“The scenes of the riots in New York, at the time of our civil war, are of national celebrity; but few, however, know that one of the most atrocious acts of cruelty attempted to be perpetrated by the malefactors, and which utterly failed of its purpose, came solely in answer to prayer.  On the first day of the mob, however, several thousand men, women and children, armed with clubs and brickbats, suddenly appeared at the door of the Colored Orphan Asylum, and effected an entrance by breaking down the front door with an axe.  The building was soon fired in ten or fifteen places, and the work of destruction was accomplished in twenty minutes.

“There were at the time two hundred and twenty-three children in the building with their attendants and teachers.  The matron having assembled all the children after the first alarm, one of the teachers thus addressed them:  ’Children, do you believe that Almighty God can deliver you from a mob?’ The reply was promptly made in the affirmative.  ‘Then,’ said she, ’I wish you now to pray silently to God to protect you from this mob.  I believe that he is able and will do it.  Pray earnestly to him, and when I give the signal, go in order, without noise, to the dining-room.’  At this every head was instantly bowed in prayer, such prayer as is not frequently offered, the silent, earnest supplication of terrified and persecuted little children.  When, at the sound of the bell, their heads were raised, the teacher said the tears were streaming, but not a sound, not even a sob, was to be heard.  They then quietly went down stairs and through the halls, and she remarked that ‘to her dying day she should never forget the scene;’ the few moments of eloquent silence, the streaming noiseless tears, the funereal march through the halls, the yells and the horrible sounds which were nearer and nearer approaching. Not one of these helpless innocents was injured in the least; but in spite of the threats and the blood-thirstiness of the rioters, through whom they were obliged to pass, all were removed unmolested to a place of safety.”

A REMARKABLE DECISION BY A JURY.

“In one of our northern cities, a trial at law took place between a Christian and an infidel.  The latter had sued the former for a heavy sum, falsely alleging his promise to pay it for some stocks which he claimed to have sold him.  The Christian admitted AN OFFER of the stock, but protested that so far from promising the sum demanded, he had steadily refused to make any trade whatever with the plaintiff.  Each of the parties to the suit had a friend who fully corroborated their assertions.  Thus the case went before the jury for decision.

“The charge of the judge was stern and significant.  ’It was a grave and most painful task which devolved upon him to instruct the jurors that one of the parties before them must be guilty of deliberate and willful perjury.  Their statements were wholly irreconcilable with each other; nay more, were diametrically opposite; and that either were innocently mistaken in their assertions was impossible.