head was from me, so much the worse, for this snake, unlike any other, always rises and strikes back. He did not move, he was asleep.

Not daring to make the least noise with my feet lest he should awake and spring at me, I took a jump backwards, and then darted outside the door of the room. Having procured a good thick stick, I returned shortly, and had little difficulty in killing him where he lay.

Some parts of South Africa swarm with snakes; none are free from them. There is an immense variety of them, the deadliest being the puff-adder, a thick and comparatively short snake. The bite of this snake will sometimes kill within one hour. One of my friends lost a favourite and valuable horse in less than two hours after the attack.

It is a sluggish reptile, and therefore more dangerous; for, instead of rushing away at the sound of approaching footsteps, it half raises its head and hisses.

There is also the cobra capello, nearly as dangerous; several black snakes, and the tree snake, less deadly, one of which I shot, seven feet long.

The Cape is also infested by scorpions, whose sting is less severe than a snake bite; and the spider called the tarantula, which is extremely dreaded.

The rattlesnake, a terrible reptile, is a native of America. It gets its name from the loose bony structure in the end of its tail called the rattle,

and which, by the sound of its movements, gives timely warning of its approach.

Fortunately it is of a very sluggish nature, and it always sounds its rattle when angry or disturbed. Its bite is mortal, and death always ensues within a few hours after.

The length of this snake has seldom been known to exceed seven feet. Some rattlesnakes have been seen as thick as a man's thigh, and more than six feet long. The tail is short, round, and somewhat thick.

The number of the little bells or rattles at its end increases with age-an additional one being formed at every casting of the skin. Rattlesnakes are long lived, and some have been mentioned as having forty or fifty pieces in their rattles.

There is another called the black snake, remarkable for its speed, which is said sometimes to equal that of a horse. Black snakes are very amusing in some of their movements. They frequently climb trees in quest of tree frogs, or glide along the ground in search of other prey.

Sometimes they take a half-erect posture, at which times their head appears to great advantage, and their eyes, showing a fiery brightness, enable them to charm birds and the smaller quadrupeds in the same manner as the rattlesnake. This snake is even so bold as to attack a man, but an active defence with a stick will generally drive it off.

QUESTIONS:-1. What is this lesson about? 2. Of what countries? 3. Point them out on the map. 4. Tell the story of what happened to the traveller. 5. What is the name of this kind of snake? 6. What is its character? 7. In what condition was it? 8. Was that for or against the traveller? 9. How was the snake killed? 10. What word in the lesson shows that snakes are very abundant in Africa? 11. Name the most poisonous one. 12. In what time has its bite been known to kill? 13. Name another snake nearly as dangerous. 14. Name some other classes still. 15. Give the name of the terrible reptile which is a native of America. 16. Why does it get this name? 17. Give a short description of it.

WORD LESSON :

cob'-ra ca-pell'-o flash'-ed

in-fest'-ed

slug'-gish

col'-o-ny

glit'-ter-ing pro-cur'-ed strain'-ing

The Reaper and the Flowers.

beard'-ed, having a beard,

barbed.

cru'-el-ty, hard heartedness. droop'-ing, hanging down. gaz'-ed, looked earnestly.

par'-a-dise, heaven, place of
bliss.

sic'-kle, reaping-hook.
to'-kens, marks or signs.
wrath, great anger, rage.

THERE is a reaper whose name is Death,
And, with his sickle keen,

He reaps the bearded grain at a breath,
And the flowers that grow between.

"Shall I have nought that is fair?" saith he, "Have nought but the bearded grain?

Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, I will give them all back again.”

He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes,
He kissed their drooping leaves;

It was for the Lord of Paradise

He bound them in his sheaves.

"My Lord has need of the flowerets gay,
The reaper said and smiled;

Dear tokens of the earth are they,
Where He was once a child.

And the mother gave in tears and pain
The flowers she most did love ;

She knew she should find them all again,
In the fields of light above.

Oh! not in cruelty, not in wrath,
The reaper came that day;

"Twas an angel visited the green earth,

And took the flowers away.

LONGFELLOW.

QUESTIONS:-1. Name the author of this poem. 2. Give the names of any other of his poems. 3. Is he an English poet? 4. What countryman is he? 5. Is he dead or alive? 6. What does he mean by the reaper here? 7. Find the exact meanings of "sickle keen," "bearded grain," and "flowers." 8. What is the question Death puts? 9. How can Death be said to give the "flowers" all back again? 10. And to whom? 11. For whom does Death bind up his sheaves? 12. Who is the Lord of Paradise? 13. Who ordered the reaper to bind up the "flowerets gay"? 14. Why? 15. Tell the meaning of this. 16. Who gave up the flowerets when the reaper took them? 17. How did she give them up? 18. Why in this manner? 19. Where did she expect to find them again? 20. Where do you think that is?

D*

The Little Brook.

LITTLE BROOK, where is your home?
From the mountains do you come?
Truant, have you lost your way,
That so far you seem to stray?
Stealing softly thro' the grass,
Yet betraying where you pass
By the soft and lively green
Of your pretty velvet screen.
Let others tell of spicy gales,

And fruits of richest seeming,
Of bulbuls singing in the vales,
And groves with verdure teeming;

There is to me a fairer land,
A nobler, dearer dwelling;
It is my own, my native strand,
Where manly hearts are swelling.

Let others sing of islands fair,
Afar 'mid southern oceans,

With wondrous forms of beauty rare,
To stir the mind's emotions: