ELISHA. 257 self, I think, who discovered that Peggy must go to the village, wet evening though it was, to buy bread, be- cause we had not enough in the house to serve till next day.” “ Yes, grandfather,” said George, “but that is a different thing—we must have bread you know—we cannot do without food.” “ True, my boy,” grandfather replied, “ we must have food; but we need food for our minds as much as we need food for our bodies. Daily instruction is as necessary to strengthen our minds as daily bread is to support our bodies. It is an evil, and a very common one I fear, to starve the most important part of our- selves without the least compunction.” What grandfather had said was strange to me, and I was not sure that I rightly understood him yet, so I asked him if we could not get food for our minds on Sabbath without going to church, and how we get it on the days when we did not go there. “The mental food that we daily need, Marianne, is the teaching of the Word and the teaching of the Spirit, and wherever we may be, or however busily we may be occupied, there never is a day that we may be excused in neglecting to take a little of His word into our hearts, and to pray to God for His sanctifying grace.” “ But,” said George, “ we might read the Bible, and think about it, and say our prayers at home; we do not need to go to church for that.” “ If we really thought ourselves, George, what in our S