PRESENCE OF MIND.

We should never seek danger, for that is folly; but if danger occur, we should call up courage, and mect it firmly and calmly. However cautious we may be, we cannot expect to pass through life without being occasionally in some danger. Our clothes, or the house we live in, may catch fire; we may be thrown into the water; or when we travel in a carriage, the horse may take fright and run away with In such circumstances our persons may suffer great hurt, or we may even be killed. But there is the less chance of our coming to harm, if we act with prudence, and coolly do the best we can to save ourselves.

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In danger some are so confounded by fright, that they are quite unable to do anything for their own protection or relief. The danger is thus greatly increased, and they may be hurt or killed, when others would escape. In all dangers, it is of the greatest consequence not to become alarmed. We ought to try to keep ourselves quiet and watchful, so as to be able to do all that can be done to escape the impending evil. This is called preserving our presence of mind-a quality which is always admired.

Any one whose clothes catch fire, ought not to run away for assistance. While we stand or run, the clothes burn very quickly, and soon scorch the body. It is best to throw ourselves on the floor, and roll ourselves there; for then the burning does not proceed so rapidly. If we can wrap a carpet or heavy woollen coverlet closely round us, we shall almost instantly extinguish the flames.

In making our way through a burning house, we ought not, if it be full of smoke, to walk upright. We are then in danger of being suffocated. It is best to creep along on hands and knees, for the freest air is to be had close to the floor.

If thrown into the water, and unacquainted with the art of swimming, we should not struggle or splash, for then we shall soon sink. We should be as quiet as possible, and keep our lungs inflated with air. The body is lighter than water, and is sure to rise to the surface, and remain there, if we do not exert ourselves too violently.

If run away with in a light vehicle by a frightened horse, we should not immediately throw ourselves out. We should sit quietly, if we can, till we consider what is best to be done. It may be most likely that the horse will stop of itself; in which case no harm will occur. If it appear most prudent to leave the vehicle, we should try to let ourselves softly down behind. It is to be remembered that, in going along in a vehicle, we acquire an impetus, or tendency to move forward, which our will cannot check. We ought, therefore, in quitting the vehicle, to throw ourselves in a direction contrary to that in which the vehicle is going, so as to prevent this impetus from dashing us violently against the ground.

OPPOSITE CONDUCT OF TWO LADIES IN A BURNING HOUSE.

The mistress of a family was awakened during the night by flames bursting through the wainscot into her chamber. She flew to the staircase; and in her confusion, instead of going up stairs to call her children, who slept together in the nursery overhead, and who might all have escaped by the top of the house, she ran down, and with much danger made her way through the fire into the street. When she had got thither, the thought of her poor children rushed into her mind, but it was too late. The stairs had caught fire, so that nobody could get near them, and they were burned in their beds.

Another lady was awakened one night by the crackling of fire, and saw it shining under her chamber floor. Her husband would immediately have opened the door, but she prevented him, since the smoke and flames would then have burst in upon them. The children, with a maid, slept in a room opening out of theirs. She went and awakened them; and tying together the sheets and blankets, she sent down the maid from the window first, and then let down the children one by one to her. Last of all, she descended herself. A few minutes after, the floor fell in, and all the house was in flames.

THE GROCER AND THE BAG OF BLACK SEED.

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THE WOUNDED REAPER.

A man once reaping in a field, cut his arm dreadfully with his sickle, and divided an artery. [An artery is one of the canals or pipes through which the blood from the heart runs, like water in a pipe brought from a reservoir. When one of these is cut, it bleeds very violently, and the only way to stop it is to make a pressure between the wounded place and the heart, in order to intercept the course of the blood towards it.] The poor man bled profusely; and the people about him, both men and women, were so much stupified with fright, that some ran one way, some another, and some stood stock-still. In short, he would have soon bled to death, had not a stout brisk-hearted girl, who came up, slipped off her garter, and bound it tight above the wound, by which means the bleeding was stopped till proper help could be procured.

THE GROCER AND THE BAG OF BLACK SEED.

In Edinburgh, about a hundred years ago, there was a grocer named George Dewar, who, besides teas, sugar, and other articles, now usually sold by grocers, dealt extensively in garden-seeds. Underneath his shop he had a cellar, in which he kept a great quantity of his merchandise. One day he desired his servant-maid to go down to the cellar with a candle and fetch him a supply of a particular kind of soap kept there. The girl went to do her master's bidding, but she imprudently did not provide herself with a candlestick, and therefore found it necessary, while filling her basket with picces of soap, to stick the candle into what she thought a bag of black seed which stood open by her side. In returning, both her hands were required to carry the basket, so that she had to leave the candle where it was. Mr Dewar saw her coming up the trap-stair without the candle, he asked her where she had left it. She carelessly said that she had stuck it into some black seed near the place where the soap lay. He instantly recollected that this black seed was gunpowder, and knew that a single spark falling from the candle would blow up the house, and bury himself and many other persons in the ruins. He also

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knew that the candle, if left where it was, would in a little time burn down to the gunpowder, and produce this catastrophe. To fly, then, was to make the destruction of his house and property certain, while to go down and attempt to take away the candle, was to run the risk of being destroyed himself, for he could not tell that a spark was not to fall next instant into the powder. He nevertheless made up his mind in a moment, and descended into the cellar. There he saw the candle burning brightly in the midst of the bag of gunpowder. He approached softly, lest, by putting the air in motion, he might cause the candle to sparkle. Then, stooping with the greatest deliberation over the sack, he formed his hands into a hollow, like the basin of a bedroom candlestick, and clasped the candle between his fingers. He thus had the chance of catching any spark which might fall: none, however, fell, and he bore away the candle in safety.

It is not surprising to learn that Mr Dewar made a large fortune in business, and purchased an estate in the neighbourhood of the city, which is still the property of his descendants.

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ATTENTIVE OBSERVATION AND RESOURCE. To be always attentively observing what is passing around them, is one of the means by which men improve their circumstances. No man can learn all that he requires to know at school, or in books. In order to attain a knowledge of the characters of our neighbours, of the ways of the world in general, and of a great multitude of things peculiar to every place, all of which kinds of knowledge are necessary to us, we must attentively observe and ponder on those things as they daily present themselves to our notice.

Some men, by attentively observing how men feel and act in various circumstances, attain a power of calculatin beforehand what will be the effect of anything they say o do on the minds of those around them, or on the mind c any individual with whom they are in anyway associated. This sense of what others are to feel on any occasion, i

GASSENDI, THE LITTLE ASTRONOMER.

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commonly called tact. It is a quality necessary in the simplest intercourse with our fellow-creatures: we cannot be consistently polite without it. It also serves a good part in affairs of the greatest importance.

When we happen to be in circumstances of a difficult or dangerous nature, the habit of attentive observation generally proves of great use. It is easy to conceive, for instance, that among the fishers and ferrymen of the Orkney Islands, he who has most carefully marked in his mind the forms and portions of the neighbouring rocks, and the appearances which the sea presents in various circumstances, will be most likely to escape from the dangers of a storm. So, also, in any perplexing affair which we encounter in life, if we have attentively studied the numberless little circumstances that bear upon the case, we shall be more likely to proceed unharmed, than if we had paid no attention to the subject. Some individuals, in critical circumstances, show not only more coolness or presence of mind than others, but have a ready way of devising expedients proper to be adopted. They at once think of and do that which is best in the circumstances. One means of escape or relief failing, they instantly hit upon what is next best. They have, in short, RESOURCE. It is a quality which some may naturally have more than others, but which in all can be cultivated by the proper means.

GASSENDI, THE little astronomer.

Peter Gassendi, a native of France, was a very wise and learned man. When he was a little boy, about four years of age, he stood up on a chair and preached little sermons to his brothers and sisters. As he grew bigger, he was very fond of looking at the mountains and fields, and at the sun, moon, and stars. When he was only seven years of age, he was so fond of looking at the sky by night, that he often rose out of his bed to see the moon and stars moving in the heavens. One evening he was walking with two or three boys and girls about the same age as himself. The full moon was shining in the sky, and a great many thin clouds were flying before the wind. The chil