_Prudence, or Foresight._--It is wise to consider what the consequences of your actions will be. Some people do not stop to do so, and thus run needlessly into danger. You cannot rightly practise self-help without you are prudent. It is very imprudent to risk life or anything unnecessarily, or to leave things to the last minute or two. If you are imprudent, you will regret it in after life. In Proverbs xvi. 21, it says, "The wise in heart shall be called prudent." Self-help is not a spiritual thing, but a temporal one; but you cannot truly succeed in these things without God's help and blessing. May we, in the things of daily life, and especially in spiritual things, be led to say, like David, in Psalm cxxi., "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth," remembering that He does not approve selfish living, but says, "To do good and to communicate, forget not."--(_Abridged._) F. E. H. ANDREWS (Aged 13 years 5 months). 1, _Tavistock Terrace, Upper Holloway, London, N._ [Lilly Rush, W. E. Cray (age not given), A. M. Cray, E. B. West, A. Pease, and Margaret Creasey have sent fair Essays, especially the first-named, and we hope they will still persevere.] [The writer of the above Essay receives a copy of "From the Loom to a Lawyer's Gown; or, Self-Help that was not all for Self," presented by a friend who reads the GLEANER. The subject for May will be, "How to be Useful in the World," and the prize to be given for the best Essay on that subject, a copy of "Notable Workers in Humble Life." 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 April.] ONE good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters. In the home, she is the "loadstone to all hearts, and loadstar to all eyes." Imitation of her is constant--imitation which Bacon likens to "a globe of precepts." But example is far more than precept. In its instruction is action. Interesting Items. THE ELEPHANT'S STRENGTH.--The ordinary strength of an elephant is calculated as equal to that of 147 men. A FIGHT AMONG LIONS.--A fearful struggle took place recently between eight lions in a cage at the menagerie at Liverpool Exhibition. One lion, valued at £150, was killed. THE red-wood forests of California, Oregon, and Washington Territory are, perhaps, the most wonderful of the world. The average yield per acre is 100,000 feet lumber, or 64,000,000 feet to the square mile.