flowering myrtle, which plant, indeed, the tea tree somewhat resembles the seeds are round and blackish, about the size of a pea; but the leaves are the only valuable part of the plant. The Chinese are said to have trained monkeys to gather the leaves when the wild tree shrubs have been growing in rocky situations. The plant is, however, generally grown on a gentle eminence inclosed by hedges and surrounded by a ditch.

After the leaves are gathered they are taken to the buildings to be dried.

The buildings where the tea is prepared for sale, contains a number of small furnaces, about three feet high, with a broad flat iron pan, fixed on the top, above the mouth of the furnace; when this pan is moderately heated, a few pounds of fresh gathered leaves are thrown in, which being full of juice, crackle as soon as they touch the warm pan; the workman's business is to stir them as quickly as possible with the bare hand, until he is unable to bear the heat; at this moment they are removed with a sort of shovel like a fan, and then spread upon mats to cool.

The men employed to roll the leaves rub them in their hands in one direction, while others keep continually fanning them to make them cool the sooner, for the more quickly they cool the more they retain the form into which they have been rolled. This process of drying and rolling is generally repeated two or three times before the tea is fit for use.

The tea is the common drink of all classes of the people of China. It was brought to our own country by Lord Arlington, in the year 1666.

Anecdotes of Youth.

"HE NEVER TOLD A LIE."

UNGO PARK, the traveller, relates that when he was in Africa, a party of armed Moors made an attack on the flocks of a village at which he was stopping; a youth of the place was mortally wounded in the affray. The natives placed him on horseback, and conducted him home, while his mother went before the mournful group, proclaiming all the good qualities of her boy; and by her clasped hands and streaming eyes showed how she suffered. The quality for which she chiefly praised the boy, formed of itself the epitaph so noble, that even civilized life could not aspire to a higher; "He never," said she, with pathetic energy; "he never, never told a lie!"

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The Little Child's Poet's Corner.

THE DOVE OF NOAH.

BY CHARLES MACKAY, LL.D.

Hope on her wings, and God her guide,
The dove of Noah soar'd

Far through the dim, unfathom'd space,
Where shoreless ocean roar'd.
But, ah! she found no valley green,
No resting-place,—no track,
Until the peaceful ark received
The weary wanderer back.

So we on life's tempestuous sea,
Beset by grief and pain,
May seek a solace here below,
But ah! the search is vain.
A resting-place for weary man
Is only found above;

The ark to which the soul returns
Is the Almighty's love.

SONG OF THE SEA.

RY HENRY J. SLACK,

AUTHOR OF THE "MINISTRY OF THE BEAUTIFUL."

Oh! many-voiced sea,
I pray thee, tell me
What thou art saying

To the clouds and the caves,
With thy rippling waves?

Oh! sunlight and sky,
Gentle breeze passing by,
What are you saying
To cave, drop, and fern,
Which speak in return?

Oh! mosses and maiden-hair,
Sea-weed and crystal clear,
What are you saying
To the sun and the sea,
I pray you, tell me?

FALLING LEAVES.

BY BISHOP HORNE.

See the leaves around us falling,
Dry and withered, to the ground:
Thus to thoughtless mortals calling,
With a sweet and solemn sound:

"Yearly in our course returning,
Messengers of shortest stay;
We come to give the yearly warning,
Heaven and earth shall pass away.'