LXXV. -THE COUGHING PARROT. 1. An old sailor bought in a distant part of the world a beautiful green parrot. The good man designed' to give it as a present to the daughter of the merchant who owned the ship in which he sailed. 2. During his spare half-hours on the voyage home, he amused himself with teaching the parrot to speak, hoping his little friend Fanny would like the bird all the better if it could bring out a phrase or two, such as Hurrah for Fanny! 3. It so happened, however, that the old man was very much troubled with a bad cold during the voyage, and he always coughed a great deal while he was giving Poll her lessons. He was very much annoyed,' therefore, to find that after he had got the parrot to shout "Hurrah for Fanny!" it always followed that up by a dreadful fit of coughing. 4. When the old sailor handed his present to the young lady, everybody was much amused to hear Poll scream out" Hurrah for Fanny!" but when, directly after, the bird fell into a long, distressing fit of coughing, it was really painful to hear it. It was, however, very good fun to Poll, and as she coughed more than she talked, she had to be sent away. 5. Now why should young people be like this parrot? Young lads very often fix on some older boy whom they admire very much, and whom they imitate in every thing he does or says, whether it be good or bad. But if you see a person of your acquaintance doing clever and laudable actions, and at the same time guilty of bad 3 practices, why not try to do the clever and laudable actions, and let the bad practices alone? 6. Poor Poll, while learning to do a clever thing, had no more sense than to learn a disagreeable thing at the same time. Why should you be like the coughing parrot? You will fare no better than she did. People may admire you for your cleverness, but will tire of you for your bad habits, and will soon treat you accordingly. 1 DE-SIGNED' (de-sind' or de-şind'). 2 AN-NÖYED'. Vexed, teased. Intended, purposed. 3 LÂUD'A-BLE. Worthy of praise. LXXVI. THE BALLAD OF THE BOAT. - R. GARNETT. THE stream was smooth as glass: we said, "Arise and let's away": The Siren sang beside the boat that in the rushes lay; And spread the sail, and strong the oar, we gayly took our way. When shall the sandy bar be cross'd? when shall we find the bay? 2 The broadening flood swells slowly out o'er cattle-dotted plains ; The stream is strong and turbulent,' and dark with heavy rains; The laborer looks up to see our shallop speed away. 遗 When shall the sandy bar be cross'd? when shall we find the bay? 3 Now are the clouds like fiery shrouds ;' the sun, superbly large, Slow as an oak to woodman's stroke, sinks flaming at their marge; 3 The waves are bright, with mirror'd light, as jacinths* on our way. When shall the sandy bar be cross'd? when shall we find the bay? 4 The moon is high up in the sky, and now no more we see The spreading river's either bank; and surging dis tantly, There booms a sullen thunder as of breakers far away. Now shall the sandy bar be cross'd! now shall we find the bay! 5 What rises white and awful as a shroud-enfolded ghost? What roar of rampant tumult bursts in clangor' on the coast? Pull back! pull back! The raging flood sweeps every oar away. O stream! is this thy bar of sand? O boat! is this the bay? 1 TUR/BY-LENT. Violently agitated. 2 SHRÖÛD. That which covers, conceals, or protects; a shelter. 3 MÄRGE. Margin, edge. JACINTH. Hyacinth. 5 BREAK'ERS. Waves broken violent- 6 RĂM PANT. Violent, raging. LXXVII. PLANTS FURNISHING CLOTHING AND CORDAGE. 1. THERE are many plants, growing in various countries, which furnish materials for clothing and for cordage. In temperate climates we sometimes find fields covered by the slender flax, which grows only about two feet high, and, when in bloom, makes the surface of the land look as sweetly blue as the sky above. In other places, the tall, gloomy-looking hemp-plant, with its dark-green but graceful foliage and sombre flowers, grows high enough to hide the laborers who till it. 2. In more sunny climes the fields look like seas of gold and silver, with the yellow flowers and snow-white seed-down of the cotton plant; while, in other lands, the traveller gladly flies for shelter from the burning sun to the beautiful groves of the fibre-producing plantain, or to plantations of the cocoa-nut palm. In the East Indies, again, he cannot fail to be struck with the vast extent occupied by the coarse, tall, weedy jute-plant. 3. Many equally novel and curious crops would meet our eyes in various parts of the world, but these that we have mentioned produce the chief materials from which we make our clothing and our cordage. 4. The plant which we have first mentioned, flax, is cultivated in many parts of the world, our own country included. It has always been of great importance to the human race. The stock is long and slender, branching at the top, and bearing several beautiful light-blue flowers, about the size of a buttercup. These are succeeded' by round pods of seed, each about as large as a garden pea, and containing several of the little flat brown seeds called linseed, from which oil is extracted. The stalk is not more than half as thick as a wheaten straw, but very strong, because of the tough fibres which run through it from bottom to top. 5. These fibres, when separated from the pith which is mixed with them and the skin which covers them, are the flax from which linen is made. In order to obtain them the plants are pulled up just after they have done flowering, and dried in the sun. Small bundles of them are then placed in the shallow part of a river or pond, stones or pieces of wood being laid on them to prevent their floating away. Sometimes they are simply exposed to the night dew. The moisture which they thus imbibe quickly causes the soft skin that covers the fibres to decay. 3 6. After this process is completed, the bundles are spread out to dry, and, when dried, the whole stalk can be easily rubbed to a powder, with the exception of the fibres, which are not impaired by the process. The bundles of fibres are next beaten with a heavy wooden implement, and to remove the skin and pith broken up by this operation, they are next heckled, or drawn through a peculiar kind of iron comb. The fibres which remain after these two operations are raw flax, and are fine enough for making coarse linen cloths; but they require to be heckled over and over again, through much finer combs, to render them suitable for the manufacturing of fine linen, lawn, and lace. 7. The hemp plant goes through a similar process. It is much coarser than the flax plant, and grows to a height of more than six feet. Great quantities are pro |