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her gown, which she had neglected | fully-"you will go on the same to mend

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Mamma, it is not my fault: I believe it was torn at the wash."

But it was proved, by the fresh edges of the rent, that it must have been torn since it had been ironed.

Rosamond_next said, she had not seen the hole, till after she had put the gown on; and then, she could not mend it, because it was so far behind.

Could not she have taken the gown off again, her mother asked. "Yes, mamma; but I had not any thread fine enough." "But you had cotton that was fine enough, Rosamond.- -Three excuses!"

“Oh, mamma!—Have I made three excuses?" cried Rosamond"This day, too, when I took such pains!"

Godfrey came back, and seeing his sister look sorrowful, he asked what was the matter. She hesitated, and at last said

"You will be glad of what I am sorry for!"

"Ha!-Then I guess what it is -You have lost the day again, and I have won it!"

Godfrey clapped his hands in triumph, and capered about the

room.

"My world is safe! safe!-I really thought Rosamond would have had it to-day, mamma!"

Rosamond could hardly repress her tears; but Godfrey was so full of his own joy, that he did not attend to her feelings.

"After all, it is only Wednesday, brother, remember that!" cried Rosamond, "I have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, to come-I may win the day, and win the world, yet."

"Not you!" said Godfrey, scorn

to-morrow as to-day. You see you have so much the habit of making excuses, that you cannot help it, you cannot cure yourself— at least not in a week. So I am safe."

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"So that is all you think of, brother: and you don't care whether I cure myself of my faults or not," said Rosamond, while the tears trickled down her cheeks. "You wish, indeed, that I should not cure myself. Oh, brother, is this right? is this good-natured? is this like you?"

Godfrey changed countenance; and after standing still, and thinking for a moment, he said—

"It is not like me-it is not good-natured-and I am not sure that it is right. But, my dear Rosamond! I do care about you, and I do wish you should cure yourself of your faults; only this week I wish- -in short, I cannot help wishing to win my wager."

"That is very natural, to be sure," said Rosamond; "but I am sorry for it; for we used to be so happy together, and now, you are always glad when I am sorry, and sorry when I am glad; and when I do most wrong, you are most glad-And all for the sake of keeping your paltry world, and winning my poor kings!"

"No, indeed!" exclaimed Godfrey, "it is not for the sake of the world, or the kings; for you know I would give you my world, or anything I have upon earth, Rosamond."

"The wager is what I cannot give up; I must prove that I am right.'

"And that I am wrong!—Ay, there's the thing!-you want to triumph over me, brother.

"I do not think such wagers are good things. Now I will ask mamma. Well, mamma, what do you think ?"

"I think, my dear Rosamond, that you have reasoned better than you usually do, and that there is much truth and good sense in what you have said about this wager."

Rosamond looked happy. Godfrey, without seeming pleased, as he usually did, when he heard his sister praised, said—

"Mamma, do you really disapprove of wagers? Do not you think that it did her good, to try to cure herself of making excuses, and that my wager made her take great care?-And, you know, if she were to dislike me, because she was to lose her wager, that would still be her fault-the fault of her temper."

"Let us, for the present, leave out of the question whose fault it would be; and tell me, my dear Godfrey, do you wish to make your sister dislike you?"

"Oh, no, mamma!-you know I do not."

"Should you like a person who rejoiced when you committed any fault, who did not wish you to cure yourself of your faults ?"

"No-I should not like a person who did this. I understand you, mamma-I was wrong," said Godfrey. "I will give up the wager, though I really think I should win it."

"I really think I should win," said Rosamond; "but I will give it up, if mamma advises us to give it up."

"I do advise you to give up this wager, my dear children," said their mother.

"So we will, and so we do," said both Rosamond and Godfrey, run

ning up to one another, and shaking hands.

And I assure you, brother," said Rosamond, "I will take as much pains to cure myself of making excuses, as if the wager was going on; and my wager shall be with myself, that I will make not a single excuse to-morrow, or the next, or the next day, and that every day I shall be better than I was the day before-And you will be glad of that, Godfrey, shall you

not ?"

"Yes, glad with all my heart," said Godfrey.

"And that will be a good sort of wager," said her mother. "It is better and wiser, to endeavour to triumph over ourselves, than over anybody else."

W. I can understand what we are to learn about truth, from this story. These excuses were wrong, because they were little untruths.

L. Yes, Rosamond did not know that they were untruths when she was saying them. She made excuses because she was not careful. She spoke without thinking.

Ion. She talked very fast, perhaps. I have often noticed how very slowly papa speaks. He is very careful in what he says. I dare say that is because he wants, first, to be sure that everything is quite true.

W. Yes. He told me one day to weigh my words before I let them come out of my lips.

Ion. I mean to try very much to learn that habit. I like to speak carefully and slowly-Now, Lucy, please make a "lesson" for us to learn.

Lucy. Yes, I will. LET US

LEARN TO SPEAK CAREFULLY, AND SLOWLY, THAT WE NEVER MAY SAY

UNTRUTHS

THE THREE KINGDOMS

OF NATURE.

M. You have in your former Natural History lessons seen something of the order which the great God makes in his works. To-day, we will begin at the very beginning, and notice Nature with much more care and minuteness.

The Bible, you know, tells us that "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"-and, after He had made the firmament, He said, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear"-and it was so. Then this world consisted of broad plains, rocks, and tall mountains-the restless Ocean moving backward and forward-and the Air surrounding it.

But it was a dreary place, for it was not yet finished. This was only the third "day."

The

How brown, how bare and desolate the hills must have seemed as the light came across them! world was nothing but Earth, Water, Air, and Light. This was the first great division of Crod's works. Can you tell me why they were so dreary?

W. I can, mamma. Because, none of these things had life. No wonder the hills were so brown, they had no grass on them.

M. That was the reason. Now, there is a proper name for all these works of God, which were made without life. They are called MINERALS.

But, in the course of that third day, there came springing up from the earth, millions and millions of little green blades, all living and growing. And there "trees yielding fruit after

were

their kind." Now the Earth looked more cheerful, but it was dreary, still.

Ion. Yes, the Earth had life in it, but not the sort of life we have. Everything was quiet and still,it was "still life."

The grass, and herbs, and trees formed another great division of God's works, which were calledL. VEGETABLES.

M. But, on the fifth day, there was music in the Earth. Through the AIR, and on the Trees, flew

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winged fowl," singing many a song. Through the WATER Swam 66 great whales" and fishes. On the sixth day, there came creeping things" upon the EARTH, and "cattle after their kind." Thus the Creator made another great division to inhabit the Air, Water, and Earth, which division we call L. ANIMALS.

Thus, then, was the work of Nature divided into three great divisions.

One, which had not life, called The MINERAL KINGDOM. And, two which have life, calledThe VEGETABLE KINGDOM, and The ANIMAL KINGDOM.

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older than Adam. It has been a stone for thousands of years! will be the same stone during thousands of years to come. If it could know and speak, it might tell of many changes in Animals and Vegetables, but of no change in itself.

If I were to leave it in this box, here it would always remain; and, as the world rolled on, and ages of time passed away, we should change and decay-the box would crumble to dust, but here the stone would be; it would never move nor change, but still be the same old stone.

Ion. What fine old fellows stones are! Ah, I'll never kick a stone again.

M. Then,-the Acorn. It does not seem very different, but somewhere inside it, is the something we call life. If we were to put all three of these things in the ground, whilst the stone would remain stone, the Vegetable would-but, you shall hear what I once read in a book about a seed. Listen

"The Seed would swell and burst-it would put forth a root; and, thus holding fast to the earth, it would push up a green shoot. The Shoot would rise above the ground; and, feeding itself from the Air, Water, and Earth, would increase its thickness every year, and become a stately Tree. The Tree,-spreading its branches far and wide into the air, and its roots into the soil, putting forth buds, in the spring, which open to clothe it with leaves, and adorn it with blossoms would then repay the earth for its bounties with a rich return of fruit and seed."

"Continuing the same course for hundreds, or ever thousands of years, it would remain an object of wonder and admiration to successive races of men-it would belong to many a tradition, and many a tale of the olden time handed down from father to son; and thus it would be looked at with respect, or even veneration,-and still flourish, while generation after generation would pass away, and be forgotten."* W. I like to hear that. Please mamma, let me run and put it in the ground at once.

L. But, after all, mamma, it would not last so long as the stone.

M. No; for it has life. Everything which has life, will have death. As soon as it has done growing, it begins to die. It reaches its glory-its fulness of life-then, little by little, it loses that life, and returns to dust again.

Ion. And the Chrysalis, mamma. If that were put in the ground?

M. That would become a butterfly. Soon it would show how much life it had; much more life than that of the tree. It would not remain fixed to the Earth, but away it would fly-you know where! over flowers, fields, and hills! But, although it seems so full of life, that life is shorter-not so many hours, as the tree numbers years.

W. Ah, that is curious. The Animal, which is so full of life, changes soonest. The Vegetable does not change so soon. The Mineral, which has no life, never changes at all.

LITTLE SISTER.

I HAVE a little sister,

Hugo Reid's Botany.

She is but two years old,

Yet, to us at home, who love her, She is worth her weight in gold.

THE

NORTHERN BARBARIANS.

P. Well, Willie, you were very glad that the Romans left Britain, but I do not think that the Britons

were.

In the first place-The Romans had so changed the appearance of the country, and had made it look such a happy place, that it seemed quite a pity to leave it. There were now many large cities, with strong walls and towers many large houses, beautiful gardens, and even aqueducts. I told you, too, that they had schools for their children, and more than that, they had temples where they worshipped the true and living God. They had heard, too, of Jesus Christ; and some, perhaps, had learned his kind spirit, and knew the way to heaven.

In the second place-Before the Romans went away, they had sent an army of the strongest and finest young men in Britain to help in defending Rome against the crowds of savage people who were attacking the city. They now took many more Britons with them, so that there were not enough fighting men left to defend the country.

In the third place-There was no one left to govern the island; and, a people cannot easily learn to govern themselves. Many of the Britons who lived in the cities, and were civilised, as I said, had been married to the Romans: - they wanted to obey the good Roman laws. Some, however, were not civilised, and wanted to be rude and savage again; and the people then began to quarrel amongst themselves, to see who should be masters. So, it really was a great pity for the Romans to leave Bri

tain, for they might have made it a very fine kingdom.

But we must now leave Britain ourselves for a little while, and travel to the north of Europe.

L. Who are we to see there, papa?

P. OUR ANCESTORS ! I will give you a picture of them. They were tall men, with round faces, broad foreheads, brown hair, and blue eyes. If you had asked them where they came from, they would have said that the god Tut (pronounced Toit) sprang up through the earth, and made a man; and this man made more men. Others would have told you that they sprang from the rocks, and the earth. And then they would have told you some wonderful tales about their gods, THOR, WODEN, and others; and have given you such an account of the gods ŠUN and Moon, of the water-spirits, spirits of the mountain, and other strange beings, that you would have wondered very much, and perhaps would not have believed them at all.

These ancestors of ours wandered about in a country which had formerly been covered with an immense black forest. There you might once have seen bears, and even rein-deer. The rivers were often frozen over, and the land was covered with fogs, thick marshes, and large tracts of heath.

Throughout this country, at the north of Europe, in the parts which we now call Germany and Scandinavia, our ancestors roved about almost in. a savage state; some of them living in huts built on wheels, which they moved from one place to another. For, al

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