George. Streams of water, running along the surface of the earth, in natural channels.

M. F. A very excellent definition. Rivers may be large or small, according to the extent of country which they drain. A very small stream is generally called a brook, but it is merely a small river. Rivers, for the most part, rise in high lands, from springs or the melting of ice and snow. When the fall of water is gentle, it is called a rivulet; when violent, a torrent. As it courses along, other small streams fall into it, and thus it keeps constantly increasing in size until it falls into the sea or ocean. Every ridge of mountains and high lands, running through a continent or country, gives rise to numerous rivers. On each side, they pour forth streams of water, which wind through the valleys, refreshing vegetation, propelling machinery, and furnishing a sort of highway for boats; and, having performed their destiny, discharge themselves into the ocean. By the process of evaporation the water is again raised as clouds, and carried by the wind into the interior of the country, where it falls as rain or snow; and thus the mighty, curious, wonderful system goes on for ages and ages, without danger of interruption! Look over your head. Those clouds, which you have so often seen, are but buckets, if I may so speak, carrying water about, emptying it here and there for your benefit. Now, did you ever really think of how much importance they are? Why, without them, the springs, rivers, ponds, and lakes, would soon dry entirely away, the earth would be parched, the trees and plants would dry up, the cattle and the beasts of the forest would die, and the earth would be unfit to sustain life. Henry. There are some countries where there is but very little rain, like Egypt. How do the inhabitants do without it?

M. F. By another very wonderful and interesting provision of nature. The Nile, which runs through Egypt, from south to north, is a very long river, and, once every year, it overflows its banks, and waters the valleys on both sides profusely. This overflow happens regularly, and is caused by long and heavy rains on the mountains in the interior of Africa. It takes nearly two months, after the rainy season begins, for the water to reach what is called the valley of the Nile, in sufficient quantity to make this overflow. Without it the banks of that river would be as barren as the deserts which surround it.

Rivers generally have but one outlet, called the mouth. Some have several. The Ganges has eight, all of which are large and deep. The Nile, the Mississippi, and some other rivers, have numerous outlets.

I have spoken of the valleys as the natural beds of rivers. So indeed they are, yet there are one or two exceptions to this rule, and exceptions worthy of notice. The Mississippi river, the longest stream of water in the world, for hundreds of miles from its mouth runs along on the top of a ridge of land. This may appear strange to you, yet it is a fact. The surface of the land or swamps, on both sides of the river, is considerably below the surface of the water. The water during the annual freshets sometimes breaks over these banks, or levees, as they are called, and thousands of acres of plantations, and even towns and settlements, are overflowed. In the spring of 1849, you may remember, there was a large breakage or crevasse in the river bank, and great alarm spread over that portion of the States. Several streets, in the city of New Orleans, were inundated, and it was not until the river had fallen considerably, that the places were stopped. The water stood like large lakes upon the swamps, and for some time many of the roads were under water, and totally impassable. Geologists tell us that probably the larger part of the State of Louisiana has been made by the Mississippi river. During the greater part of the year, the water of this river is thick with mud, washed from the banks, which are continually wearing away, and this is dropped at the outlets, and in time forms land. We can judge pretty well of the truth of this from the fact that the old Balize, a post erected by the French, in 1724, at the mouth of the river, is now two miles and a half distant from the present mouth. When you are old enough to understand Geology, there are many more facts in regard to this river that will interest you.

Henry. I have heard of underground rivers, but I suppose there is no such thing.

M. F. Certainly there are many underground streams, one of which I have seen. I was travelling along in the stage, some years ago, in Kentucky, near the line of Tennessee, when all at once a river appeared bursting out from the side of a mountain. We followed the stream for some distance, and I saw several small mills

carried by the water. Presently the water fell into a sort of pit in the rocks, and was entirely lost from sight.

Flora. Why, Mr. Forrester, where does the water go to? I should think that the pit would be filled up.

When I But I can

M. F. Perhaps it has no bottom to it. I will warrant you that the water finds the ocean in some way. Kentucky is a queer state in this respect. There are several caves and deep chasms in the rocks within her borders, and the sound of water can frequently be heard in them. The great Mammoth cave has been explored more than three miles under ground. At this point one of these underground rivers runs directly across the path. It is a stream of respectable size, and it here falls over a precipice—I dare not say how deep - but it must be a great ways. The roar of the water below is distant, yet the air around seems to be shaken by the fall. Who can tell how much longer this cave is? Perhaps it may, at some future day, be explored a great distance further. But there is yet something wonderful in regard to this cave to tell you. In the water above spoken of there are a multitude of fish without eyes. first learned this, I confess that my belief was staggered. not doubt now that such is the fact. They not only have no eyes, but there are not any of the optical nerves in the head, usually found connecting the eye with the brain. Here we have a striking instance of the wisdom of our Creator. These fish have no use for eyes. They are shut up in a dark dungeon, away from the light forever. Yet it is just as difficult to catch these fish as though they had the best of eyes. He who "tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," has not left them defenceless. Their sense of feeling is so perfect that upon the approach of a net, with which they are sometimes taken, they will dart away in an instant, and it requires considerable skill and patience to capture them. You would suppose that without eyes they would be continually running their noses against the rocks; but it is not so. Their other fine senses, of which we know nothing, tell them when they are in danger. Wonderful as this is, plainly as the hand of an all-wise Providence is here displayed, it is but one page from the great book of Nature. Look around you where you will, and God is written everywhere. Not only in these little fishes, created without eyes, because they are placed where the light of day never penetrates, but everywhere, in

the forest, in the fields, in the seasons, winter and summer, light and darkness, on the shores of the great ocean, and by the side of the rippling brook, everything we examine has its story to tell of the bounty and goodness of our Creator. You, doubtless, wonder how any reasonable being can deny the existence of God, with all these proofs before him. It is, certainly, very strange. But you are young, and every day you live will show you other proofs as great as these. When the snows of more than seventy winters have whitened your locks, as they have mine, I am sure you will think it the greatest wonder of all, that a reasoning human creature should reject these proofs of a kind Providence, as inconclusive and visionary.

Its form is that

ONE of the most interesting animals known is the chamois, a picture of which stands at the head of this article. of a slender-formed goat, but with less shaggy hair.

It inhabits the

high districts upon the s.de of the Alps, in Switzerland, between the elevated glaciers where perpetual snow is found, and the forests below. It is not more than two and a half feet in height, with black horns, crooking backwards at the tips.

They go in herds of twenty or thirty, and feed upon the Alpine pastures, which give a peculiar richness to their flesh, much esteemed as venison. Their skins, too, are valuable, and, to capture them, the hunters ply their hazardous employment, which carries them to places of the wildest and most precipitous description. Few ravines will stop the chamois. It will either scale or leap them. "We have seen it," says a traveller, "leaping down a precipice, sliding first the fore legs down the steep, while, with its hind feet, it held the edge of the rock, till the centre of gravity was lowered as far as possible, then bounding forward and alight on its hind feet without any apparent effort. These descents we have witnessed to the depth of more than twenty feet; and it will not hesitate to leap down even thirty.""

All the senses of the chamois are extremely acute; and these, combined with its great agility, are the guards and defence from danger with which Providence has endowed this otherwise defenceless animal. Its sense of smell, it is said, will enable it to perceive an aggressor at a distance of two miles. It voice, when undisturbed, is a kind of low bleating, but, when alarmed, it is changed into a shrill blast, or whistle, which is known to the herd, and at once sets them upon the alert.

Flattery.

You

may

be

ONE of the very worst kinds of deceit is flattery. sure that they who flatter you are not your friends. They generally have a purpose in view: - either to be paid back in their own coin, or to gain some favor from you. In illustration of this, I will relate an anecdote which I lately heard:

A carpenter was working in his shop one morning, and on taking up his axe he found it wanted grinding sadly, and having sent his stone to be repaired, he set out in quest of a person who would lend