A Covering of hair, and Its Young are fed from the milk in its body. It is therefore called a MAMMAL. Now, can you make me a class of Mammals, from the list we made at the beginning of the lesson? L. Yes, I think so, mamma. We are to look over the list, think of each animal slowly, and see which of them are like the cow in these four points. Ion. Ah, we will mark them with a pencil. A CLASS OF MAMMALS. and hop on my finger. You are now to think of its limbs, blood, covering, and young. See if in these points it is like the cow. See, Willie, if it has four legs— W. I can only see two at present, mamma. Two of its limbs are legs-and two are wings. L. Its blood, mamma, is warm, like the cows, for I have often felt that its body is warm, when I have held it in my hands; and, you said that it was the warmth of her body which hatched the eggs. M. But its blood differs from the cow's-for the blood of all First, THE Cow is a Mammal, flying animals is warmer than that and so are * THE LION, The Cameleopard, The Mouse, The Ass, The Elephant, The Hippopotamus, M. That will do. You have only left out two. L. Which are those, mamma? M. Oh, never mind now. I dare say I shall find them in some of the other classes, when you make them. Let us proceed again. We will now notice a flying animal. Here is Lucy's canary bird. Come out of your cage, sir, The readers of "Pleasant Pages" should not read these names, but go over the list themselves, form their own class, and then compare it with Ion's. of the Mammals. You shall know why some day. Ion. We must notice its covering next. That is not like the cow's, for it is covered with feathers. M. What do you say of its young-has it any milk to feed them with? Ion. I should suppose not, mamma-because, how could the little canaries suck with their beaks? But I know one curious thing about her young-they are born in eggs--and when they are born the old bird feeds them with worms, or caterpillars, or seeds-or pieces of grain chopped up. L. Yes, and their father goes and fetches it for them Ion. And so he ought. Now, mamma, shall I make "the description?" M. Yes. Ion. THE CANARY has limbs, one pair of which are legs, and the other pair wings; blood, which is even warmer than that of Mammals; a covering of feathers; and its young are born in an egg. Such an animal is called A BIRD. THE NORMAN KINGS. P. Here begins the history of the Norman period. WILLIAM Conquered HAROLD in the Battle of Hastings, October 14th, 1066. But he had only gained one battle, and most of the English were determined not to submit. Quickly, they sent for EDGAR ATHELING, the grandson of Edmund Ironside, and sent for an Archbishop to crown him. Quickly, WILLIAM left the battlefield, and made haste to reach London. He stopped at Dover, to take possession of the castle there, and then marched on to the capital. There, although a part of his army was met by the Saxons of Southwark, and was driven back, he was received by the inhabitants of London, who thought that he would make a better king than Edgar. So, on the 25th of December (Christmas day), he was crowned king, at Westminster Abbey, by the Archbishop of York. The Normans who were present in the abbey were asked in French, and the Saxons who were present were asked in English:"Will you have the Duke William to be your king?" and they cried "Yes," with very loud shouts and acclamations. William was much pleased with the Londoners, and to thank them he gave them a Charter that is, a promise written on a piece of paper, to say that they should have great privileges. On part of it is written : "I declare you to be all law worthy, as you were in the days of King Edward; and I grant that every child shall be his Being now king of the southern districts, he proceeded to conquer the midland parts and the north. Many hard fights and struggles did the Saxons make-but, William persevered. First subduing the people of Somerset, Devon, and Gloucester, he proceeded upwards, and the cities of Oxford, Worcester, Leicester, Lincoln, and many others fell into his hands. Crowds of fresh Normans arrived to help him. Wherever William and his followers went, they punished the English without mercy-seizing their riches, and reducing them to a state of meanness and poverty. The Saxons were treated so badly, that, in the next year, when William left England, on a visit to Normandy, to see his subjects there-being driven to despair by their sufferings-they made a conspiracy. They determined that, on the coming Ash Wednesday, when the Normans would be at church, they would then murder them all, just as Ethelred had murdered all the Danes. William, however, heard of this bad scheme, and returned in time to prevent it. And, from this time, he lost all trust in the Saxons he began to hate them, and to treat them as his worst enemies. He was a man of a fierce and determined mind, so he began the wars again with still greater cruelty. The next year, and the next he spent in the middle and north of England, destroying the people and cities. The Saxons could not resist openly in battle-but in the night they assassinated the Normans, and hung up their bodies in the woods and public roads. William, in his turn, became more fierce than ever, and when he found great resistance from the people in Yorkshire, Durham, and Northumberland, he ordered that the three counties should be "laid waste." The Normans executed this order in the manner of cruel savages. They burned every house and farm, slaughtered the sheep, cattle, women, and men, and drove others into the woods, to die of hunger and cold. This large tract of fertile country was thus made bare, and became a vast desolate wilderness. EDGAR ATHELING, and the Saxon chiefs, Edwin and Morkar, were now obliged to submit to William-and now no one dared to resist him, from the river Tweed to the Land's End. During these three years, the Normans who had come over with William had been receiving the spoils as their reward. William was obliged to give them all he had promised. After keeping for himself all the treasures of King Harold, with the golden plunder from the abbeys, the churches, and the shops, -he gave to each man so much, according to the bargain he had made with him when they started from Normandy. Every priest, baron, knight, and soldier, claimed his share. Some had estates and castles-some were made governors of towns and villageswere paid in money-and some had fine Saxon ladies to marry, whose poor husbands or fathers they had killed at Hastings. -some All these things, the houses, lands, and riches, were taken without mercy from the Saxons. "The towns suffered in a manner different from the country. At Pevensey, in Sussex-the town where the Normans landed-the soldiers shared the houses amongst themselves, and drove out the conquered people. Sometimes they took the people too, and portioned them out like so many slaves." The people and houses of Dover, a place which was half destroyed by fire, were treated in this way. The Norman, Raoul de Courpespine received three houses and a poor woman's field. Geoffry de Mandeville seized on forty houses which were surrounded by fields and gardens. One called Engelry seized the houses and lands of fourteen Saxon Thanes. One rich Saxon placed himself under the protection of a Norman called Gaultier. Another Englishman became a serf or slave, to dig the soil in his own field. Scarcely a Saxon was allowed to keep his rank and wealth. The meanest common soldier in William's army was placed above the families of the powerful Saxon Thanes. "The man who had crossed the sea with a quilted cassock and wooden bow of a footsoldier, now rode through the land, mounted on a war-horsewhilst the men who drove the cattle, the common herdsmen of Normandy, and the weavers of Flanders, suddenly became persons of consequence." All over the conquered English land, the sixty thousand followers of William settled down like a band of nobles in the midst of a nation of slaves. Thus, by the end of the year 1670, was made a most miserable change, and ENGLAND was conquered. W. How many more times is England to be conquered? P. Ah! poor old England-how many times she had been conquered! Poor old England!-conquered again!-Not only the people, but the soil changed hands. If the ancient soil-the broad fields, hills, and rocks-which had been there from the beginning, could have spoken, they would have made you a mournful ditty. They would have given you some pages of history which have never yet been written. They would have told you,-We wonder whom we shall belong to next-we fields and plains have been owned by many | which looked far over the land. I wonder what they would have said, if they could. They would perhaps have told you, as I did, how beautiful the island was once-and would have grumbled not a little at the men who had made such disturbance and mischief. The sheep, they would tell you, and the cattle, eat the grass we give them, and lie down quietly. The birds make nature more beautiful-but, as for these men-Normans, Saxons, and Danes-they destroy the country with fire. They build houses on our soil-then burn them, and strew the ashes on our fields. We are weary of their wars. When will they be quiet, and dwell in peace like sons of the soil? W. Instead of cutting it up with railroads! P. But there were no railroads then. Let us return to the history It was nearly 800 years ago—a. D. 1070. Now go back to that time, and imagine yourself sitting on one of those mountain-tops, looking down at the people beneath-what a picture you would have seen! L. But, papa, just look up at the clock P. Dear me! there's a very sad picture! the short hand is at nine. I must make haste to business. W. Thank you, dear papa, good bye! It's a good thing, Lucy, that papa did not go back 800 years-he would have had to make very great haste. DELAY NOT. WHATEVER Work we have to do Because the same excuses too Delay is dangerous-and it turns |