LESSON XXXI.

THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR. NO-VEM-BER. THE cold weath-er is com-ing on a-gain. Wind and storms rush round the house, rat-tling our win-dows and driv-ing us in-doors. The old peo-ple are glad now to gath-er round the cheer-ful fire; and with No-vem-ber our long win-ter e-ven-ings be-gin. But young peo-ple who have the use of their limbs ought not to be so fond of the fire. They should learn to go out in all weath-ers, and nev-er be a-fraid of wind and rain, hail and snow. I know some boys who think they must crowd to the warm stove or fire as soon as a cold day comes. But these boys are nev-er strong; and in the win-ter they have colds and chil-blains. You may be sure that it is bet-ter to warm your-self by run-ning about than by sit-ting be-side the fire.

an-y oth-er. For in De-cem-ber we have the mer-ry time of Christ-mas, when friends come to see each oth-er, and all are gay and hap-py. And now is the time when we should think most of those who are not so hap-py as our-selves. We are to be kind to the poor at all times, but, most of all, at Christ-mas. And if we feel grate-ful to God for the good things He has giv-en us, we must be kind to all a-round us.

Chilblain, Be-sides', Piercing, Our-selves', Christ'mas.

LESSON XXXIII.

BOWS AND AR-ROWS.

HERE is a boy shoot-ing with a bow and ar-row. You see he holds the bow firm-ly with one hand, while he pulls the string with the oth-er. The ar-row has a sharp point of steel, that it may stick in-to an-y thing a-gainst which it is shot or dis-charg-ed. The oth-er end is tip-ped with feath-ers, to make the ar-row fly straight. Bows and ar-rows are not much us-ed now ex

long

cept for sport. In bat-tle we use guns and can-non, a-bout which I shall have pres-ent-ly to speak. But guns and can-non are of no use with-out gun-pow-der, and a time a-go no one knew how gun-pow-der was made; so a great man-y peo-ple used bows and ar-rows in bat-tle. The Eng-lish used to be fa-mous for the strength of their bows. These bows were made of the wood of the yew-tree, which I dare say you have seen grow-ing in the church-yards in the coun-try. The Eng-lish ar-rows were al-so long-er than those used by an-y oth-er na-tion. The Eng-lish won sev-er-al bat-tles chief-ly by the aid of this use-ful weap-on. When you read the his-to-ry of Eng-land, you will see how im-port-ant bows and ar-rows were; and how, at the great bat-tle of Cre-cy, in which the Eng-lish beat the French, ma-ny years a-go, the Eng-lish bow-men shot ar-rows a yard in length. These ar-rows kill-ed and wound-ed a great num-ber of the en-e-my, and so fright-en-ed the rest that they fled, and the Eng-lish won the day.

Dis-chärg'ed, Straight, Pres'ent-ly, Arrow, Bat'tles.

THESE boys are walk-ing on stilts. Stilts are long poles with piec-es of wood nail-ed to them, on which to place the feet. By hold-ing tight-ly to the poles one of the boys is a-ble to bal-ance him-self. He is strid-ing a-long at a great rate. His com-pan-ion has drop-ped one of his stilts, and is hopping a-bout up-on the oth-er. This is rath-er dif-fi-cult to do, and if he falls he may break his head. In France there are large lev-el plains, which are cov-er-ed with pools of wa-ter in the win-ter time. The shep-herds who feed their flocks on these plains oft-en use stilts. By walk-ing in this way they keep their feet dry, and are a-ble to see o-ver a great ex-tent of coun-try.

Tightly, Com-pan'ion, Dif'fi-eult, Shepherd, Ex-tent'.

You have seen church-es as you walk-ed in the streets or in the fields. On Sun-days you have heard the bells ring-ing, and ob-serv-ed the peo-ple go-ing in-to the church, and com-ing out a-gain; and those of you who are old e-nough have no doubt been tak-en there by your par-ents.

Peo-ple go to church to pray to God, and to thank Him for His good-ness and boun-ty; for the kind friends He has giv-en us; for the bright sun-shine; for our food and raiment; and for all the bless-ings He has vouch-saf-ed to give us. Child-ren when they go to church should pray that God may take a-way bad thoughts from them; that He may make them bet-ter, and kind-er, and more grate-ful to those who do them good, and more for-giv-ing to-wards those that do them harm. They should pray God to for-give them what they have done wrong in the past, and to help them to do bet-ter in the fu-ture.

Ob-serve', Vouch-safe', Thought (pron. thaut), For-give', Wrong.

LESSON XXXVI.

THE PALM TREES.

kinds

THERE are ma-ny of palm-trees. They all have a long, slender trunk or stem, with a bunch of long leaves at the top. One kind of palm-tree is call-ed the date-palm. It bears the sweet fruit call-ed dates, which we buy at the gro-cer's. An-oth-er kind is the co-coa-nutpalm, on which the co-coa-nut grows. This is a ver-y use-ful kind of palm. The co-coanut can be eat-en. It con-tains milk which is

fit to drink; and e-ven the out-er cov-er-ing or husk of the nut can be made in-to mats, cords, and oth-er things. One kind of palm-tree sup-plies you with pud-dings. This is the sa-go-palm, the stem of which is fill-ed, all the way up, with a soft sub-stance call-ed sa-go. You have, no doubt, all eat-en sa-go.

The palm does not grow in Eng-land, in the o-pen air. The weath-er here is not warm e-nough for it. It will grow on-ly in hot coun-tries. In some coun-tries the peo-ple could not live if it were not for the palm-tree, which af-fords them food and shel-ter.

Palm'tree, €ō'eoa-nut, Sup-plies', Sub'stance, Af-ford'.