account of the dew explains it to us, how it happens that it is sometimes hurtful, and sometimes not so. Its nature evidently depends on the quality of the vapours of which it is composed. The wind carries away the light exhalations as soon as they are formed, and prevents them from falling in drops. This is the reason that there is most dew when the air is very calm. By this wise plan of the Creator, the plants can vegetate and grow in countries even where there is no rain; for the soil of those parts being sandy, porous, and very moist underneath, the heat draws out a great quantity of dew, which supplies the place of rain. Those different methods which Providence makes use of to moisten and fertilize the earth, ought to remind us of those he employs to improve the barren heart of man, and to make it fertile in good works. Chastisement, more or less severe, blessings of every kind, exhortations, warnings given us from the example of others, and a thousand such means, are made use of by our gracious God, to lead us to himself, to sanctify us, and to induce us to bring forth the fruits of righteousness. Sometimes in the natural world there comes a storm of rain from the clouds, which deluges the country, drags every thing along with it, and makes the rivers overflow their banks. At other times, God calls the soft dew from the earth, and thus, in a manner secretly, grants the wishes of the farmer for rain. It is thus in grace he also makes use of different means to arrive at the merciful end he proposes. How many hardened hearts oblige him to speak in thunder and lightning, as formerly on Mount Sinai! Less terrible means are employed to save and affect others; with a gentle, mild, and persuasive voice, God calls them to to himself: he awakens their consciences, and refreshes their souls with the beneficent dew of his grace. Let this conduct of our heavenly Father serve as a model for ours. Let us employ all sort of means to reclaim our fellow-creature, to make him better; but let us particularly endeavour, from the example of God, to gain him rather by kindness than by punishment. Let us imitate the beneficence of the Lord: We see how he refreshes the parched earth with dew, he revives and gives new life to the plants. Let us consider how many of our fellow-creatures are in distress, and languishing for want. Let them not languish in vain. Let us endeavour to revive their hearts with benefits, and to pour as many blessings on our fellow-creatures as the dew sheds upon the plants. “་་..》.. JUNE XVII. LIFE AND LABOURS OF THE BEE. IN the fine days of the present season, in this time of cheerfulness and joy, every thing is in motion, every thing throughout the animal world is full of life and activity; but there are no creatures so active as the little republic of bees. At least, of all the insects round us, there are none we can better learn to be acquainted with, or which can afford a more pleasing scene. The bees assemble in great numbers, either in hollow trees and cavities, or in a sort of baskets, called hives, where they are collected by the art of man. They disperse on all sides, and, by means of their trunk, they gather honey and wax from the stamina and juice of the flowers. When their harvest is made, they they convey it into their storehouse, which they fill from top to bottom with cells in form of hexagons. They inhabit some of these cells; others are designed to receive the eggs, and to lodge their young; and the rest serve as magazines to deposit their winter's provision of honey in. Amongst these bees, which form altogether but one family, there is one larger than any other, which is a female, and therefore called their queen. To her alone all the young bees born in a hive owe their birth. From the eggs she laid in the cells, there come out worms, which the working bees feed with their trunk. Afterwards this worm remains near fifteen days, to all appearance dead, in its cell, which is closed with a little wax lid. In this inanimate state it is called nympha. When its time is accomplished, it opens its tomb, and comes out in the form of a young bee. Besides the queen, there are in each hive two sort of bees, the drone, and the working bee. The former are males: They impregnate the queen, and serve her as a guard. The bees have two horns on their heads, which guard their eyes, and warn them of dangers. They have fangs or claws they make use of in their work, and a trunk, or hollow tube, which they can draw in and out of its case as they please. This instrument, supple and moveable in every way, reaches to the very bottom of the cup of the flowers, where they gather their honey, and passes through the case into the bag of honey placed within their bodies, from whence the honey is afterwards poured into the cells of the storehouse. The bees have six feet: With the two first, and their fangs, they form the wax or meal of the flowers into little balls; and with their middle feet they put them into a hollow, shaped like a spoon, which they have in their hind feet, which are also furnished with hair, in order to retain the wax, and prevent it from falling when they are flying. Laden thus, they return to their cell, without losing their way, though they are sometimes above four leagues from it. When they arrive, they find other bees waiting for them, to assist them in unloading their booty, and then they all work in common to employ those provisions for the general use of the hive. They stop every crevice with wax, to keep out any foreign animal; but leave openings for themselves to go in and out. The queen and the working bees have, at the extremity of the body, a sting inclosed in a case, which they make use of to wound or kill their enemies: But the wound they give is generally fatal to themselves, when the sting remains behind. Every thing in those little animals must excite our admiration; the formation of their limbs, so regular and so well adapted to their kind of life, the care they take of their young, the art with which their cells are built, their activity, their industry and intelligence. Let us never pass by a bee-hive with indifference. Let us admire them, and this admiration may lead us to more sublime thoughts. If we love to reflect on our Creator, we shall find him here. This interesting scene will lead us to him, and we shall adore his wisdom, his power, and his goodness, in the production of these little creatures. JUNE JUNE XVIII. THE EXTERIOR PARTS OF PLANTS. IN order to form any idea of the inimitable art which appears in the vegetable kingdom, we must go by degrees. Our understandings are too limited to see the whole together, and to acquire a perfect knowledge of it. We must be content with some observations, and pass from visible to invisible things, from simple objects and individuals, to those of greater compass, and more general. Let us begin, then, by considering their exterior parts, and let us first dwell on their roots. They are so constructed, that, by means of the principal root, fibres, and little roots which grow out of it, the plants are fastened to the ground. The pores of the root serve to receive the watery and nutritive juices which the earth contains. Out of the root grows the stem, to which the plant partly owes its strength and beauty: Its form is varied according to the nature of the plant. Sometimes the stem is formed like a pipe, strengthened by different knots curiously placed upon it: At other times the stalk is so weak, that it requires a support round which it may twine itself, and fastens by means of some little hooks. Sometimes also the stem rises majestically, like a strong pillar, is the ornament of the forests, and seems to brave the storm of winds: The branches extend themselves like the arms of the human body, and are very regularly distributed. They spread and divide into boughs, which are placed collaterally, and in the same order as the principal branches. The buds which come upon the branches, are nothing but little plants, |