some crying "Mammoth cabbages," and others "New-fashioned sun-shades."

9. She turned again, and said, with tears in her eyes, "What have I done, my little lads, that you should thus trouble me'?"

10. "It is a shame," said a neatly-dressed, finelooking boy, who rushed through the crowd to the rescue of the poor old woman.

11. "Madam," said he, "your umbrella was turned by the wind. Will you allow me to close it for you?"

12. "I thank you," she replied. "Then that is what those boys are hooting at! Well, it does look funny," added she, as she looked at the cause of their merriment. The kind-hearted boy endeavored to turn down the umbrella, but it was no easy task; the whalebones seemed obstinately bent on standing upright.

13. The boys now changed the object of their attack, and the pebbles rattled like hail upon the manly fellow who was struggling to relieve the poor woman from her awkward predicament."

14. "You are a mean fellow, to spoil our fun," said they; "but you can't come it: cabbage leaves will grow upward."

15. He, however, at length succeeded, and, closing the troublesome umbrella, handed it to the old woman with a polite bow.

16. "Thank you, thank you, a thousand thanks, sir," said she; "and I should like to know your name, that I may repay you whenever I can find an opportunity."

17. "By no means," replied he. "I am happy to have rendered you this trifling service;" and he walked away.

18. "Well," said she, "whoever you are, your father and mother have reason to be proud of you, for you are a gentleman-a perfect gentleman."

19. And so he was a gentleman; and I wish I could tell you his name, that you may see if my prophecy does not prove true.

20. "Manners make the man," you may often have written in very legible characters in your copy-books. They certainly do go very far toward making the gentleman. But a true gentleman must have a good heart also.

a RE-SUMED', began again.

b IN-FIRM'-I-TY, feebleness.
C COM'-IC-AL, droll; laughable.
d RE-VERSED', turned back.
e GRAVE, serious.

EN-DEAV'-ORED, tried; attempted.

RES'-CUE, aid; relief; deliverance.

h PRE-DIC-A-MENT, unfortunate condition. PROPH'-E-CY, declaration of something to LEG-I-BLE, plain; readable.

come.

[LESSON LIX. very happily illustrates the character of the true gentleman. It was not only not gentlemanly for the boys to annoy a poor old woman for sport, but it was cruel, and wicked in them. The boy who braved the derision and resentment of his comrades by going to the rescue of the old lady, was a gentleman, not merely because he did a courteous act, but because he did it from kind feelings and good motives. It is impossible for a bad man, or a bad boy, to be a gentleman.]

LESSON LX.

THE MUSIC OF INSECTS.

1. The evening after we had been talking about the crickets,* we were all sitting around the table, Aunt Mary knitting, and Lucy and Minnie engaged with their sewing. Willie, having closed his book,

* See page 95.

had been for some time gazing into the fire, as if in deep thought, when he abruptly broke the silence by turning to Uncle John, and asking, "Uncle John, do not the katydids sing?"

2. Before Uncle John had time to reply, Lucy took it upon herself to answer: "Why, yes', Willie', the katydids sing nearly every summer night', and all through the pleasant evenings of autumn. Don't you remember that the trees around the house seemed to be full of them'; and that when one called out' Katy did,' another would sing back 'Katy didn't'? And don't you remember the story about Miss Katy and her lover, which Uncle John read to us one evening, after we had been listening to the song of the katydid'?"

3. "But Uncle John told us the cricket does not sing'," said Willie, "but only rubs his wings together, to make that chirping noise which we thought was his song'. Uncle John', does the katydid make its song in the same way'?"

4. "Yes, yes, in just the same way. The katydid is no singer', but only a fiddler', just as the cricket is. And, what is strange, it is Mr. Katydid that does all the fiddling; but whether Miss Katydid does the dancing', or not', I don't know'. Willie', did you ever catch a katydid, and examine it'?"

5. "Yes," said Willie, "I caught two of them on a cherry-tree one day last summer. They were about an inch and a half long, of a pale green color, and they looked very much like grasshoppers. Our man Henry told me they were katydids: but I never could catch one in the evening; for, as

soon as I touched the tree on which one was singing-I mean fiddling-it would stop, and I could not find it."

6. "If you had caught the one that plays the tune of 'katydid',' you might have seen, at the base of each outer wing, a hard, glassy portion of the wing, shaped somewhat like a half moon.* It is by rubbing these together, by a saw-like motion of the wings, that the insect makes the noise you hear."

7. "I suppose, then," said Minnie, "that the lady katydids have to keep silence', and listen to the music of their mates. How hard it must be always to listen, and never to talk or sing at all-or, perhaps I should say, never to fiddle' at all.”

8. "Uncle John," said Lucy, "I am almost sorry you told us how the cricket and the katydid make their songs-no, not songs-for a song is what is sung. It is very puzzling not to know how to speak of the noise which the katydid makes. What shall we call' it, Uncle John' ?"

9. "I suppose you must call it a song, for that is the name which all the writers give to all such noises of insects, however they are made."

10. "Do all insects make their noises, or songs, in the same way as the cricket and the katydid' ?" asked Willie'.

11. "Not in exactly the same way. All the grasshoppers rub their outer wings, or wing-covers, together; but the locust rubs the inside of its thighs against its wings."

12. "I remember, one time last summer'," said

* See the picture of the male katydid, page 137.

Willie, "that I heard a ticking noise in the wall, which sounded just like the ticking of a watch; and some one said it was a little insect that made the noise."

13. "Yes, that was the little insect which has been called the death-watch, because ignorant people once thought there would soon be a death in the family where it was heard."

14. "But how does the death-watch make that noise'? just as regular as the ticking of a watch," said Willie. "And I wonder why it makes it," said Lucy. "Can you tell us, Uncle John' ?"

15. "We know how it makes the noise, for it has often been seen doing it. It is by knocking with its jaws against the wood on which it is standing. And this noise, which has frightened so many people, is said to be the call of the insect to its mate."

16. "And, then, there is one of the hawk-moths, that makes a mournful sound by rubbing its sucking-tube, or pro-bos'-cis, as it is called, against a hard, glassy surface beneath it. Some ignorant people are alarmed when they hear this noise, for they think it is a funeral hymn for the dead."

17. "I am sure I shall never be frightened at any of the noises which insects make," said Willie. "Nor I," said Lucy, "if I only know it is an insect that makes them."

EN-GAGED', occupied; employed. b SEW'-ING, pronounced sō'-ing. AB-RUPT'-LY, suddenly.

d SEEM'ED, appeared.
e POR'-TION, piece; part.
PUZ'-ZLING, perplexing.

[LESSON LX. is a continuation of the study of insects, from LESSON XLV. The manner in which the katydid makes its music is explained. What is said of the noises made by grasshoppers, locusts, the death-watch, and the hawk-moths. The light of science has dispelled many superstitious fancies.]