gam'-bol, to frisk and skip scour, make clean.

HERE lies, whom hound did ne'er pursue,

Nor swifter greyhound follow,

Whose foot ne'er tainted morning dew,
Nor ear heard huntsman's hollo.

Old Tiney, surliest of his kind,
Who, nursed with tender care,
And to domestic bounds confined,
Was still a wild Jack-hare.

Though duly from my hand he took
His pittance every night,

He did it with a jealous look,

And, when he could, would bite.

His diet was of wheaten bread,
And milk, and oats, and straw;

Thistles, or lettuces instead,

With sand to scour his maw.

*

A Turkey carpet was his lawn,
Whereon he loved to bound,
To skip and gambol like a fawn,
And swing his rump around.

His frisking was at ev'ning hours,
For then he lost his fear;
But most before approaching showers,
Or when a storm drew near,

Eight years and five round-rolling moons
He thus saw steal away,
Dozing out all his idle noons,
And every night at play.

I kept him for his humour's sake,
For he would oft beguile

My heart of thoughts, that made it ache,
And force me to a smile.

But now beneath his walnut shade
He finds his long last home;
And waits, in snug concealment laid,
Till gentler Puss shall come.

He, still more aged, feels the shocks,
From which no care can save,
And, partner once of Tiney's box,
Must soon partake his grave.

G*

COWPER.

QUESTIONS:-1. What is meant by epitaph? 2. What animals are the hare's enemies? 3. Were these hares belonging to Cowper ever hunted? 4. Repeat the first two lines of the poem. 5. How is "old Tiney" described? 6. What is meant by being "surliest of his kind"? 7. Did he grow tame? 8. When he was getting his supper what would he sometimes do to the hand that fed him? 9. What did he live on chiefly? 10. What did he play on? 11. When did he seem to enjoy himself most? 12. How long did he live? 13. What good did the poet get from him?

The Power of Hope.-Part I.

bloom'-ing, in blossom.
car'-go, a ship's load or burden.
cu'-ri-ous, strange, singular.
har'-row-ing, breaking the fur-
row with a harrow.

in-dus'-tri-ous, diligent.
re-mem'-ber, recollect.
sup-ply', plenty, sufficiency.
val'-u-ab-le, of great worth.

WE all know that the most industrious little creatures in the world are the bees. The Creator has taught them to know that in winter time there are no flowers from which they may extract honey. And so they are very industrious, and work very hard all through summer, that they may have a supply of honey to live on during winter. It seems as if it were hope that makes the bees so industrious.

I know that people say it is only what we call instinct that leads the bees to such industry in

making honey, and that they don't know what they do it for.

Perhaps it is so. But we have never been bees, and so we don't know how they feel about it.

I remember once to have heard a very curious thing about some bees. A gentleman from New England went to live in South America. He was very fond of honey, but found there were no bees, and, of course, no honey, in that part of the country. When he came home on a visit, he resolved to take a hive of bees back with him, that he might have a supply of honey. The first season, the little creatures were as industrious as ever, and made their usual quantity of honey. But after being there a year, and finding that there was no winter, but that the flowers were blooming all the year round, they quit working, gave up their industrious habits, and took to leading a lazy or gay sort of life, just like the butterfly. That looked as if those bees at least knew what they were about.

It seemed as if, by their conduct, they would say to that gentleman, "Ah, sir, you can't fool us. We can get our living here all the year round without work, and so we have made up our minds to take things easy, even though you have to go without honey. Instead of hard work and no play as in days gone by, we intend in our new and happy home to have our life all play and no work."

But there is nothing like hope to make people industrious. There is a farmer. See how industrious he is in ploughing his ground, in harrowing it, and in sowing the seed in it! And what makes him so industrious? It is the hope of getting a harvest in autumn.

There is a whaling ship going off on a three years' voyage to the North Seas. What cold, stormy weather the sailors on board that ship will have to face! What hard work they will have to do in catching and killing the whales! And how industrious they will be in doing that work! And why? And why? What will make them so industrious? Hope will do it.

They are hoping to bring home a valuable cargo of sperm oil, and that makes them industrious.

QUESTIONS :--1. What is this lesson about? 2. What do you mean by hope? 3. Name the most industrious creatures in the world. 4. What has the Creator taught them? 5. How are they engaged all summer? 6. Why? 7. What do people call that in the bees which leads them so to work? 8. Tell the story of the gentleman who went from New England to live in South America. 9. Where is New England? 10. What may we guess from this conduct of the bees? 11. What is the best for making men industrious? 12. Show this by the case of the farmer. 13. Show the same by the whale-fishers.