It has been ascertained that much fewer accidents happen on the railway, in proportion to the numbers travelling, than did in the old coaching times.

From the great improvement made in the construction of ships, a steamer will now sail from New York to Liverpool, a distance of three thousand miles in nine days.

The cat, in her domestic state, is a harmless creature, but by nature she is a beast of prey, and when she has the opportunity of seizing a poor mouse her savage nature appears to return.

Farmers sow their seed in the ground, under the hope of its being returned to them, with an abundant increase.

Although the English are not so ingenious a people as the French, yet they possess one quality, perhaps equally valuable, namely perseverance.

In England we produce all the substantial necessaries of life; a great part of our luxuries we import from foreign countries.

A yeoman is a person who possesses a small estate and cultivates it; the yeomanry of England were a very numerous body, but now they are fast disappearing.

By eyebrow we mean that hairy arch over the eye; by eyelid is meant the membrane that covers the eye; and by eyelash, the hair on the edge of the eyelid.

Near sighted persons require concave glasses to assist the sight; elderly persons require their glasses ground in the convex form: the outside of a bell is convex, and the inside is concave.

The toad is a harmless but an unsightly reptile; in shape it resembles the frog, but it is not so active, and is much darker in colour.

Yeast is a frothy substance that rises to the surface of newly made ale, and is put into paste to make the

bread light or porous, that is, full of little openings somewhat like a sponge.

Hops are the dried flower buds of a beautiful climbing plant called the hop-bine; they are extensively cultivated in Kent, and some other southern counties, and chiefly used in brewing ale and porter, for they not only impart a pleasant bitter to the liquor, but they prevent it from turning sour.

If I turn my face towards the sun at twelve o'clock, I am looking full south, and my back is towards the north, I also shall have the east on my left hand, and the west on my right.

LESSON X.

THE LION.-THE TIGER.

The lion, in appearance, is so majestic and noble, that he has justly been called the king of beasts, his roar when in pursuit of his prey, is so terrible, that all other animals are filled with dismay, and his strength is such, that he can break the back bone of a horse, with a single stroke of his paw.

We read many tales of the magnanim'ity of the lion, and of the gratitude he has shown for kindness received, and it is also said that he does not take life from wanton cruelty, but merely to satisfy the cravings of hunger, and also that he seldom attacks a small defenceless amimal, except when in great want of food.

We also read in the fable of a lion which kindly stepped aside, to avoid crushing a poor mouse, that happened to be in his way, and the mouse always remembered his kindness with gratitude: some time

after the lion had the misfortune to be caught in a net, and with all his strength he could not release himself.

His little friend, the mouse, heard his roar, and hastened to his assistance, and with its sharp teeth soon gnawed the threads of the net, so that the lion was enabled to escape. The moral of the fable is, that in our journey through life, we should, by our conduct, make as many friends as we can, and never intentionally make an enemy-a person, in a very humble station, may have it in his power to do us an act of kindness.

The tiger is neither so large nor so powerful an animal as the lion, but he springs upon his prey much in the same manner, and is almost equally dreaded by other beasts; the tiger abounds in the jungles of some parts of India, and frequently makes man his prey.

In Ben-gal', on on eoccasion, some ladies and gentlemen, being from home, on a party of pleasure, saw with alarm a tiger in a thicket preparing for its fatal spring, when one of the ladies, with great presence of mind, suddenly opened her parasol in his face, which so alarmed him, that he immediately fled, and the company were enabled to retire to a place of safety.

On another occasion, an officer, looking out of his window, saw a tiger carrying away a calf he had just seized; the mother was fastened to a stake, but when she saw the fate of her little one, she broke away, and pursued the savage beast with the most piteous lamentations, and strange to tell, the tiger was alarmed, and dropping his prey, he made his way into the jungle.

The cow stopped abruptly over the calf, stirred it with her foot, licked it with the fondest affection, went round it, and round it, but she in vain endeavoured to make her little one rise again, as the grasp of the tiger had killed it.

Another instance is on record, the result of which was very tragical. A party of Englishmen in the East Indies went to a small island with the view of shooting deer. They made a large fire, as a defence whilst they sat down to partake of refreshment.

At that moment an immense tiger rushed into the circle, and seized Mr. Munro, the son of Sir H. Munro, and rushed again into the jungle, dragging him through the thickest bushes, everything giving way to his great strength.

Several of the party fired on the tiger, and in a few moments afterwards, the young officer returned, bathed in his own blood. Medical assistance was in vain; he had been deeply wounded by the teeth and claws of the animal, and he expired in twenty-four hours.

LESSON XI.

THE WEATHER. THE UNTIDY GIRL.

"Oh! how I do wish the sky was always bright, and the flowers always in bloom," said Mary Jones, when the rain was falling in torrents. It proved to be the will of Heaven that her wish' should be granted, for the summer brought with it a long continued drought.

A stifling heat was felt in the air; not a cloud was to be seen in the clear blue sky; in consequence of the extreme dry weather; the farmers looked forward to a scanty harvest, and the flowers in Mary's little garden began to droop and wither.

She now began to complain of the want of rain, when her mother put her in mind of the foolish wish she had heard her express some weeks before; "you now see," said she, "that rain is quite as needful as sunshine, and

if the weather were always fine, the earth would not yield its produce for the use of man.

Our great Creator adapts the changes of the seasons to the service of his creatures; and in like manner, the troubles and sorrows of this life are, perhaps, more useful than its pleasures, in fitting them for the world to come."

The chamber, in which her daughter Eliza slept, was a pleasant room in Mrs. Middleton's house, and very neatly furnished, but it was always in a state of unseemly disorder.

One fine summer evening Eliza was preparing for a walk, when one of her young friends entered with a plate of fine black cherries, and offered them for her acceptance.

The bed, tables, and chairs, were, as usual covered with frocks, bonnets, shawls, and other articles of dress, so that no place could be found for the cherries.

Eliza at once set the plate down upon a large easy chair, on the back of which had been thrown a piece of beautiful figured silk, which her mother had just given her; and, without another thought, she joined the party that was waiting for her.

When they returned home, it was nearly dark, and Eliza went up stairs to put off her bonnet and shawl, which, as usual, she threw heedlessly down in any place that presented itself, and feeling fatigued with the walk she had taken, she sat down on the easy chair, totally forgetful of the cherries she had left upon it.

The screams, which she could not suppress, brought her mother into the room, and, as she held up the candle in her hand, a strange figure stood before her.

The juice of the cherries had not only stained her frock, but the beautiful new silk, which was intended

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