in scarlet, and

gold and amythyst; while here and there the forest is a tangled panorama of showy climbing plants loaded with a profusion of rich and' varied bloom, their tendril-covered stems surmounting even the topmost branches of the lofty lponarchs of the woods. From bough to bough flit innumerable humming birds.; - tiny creatures clothed in a glittering garb of ruby, or azure, or emerald; while resplendent macaws and other great showy birds take their more sedate flight from tree to tree. Long 'vistas of palm-bordered open spaces, romantic glens, purling fernbedecked waterfalls and cascades add to the sublime beauty of tlio nature adorned serene.

But perhaps on one of the lower outspread boughs of these florally decorated trees an enormous loathsome reptile is coiled up and on the watch for prey. The explorer, entranced with the beauty of the scene, sees not those great malevolent basilisk eyes fixed upon him, nor regards the stealthy coiling of the reptile’s long sinuous body making ready for a spring. But he is now within striking distance, and. in a moment of time, the uncouth creature has struck him full, and is engirding him in its foul embrace. And he as yet feels the hot. noisome breath of the animal half suffocating him, and realises that lie is being smeared with its noxious anointment, the

doomed victim realises that he is to be swalloived whole, and that his sepulchre will be the maw of the repulsive reptile. ■. . t:j: .. ; V •• What a simile this of our own life. Entranced with the beauties and the pleasures of our own, surroundings we are. apt to forget that the venomous serpent Of .sin will strike us- if we are not wary.- But liajjpily ire have a sure antidote. For if we flee to the Saviour of the world who shed His blood for our spiritual healing, every trace of, the venom will be eradicated, and we shall be most; surely rescued from the serpent’s deadly coils.