New York to Liverpool, that some species of birds-perhaps petrels and gulls only—are found in the middle of the ocean.

These petrels are not, strictly speaking, divers; but they dash on the object which they seek with the rapidity almost of lightning, and in doing so, they will sometimes plunge in a great portion of their body. The sound which these birds utter, when out at sea, is somewhat like the croaking of a frog. During storms, they will shelter themselves between the rolling waves, and remain there some instants, notwithstanding the incessant motion of the sea, running along the movable furrows of the ocean, as blackbirds would do among those of the corn-field, and balancing their wings, so as to skim over the water, striking it rapidly with their feet. They seem to walk on the water; and it is on this account, we are toldbecause they seem to do as Peter attempted to do on the Sea of Galilee—that they have received the name of petrel.

THE GORDIAN KNOT.

You have no doubt heard of the Gordian Knot, and have wondered, perhaps, what was the origin of the term. I will tell you how it came into use in the first place. It was a knot made by Gordius, a Phrygian peasant. An insurrection having broken out in this country, the inhabitants consulted the oracle respecting a new king. The oracle designated him, whom, on their return, they should meet mounted on a chariot, going to the temple of Jupiter. This was Gordius, who, to show his gratitude, consecrated his chariot to Jupiter, and fastened the pole with so ingenious a knot, that the oracle of Apollo promised the dominion of the world to the person who should untie it. Many attempted to untie it, but without success. When Alexander the Great came to the place where it was, after attempting in vain to untie it, he cut it with his sword, and thus fulfilled the prediction, or eluded it, whichever you please. From that time, cutting the Gordian knot became a figurative term, to represent the act of nominally solving difficult problems without going to the bottom of them.

BIOGRAPHY OF DANIEL WEBSTER.

HE 24th day of October, 1852, will ever be an eventful period in history; for on that day there fell one of the greatest statesmen that America ever produced. Then, indeed, was put out one of the brightest intellectual lights of the age. I need not tell you who that man was. You know it was Daniel Webster. It is sad to see how the scythe of time mows down, one after another, the great men who have stood side by side, in the councils of the nation, almost from the day of its birth. The grass had scarcely become green upon the grave of Calhoun, when Clay, one of his great political champions, was called to his account; and while the nation was still mourning for this noble statesman, Webster departed. He was an old man. He had already passed the period of three score years and ten. It appears that, for some time previous to his death, he was sensible that his race on earth was nearly ended. Writing familiarly to the man who managed his mother's farm in New Hampshire, he says, some months before he went home to Marshfield to die, "John Taylor, when you look upon the graves of my family, remember that he who is the author of this letter must soon follow them to another world."

Let us glance at some of the most prominent features in the biography of this great man:

The

Daniel Webster was born at Salisbury, in the State of New Hampshire, on the 18th of January, 1782. He was the son of Captain Ebenezer and Abigail Eastman Webster. No New Englander had established himself so far north as Captain Webster. Webster family were not rich. They lived, at first, in a log cabin, though, after a while, they were able to build a frame house. Afterward they supported themselves by keeping tavern. Captain

Webster was a soldier in the old French war, and afterward in our revolutionary struggle. He is represented as having been "a great, brave, brawny man. Daniel's mother was a superior woman, and contributed a great deal toward the formation of that mind which, in after-years, was destined to exert such an influence upon his nation and upon

the world.

Let it be borne in mind by every youth in America, that Daniel Webster came into the world poor. His early advantages for getting an education were probably inferior to those which most of my readers possess. When he visited the western States, a few years since, an emigrant from New Hampshire met him, recognized him, and asked, "Is this the son of Captain Webster?" "Yes," was the reply, "it is indeed." What, is this the little black Dan that used

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to water the horses at the tavern?" 'Aye," said the great statesman, "this is the little black Dan that used to water the horses." never ashamed of his origin. No truly great man, who has climbed up to a high eminence, from a comparatively low condition, can be ashamed of his origin. There was a school in Salisbury, when Daniel Webster was a boy; but it does not appear that it was one of a very high order. You will smile when I tell you, that they could not afford to keep the machinery of the school going but some three months of the year, and that the rest of the time the schoolhouse was shut up. Yet such was the fact. Daniel had to go about three miles to reach this school. When he was fourteen years old, however, he went to an academy for a few months. Then he went to study with Mr. A. Wood; paying a dollar a week for the privileges, which included food for the body as well as the mind. He was an ambitious boy, and learned very easily.

His father was very strict in all religious observances, and required, among other things, that his son should go every Sunday to church, though the distance was about four miles. Daniel complained of the hardship, for he must needs walk all the way. His father said to him, "I see Deacon True's boys there every Sunday, regularly, and have never heard of their complaining." "Ah! but," said Daniel, "Deacon True's boys live half the way there, and of course have only half as far to walk." "Well," said his father, 'you may get up in the morning, dress yourself, and run up to