FROG CONCERT FIREFLIES. 89 putting the pieces into a leathern bag, and with the utmost indifference and unconcern stuffing the whole into his pocket! There are several Sabbath Schools in Boston, one of which I visited. It was conducted in the English style; there were six teachers present, and they informed me that there were about one hundred scholars on their list, but not a half of that number were in attendance. Within the last three weeks I have begun to experience the heat of an American Summer. The Thermometer at mid-day has ranged generally from 80 to 90 Degrees, and on läst Sabbath, which was the hottest day of all, it stood thus ; at half past Six A. M. 81o, at Ten 90°, at Noon 93o, half past Two P. M. 9610, Five 94°, Ten 82°. You have read Miss Edgeworth's tale of "Tomorrow," and will recollect the incident of the "Frog Concert." Since my arrival in America I have had frequent opportunities of listening to these performances. Marshes and ponds are filled with shoals of the Bull Frog, an animal four or five times as large as any of our hopping countrymen, who whistles away almost without intermission. Some of the frogs, probably the younger ones, have a pretty shrill note, others a deeper tone, and some tickle the auditory organ by a perpetual trill. The combination of these various strains produces an effect not altogether unmusical, and the distance to which the sound reaches is very great; sometimes 画 more than a mile. At first I enjoyed it pretty much, but the perpetuity with which it is continued makes it exceedingly tiresome, and to be kept awake during the night by their monotonous tune makes one very apt to lose temper at such untimely serenades. Let me introduce you to another of my American acquaintances, the Firefly; more engaging in its manners than the other. Myriads of this brilliant little insect float through the air in the summer evening. The spark of light which they emit is of vivid brightness, and from the fluttering of their wings twinkles incessantly. Moore in one of his songs, has made a pleasing allusion to these meteoric atoms "She is gone to the Lake of the Dismal Swamp, She paddles her white canoe. Unlike the Mosquito, which is a great annoyance here, the Firefly neither sings nor bites; it flutters and sparkles its little hour, and passes away-an apt emblem of many a thoughtless son and daughter of the human race. LETTER IV. APPEARANCE OF A NEW ENGLAND TOWN-NEW HAVEN-SCENERY -ANECDOTES OF THE REGICIDES OF CHARLES I.-ANCIENT AND MODERN BURYING GROUNDS-A FUNERAL-CHARACTER OF THE NEW ENGLANDERS-THEIR FONDNESS FOR SCOTISH POETRY AND NOVELS-STATE OF EDUCATION-SCHOOL FUND -STATE OF RELIGION-ECCLESIASTICAL SYSTEM-UNUSUAL OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH-SERMONS-SABBATH SCHOOLS. New Haven, Connecticut, July, 1818. THERE is nothing in Britain that bears any resemblance to a New England town, and it is not easy to convey to you an adequate idea of its singular neatness. 41 The houses are generally of wood, painted white, and decorated with Venetian blinds of a brilliant green. The solid frame work of the walls is covered externally with thin planks, called by Americans clapboards, which overlap each other from the eaves downward, and serve effectually to exclude rain. The roof is covered with shingles, which are thin slips of wood put on like slates, and painted of a dark blue. The buildings are in general about two stories in height; the door is decorated with a neat portico, and very frequently a projecting piazza, most grateful in hot weather, |