TRUTH. THE WATER-CRESS MAN.
WATER CREE-E-E-E-E-E-E-SES.
Buy my WAT-

W. Oh! There goes good old "Grey-coat," droning along, with his black and white dog behind him! He has stopped at No. 4, over the way. See! his basket is quite empty; there is nothing left but the cloth.

Ion. Yes; I ofte...neet him as I come home from school,, and his basket is nearly always empty. I wonder how he sells his cresses so fast.

P. I can tell you. He owes it all to "Truth." But he shall tell you himself. You know he lives in one of my cottages. I am going this evening to see him, for he wants me to let him a piece of the field at the bottom of his garden, and you shall go with me.

P. Yes. We will go in. Good evening, Edwards. I have brought my two sons and my daughter with me, that they may see your garden. I want you, too, to tell them how it you are getting on so well.

Edwards. Yes, sir, that I will. Sit down, young master. What is your name, pray?

Moral Lesson.

I have had four sons. One of them is a soldier, another has gone to Canada. The eldest one, who lives next door, is a bricklayer. He earns 25s. per week, but, he has seven child

ren.

My youngest son, poor boy! was working at yonder railway bridge, when one of the arches fell in, and he was killed; so, none of my sons can help me.

My good dame, who is sitting on that low chair (she cannot hear that we are talking about her), she used to earn 1s. 6d. a week at making straw-plait, but now she cannot see even with her spectacles; and my daughter, who is walking up and down the garden in such a hurry; she, poor thing, is silly. So, I have no one to help me; and, although I am 67 years old, I have to help myself.

Oh, it was hard work, once! I remember, after my son died, the day when we had only 2d. in the house, and I went to the pawnbroker and pawned my dame's wedding-ring to get some money to buy water-cresses.

Go on, father! said my eldest son (who came in early next morning to start me). I'll lend you this old basket: let me fasten the strap round your shoulder! There, put in the cresses, and lay the white cloth over them. Good-bye! Now, make the people buy them. Sing out, "Water-cresses!" louder than you can! Let me hear you begin. So, whilst other folk were asleep, I set off in the damp air,-through the Edwards. Well, Master Willie, if Churchyard-past the Almshouses you had came to my cottage two-down West-street, past the Marketyears ago, it was not such a place as place, and the Railway, until I it is now; we were very poor people. reached the bridge, at the farther end

W. I am called Willie, my sister's name is Lucy, and this boy is my brother Ion.

of the High-street, when I came up | stead, and the old warming-pan. We the long hill.

Everywhere, I cried, "Watercresses!" as loud as my shaky old voice would let me. They were fine cresses, so I told every one that they were very fresh, and that they were the best in the town. I sold a great many, and in the evening I sold those which were left. Every day I worked hard. I never stopped for the rainy weather, or wind, but went on, singing out loudly-"Fine water-cresses!" "Fine young water-cresses!" and told everybody again that they were the finest in the town. Still, I did not earn enough money to buy us bread. I could never sell two basketsful in a day, but had to sell in the afternoon, what I had left from the morning. So, we often had potatoes out of the garden, and salt, for dinner; and tca-leaves and bread for tea. I had to sell both our chickens, for we had no barley to feed them with. I sold our eight-day clock, that warmingpan, the bedstead, and my wheelbarrow. And, oh! as the autumn came on, and the evenings were darker, it was very cold to sit here on the stones with a small fire made of sticks from the common, and a greased rush for a candle. Then, we would go to bed at seven, to save the rushlights and sticks, and would think, "What shall we do when the winter comes on, and the water-cresses are gone?" So, when the quarter-day came, I had no money to pay your father his rent.

Ion. But how have you managed to make such a difference in two years and-a-half?

Eds. Ah, young master, isn't it a difference! Look at my dame; what a clean white cap she has now-we bought a box-iron second-hand. She wears her stuff frock every day. I have bought back my eight-day clock from the pawnbroker's, and our bed

have meat for dinner, four times a week. There is a new piece of oilcloth; and oh! come and see the garden. Those are my pigs-I paid a friend of my son's ls. 2d. for a new thatch to their sty. I gave 4d. for this old dog, and can afford to keep him. I am going to buy some chickens, for I have 37s. in the Savings-bank; and I have asked your papa for a bit of the field at the back, for my son and I to grow turnips. Ion. Well, but how did you get the money for so many things?

Eds. Only by speaking the exact truth. TRUTH has bought all this for me in two years and-a-half. It was a very little thing which made so great a difference. I left off selling the best water-cresses, and only sold good ones-that was all.

W. I don't understand that.

Eds. I will tell you. One day, your mamma asked me, Are these good water-cresses, Edwards ?" Yes, ma'am, the finest in the town. "But, Edwards," she said, "they cannot always be finer than any one else's. They are good water-cresses, and i you would only say that they are good, instead of saying that they are the best, you would be speaking the plain truth. Then, depend upon it, you would sell them sooner."

And, do you know, master William, that one word which your mamma gave me helped me to become rich, and to pay your papa his rent. thought, as I went through the street, about the plain truth-and about being careful not to say more than the truth. So, when I remembered that my water-cresses were those which were left from the morning, I only cried out "Water-cresses," and left out the word "fine."

"Are these water-cresses fresh, Edwards?" said the landlady at the "Golden Lion." I was just going to

RADIATED ANIMALS. M. Well, Willie. Have you found a hundred soft-bodied animals?

W. Ah, mamma, no! Ion has found more than I have ;-he has found ten.

M. Let me hear them, Ion? Ion. A snail, slug, oyster, mussel, whelk, periwinkle, cockle, nautilus, limpet, and cowrie.

W. What is a cowrie ? Ion. There is a shell of a cowrie on the parlour mantel-piece, -with spots on it. Mamma says that perhaps we shall find some small ones next summer, when we go to Margate.

M. Yes. I hope that next year at the sea-side-we shall very often talk about the molluscs, and their shells.

To day we are going to notice the LOWEST DIVISION OF ANIMALS. Here is a basin of water, which I took from the stagnant pool at the bottom of the gar den. If you look at this piece of straw, you will see a curious animal fastened to it. It is called THE HYDRA.

L. I see it, mamma. it is shaking its legs about in the water! Is that the

way it swims ? It is like a little plant, with a number of roots to it.

. And here is a picture of one, which I have aawn for you from one of Messrs. Chambers's books.

W. Oh! that is more curious still. See! here are three joined together, and each one has roots, just like a tree.

Ion. How this one in the water is twisting and twirling his roots about! A plant would not behave in such a manner. Perhaps it is mad. What fun he is making!

W. Let me see. Oh, mamma, do you know he has caught a little worm, or something? It is a very small shrimp, or a maggot. He has twisted his roots all round it, and Ah! the poor worm is wriggling about so! He has pulled it into his mouth. Good-bye.-He has swallowed it, mamma.

It

M. Those long parts, like threads, are not roots. They are long arms, called "Tentacula." It did not wriggle them about for fun, but for business. merely wanted to feel for some food. If any insect passing near it in the water should happen to be touched by one of these tentacula, there is no hope for it. It is seized, held fast, and carried How into the month in an instant. And, yet, see how few parts the animal has! Count them, Ion.

Ion. Let me see:- (1) Its tentacula. (2) The mouth. (3) The body-and that seems to be nothing but a sort of bag for holding food.

M. And this bag is so thin, that you can see through it. Take this little microscope, and look.

L. Oh, mamma! I can see through its skin-into its stomach -and the little "shrimp" inside is moving: it is not dead yet!

M. It has no eyes.

W. Where does it keep its ears? M. It has no ears, nor nose. I believe it can neither hear, nor smell, nor feel.

L. Could it not feel, mamma, if I were to pinch it?

M. No-give it to me, I will cut it up.

W. Oh, mamma! You have cut it in half. You have killed it. Is not that cruel ?

M. No, my dear. I have not hurt it. It is not dead, you see. It will make two hydræ now.-A tail will grow from the end of this piece with the head on it, and a head will grow from the tail-piece.

L. Mamma, are you joking? M. No: If I were to cut it into forty pieces, then it would make forty new hydra.

W. How wonderful! M. Yes, this seems very wonderful. Most of the animals in this division seem to be quite without feeling. I have read of a gentleman, who took a hydra, and with a small piece of wire, he turned its stomach inside out -just as you do with the fingers of your gloves, sometimes.

W. What did the animal say,

mamma?

Ion. Mamma, here is a curious thing in the picture. Here is a large hydra and a small one growing out of its side, and a very little one growing from that one.

M. Yes; if you take notice of the picture, you may learn how these animals increase in number. A bud opens in the hydra's side-this grows and forms a little hydra, just as a small branch of a tree grows out of a large one.

L. I see it, mamma, in the picture, and when this little hydra has become a large one, another little one grows out from its side, just as a twig grows from a small branch. How strange!

W. Yes, here they are in the picture. The little one, his father, and grandfather, all growing and living together. They are partners in business.

M. They do not always behave like good partners. I have read that sometimes the father and son will both grasp the same insect with their tentacula, and then fight for it. But in time they break off from each other, and each becomes a separate hydra. L. They are very much like plants.

M. Yes. Do you not recollect when I said that you would find all God's works to be connected together, so as to appear like one great chain? These are some