discharge some of the debts which his father had left, which being due to some of the poorest of the cottagers, they were ill able to lose. For this he was, indeed, obliged to toil very hard, and almost starve himself; but he cheerfully endured privations, while he saw his mother surrounded by a few com forts, and felt that he was discharging an important duty.

6. One evening, he was sitting reading to his aged parent, when he heard the rattling wheels of a carriage. Such a sound was so unusual in that spot, that, after expressing his surprise at it, he rose to see whither it was going. It stopped at the cottage, and from it alighted a man about thirty years

of age.

7. Ralph made a respectful bow, and asked whom he was pleased to want.

8. "Yourself," replied the stranger, with much affability, "if, as I suppose, you are Ralph Martin."

9. Ralph said he was the person.

10. "And do you, indeed, not recollect me?" asked the stranger. “Do you not remember the poor sailor-boy whom you sheltered and relieved? I am he; and if you will give me another night's lodging and a slice of bacon, I will stay with you, and give you an account of the circumstances which have wrought such a change in my appearance."

11. Ralph, who, in the change which more than sixteen years had made, no longer recognized his shipwrecked acquaintance, was, however, extremely glad to see him in so much happier circumstances. He assured him of a hearty welcome, but added he had only a mattress of straw and a blanket to offer him.

12. "So much the better," replied Mr. Corbett; "it will remind me of former times. But now for my history. Give me that box; it will make an excellent chair, and we shall be more at our ease, sitting. When I left you, I determined, if possible, to travel to London; and by the kindness of a wag

NOTE. See London, p. 87, note a.

oner, who seemed to feel deeply for my misfortunes, I arrived there on the third day.

13. "I found my mother in the greatest affliction; she had just been informed of the melancholy fate of my father, and was almost inconsolable. The sight of me, however, whom she had also believed dead, in some degree revived her spirits.

14. "I was happy to find she was left in comfortable, though not affluent, circumstances; and as there was a small provision for each of the children, I took my share, and embarked with it for the East Indies," where I had a cousin who had long wished me to assist him in his business. I was received by him with the utmost kindness, and my little property turned to the best account.

15. "Twelve years of successful industry made me a rich man; and as soon as I could settle my affairs, I returned to England. I found my mother still living, and my brothers and sisters fixed in different situations. I have paid every debt I might have contracted with them, and my only account, which remains unbalanced, is that I have to settle with you."

16. "With me, sir?" said Ralph; "you have nothing to settle with me. The trifling assistance you received was not worth remembering; it was only what I should have gladly given to any one in your circumstances. Times have altered a good deal since, and I often feel the greatest sorrow in witnessing distress which I have not the power to relieve." 17. "But you shall have the power," answered the gentle"Independence could never be better placed than in your hands. But we will talk of these things to-morrow. Now give me my supper, as you promised; for I have traveled a great distance to-day, and am rather tired." Ralph prepared his simple fare, and then showed his guest to his humble bed.

man.

18. Next morning, the little story of the misfortunes, with which Ralph had had to struggle, was recounted. The

NOTES. -a See East Indies, p. 109, note a. b See England, p. 110, note c.

stranger, eager to place him in a happier lot, purchased a neat house, and having stocked it with every necessary, and increased his flock by fifty sheep, the happy Ralph was made owner of it, and lived many years in that prosperity which usually follows industry and integrity.

19. His benefactor generally called once or twice a year to see him; and the peasantry, for miles around, often amused their children with repeating the good fortune which proved

a REWARD OF HOSPITALITY.

QUESTIONS. 1. What kind of a life had Ralph for a long time led? 2. What happened to his father? 3. How did Ralph support himself and mother? 6. Who called upon him one evening? 12. What was his name? 12. What is said of London? 14. What success did he have in the East Indies? 18. What present did James Corbett make Ralph for his hospitality? 19. How did the peasantry often amuse their children? What moral lesson may be learned from this piece?

LESSON XXX.
Spell and

1. Ex-traor'di-na-ry, wonderful.

1. Dis-in-ter'red, taken out of the earth.
1. Tem'po-ra-ry, for a limited time.
3. Nat'u-ral-ists, those versed in natural
history.

5. Con-fig-u-ra'tion, external form.
8. Tusks, long, pointed teeth.

Define.

9. In-teg'u-ments, the covering of the body, as the skin, &c.

9. Cal'i-ber, the bore of a gun or tube. 10. Pon'der-ous, very heavy.

11. Fac'ul-ties, powers of body or mind. 11. Tra-di'tion, an oral account, transmitted from age to age.

ERRORS.-1. Tem'per-a-ry for tem'po-ra-ry; 3. skille-ton for skel'e-ton; 3. suppris'ing for sur-pris'ing; 4. mu'se-um for mu-se'um; 5. gin'er-al for gen'er-al; 6. layg for leg; 8. curva-tchure for curva-ture; 11. ware for were; 11. tray-di' tion for tra-di'tion; 12. sich for such.

THE MASTODON.a

J. D. GODMAN.

1. In various parts of North America, especially on the banks of the Hudson and Ohio rivers, single bones of extraor

NOTES. This animal is frequently improperly called by the name of mammoth, that being the name of the fossil elephant, found in Siberia and other places. b North A-mer'i-ca; the northern division of the western continent, extending from the isthmus of Darien to the Arctic Ocean. c Hud'son; a river in the eastern part of New York, 350 miles long. d Ohio; a river forming the southern boundary of the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 1300 miles long.

dinary size had been occasionally disinterred, without excit ing more than temporary curiosity, or leading to anything better than wild and unsatisfactory speculation."

2. Some persons regarded them as the relics of a gigantic race of men, of whose existence no other traces remained; others, and a more rational party, concluded that they were the bones of an animal still in existence, or that they belonged to a large variety of the well known elephant species. The inquiry generally ceased, when the novelty of the discovery passed away.

3. But when situations were further explored, and the bones were procured in greater abundance, and the curiosity of naturalists was awakened, these relics were eagerly sought for, until nearly a whole skeleton was obtained, the fact satisfactorily established that these bones belonged to a peculiar race never before known, and, what is still more surprising, that the whole race was utterly extinct.

4. No skeleton' has been obtained more perfect, than the one in the Philadelphia Museum, which was found near Newburg, on the Hudson river, about sixty-seven miles above the city of New York.

5. In this, as in all the individuals discovered, the top of the head was so far decayed and destroyed, as to prevent the least idea being formed as to its figure or elevation; although the analogy in its size and general configuration, might serve to produce the inference, that the animal was, in other respects, most nearly allied to the elephant.

6. Some idea of the enormous size of this animal may be formed from the magnitude of the skeleton, and the different bones that compose it. The skeleton to which we have

NOTES.—a As early as 1712 bones were found on the Hudson; in 1739, on the Ohio. b This skeleton was discovered in a swamp, in 1801, several feet under ground, and procured by Mr. C. W. Peale, at an expense of five thousand dollars. • Philadelphia Muse'um; a collection of objects of natural history, in the city of Philadelphia. It was founded by Charles Wilson Peale, and is the most extensive collection, of the kind, in America.

alluded, measures eighteen feet in length, and eleven feet and five inches in height. The length of the shoulder-blade is three feet and one inch, and that of the upper bone of the fore leg, two feet and ten inches.

7. The greatest circumference of this bone is three feet two inches and a half, and its smallest part measures one foot five inches around. The lower bone is proportionally massive. The thigh bone is three feet seven inches long, and two feet in circumference, at the middle of the shaft.

8. The under jaw is remarkable for its massiveness and solidity, and the form of it is peculiar to this animal. It is two feet ten inches long, and weighs sixty-three and a half pounds. The tusks, which are attached to the upper jaw, are ten feet seven inches long, measuring from the base to the tip and following the outside of the curvature, and seven inches and three quarters in diameter, in the largest part.

9. We cannot avoid reflecting on the time, when this huge frame was clothed with its peculiar integuments, and moved by appropriate muscles; when the mighty heart dashed forth its torrents of blood through vessels of enormous caliber, and the mastodon strode along in supreme dominion over every other tenant of the wilderness.

10. However we examine what is left us, we cannot help feeling that this animal must have been endowed with a strength exceeding that of other quadrupeds, as much as it exceeds them in size; and looking at its ponderous jaws, armed with teeth peculiarly formed for the most effectual crushing of the firmest substances, we are assured that its life could only be supported by the consumption of vast quantities of food.

11. Enormous as were these creatures during life, and endowed with faculties proportioned to the bulk of their frames, the whole race has been extinct for ages. No tradition nor human record of their existence has been saved, and, but for the accidental preservation of a comparatively few bones, we should never have dreamed that a creature of so vast size