an ivy leaf and a rose leaf, for instance, are different, but that you cannot find two rose leaves exactly alike, nor two ivy leaves. You may spend a year in a wood, and never find two leaves exactly alike. Leaves, like roots, last different lengths of time. First, there are fugitive leaves, which are shed soon after they appear. Secondly, deciduous plants, whose leaves drop in winter. Thirdly, evergreens, so called because the leaves are not shed until new ones have come, and thus the plants are always, or ever, green.

And now remember that a plant likes a clean face. If you have any plants in pots, wash their faces, that is their leaves, every day, if they are thick-leaved plants, such as geraniums or myrtles; if they are more delicate, you must sprinkle them with water. Also, remember to pinch off the dead leaves from your plants, for they do mischief, besides being ugly. Lastly, if you have a garden, bury dead leaves; for in the ground, instead of being mischievous, they are useful, and improve the soil.

And now, at last, we come to flowers. I have not much to say here, excepting that I think they are a proof that God likes us to have pretty things as well as useful ones. Some people care only for what is useful, and think what is only pretty is worth nothing. But I believe if that were true, we should not have so many pretty flowers.

It seems as if God made all the beautiful things in the world to remind us of Him, and to give us some little idea of how beautiful Heaven must be.

I advise all country children to have a little bit of their garden for flowers, and not to think it waste of

time to look after them; and I am sure that town children will enjoy having a few flowers in pots. Only give them plenty of light, if you want them to grow strong and healthy, and to keep their bright colours.

Perhaps, sometimes you country children will gather nosegays of wild flowers; very pretty they might look, but very often they do not, because they are not well arranged. Never make a stiff nosegay, and remember always to put plenty of white and green. Some flowers last longer when picked than others. Geraniums and pelargoniums last well; better than nearly any; annuals do not. So, if you want to get flowers to decorate a church or room, or to sell in nosegays, never gather annuals. There are not many wild flowers which will last fresh very long. Mind, when you gather, that the flowers have long stalks, and cut them, instead of snapping them off. Lastly, change the water after a day or two, and your flowers will last all the longer. In fact, you must, both in gardening and in making nosegays, take a little trouble. It is said that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well; and if God thought it worth while to make flowers, I am sure we may think it worth while to care for them.

THE MONTHS.

(Specially recommended as a dictation lesson.)

January brings the snow,

Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes loud and shrill,
Stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams.
June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children's hands with posies.
Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and lovely flowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.
Warm September brings the fruit,
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.
Fresh October brings the pheasant,
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.
Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling fast.
Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire and Christmas treat

GEOGRAPHY.

GREAT, wide, beautiful, wonderful World,
With the wonderful water round you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast-
World, you are beautifully drest!

The wonderful air is over me,

And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree;
It walks on the water and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.

You friendly Earth! how far do you go,

With the wheatfields that nod, and the rivers that flow,

With cities and gardens, and cliffs and isles,

And people upon you for thousands of miles?

MATTHEW BROWNE.

From "GooD WORDS FOR THE YOUNG."

MANY of you have friends who live in distant countries. Almost all of you have relations living in different parts of England.

When you grow up, you may wish to travel in search of work; so, for many reasons, you ought to know something about geography.

Geography tells us about the world in which we

live.

That world is nearly round, though it does not look so to us. Some children think that it is flat, like a table. If it were, and we travelled straight on, we should look over the edge; whereas, if we travel straight on, we come back to the very place from which we set out. If a fly crawled straight forward on an orange he would get back to his starting-place.

The world moves round, just as your top does when you spin it, only, besides whirling on its own axis, as it is called, as you see the globe does when you give it a twist, the earth also goes round the sun every year.

The world takes about one day to go round on its own axis. When the part of the world on which we live is turned towards the sun, it is day; when it turns away, it is night. The sun stands still. The world is about 24,000 miles round.

You will see on the map, that the world is covered by land and water. But there is three times as much water as land d; so the fish have a fine time.

The land is divided into two great parts, called the Old and New World. The New World was only discovered by the people living in the Old about 300 years ago. The New World consists of North and South America and a good many islands. North and South America are much the shape of