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up with the loss of a few feathers only. But he seemed stupified with fright, and did not attempt to leave my hand. I placed him carefully on the flower-stand, by the open window, and there he rested, the eyes closed, and now and then exhibited a slight tremulous motion, but making no movement for flight.

Meantime the visits of the female to the honeysuckle became more and more hurried and frequent. Heretofore the mate had shared the labour of providing food for the nestlings; now she had the whole labour, and evidently was exhausted by the unaccustomed demand on her usual assiduity. Though at times not three feet distant, the bird within the window took no notice of his mate. So the hours passed; no attempt at flight was made; no consciousness was apparent, save the trivial movement beforementioned. Now came darting to the fragrant honeysuckle on noisy wing a humble bee. No sooner this, than the inactive bird roused with a movement of anger, instantly darted upon the enemy bee and transfixed with his needle-like bill, and shaking off with apparent disgust upon the ground, flew swift as an arrow to his home in the old apple-tree.

The day's history does not end here. In the afternoon, seated in the drawingroom, which was ornamented with fresh flowers, the female came in and went out repeatedly, till she also fell between a window-sash. In this case the hand oould be introduced to aid the release of the involuntary captive; but she seemed

when released quite dead, I supposed from fright, or exhaustion in ineffectual struggles to get free. I laid her on my hand upon a handkerchief, intending to examine her plumage more carefully, but engaged in conversation with a friend for fifteen or twenty minutes, almost had forgotten the poor little thing. I accompanied my visitor to the door, and while saying parting words, of a sudden the humming bird, which had lain apparently lifeless and stiff till now, darted off in full flight to the apple-tree, leaving me to speculate upon the singular habits and instincts which lead the animal tribes to secure their own preservation, and guard their young from injury. X.

The Silver Fish Hook.

DR. FRANKLIN observing one day a hearty young fellow, whom he knew to be an extraordinary good blacksmith, sitting on the wharf bobbing for little mudcats and eels, he called to him, 'Ah Tom, what a pity 'tis you cannot fish with a silver hook.' Some days after this, the

doctor passing that way saw Tom out at the end of the wharf again with his long pole bending over the flood. What, Tom!' cried the doctor, have you got the silver hook yet? God bless you, doctor,' cried the blacksmith, 'I am hardly able to fish with an iron hook.' 'Poh, poh!' replied the doctor, 'go home to your anvil, and you will make silver enough in one day to buy more and better fish than you can catch here in a month.'

How did you pass Sunday?

6

My little friend James seems particularly anxious to know how we spent Sunday, and if we did not weary' on that day more than any other. I can most sincerely assure him we did not. It is the only day on which we have father always with us; and that circumstance alone makes it a happy one to us. On looking back, it seems to me as if mother and he were that day more especially kind, gentle, and attentive to us. There was no gloom-no severe looks nor long faces seen. Obstreperous mirth was repressed, but a sweet cheerfulness reigned amongst us. In the morning we each read to mother a little portion of the Bible, and father and she explained it to us. If there were any town or country mentioned in it, they told us what was the modern name of the place, and pointed it out on the map or globe; told us the most interesting stories of the situation in which the places now are, that were mighty and powerful in the times when scripture history was written; and explained to us that the now degraded state

of their inhabitants, and the ruined state of their once magnificent cities, were existing proofs of the truth of the Bible, because that such would be their fate is most distinctly foretold in the books of the prophets;-a part of the Bible we were not allowed to read until we were better able to understand it.

The trouble which they took in explaining the manners and customs that are alluded to in the Bible,-manners and customs so very different from our own, prevented us from forming the ridiculous notions which children often take into their heads, when reading what they do not understand. I remember an instance of this which often makes me smile.

One Sunday, while Ellen was reading to mother, she came to the expression which David uses, in the 92d Psalm,My horn shalt thou exalt.' She stopped and looking up very seriously into her mother's face, said, 'Mother, had king David horns like a cow ?'

There was a smothered laugh from all the rest of us; and even when mother raised her eyes to reprove us by a look, we saw a half smile lurking in the corner of her lip.

'No, my child,' said she, King David had no horns in the sense in which you have taken his words. The horn here spoken of was a piece of dress worn by princes and men of high rank in the eastern countries, of which David was a native and a king. It was made of gold, in the form of a straight horn, highly ornamented with jewels, and worn in the

centre of the turban, which was, and is still, the universal head-dress of men in those countries. The higher the rank and honor of the wearer, the higher and more erect this Horn was worn. If the wearer of it fell into any shame or disgrace, he was compelled to loosen it, so that it hung down over the brow instead of standing up. Thus, my dear children, you see, that when David declares that God will yet 'exalt his horn,' he merely means that God will yet call him to great honor and glory.'

I remember still how delighted we all felt at hearing this, which had appeared to us so strange an expression, so simply and distinctly explained to us; and perhaps some of my readers may be equally pleased when they meet with it here. We were never obliged to commit chapters, or any part of the Bible, to memory. The portion of it which we read to mother in the morning, we again read to ourselves on our return from church; and then, laying aside the Bible, we wrote it down, not in the very words of scripture, but simply in our own language; and by this means father and mother saw, in one moment, whether we rightly understood it or not, because if we did not understand it, of course we could not write it distinctly in words of our own. Perhaps some of my little friends may think this was a hard task; but I can assure them that, if they will only try it, they will find it is not so; and that in this way they will far sooner acquire a really useful knowledge of the Bible, than

they will by committing to memory all the chapters in it, if they do not at the same time fully understand them.

In the afternoon, father and mother looked over what we had written, explaining again any thing we had misunderstood, and correcting what was wrong.

Then, if the weather would permit, we went into the garden, and while we jumped and gambolled round our dear parents, they would frequently call us to observe some of the wonderful and curious works and beauties of nature with which we were surrounded, or direct our admiration to the bountiful attention which the Creator has manifested in providing for the comfort and happiness of every creature-even those we tread under foot. If the weather or the season made the garden inaccessible or disagreeable, then we read to mother from some agreeable and interesting book, suited for Sunday. When that was over, we committed a few verses of a hymn or psalm, and a portion of the catechism, to memory; and having repeated them aloud, we were dismissed to our own room to employ ourselves in any way we chose for an hour; at the end of which we were called to tea.

When tea was over, mother opened the organ, and, at once instructing and accompanying us, she made us sing sacred music. There is nothing on which I look back with such mournful delight as these little family concerts. The least note now heard of the simple airs we used to sing recalls the pleasant hours, the lovely group, the parents now in heaven !

LETTER IV.

without waking. You may judge of his

Bridges. Grenville. Story of the man packed in a box and sent as freight. Wells. Spinning Wheels. Lake Ontario. Indian Canoes.

I THINK often about these Two Kettles, by which name the Falls of Chaudiere are distinguished; for it is across these singular falls that the celebrated Union Bridges, which connect Upper and Lower Canada, are thrown. These bridges are very extraordinary works of art; and being thrown over such a roaring cataract, have a very sublime appearance. The chasm consists of four principal parts, two of which are tram bridges, overhanging the currents, and are supported by piers; a third is a straight wooden bridge, and a fourth is of stone. The Ottawa river has now a navigation uninterrupted for steamboats 'all the way to Grenville,' 60 miles. All the way to Grenville,' is an expression used in this country, which takes its rise from a ludicrous circumstance that occurred here. One of the settlers was so given to intemperate habits, that he was a disgrace to himself and every body about him. He was often found lying quite insensible in the highways from the effect of liquor. On one of these occasions, some of his kind neighbors packed him up in a rough case, full of breathing holes, and put him on board the steamboat, addressed to the landlord of one of the inns at Grenville; and the fellow is said to have travelled the whole 60 miles

I proceeded through Grenville, passing on through the whole of the upper province, and must say that I like it much better than Lower Canada. I was delighted with the cottage farms and the sprightly-looking lasses I found spinning at the doors-they looked so happy.

The wells, and the method of drawing water was curious, although I have seen the same in England. A long pole was balanced on a post, and the bucket hung by a line on one end, while at the other end stood the person wishing to obtain the water, who had nothing to do but to pull, and the bucket came up full. This method, which is very simple, enables a child four or five years old to draw water, as you see in the picture.

and fro, guiding the yarn with one hand and turning the wheel with the other.

Then as to the sheep, I saw plenty of them, and they were mostly black, but the produce of their backs serves to clothe the Upper Canadians. I noticed, hanging on the hedges to dry, by the cottage farms, hanks of yarn of all colors, which are sent to the loom to be woven.

Another thing struck me as being very curious, and I could not make out what it was. At a short distance from the cottages I saw what appeared to me to be a beehive stuck on four little legs. I found out however that these beehives were ovens, and pour forth, not honey, but bread.

I shall now tell you something about Lake Ontario, the most eastern of the American Lakes, out of which the St. Lawrence runs. This lake is really a very wonderful piece of water; being 172 miles long, and nearly 60 miles wide in its broadest part. It is also very deep in some parts; for people who have sounded it can find no bottom at 300 fathoms, which is 1800 feet, or more than a quarter of a mile. The water is very clear; the shores gravelly. I went on the lake in a boat, and the view of its shores is very beautiful.

There are a great number of steamers on this lake, belonging both to the British and the Americans; and a constant intercourse is kept up between the two

I should like you to see one of these canoes, for they are very ingeniously made. Some are not more than 12 feet long, while others are above thirty; their breadth is from four to six feet; and they are so light that they may be carried about with ease. Its outside is made of the bark of the birch tree, not more than a quarter inch in thickness, and sometimes less. It is kept in shape by hoops, and lined with very thin shingles. The gunwale, or top edge, is a narrow strip of tough wood, to which the hoops and bark are sewed with narrow strips of the roots of the white cedar; and the joinings in the bark are made water-proof by a kind of gum said to be collected from the wild cherry tree. No iron-work nor nails are employed in their construction. They are worked by paddles over the sides; but the Indians do not sit like us, with their back to the head of the boat, and laugh at us heartily for so doing; but paddle them forward with great swiftness, and keep a good look out a-head.