THERE is, in Eu-rope, a lit-tle coun-try call-ed Switz-er-land. This coun-try is so beau-ti-ful, that hun-dreds of peo-ple go ev-er-y year from var-i-ous parts to vis-it it. It is full of im-mense moun-tains, ma-ny of them so high that the snow on their sum-mits nev-er melts. It is on one of these moun-tains that the dogs are train-ed to find poor trav-el-lers, as I told you a few les-sons a-go. These mountains look down on beau-ti-ful val-leys, in which large herds of cat-tle and goats are led to pas-ture. Some-times a lump of snow is loosen-ed from a moun-tain, and rolls down in-to the val-ley, grow-ing larg-er and larg-er ev-er-y mo-ment, un-til it has be-come a large mass. Such a heap of snow is call-ed an a-va-lanche. Whole villa-ges have some-times been bur-ied be-neath a-va-lanch-es of this kind. There are num-er-ous large lakes in the val-leys of Switz-erland. A pic-ture of one of these is giv-en here; it is call-ed the Lake of Thun.

Trav'el-ler, Loos'en-ed, A-va-lanche, Switz'er-land.

LESSON CXXXVIII.

HOME.

IF I were to ask an-y boy at school what thing in life gave him the great-est pleas-ure, he would as-sur-ed-ly an-swer, "Going home for the ho-li-days." And when boys grow to be men, the feel-ing con-ti-nues; and a-mong the great-est pleas-ures of their lives is the pros-pect of re-turn-ing home. The sail-or, trav-el-ling a-cross the sea from one coun-try to an-oth-er, has the same feel-ing working with-in him. Ma-ny a night, as he sits at the mast-head, or leans o-ver the side of the ship, he thinks of his home, and of those who love him and wait there for his re-turn; and just as the schoolboy longs for his hol-i-days, so the grown man longs for the time to come when he may re-turn home. When our brave sol-diers went a-way to meet the en-e-my, all the let-ters they sent home were full of the hope and wish that they might soon re-turn home; and when, aft-er they had no-bly fought for us, the time at length came, what a wel-come was giv-en to them on their re-turn! This love for home is not con-fined en-tire-ly to men. Even the do-mes-tic an-imals know where their homes are, and are glad to re-turn to them. A horse or an ass, be it ev-er so tir-ed, will try to trav-el brisk-ly, if its head be turn-ed in the di-rec-tion of its sta-ble.

LESSON CXXXIX.

HOME. (Continued.)

It is a great hap-pi-ness to have a home here on earth, with friends to love us and to be glad when we re-turn to them. But there are some poor peo-ple who can scarce-ly be said to have a home. They live quite a-lone, per-haps in a for-eign land; and oth-ers once had a home which has been made des-o-late. The friends they lov-ed and who lov-ed them have died, and they are a-lone in the world. But for ev-en these there is a home-the Heav-en-ly Home and the rest pro-mis-ed by our Lord Je-sus Christ to those that love Him. When He was a-bout to quit this world, and to go to God His Fa-ther, He said to His disciples, "In my Fa-ther's house are ma-ny mansions; I go to pre-pare a place for you, that where I am ye may be al-so."

Pleas'ure, En'e-my,

Do-mes'tie,

Heav'en-ly.

EV-ER-Y an-i-mal is pro-vid-ed with a kind of dress, ac-cord-ing to the cli-mate in which it dwells, and ac-cord-ing to its hab-its of life. The li-on and ti-ger have a smooth, gloss-y fur; the bear and the arc-tic wolf have a ver-y thick, warm hide to keep out the cold; the sea-bird has a dress of feath-ers, and is fur-nish-ed with oil, that his

wings may not get wet and un-fit for fly-ing; while the seal has a thick skin that will not let in the wa-ter, and the sheep a thick, wool-ly fleece. Man a-lone is nak-ed, and must pro-vide him-self with clothes; but rea-son has been giv-en him, and by the use of rea-son he can turn the hides of an-i-mals, the cot-ton in the cot-ton plant, the silk spun by the silk-worm, the stalk of the flax plant, and the wool-ly fleece worn by the sheep, to his own ad-van-tage. At the head of this ar-ti-cle you have an en-grav-ing of an Eng-lish sail-or in the dress he wears when he vis-its the for-eign re-gions of the north. Ev-er-y-thing worn by the trav-el-ler to the north must be of the warm-est and thick-est de-scrip-tion. Thus you see

the sail-or has been pro-vid-ed with large, stout boots and mit-tens, to pre-vent his hands and feet from be-ing frost-bit-ten. He has, al-so, a cov-er-ing for his head, to pro-tect him from the Arc-tic win-ter, and his coat is made of the thick-est and warm-est ma-te-ri-al that can be pro-cur-ed.

LESSON CXLI.

DRESS.
(Continued.)

THE dress of an-i-mals is nat-ur-al-ly a-dapt-ed to the cli-mate in which they live. Man is o-blig-ed in the same way to wear clothes suit-a-ble to the de-gree of heat or cold to which he is ex-pos-ed. In cold coun-tries, peo-ple make gar-ments of the fur of an-i-mals, as fur keeps out the cold bet-ter than an-y oth-er ma-te-ri-al. Wool and cloth are used where the weath-er is not hot e-nough for fur, but too cold for lin-en gar-ments to be worn. Lin-en, silk, and cotton clothes are used in hot cli-mates. Sav-age na-tions gen-e-ral-ly wear ver-y sim-ple dress-es. Cloth-ing should nev-er be so tight as to pre-vent the blood from flow-ing free-ly through the bod-y. Ma-ny pain-ful dis-eas-es are brought on by wear-ing tight gar-ments. The man-u-fac-ture of ma-te-ri-als for dress, and the mak-ing of va-ri-ous gar-ments from these ma-te-ri-als, give em-ploy-ment to a vast num-ber of peo-ple in ma-ny parts of the world. E-ven the unciv-il-is-ed na-tions are fond of the a-dorn-ments of dress; and it is not an un-us-u-al thing to see a chief of some sav-age tribe exceed-ing-ly proud of some old coat or cast-off waist-coat, which a Eu-ro-pe-an has pre-sent-ed to him.

Ad-vän'tage, En-grav'ing,

Ma-te' ri-al,

Man-u-fae' ture.

LESSON CXLII.

THE AT-MO-SPHERE.

ALL round the world there ex-tends a thin flu-id call-ed the air, or the at-mo-sphere. This flu-id is ver-y thin and clear; we can-not see it, and should not at first think it had ei-ther weight or substance; yet it has both. If you pass your hand ver-y quick-ly through the air, you can feel its re-sist-ance: the sound pro-duc-ed by switch-ing a cane rap-id-ly to and fro is due to the re-sist-ance of the air. The air is heav-i-est and thick-est near the earth; the high-er we rise, the thin-ner and light-er does the air be-come. This is be-cause the air in the high-er re-gions press-es on the air be-low it, and the low-er air has thus a great weight to sus-tain. It is just as if we were to pile a heap of books one a-bove the other. The low-est book in the heap would be most tight-ly press-ed, having to bear the weight of all the oth-ers.

LESSON CXLIII.

THE AT-MO-SPHERE,
(Continued.)

THE at-mo-sphere is com-pos-ed of dif-fer-ent kinds of gas-es mix-ed to-geth-er. It is nec-es-sar-y that ev-er-y liv-ing thing should breathe it con-tin-u-al-ly. An-y an-i-mal de-priv-ed of at-mo-spher-ic air for a very short time would be suf-fo-cat-ed and die. Plants cannot live long with-out a sup-ply of fresh air; and the rea-son it is so dif-fi-cult to grow flow-ers in large towns is that the air in towns is not of a suf-fi-cient-ly good qual-i-ty to keep the plants in health. The gas-es of which air is com-pos-ed are ox-y-gen and ni-tro-gen, with a ver-y small por-tion of car-bon-ic ac-id. When we breathe a cer-tain por-tion of ox-y-gen, it is tak-en in-to our blood, and we exhale, or breathe out, car-bon-ic ac-id gas in-stead. When we stay long in a close or crowd-ed room, too much car-bon-ic ac-id gas is form-ed, and the air be-comes un-health-y.

.

Thun-der-storms clear the at-mo-sphere and rend-er it more health-y. I dare say you have some-times ob-serv-ed in sum-mer that the air seems heav-y and op-pres-sive. Ev-er-y one seems lan-guid and dull, and e-ven the cat-tle and sheep lie down in shad-y pla-ces, pant-ing for breath.

At'mo-sphere,

Єar-bon'ie,

Ox'y-gen,

Ni' tro-gen.