THE CLOUD.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF BEINICK.

One hot summer morning, a little cloud arose from the sea, and, like a blooming, playful child, looked through the sky, and over the wide earth, which for some time had lain sad and languishing from the effect of a long drought.

As the little cloud sailed through the heavens, she looked on the poor people below, working in the sweat of their brow, and suffering from fatigue, while she was free from care and toil, and was borne along by the light breath of the morning.

"Alas!" said she, "if I could but do some good to the poor people there below-something to lighten their labor, to soothe their cares, to supply food to the hungry, to refresh the thirsty!"

And the day went on, and the cloud grew larger; and, as she grew, the hopes of men were turned towards her.

But on the earth the heat still increased. The sun glowed and scorched, and beat on the heads of the laborers till they were near fainting; yet they must work on, for they were very poor.

They cast a look of entreaty towards the cloud, as if to say, "Ah! you can help us!"

"Yes, I will help you," said the cloud; and immediately began to descend gently towards the earth.

But now occurred to her what she had heard in the bosom of the ocean, when a child; namely, that the clouds found death whenever they sank too low, and came near the earth.

For some time she descended, and allowed herself to be carried hither and thither. At length she stood still, and said, boldly and joyfully

"Men, I will help you, happen what may!"

This thought made her suddenly gigantic, strong, and powerful. She had never even thought herself capable of such greatness. She stood over the earth like a beneficent God, and raised her head, and spread her wings over the fields. Her splendor was so great that man and beast shrank from it; the trees and grass bowed their heads; but all saw in her a benefactress.

"Yes, I will help you!" continued to cry the cloud. me! I die for you!"

"Receive

It was a mighty purpose which she therein executed. A bright light shone through her, thunder roared, undying love transpierced her, and she sank to earth dissolved in a flood of rain. This rain was her deed; the rain was her death; in it she was glorified.Over the whole land, as far as the rain spread, arose a bright bow, made of the finest rays of the sky. It was the last visible manifestation of her great, self-sacrificing love. In a short time, it also disappeared, but the blessing conferred by the cloud upon suffering and relieved man long remained.-The Schoolfellow.

Lamartine is writing a book on Turkey; he calls it "The Thousand and One Nights of History."

THE USE OF REMEMBERING.

"What's the use of remembering all this?" pettishly cried a boy, after his father, who had been giving him some instructions, had left

the room.

"I'll tell you what; remembering is of great service sometimes," said his cousin. "Let me read to you now from the Living Age.

Please hear.

66

My dog, Dash, was once stolen from me," says Mr. Kidd. “After being absent thirteen months, he one day entered my office in town, with a long string tied round his neck. He had broken away from the fellow who held him prisoner. Our meeting was a joyful one. I found out the thief, had him apprehended, and took him before a magistrate. He swore the dog was his, and called witnesses to bear him out.

Mr. Kidd," asked the lawyer, addressing me,

can you give

any satisfactory proof of this dog being your property?"

two.

Placing my mouth to the dog's ear-first giving him a know ing look-and whispered a little communication known only to us Dash immediately reared up on his hind legs, went through with a series of manoeuvres with a stick, guided by my eye, which set the whole court in a roar. My evidence needed nothing stronger; the thief stood convicted, Dash was liberated, and among the cheers of the multitude merrily bounded homeward."

There, boy, do you hear that? That dog's remembering was of service to him; it was taken as evidence in a court, and it fairly got the case. Yes, he was set free, and a thief convicted. Well, if remembering his master's instructions served a dog so well, how much more likely is it to be important for a boy to treasure up the instructions of his father, not knowing what straits they may keep him out of?”

The lesson is a pretty good one, and other boys might profit by it.

A Yankee gentleman, conveying a British gentleman around to view the different objects of attraction in the city of Boston, bro't him to Bunker Hill. They stood looking at the beautiful shaft, when the Yankee said:

"This is the place where Warren fell."

"Ah!" replied the Englishman, evidently not posted up in local historical matters, "did it hurt him much?"

The native looked at him with the expression of fourteen fourths of July in his countenance: "Hurt hini!" he exclaimed; "he was killed, sir!"

"Ah, he was, eh?" said the stranger, still eyeing the monument and computing its heights in his own mind, layer after layer.“Well, I think he would have been, to fall so far.”

THE SNAKE AND THE ICHNEUMON.-Mr. Calder Campbell gives the ensuing account of an adventure of an Indian officer, which fully e-tablishes the power of the ichnenmon. From some accidental circumstance, he was alone on foot, and wandering about a desolate part of the country at night; when, overcome by fatigue, he threw himself down, and went fast asleep. He slept soundly, but he awoke full of horror; he felt that his lower limbs were enveloped in a living chain, preventing all movement, and when fully conscious, he perceived that a large serpent had bound him in his coils, up to the knees. He gave himself up for lost, but remained motionless, one hand under his head, whence he dared not remove it, for fear of awaking the snake.

Unexpectedly he heard a purring sound behind him, which crea ted new terror; it was followed by two smart taps upon the ground, which put the snake on the alert, and it crawled towards his breast. When half mad with fright, something leaped upon his shoulder, then on to the reptile. There was a shrill cry from the new assailant, a loud appalling hiss from the serpent. For an instant he could feel them wrestling on his body; in the next they were beside him on the turf; in another a few paces off, struggling, twisting round each other, fighting furiously.

He started up and watched that furious combat; he saw them stand aloof for a moment; the deep, venomous fascination of the snaky glance, powerless against the keen, quick, restless orbs of its opponent. He saw this duel of the eye exchange once more for closer conflict, he saw that the Mongoos was bitten, that it darted away, doubtless in search of that still unknown plant, whose juices are an alleged antidote against snake-bites; that it returned with fresh vigor to the attack. And then, glad sight! he beheld the snake, maimed from head to tail, fall lifeless from its hitherto demierect position, with a baffled hiss; while the wonderful victor indulged itself upon the body of its antagonist, danced and bounded about, purring and spitting like an enraged cat.--Mrs. Lee' Anecdotes of Animals.

CURIOUS METHOD OF CATCHING TURTLES.-A curious method of catching them is practised on the shores of China and Mozambique, for there the captors are living fishes. Mr. Salt tells us, that the remora, or sucking fishes, are trained for the purpose.— They are taken in tubs to the place where the turtles lie basking on the surface of the water, the tail of each being furnished with a ring, to which is attached a long, fine, but strong cord. The fishermen slip one of these overboard, which, soon perceiving the turtle, fixes itself so firmly upon it that both can be drawn together to the boat, and the fish is easily detached by pushing its head for. ward from behind.

Experience is the father, and memory the mother of wisdom.

SOLUTION.

MR. EDITOR: Having seen no solution of a problem to be found in the February No. of the Journal, I send you the following which you are at liberty to give an insertion, for the perusal of your young readers, if you deem it worthy the space it will occupy. The problem is as follows: A stone weighing forty pounds may be broken into four pieces that will weigh every pound from one to forty, what will be the weight of the pieces?

It is evident that the first or smallest piece will weigh 1 pound. Now, if we take the greatest number in the scale of natural num. bers, with which, if 1 is combined, we can express the weight of every pound between 1 pound and the pounds represented by this number, we shall obtain the weight of the second piece, which is 3 pounds. Again, the next greatest number which, combined with 1 and 3, will express the weight of every pound between the sum of 1 lb. and 3 lbs., and the pounds represented by this number, will be the weight of the third piece, which is 9 lbs.

Lastly, the next greatest number, with which, if 1, 3 and 9 are combined, we can express the weight of every pound between the sum of 1 lb., 3 lbs. and 9 lbs., and the pounds expressed by this number, will be the weight of the largest piece, and this is found to be 27 lbs. The weight of the four pieces, then, would be, 1st: 1 lb.; 2d, 3 lbs.; 3d, 9 lbs.; 4th, 27 lbs.

lbs. lbs.

The combinations would be like the following: 1 lb. 1 lb.; 3 1 lb. 2 lbs.; 3 lbs. 3 lbs.; 3 lbs. 1 lb. 4 lbs.; 9 lbs.-3 1 lb. 5 lbs.; 9 lbs.-3 lbs.=6 lbs.; 9 lbs. ≈ 1 lb.-3 lbs.― 7 lbs.; 9 lbs.-1 lb. 8 lbs.; 9 lbs. 9 lbs.; 9 lbs. 1 lb. 10 lbs.; 9 lbs. 3 lbs.--1 lb. 11 lbs., &c,

GEOMETRICAL THEOREM.-If the middle points of the adjacent sides of any quadrilateral, however irregular, be connected by straight lines, the figure included by these lines will be a parallelogram and will embrace half the area of the quadrilateral.

The city of Quito is situated two miles above the level of the sea. Now, allowing the equatorial diameter of the earth to be 8,000 miles, how much further is an inhabitant of that city carried by the diurnal revolution of the earth than a person dwelling on the seashore ?

Why should the stars be the best astronomers?

A benevolent Jew meeting in succession 20 beggars, gave the firrst one-third of the contents of his purse, to the second one-third of the remainder, and to each succeeding one a like share; which, in the last instance, was 2s. What amount had he at first?

James and Henry together have 100 marbles. Henry says, "If I count nine by tens, there is a remainder of 7;" and James replies, "If I count mine by eights, I also find a remainder of 7."How many has each ?

A man bought 100 animals for $100; paying $10 for each cow, $1 for a sheep, and $0.50 for each lamb. How many of each did he buy?

A cistern containing 500 gallons of water, has two pipes leading into it, and one discharging pipe. The first empties into it 20 gallons in 1 hour, and the second 30 gals. in 2 hours; the discharging pipe conducts away 100 gals. in 4 hours. Now, if we suppose the cistern to be half full, and that the number of hours the pipes are open, each day, is in proportion to the number of gallons they respectively discharge, how long will they be in emptying, or filling it, as the case may be?

PERUVIAN BATHING.-I took a stroll along the beach, and was much amused at witnessing the singular mode adopted by the ladies for the enjoyment of a water excursion. The bathing-men are Indians, very stout and robust; who, being divested of every species of covering except a pair of drawers, take to the water, each carrying a lady upon his shoulders. The men strike out to swim, and do so without inconveniencing the ladies, who float horizon. tally on the surface of the water. In this way they are carried for a mile or more, and appear to enjoy this novel mode of locomotion extremely.-Bonelli's Travels in Bolivia.

THE RAPIDITY OF ELECTRICITY.-In the original experiments by Professor Wheatstone to ascertain the rapidity with which electricity is transmitted along copper wire, it was found that an electric spark passed through a space of 280,000 miles in a second. It has been determined that the rapidity of transmission through iron wire is 16,000 miles a second, whilst it does not exceed 2,700 in the same space of time in the telegraph wire between London and Brussels, a great portion of which is submerged in the German Ocean. The retardation of the force in its passage through insulated wire immersed in water is calculated to have an import. ant practical bearing in effecting a telegraphic communication with America, for it is stated by Professor Faraday that in a length of 2,000 miles three or more waves of electric force might be trans. mitting at the same time, and that if the current be reversed, sig. nals sent through the wire might be recalled before arriving at America.