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their lines across from one tree to another?

Aunt P. When a spider wishes to build a bridge from one shrub to another, he climbs up to a certain height, and draws out a long, loose line, taking care to have it in such a situation that the wind will carry it across to some other tree. The end of the floating line is provided with a gummy substance, and fastens itself at once to whatever it touches. When the spider finds that his line has caught, he pulls it, to see if it is fast. If it is loose, he draws it up till it is straight, and then fastens it with gum.

Having secured the line, the spider makes a bridge of it, and crosses over in perfect safety. He now goes backwards and forward, each time adding a thread, for the purpose of giving it strength.

This line is like the rope to a fisherman's net, and the spider immediately. begins to weave his net upon it. He proceeds to set several strings round somewhat like the spokes of a wheel, and these he binds together by a series of circular threads.

When the whole is done, he weaves a hole in some sly corner, into which he retreats; but the moment that a fly gets entangled in his net, he darts forth, binds him round and round like a prisoner, and carries him off to his den.

Such was the main part of the dialogue that passed between Jack and his aunt. The boy expressed great satisfaction for what she had told him, and then went away to take another walk in the fields.

so eager in his sport that he thinks of nothing else. On goes the hoop, and on goes George after it.

By-and-by, he comes to the ditch. The hoop bounds across, and poor

Ir is very pleasant to see the men at work making the hay and getting it into the barn. Do you not love to hear the mower whetting his scythe? Do you not love to see him swing his blade through the grass, and see it fall before him?

And how sweet is the fragrance of the new-mown hay! When it is dry, do you not love to see the men rake it into heaps; then toss it on to the cart and carry it away ?

Hay-making is, indeed, a pleasant business, and it is very useful also. What would the poor cows and horses do in winter if they had no hay?

In winter, the grass is dead, the leaves

have fallen from trees and shrubs, and the earth is covered with snow. If there were no hay in the barn, the horses, the cows, and the sheep would all perish.

We should then have no horse to draw us along in the sleigh; no cow to give us milk; no sheep to supply us with wool for clothing. Hay-making is therefore very important business.

What do you think the people do in very cold countries, where no grass grows? They are obliged to use reindeer, who feed on moss, and do not need hay. These creatures give milk, like cows; they draw sledges, like horses; and their flesh is as good as the beef of the ox.

Q. What is mace?

A. That which is found between the outer coat of the nutmeg and the kernel. Q. What is cinnamon?

A. The dried bark of a tree which grows in the East Indies and the island of Ceylon.

Q. What is pepper?
2.

A. The produce of a creeping plant which grows in Java, Sumatra and Malacca.

Q. What is ginger?

A. The root of a plant which grows in the East Indies.

Q. What are cloves?

of it, are compared to the silly moth, which is dazzled with the light, flies into it, and perishes.

Pleasure is a good thing, and I love to see children pursue it but some kinds of pleasure are dangerous, and are as fatal to young persons as the blaze of the lamp or candle to the heedless fly or moth.

A. The flower buds of a tree which grows in Malacca.

in

Q. What are carraway seeds? A. The seeds of a plant growing wild many countries.

IDLE MARY.

ОH, Mary, this will never do!
This work is sadly done, my dear;
And then so little of it too!

You have not taken pains, I fear.

Oh no, your work has been forgotten, Indeed, you've hardly thought of that; I saw you roll your ball of cotton

About the floor to please the cat.

See, here are stitches straggling wide
And others reaching down so far;
I'm very sure you have not tried

In this, at least, to please mama.
The little girl who will not sow,

Must neither be allowed to play; And then I hope, my love, that you Will take more pains another day.

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HERE is a picture of a balloon! It is a great silk bag, with a net around it. Fastened at the bottom of the net, is a little car, in which a man sits.

The balloon rises into the air, and the man in the car goes up with it. He sails along like a cloud; at first the balloon looks large, but it seems to grow less and less, and by-and-by it looks no larger than a fly. Then it disappears and is seen no more.

Now, what do you think it is that makes the balloon rise up into the air? It is a kind of gas, which is very light.

SLEEPY HARRY.

"I do not like to go to bed,"
Sleepy little Harry said;
"Go, naughty Betty, go away,
I will not come at all I, say!

The little birds are better taught,

They go to roosting when they ought; And all the ducks and fowls, you know They went to bed an hour ago. The little beggar in the street,

Who wanders with his naked feet, And has not where to lay his head, Oh, he'd be glad to go to bed.

The balloon is filled with this gas. You know that smoke is so light as to rise up in the air; but this gas is still lighter than smoke.

Perhaps you desire to know how the man gets his balloon down, when he has risen in it up to the clouds. I will tell you; he lets out a little of the gas, and down he comes. He must be careful to let out only a little at a time, so as to come down gradually; if he lets out too much, he will come down with a terrible thump.

MAMA AND BABY. WHAT a little thing am I! Hardly higher than the table; I can eat, and play, and cry, But to work I am not able.

Nothing in the world, I know,

But mama will try and show me: Sweet mama, I love her so,

She's so very kind to me.

And she sets me on her knee,
Very often, for some kisses:
Oh! how good I'll try to be,

For such a dear mama as this is.

Handsome is that handsome does.

John. Mama, I want something to look at; what can I have?

Mother. Why, my dear, cannot you find something in the room to look at some pretty story-book, or amusing puzzle?

J. No, mama, I don't want to read, or be puzzled either; and I have looked at the shells and fossils on the mantelpiece, and the gold fishes in the globe, and counted the window-panes and the flowers on the carpet twenty times, and I've been looking into the looking-glass for the last half hour.

M. Into the looking-glass, John! for what purpose?

J. That I might know how handsome I am, mama.

M. Why, do you really think that you are handsome?

hear about the harrow, but how can they have bread and butter without it?

We cannot have bread without wheat to make it of; and we cannot have wheat, unless the ground be duly ploughed and harrowed. So my young readers will see that the harrow is a good friend of theirs, however little they care about it.

J. Yes, mama; do not you?
M. Only sometimes.

J. Why-only sometimes, mama?

M. Because, John, you are only handsome when you are good; when you are naughty, you are a very ugly little fellow!

J. Why, mama, my hair is always curled, and my hands always white, and I am sure that my clothes are always very pretty.

M. Yes, my dear, that may be; but does any one love you more on this account?

J. I should think they do, mama.

M. Then let me tell you, my dear, that if a child be ever so pretty, and dressed ever so fine, he cannot be loved unless he is good. No person is pleasing to look at, who is naughty. A person who is naughty has a bad heart, and a bad heart usually spoils the face.