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A JOURNAL OF INSTRUCTION FOR THE FAMILY AND THE SCHOOL.

13th Week.

MONDAY.

Moral Lesson.

CHARITY.

"OH! isn't it a glorious kite ?" said little Arthur, as he cut out a new picture to paste on the great kite which he and his new nurse Ruth were making.

"Hush! Master Arthur," said Ruth; "it is so silly to say it is glorious.''

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to say,

Master Arthur looked up at Ruth with surprise, as much as "What do you mean by stopping me?" for he had never been accustomed to be corrected. But he did'nt kick his nurse: she had pleased him so much, and he was so delighted with his kite, that he did not like to be angry.

Master Arthur's mamma was sitting on a chair in the nursery, and was folding up some papers to make the kite's tail. She was glad to see that he was not rude, for generally Master Arthur was said to be "a Turk ;" and the two nurses before Ruth had left because he used to kick them so when in a passion.

As Arthur's mamma sat on that chair she thought to herself, "Ah, my boy! if I could only teach you love and charity, you would leave off being rude." Then she thought again, “I will pray to God to

help you to do so; and I will begin this very day."

At the dinner-table, Master Arthur talked to his papa about his nurse. "I like my nurse, papa," he said.

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Why?" said his papa. "Because she's a good one. I can always tell when I shall like anybody. I should like to have Ruth for my nurse always. She sets me very easy lessons

and she told me a tale about the New Zealanders this morning-about a missionary too; I am going to save up my money and buy her a present for her birth-day (it is coming in three weeks), and I am going to cut some of the mustard and cress ont of my garden for her tea, and I am going to show her all my dissected maps, and I will always be kind her."

"Well, I hope you will," said his papa. "I like to hear you talk in this way. Be sure you do not forget your words."

After dinner Arthur's mamma helped him to fasten the tail, which they had made, to the kite. He had been promised that he should take it on the downs and fly it; so he waited in the nursery while Ruth was getting her dinner.

Ruth was a long time, but Arthur was very patient, except that he swung his legs backwards and forwards a little, and kicked off the paint from his play-box, on which he was sitting.

When Ruth and Arthur reached the downs, they began directly to try and fly the kite. "Come on, Ruth!" said Arthur, "Come along! do'nt let us waste any time."

So Ruth fastened on the great ball of string.

"Now then, Ruth, you wait there!" said Arthur, "and hold it up. Hold it still while I run." Then Arthur ran, but the kite did not go up. "Not that way ! Not that way, Ruth," he said; "hold it higher. No! that's not the way! So! higher! Hold it 'the way of the wind.' That's it! Now then."

Then Arthur ran again, and pulled hard at the string. Ruth let go and the kite went up with a zig-zag motion; it first pointed to the right and then to the left, as if it did not know which way he wanted it to go. It never entered into the kite's head to go up straight, for how should it? It had never been up so high before. After twisting about in the air for a very little while, it seemed to think it had gone up quite high enough, and it turned right round, tail upwards, coming down very quickly, and striking bump on the ground with its round head.

"There now!" said Arthur to Ruth, "how stupid you are! That's because you did'nt try the way of the wind.""

Ruth did not say anything. She quietly held the kite up again, while Arthur ran in another direction. But neither he nor Ruth could find "the way of the wind.” The truth is, there was no wind that afternoon, so after an hour had been spent out of doors to no purpose, Arthur returned home feeling quite cross; he would hardly speak to his nurse. "Mamma," he said, when he came in, "Ruth is very stupid!"

His mamma was sorry to hear him speak so, but she did not make any remark until teatime. Then she said to him, "Arthur you talked very fine words at dinner-time, you declared that you would always be kind to Ruth."

"Yes, so I will."

"But when you came in from the downs you said she was stupid."

"But, I did'nt kick her!" "But you found fault with her when it was not her fault. That showed you did not love her."

"Well, you see, I was vexed, you know-I could'nt love her when the kite would'nt fly.

"So, when you did'nt know what to do with your vexation you threw it at her. You loved her this morning when she was making your kite and pleased you; but you did not love her when you were vexed."

"No, it is so very hard to do that."

"But," said Arthur's mamma, "I should like you to do so. I want you to learn 'Charity."

"What is that?" "It is one of the beautiful fruits of God's Spirit; it is a feeling which all good men have."

"Then I should like to have some."

"You cannot, Arthur, learn charity all at once; I am going to begin to-day to teach you.

The first lesson you may learn is to try and feel kind always. It is very easy to love others when you feel pleased; but you should try to be kind to them, even when you are vexed. So you may go up stairs and make friends with Ruth. Be very kind to her all the evening."

THE ROBIN.

A SUPPLIANT to your window comes
Who trusts your faith and fears no guile,
He claims admittance for your crumbs,
And reads his passport in your smile.

For cold and cheerless is the day,
And he has sought the hedges round;
No berry hangs upon the spray,
Nor worm nor ant-egg can be found.
Secure his suit will be preferred,
No fears his slender feet deter,
For sacred the household bird
That wears the scarlet stomacher.
Where are his gay companions now,
Who sang so merrily in Spring?
Some shivering on the leafless bough,
With ruffled plume and drooping wing.
Some in the hollow of a cave,

Consigned to temporary death,
And some, beneath the sluggish wave,
Await reviving nature's breath.
The migrant tribes are fled away,
To skies where insect myriads swarm,
They vanish with the Suminer-day,
Nor bide the bitter northern storm.
But still is this sweet minstrel heard,
While lours December dark and drear,

The social, cheerful, household bird
That wears the scarlet stomacher.
And thus in life's propitious hour,
Deceitful flatterers round us sport;
But if the prospect seem to lour,
They the more happy fly to court.
Then let us to the selfish herd

Of fortune's parasites prefer

The friend like this, our Winter bird,
That wears the scarlet stomacher.

THE JUSSIEUAN SYSTEM.

CLASS I. THALAMIFLORAL the grass and examine it; we

EXOGENS.

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will hold a committee on a buttercup.

Ion. Please let us have one

each, papa. I can tell you something about mine. It has five yellow petals.

P. Suppose you pull off the petals-now you

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Petal, with honeyscale.

may see that each has a little gland or scale at its base; in this gland the honey is contained; this is the most interesting the bees.

part to

W. We will examine the sepals next, I think-at least, you will, perhaps, for mine has no calyx at all!

L. Nor has mine, nor Ion's, nor mamma's.

P. Each of these flowers had a calyx, but it dropped off shortly after the corolla opened. We say of such a calyx that it is deciduous, just as we talk of deciduous leaves. You may see the calyx of this, which is not open yet. It has five sepals.

L. Which part shall we examine next, papa?

P. Let us look at the stamens. You may observe, first, that there are a very large number.

L. And I notice, secondly, that they have very short filaments; thirdly, they grow from the receptacle under the ovary, that is, they are hypogynous.

Indeed, we learned last week that all the "Thalamifloral" exogens are hypogynous.

W. I am the secretary of the committee, let me report progress. We have observed three things in three different parts of the flower,

1. The COROLLA has five petals; yellow, with a scale containing honey.

2. The CALYX has five sepals; green, deciduous.

3. The STAMENS are numerous, with short filaments, growing from receptacle.

P. The pistil is to be observed next. You can observe in the centre of the stamens a number of little green grains. Just look at them through this magnifying glass.

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Here, however, is a ripe car

pel; in this the pollen from the anthers has entered the ovule, so that it has become a perfect seed. It Ripe Carpel, has grown so large containing the that it has filled perfect seed, with its embryo. the whole carpel.

L. And the carpel, papa, seems to be only large enough to form a skin for the seed. I should have called these dried carpel seeds, if I had not seen how the seed grows and fills them up.

P. Such seeds (where there is only one in a carpel) are called grains, like the seed of corn. The small oval body which you see at the bottom of the seed is the embryo; this, as you have heard, is formed by the pollen-the rest of the seed consists of the nutritious cotyledons (vol. iv. p. 246). These dry carpels remain in a cluster and ripen, after the flower has fallen off. (See cut page 196.)

Now proceed with your examination. You have noticed the parts of the flower.

W. Then let us travel down

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