The subject for March will be, "Self-Help," and a kind friend has promised a copy of "From the Loom to a Lawyer's Gown; or, Self-Help that was not all for Self," for the best Essay. We hope we shall have some good Essays on the subject. All competitors must give a guarantee that they are under fifteen years of age, and that the Essay is their own composition, or the papers will be passed over, as the Editor cannot undertake to write for this necessary information. Papers must be sent direct to the Editor, Mr. T. Hull, 117, High Street, Hastings, by the first of February.] A CHILD'S PRAYER. SUITABLE FOR THE NEW YEAR. Oh, blessed Jesus, care for me, And wash me in Thy blood; Teach me to ever look to Thee, And help me to be good. Give me Thy Holy Spirit, Lord, And teach me how to pray; Oh, let me understand Thy Word, And take my sins away. Whene'er I'm tempted to do wrong, Oh, let me think of Thee; Help me to always guard my tongue, When naughty I would be. Teach me to tread the narrow way, Which all Thy saints have trod; And guard and guide me every day; Be Thou my Lord and God. Help me to trust in Thee alone, And not have fear of men; To seek Thy will before my own, For Jesus' sake. Amen. JANE BELL (Aged 14 years). _Sleaford._ Interesting Items. A RARELY-BLOOMING FLOWER.--In one of the conservatories at Hamilton Palace gardens there is a fine specimen of the _Angeavia variegata_ in full bloom. The tradition is, that the plant only flowers once in a hundred years. STEAM heating and electric lighting of trains is receiving very close attention from a number of the leading railway managers in the United States. On some roads the change has been decided upon, and cars are being reconstructed on the new plans as rapidly as possible. PILOTS' PAY.--From London to Gravesend the pilot's fee may range from 18s. to £7 18s., and from Gravesend to the Nore from £1 12s. to £7 8s.; and while a vessel drawing less than seven feet of water is piloted from the Downs to the Isle of Wight for £3 4s., one that draws twenty-five feet will cost for the same distance, either way, as much as £14 6s. ROMANISM in America is throwing off its sheep's clothing, and revealing its wolfish nature. The following is an extract from one of its journals, the _Western Watchman_--"Protestantism! We would draw and quarter it. We would impale it and hang it up for crows' nests. We would tear it with pincers, and fire it with hot irons. We would fill it with molten lead, and sink it in hell fire a hundred fathoms deep." Only the genius that invented the multiform cruelties of the Inquisition could express itself in such an infernally varied vocabulary of torture.