amid the closely twisted branches and strong spiny leaves of the holly-bush, while to the sheep and the deer they not only occasionally serve as food, but as medicine also: the wood, too, is valuable to turners, engravers, and cabinetmakers, being of a very white colour, and hard close grain, It is a plant admirably adapted for hedges, as you may

suppose; an old English author, Evelyn by name, who wrote a work on forest trees, which he called 'Sylvia,' speaks of a holly-hedge which surrounded his garden, which was four hundred feet in length, nine feet high, and five feet through the thickest part of it, and which as he says,"Mocked the rudest assaults of the weather, beasts, or hedge-breakers;" and this we can well believe. In the

month of May, the holly-tree puts forth its delicate white blossoms, which contrast finely with the dark hue of the leaves; but it never, we think, looks so beautiful as when decked with its bunches of bright red berries, which may be found upon its branches all through the winter, and which when buried in the earth, are two years before they germinate, as it is called, that is, put forth the tiny stalk, with its twin leaflets, which is eventually to grow into a stout thorny tree,-how wonderful! But the world of nature is full of wonders, and this is one of the least of them.

Holly-trees sometimes grow to a large size; we are told of one in the county of Surrey, which reached the height of sixty feet but they are very rarely seen above eight or ten feet high; the wood being too valuable to be left a sufficient length of time for a larger growth. In nurserygrounds there are now about fifty varieties of this plant cultivated; you have probably seen but two, that with the leaves wholly green, and that with variegated leaves, which is, perhaps, most commonly used for decorating houses and churches at Christmas. The term Holly, we are told, comes from Holy, this being formerly considered a holy plant, probably because used in the great religious festivals held by the people of this and other nations, at particular times and seasons of the year.

In Germany the tree is called Christdorn, in Denmark Christorn, and in Sweden Christtorn, that is Christ-thorn; evidently in reference to the prevailing idea of it as a sacred plant. Much more might be said upon this head than would perhaps interest you at present. Botanists sometimes call this tree the Flex; and in some districts of England, it is

termed the Hulver, in others the Holm; and hence comes Homesdale, a valley where it grows plentifully. French naturalists have made it the emblem of foresight, because when growing in its native forests, its leaves are found covered with thorns to a certain height, that is about ten feet, while all above are perfectly smooth, as though the plant knew that there was then no longer occasion for protection against browsing animals; this, if true, is one of those beautiful marks of the great Creator's wisdom, which an observer of nature cannot fail to mark, whereever he turns his eye.

The poet Southey has very finely moralized, as it is called, upon this circumstance; that is, he has made the tree, as it were, a preacher of good instruction. Here are his lines, I hope my young readers will commit them to memory and profit by them.

O READER! hast thou ever stood to see
The holly tree?

The eye that contemplates it, well perceives
Its glossy leaves,

Ordered by an intelligence so wise,

As might confound the atheist's sophistries.

Below a circling fence, its leaves are seen
Wrinkled and keen;

No grazing cattle through their prickly round,
Can reach to wound:

But as they grow where nothing is to fear,
Smooth and unarmed the pointless leaves appear.

I love to view those things with curious eyes,
And moralize,

And in this wisdom of the holly tree
Can emblems see,

Wherewith, perchance, to make a pleasant rhyme,
One which may profit in the after-time.

Thus, though abroad, perchance I might appear
High and austere;

To those, who, on my leisure would intrude,
Reserved and rude;

Gentle at home amid my friends I'd be,
Like the high leaves upon the holly-tree.

And should my youth, as youth is apt, I know,
Some harshness show,

All vain asperities, I, day by day,

Would wear away;

Till the smooth temper of my age should be
Like the high leaves upon the holly-tree.

And, as when all the summer trees are seen
So bright and green,

The holly-leaves their fadeless hues display
Less bright than they;

But when the bare and wintry wood we see,
What then so cheerful as the holly-tree?

So. serious should my youth appear among
The thoughtless throng;

So would I seem, amid the young and gay,
More grave than they;

That in my age as cheerful I might be
As the green winter of the holly-tree.

[CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9.]

E will now follow poor Joseph on his journey with the Mideanite merchants, who took him to Egypt; where they intended to dispose of their commodities-for Egypt was the mart (or market) of the then known world.

Joseph was on the mart with the merchants, when Potiphar, a renowned officer in the army and captain of the king's guard, was struck with his appearance, and purchased him of them. Joseph's conduct so pleased his master, that he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into Joseph's hand; and, it is said, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake, both in the house and in the

E