stores which he had brought ashore consisted, besides his clothing and bedding, of a gun, a pound of gunpowder, a quantity of bullets, a flint and steel, a few pounds of tobacco, a hatchet, a knife, a kettle, a can, a Bible, some books of devotion, and one or two concerning navigation, and his mathematical instruments.

7. He knew that the island contained wild goats; but being unwilling to lose the chance of observing a passing sail, he preferred for a long time feeding upon shell fish and seals, which he found upon the shore. The island, which is rugged and picturesque, but covered with luxuriant vegetation, and clothed with wood to the tops of the hills, was now in all the bloom and freshness of spring; but upon the dejected solitary its charms were spent in vain. He could only wander along the beach, pining for the approach of some friendly vessel, which might restore him to the society of his fellow-creatures.

8. At length the necessity of providing a shelter from the weather supplied him with an occupation that served in some measure to divert his thoughts. He built himself two huts with the wood of the pimento tree, thatching them with the long grass which grows upon the island. One was to serve him as a kitchen, the other as a bedroom. But yet, every day for the first eighteen months, he spent more or less time upon the beach waiting for the appearance of a sail upon the horizon.

9. At the end of that time, partly through habit, partly through the influence of religion, which here exerted its full force upon his mind, he became reconciled to his situation. Every morning, after rising, he read a portion of the Scriptures, sang a psalm, and prayed, speaking aloud, in order to preserve the use of his voice.

10. He lived much upon turtles, which abounded upon the shores; but afterwards he found himself able to run down the wild goats, of which he kept a small stock tamed,

around his dwelling, to be used in the event of his being disabled by sickness. He suffered much inconvenience at first from the want of salt; but he gradually became accustomed to this privation, and at last found so much relish in unsalted food, that in after life he found it difficult to take any other. As a substitute for bread, he had turnips, parsnips, and the cabbage palm, all of excellent quality, and also radishes and water-cresses.

11. When his clothes were worn out, he supplied their place with goat skins, which gave him an appearance more uncouth than that of any wild animal. He had a piece of linen, from which he made new shirts by means of a nail and the thread of his stockings; and he never wanted this comfortable piece of attire during the whole period of his residence on the island. Every physical want being thus gratified, and, his mind soothed by devotion, he at length began to positively enjoy his existence, often lying for whole days in the delicious bowers which he had formed for himself, rapt in the most pleasant sensations.

12. Among the quadruped inhabitants of the island were multitudes of rats, which at first annoyed him by gnawing his feet while asleep. He freed himself from the presence of these enemies by catching and taming some of the cats which also abounded in the neighborhood. He amused himself by hunting on foot, in which he at length, through healthy exercise and habit, became such a proficient that he could run down the swiftest goat.

13. He was careful to measure the lapse of time, and distinguished Sunday from the other days in the week. Anxious, in the midst of all his indifference to society, that, in the event of his dying in solitude, his having lived there might not be unknown to his fellow-creatures, he carved his name upon a number of trees, adding the date of his being left, and the space of time which had since elapsed. When his knife was worn out, he made

new ones out of some iron hoops which he found on the shore.

14. Selkirk's solitary life upon the island continued for four years and four months; at the end of which time he was found by two British vessels which touched there. He lived about ten years after his restoration to society. He attracted much attention on account of his singular adventures, and many persons of distinction visited him to hear his story from his own lips. His manners were peculiar and reserved; and it appeared that his long seclusion from his fellow-men had in some degree unfitted him from mingling with them.

CXXVI. HOW THE PACIFIC RAILROAD WAS

COMPLETED.

tie, a piece of timber laid to hold together and support the rails; sleeper; Schwelle.

du'-ly, properly; gebührend.

de-tail', to appoint for a temporary duty; auswählen zu einer bestimmten Verrichtung.

spike, a large nail; Bolzen.

tel-e-gram, a dispatch sent by telegraph; telegraphische Depesche. con'-sum-mate, to complete; to finish; vollenden.

1. It is Monday morning. We are in the first cars that ever crossed the continent of America. We are on a plateau, surrounded by dreary mountains. That bold headland yonder is the object at which thousands of men have been looking for six years. It is Promontory Point, on the very backbone of the continent. Engines and trains from the East, and engines and trains from the West, some covered with flags, stand facing each other. A rod or two between them has, as yet, no ties and no rails.

2. One man, West Evans, who has furnished the Central Company with two hundred and fifty thousand ties, and who had furnished the first tie put down, was there with the last,

a beautiful specimen of the California laurel, which was duly laid down, and then taken up and preserved. The ties of the Central road were all sawed, of red wood; those of the Union were hewed.

3. At the appointed time, the master spirits of the two roads meet. White workmen from the East and olive Chinamen from the West meet, bearing the last sleepers and the last rails. A few boards, set up like a roof, is the telegraph office. A few tents, bearing the sign of "Saloon," or "Restaurant," compose the place. A rough flag-staff, with our dear old flag on it, tells us we are yet in our country, and the glorious flag is a witness of the scene. A regiment of soldiers, on their way to Alaska, are present, to see the occasion. Telegraph arrangements have been made, so that every telegraph in the land shall be connected.

4. A skillful officer has been detailed by the government to carry the wire down to the "Golden Gate," below San Francisco, and attach it to a fifteen-inch Parrott gun, to see if a gun can be fired eight hundred miles off. At the appointed hour the last tie is laid; the telegraph flashes through the country, "Are you all ready?" Back, from scores of cities, comes the echo, "All ready!" Again the telegraph says, "At the third tap it will be done." "We understand," say the wires.

5. In Washington, Cincinnati, Chicago, all the Western cities, in New York, Boston, even in Halifax,—in all the Pacific cities,--people stand grouped and breathless around the telegraph offices. "We are now going to attend prayers, -hats off!" say the wires; and in all these places they take off hats, and listen to the prayer as it leaps over the wires, sentence by sentence, to places four thousand miles apart.

6. The Governors of four States or Territories, with their gold and silver spikes, are there,-each golden one having nearly four hundred dollars in it. And now the last rail is laid and spiked. A telegraph wire is coiled around a

silver hammer, and the President of the Central Pacific just taps the head of the golden spike. That tap proclaimed to the country, and through Europe, that the work is done! The railroads are wedded into one! That gentle tap fired the big gun which the officer was watching at the fort, and instantly set all the bells in the land a ringing, and announced that the greatest work ever attempted in railroads

was a success.

7. In three minutes the telegrams came back from all the cities,The bells are ringing, and the people rejoicing." The whole thing seemed a wild dream. The telegraphing seemed to be magic; and we could hardly realize that creatures so small and feeble as men had accomplished a work so great. It made all other works of the kind seem small and insignificant. This was May 10, 1869. And thus the marriage was consummated, under the bright sun, in the desert place, and under the eye of Promontory Point,hereafter to become historical.

Rev. John Todd, D.D.

CXXVII. HOW BRUIN THE BEAR SPED WITH
RENARD THE FOX.

ver'-sion, translation; Übersetzung.
de-lec'-ta-ble, highly pleasing; ergötlich.
sa-tir'-ic-al, ironical; satirisch; spöttisch.

kins'-man, relative; Vetter; Verwandter.

in'-tri-cate, having many windings; mit verwickelten Gängen. coun-ter-plot', to oppose one plot, or plan, by another; List durch Gegenlist vereiteln; überlisten.

par'-don, to forgive; verzeihen.

of one's own accord; freiwillig.

dis-tem'-per, to bring disease upon; krank machen.

ca-price', whim; humor; Laune; Einfall.

hus'-band-man, a farmer; Landwirt.

sur ́-feit, excessive eating and drinking; Übermaß.

par-ish, a district belonging to one church; Kirchspiel.

cud'-gel, to beat with a club; prügeln.

be-tray', to deceive by treachery; verraten.