Some of the children may remember that a few weeks ago, in the regular Sunday-school lesson, it is said that "Pharaoh gave to Joseph in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Poti-pherah, priest of On." This Poti-pherah was the high-priest--a very great man in Egypt, and lived in the Temple of the Sun at On. And it is quite likely that this very obelisk stood before his door on the day that Joseph married his daughter Asenath. And if this is so, is it not wonderful that this great stone that weighs 213 tons, on which Joseph may have looked on his wedding day 3600 years ago, should now be in a country 5000 miles away, of which the old Egyptians never heard? And is it not still more wonderful that, while the children in the Sunday-schools of America should be studying their regular Bible lesson about Joseph's marriage, this great obelisk, that stood at the door of his father-in-law's house, should be lying in the street, at the door of one of our schools, on its way to the Central Park in New York? But now we must tell you how this great obelisk came to be brought to this country. Obelisks are great curiosities. There are only a few large ones in the world. These all used to be in Egypt, and the Egyptians thought a great deal of them. But four or five of these were taken at different times, without leave of the people of Egypt, to different countries in Europe. Two stand in Rome, one in Constantinople, one in Paris, and one in London. Now Mehemet Ali, the late Khedive of Egypt, had a great liking for America. He thought that the United States had treated him better than the European nations; and it seemed to him that we ought to have an obelisk as well as the nations of Europe. And when the American Consul asked for one, he said, "I will think of it." It was supposed he might give us a little one. But no one ever thought of asking for "Cleopatra's Needle" at Alexandria: this was one of the largest and most beautiful in all Egypt. But it so happened that this obelisk stood very near the sea. The waves of the Mediterranean rolled right up to its base. There was great danger of its being undermined. It was thought already to begin to lean a little. Many feared it would soon fall. This gave the Khedive great anxiety; and so he proposed to remove it to another part of the city of Alexandria. But this would cost a great deal of money, and the Khedive was not at this time rich; so he proposed that the wealthy men of the city should raise by subscription one-half of the money needed to remove it, and he would provide the other half. But the people of Alexandria thought the government ought to do it all, and did not subscribe a dollar. At this Mehemet Ali was greatly displeased; and he thereupon made up his mind to make this beautiful obelisk a present from Egypt, the oldest nation of the world, to the United States of America, the youngest nation. And glad, indeed, we were to get it; and sorry enough were the Egyptians at last to lose it.