delightful fishes were urging their way in such astonishing crowds, with hardly water enough to cover their backs, that he stood with an axe, and killed hundreds of them as they passed between his feet. He saw birds of prey dive down from the long branches of trees that waved over the waterfalls, and pick out the eyes of several at a time, before they flew back to their resting place. Jewett's travels confirm this statement. As the ice melts away in the spring, the salmon rush to the rivers, fron the ocean, and it is an undeniable fact, that they visit, as far cs possible, the very streams in which they were born. Usually, when undisturbed, they swim slowly in immense numbers, near the surface, yet they are so timid, that if suddenly frightened, by a great splashing in the water, the whole column will turn directly back towards the sea. It has also been proved, by actual calculation, that a salmon can scud at the surprising velocity of thirty miles an hour. The young are about twelve inches in length, when they visit the sea for the first time. After the parent fish have passed up the rivers in spring, the young ones follow at a respectable distance, having grown about six inches. At the end of two years, they weigh five, six and seven pounds; and at the expiration of six years they have attained their ordinary dimensions. A few of these fishes are carried to Philadelphia; the Boston and New York markets are supplied, principally, by the packet-men from the State of Maine. Salmon are known to change their haunts: in many rivers in which they were formerly so abundant, that “farmers' servants stipulated to have them only twice a week as food," not one is now to be found. The trout is considerably smaller than the salmon. There are several varieties of both these fish. The common trout of Massachusetts is from eight to twelve inches long-dotted on the back with brownish spots, shaded by a paler circle. On the gill covers is a broad spot; the under jaw is the longest; the soft rayed fins are tinged with yellow, and on the sides of the body are red spots. BEER. Genuine beer is composed of only three ingredients, malt, hops, and boiling water. Malt, the chief ingredient, is made from barley. The barley is steeped for two or three days in water. After it has imbibed a sufficient quantity of moisture, the barley is taken from the water and drained, and then laid upon the floor of the malt-house. The moisture it contains then causes it to swell and ferment. The fermentation is allowed to go on until the barley begins to put forth sprouts, just as it would when beginning to germinate, if sown in the earth. When the malster perceives the appearance of the sprouts, he removes the barley from the malt-house floor, and puts it into a kiln. A gentle but regular heat is now applied; and the barley, being thoroughly dried, is then called malt. To make beer, malt is first ground, and then steeped in boiling water in a tub, called a mashing-tub. It is then boiled with some hops, and after being cooled in shallow tubs, put into casks. The casks are filled quite full, but the bung-holes are left open. Fermentation soon commences, and the liquid which flows out of the bung-hole is called yeast, which is preserved for the use of the bakers. In great breweries, the beer when made is put into a very large tub only to all places, but to all times. By my called a vat. Hops are the blossoms of a climbingplant, the vine of which is so weak, that poles are obliged to be put to support them. Hops give a bitter flavor to beer, and enable it to be kept. OUR COUNTRY. In our country a man of small fortune may look around him, and say, with truth and exultation, “I am lodged in a house that affords me conveniences and comforts, which even a king could not command some centuries ago. There are ships crossing the seas in every direction, to bring what is useful to me from all parts of the earth. In China, men are gathering the tealeaf for me; in America, they are planting cotton for me; in the West India Islands, they are preparing my sugar and my coffee; in Italy, they are feeding silk-worms for me; in Saxony, they are shearing sheep to make me clothing; at home, powerful steamengines are spinning and weaving for me, and making cutlery for me, and pumping the mines, that minerals useful to me may be procured. My patrimony was small, yet I have post-coaches running day and night, on all the roads, to carry my correspondence; I have roads, and canals, and bridges, to bear the coal for my winter fire; nay, I have protecting fleets and armies around my happy country, to secure my enjoyments and repose. Then I have editors and printers, who daily send me an account of what is going on throughout the world, amongst all these people who serve me; and, in a corner of my house, I have Books!-the miracle of all my possessions, more wonderful than the wishing-cap of the Arabian Tales; for they transport me instantly, not books, I can conjure up before me, to vivid existence, all the great and good men of old; and, for my own private satisfaction, I can make them act over again the most renowned of all their exploits. In a word, from the equator to the pole, and from the beginning of time until now, by my books, I can be where I please." This picture, which is from a work by Dr. Arnott, an Englishman, is not overcharged, and might be much extended; such being the miracle of God's goodness and providence, that each individual of the civilized millions that cover the earth, may have nearly the same enjoyments, as if he were the single lord of all. THE FRETTER. The Fretter is a being who wastes time in a useless and disagreeable manner; since the truth is, that a man seldom begins to fret until it is too late to remedy the mischief, and then he may as well not fret at all. Fretting is the disease of an ill-organized mind, that hesitates to submit even to what it knows to be inevitable, and makes a misfortune greater by constantly contemplating its severity. It is said of Dr. Johnson, that on some person telling him of a lady of quality who had died of a broken heart for the loss of a near relation, he made answer, "Ay! if she had been a poor woman in a shop, she would not have found time to have broken her heart." And however harsh, rude, or unfeeling the sentence might appear, it is true, nevertheless, that the poor seldom have opportunities for this shameful waste of time: their daily labors fill up the day, and the business of repose occupies their nights. and going to the cage, gave the little bird his breakfast. She took good care of it for several weeks, and at last it grew quits strong, and could fly. Every morning it sung sweetly, as if in gratitude to its mistress for her protection. "You can't get him, if you jump ever so. The next morning she rose very early, high," said little Emma to the dog, who was trying to catch the bird, which she held in her hand. She was walking in the fields, when she saw Ponto playing with something on the ground. On coming nearer, she saw a nest with one poor little bird in it; and taking it away from the dog, she sat down on a bank to smooth its feathers, and calm its fluttering heart. She again placed it in the nest, and throwing over it her handkerchief, she carried it home. Here Emma put it in a cage, and gave it some food. The bird seemed very hungry, and Emma was glad to see it eat. Emma's mother now told her, that she must open the door of the cage and let the little bird fly away. "O no, no mother," said Emma hastily; "he is mine, and I cannot let him go." But the next moment, she reflected how unhappy it always made her to disobey her mother, and taking down the cage, she opened the door to let the bird fly away. The little prisoner hopped about for a few minutes, and then flying out, alighted on Emma's shoulder. She was much pleased, when she saw it so tame. She went towards the window, and taking it in her hand, held it out until the bird soared away into the clear air. Emma was quite sad when it was gone. But the next day her surprise was great, while sitting at dinner, to hear a flutter of wings, and again to feel the little bird perch upon her shoulder. It came and pecked the crumbs from the table-cloth, and then flew away out of the room. Emma tells me that the bird now visits her every pleasant day, and sings in her ears, as sweetly as when it was confined to its narrow cage. C. E. C. PRAYER. Ere the morning's busy ray Call you to your work away; Ere the silent evening close He, to whom the prayer is due, When through the peaceful parish swells Which leads you to the house of God; And oh where'er your days be past; Most of the inhabitants of Europe begin their hours of the day at noon, from whence they reckon twelve to midnight, and twelve mere to noon again. The Italians begin the day at sunset, and reckon twenty-four hours from thence to the following evening. The Turks begin their day at a quarter of an hour after sunset. The Jews, on the contrary, begin their day at sunset, from thence they reckon twelve equal hours to sunrise, and as many to sunset, consequently their hours of day are longer and shorter than those of night, in proportion to the length of the day and night. They also divide their days into four equal parts, called watches: the first watch from six to nine o'clock, the second watch from nine to twelve o'clock Clouds are usually from a quarter of a mile to two miles high. The Volga is the largest river in Europe. The Maranon, or Amazon, in South America is the largest river in the world. The cultivation of the date-tree is a matter of much importance in the countries of the East. In the interior of Barbary, in a great part of Egypt, and in Arabia, it is almost the sole object of agriculture. Rearing its stem, and expanding its broad and beautiful shade where there is nothing else to shelter man from the burning rays of the sun, the palm-tree is hailed by the wanderer in the desert with inexpressible pleasure. When the sacred writers wished to describe the majesty and the beauty of rectitude, they appealed to the palm as the fittest emblem which they could select. "He shall grow up and flourish like the palm 1 tree," is the promise which the Royal Poet of Israel makes for the just. There is hardly a part of this tree, which is not in some way serviceable to man. When the fruit is completely ripened, it will by pressure yield a delicious syrup. The stalks are softened by boiling, and in that condition are used for feeding cattle. The fibrous parts of the tree are made into ropes, baskets, mats, and various other articles of domestic use. A kind of sago may be prepared from the pith of the tree. In Egypt, the dates are gathered from the tree in the manner represented in the foregoing cut. |