them to good humor and compliance, if he could only once set them on.

Every thing having been arranged, the working party, consisting of forty, met at day-break, and, with the pastor at their head, proceeded to examine the remains of an ancient aqueduct, which it was thought might be rendered available to their purpose, if they could so far make out its line as to follow its direction. Some few traces were discernible, but the sight of them seemed to dishearten rather than encourage the conscripts.

"We shall be three days," said one, "before we can complete this part of our work!”

“It will take us not less than six!” said another; "Ten!" said a third.

"Not quite so many," said the pastor mildly, and with his benevolent smile.

Neff divided his troop into little detachments, of five or six, with a commander at the head of each, and, taking upon himself the direction in chief, he allotted a distinct proportion of the work to each.

Presently all were busy, some digging and excavating, others clearing away; the pastor himself was at one time plying with his pickaxe, and another time moving from place to place, and superintending the progress of others.

At ten o'clock, the party expressed a desire to discontinue their labor, and go home to their breakfast. But this would not do for their chief. He foresaw that there would be stragglers, and perhaps deserters, if they should once lose sight of each other; therefore, still setting them the example, he sent for his own breakfast, continued at his work, and persuaded the rest to do the same.

On the third and on the following days, small transverse lines were formed, and a long channel was made across the face of the mountain, to supply three village fountains with water. This last was a very formidable enterprise. It was necessary to undermine the rock, to blast it, and to construct a passage for the stream in granite of the very hardest kind. "I had never done any thing like it before," is the pastor's note upon this achievement, "but it was necessary to assume an air of scientific confidence, and to give my orders like an experienced engineer."

The work was brought to a most prosperous issue, and

the pastor was thenceforward a sovereign, who reigned so triumphantly and absolutely, that his word was law.

LESSON XII.

Anecdotes of the Whale Fishery.

WHEN engaged in the pursuit of a large whale, it is a necessary precaution for two boats at all times to proceed in company, that the one may be able to assist the other, on any emergency.

With this principle in view, two boats from the Esk were sent out in chase of some large whales, on the thirteenth of June, 1814. No ice was in sight. The boats had proceeded some time together, when they separated, in pursuit of two whales, not far distant from each other; but, by a singular coincidence, the harpooners each struck his fish at the same moment.

They were a mile from the ship. Urgent signals for assistance were displayed by each boat, and in a few minutes one of the harpooners was obliged to slip the end of his line. Fortunately the other fish did not descend so deep, and the lines in the boat proved adequate for the occasion. One of the fish being then supposed to be lost, five of the boats out of seven attended on the fish which yet remained entangled, and speedily killed it.

Those employed in the occupation of killing whales, are, when actually engaged, exposed to danger from three sources, viz. from the ice, from the climate, and from the whales themselves.

The ice is a source of danger to the fishers from overhanging masses falling upon them; from the approximation of large sheets of ice to each other, which are apt to crush or upset the boats; from their boats being stove and sunk by large masses of ice, agitated by a swell; and from the boats being enclosed and beset in a pack of ice, and their crews thus prevented from joining their ships.

A harpooner belonging to the Henrietta, of Whitby, when engaged in lancing a whale, into which he had previously struck a harpoon, incautiously cast a little line under his

feet that he had just hauled into the boat, after it had been drawn out by the fish.

A painful stroke of his lance induced the whale to dart suddenly downward; his line began to run out from beneath his feet, and in an instant caught him by a turn round his body He had but just time to cry out, "Clear away the line; O dear!" when he was almost cut asunder, dragged overboard, and never seen afterwards. The line was cut at the moment, but without avail. The fish descended a considerable depth, and died; from whence it was drawn to the surface by the lines connected with it, and secured.

A remarkable instance of the power which the whale possesses in its tail, was exhibited in the year 1807. On the twenty-ninth of May, a whale was harpooned by an officer belonging to the Resolution. It descended a considerable depth; and, on its reäppearance, evinced an uncommon degree of irritation.

It made such a display of its fins and tail, that few of the crew were hardy enough to approach it. The captain (captain Scoresby's father), observing their timidity, called a boat, and himself struck a second harpoon. Another boat immediately followed, and unfortunately advanced too far. The tail was again reared into the air in a terrific attitude, -the impending blow was evident, the harpooner, who was directly underneath, leaped overboard,-and, the next moment, the threatened stroke was impressed on the centre of the boat, which it buried in the water.

Happily no one was injured. The harpooner who leaped overboard escaped certain death by the act,—the tail having struck the very spot on which he stood. The effects of the blow were astonishing. The keel was broken, the gunwales and every plank excepting two were cut through. The boat was rendered useless.

LESSON XIII.

Colloquy on the Elephant.-GALLAUDETT.,

Robert. MOTHER, I have been to see an elephant this morning. He is a very wonderful animal. I thought, at first, he looked very ugly and frightful, he was so large, and

heavy, and clumsy. I was a good deal afraid of him. But pretty soon, when the keeper spoke to him, and told him to do some things, I found that he was very gentle, and kind, and that he was not so awkward as I, at first, thought he was. He could not do much, though, if he had not that long trunk.

Mother. That long trunk, Robert, is a very striking proof of the design, and contrivance, and skill of our Heavenly Father.

He has taken care, in a great variety of ways, to provide for the wants, and for the comfort, of beasts, and birds, and fishes, and insects, as well as for ours. And as the end for which he made them, is very different from that for which he made us, so he has given them bodies different from ours; and bodies exactly suited to the different places and ways in which they live.

R. The elephant, mother, has something very peculiar, indeed, that long trunk of his.

M. Yes, and the elephant has great need of his trunk. He would be very helpless without it.

The neck of four-footed animals is usually long, in proportion to the length of their legs, so that they may be able to stoop down, and reach their food, on the ground, without difficulty.

R. Mother, I should think some animals would get very tired holding their heads down, as long as they do, to get their food.

M. It would be so, my son, but God has provided something to prevent this difficulty.

There is a tough, strong tendon, like a strap, braced from their head to the middle of the back, which supports the weight of the head; so that, although it is large and heavy, it may be held down long, without any pain or uneasiness.

God provides such things only when they are necessary; and this shows that he has a design in every thing he makes.

The elephant, as you saw, is a very tall animal, and his head is a good way from the ground; and yet his neck is very short, so that he cannot, without kneeling or lying down, bring his mouth to the ground.

This short neck, so different from that of other animals, whose heads are far from the ground, has one great advantage. It makes it so much easier for the elephant to support the weight of his very large head and heavy tusks.

But, somehow or other, the difficulty of having so short a neck, especially in getting food and drink, was to be remedied. And the admirable trunk, which God designed and made, on purpose for the elephant, removes entirely all this difficulty. Still more, it has many advantages, very great ones too, over the long necks of other animals.

R. I saw the elephant do some things with his trunk, which other animals could not do with their long necks, and teeth, and paws, all together.

But do tell me a little more particularly about the trunk. Is it bone or flesh, mother?

M. It is not bone, my son; it is a hollow, fleshy tube, made of muscles and nerves, and covered with a skin of a blackish color, like that of the rest of the body.

R. There must be a great many muscles in it, I should think, or the elephant could not make so many different kinds of motion with it.

M. You are right, Robert. Mr. Cuvier, a very learned man in France, who knows a great deal, and has written several curious books about the different kinds of animals, tells us that he has found there are more than thirty thousand distinct muscles in the trunk of an elephant!

LESSON XIV.

The Death of the Flowers.-Bryant.

THE melancholy days are come, the saddest of the year,
Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown

and sear.

Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the withered leaves lie

dead;

They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbit's tread. The robin and the wren are flown, and from the shrubs the

jay,

And from the wood-top calls the crow, through all the gloomy day.

Where are the flowers, the fair young flowers, that lately sprang and stood

In brighter light and softer airs, a beauteous sisterhood?