The high grape-vine trembled in fear of her doomBut the innocent rose-bush looked upward and smiled.

And now, the wild winds whistled hoarsely around, And deep peals of thunder came bursting between

The rough tempest felled the fair vine to the ground, And the arbor lay low, with its ringlets of green.

The loud storm was hushed, and the sun's brilliant ray,

Shone gaily on nature, and opened each sweet— When Mary, young, innocent, modest and gay, Stole into her garden, her favorite retreat.

She paused, as she saw the high vine laid so lowAnd the lesson she learned, found its way to her

heart

And she prayed that her God would his favor be

stow,

And bid from her mind evil passions depart.

She prayed, as the rose, to be modest and meek, Nor boast, like the grape-vine, of grandeur and grace

For pride spoils the bloom of a beautiful cheek; And a heart that is pure, is more fair than a face.

Papa, (said Lucy) I have been reading to-day that Sir Isaac Newton was led to make some of his great discoveries by seeing an apple fall from a tree. What was there extraordinary in that?

P. There was nothing extraordinary; but it happened to catch his attention and set him a thinking.

L. And what did he think about?

P. He thought by what means the apple was brought to the ground.

L. Why, I could have told him that-because the stalk gave way, and there was nothing to support it.

P. And what then?

L. Why then, it must fall, you know.

P. But why must it fall?-that is the point.

L. Because it could not help it.

P. But why could it not help it?

L. I don't know that is an odd question.-Because there is nothing to keep it up.

P. Suppose there was not-does it follow that it must come to the ground?

L. Yes, surely!

P. Is an apple animate or inanimate ?

L. Inanimate, to be sure!

P. And can inanimate things move of themselves?

L. No, I think not, but the apple falls because it is forced to fall.

P. Right! Some force out of itself acts upon it, otherwise it would remain forever where it was, notwithstanding it were loosened from the tree.

L. Would it!

P. Undoubtedly! for there are only two ways in which it could be moved; by its own power of motion, or the power of somewhat else moving it. Now the first you acknowledge it has not; the cause of its motion must therefore be the second. And what that is was the subject of the philosopher's inquiry.

L. But everything falls to the ground as well as an apple, when there is nothing to keep it up.

P. True-there must therefore be an universal cause of this tendency to fall.

L. And what is it?

P. Why, if things out of the earth cannot move themselves to it, there can be no other cause of their coming together, than that the earth pulls

'them.

L. But the earth is no more animate than they are; so how can it pull ?

P. Well objected! This will bring us to the point. Sir Isaac Newton, after deep meditation, discovered that there was a law in nature called attraction, by virtue of which every particle of matter, that is, everything of which the world is composed, draws towards it every other particle

of matter, with a force proportioned to its size and distance. Lay two marbles on the table-they have a tendency to come together, and if there were nothing else in the world, they would come together; but they are also attracted by the table, by the ground, and by everything besides in the room; and these different attractions pull against each other..

Now, the globe of the earth is a prodigious mass of matter, to which nothing near it can bear any comparison. It draws, therefore, with mighty force, everything within its reach, which is the cause of their falling; and this is called the gravitation of bodies, or what gives them weight. When I lift up anything, I act contrary to this force, for which reason it seems heavy to me, and the heavier, the more matter it contains, since that increases the attraction of the earth for it. Do you understand this?

L. I think I do. It is like a loadstone drawing a needle.

P. Yes, that is an attraction, but of a particular kind, only taking place between the magnet and iron. But gravitation, or the attraction of the earth, acts upon everything alike.

L. Then it is pulling you and me at this moment ?

P. It is.

L. But why do we not stick to the ground then? P. Because, as we are alive, we have a power of self-motion, which can, to a certain degree, overcome the attraction of the earth. But the reason you cannot jump a mile high as well as a foot, is this attraction, which brings you down again after the force of your jump is spent.

L. I think then I begin to understand what I have heard of people living on the other side of the world. I believe they are called Antipodes, who have their feet turned towards ours, and their

heads in the air.

I used to wonder how it could be that they did not fall off; but I suppose the earth pulls them to it.

P. Very true-and whither should they fall ?— What have they over their heads?

L. I dont know-sky, I suppose?

P. They have-this earth is a vast ball, hung in the air, and continually spinning round, and that is the cause why the sun and stars seem to rise and set. At noon we have the sun over our heads, when the Antipodes have the stars over theirs and at midnight the stars are over our heads, and the sun over theirs. So whither should they fall to more than we? to the stars or the sun?

L. But we are up, and they are down.

P. What is up, but from the earth and towards the sky? Their feet touch the earth and their heads point to the sky as well as ours; and we are under their feet as much as they are under ours. If a hole were dug quite through the earth, what would you see through it?

L. Sky, with the sun or the stars; and now I see the whole matter plainly. But pray what supports the earth in the air?

P. Why, where should it go to?

L. I don't know-I suppose where there was most to draw it. I have heard that the sun is a great many times bigger than the earth.-Would it not go to that?

P. You have thought very justly on the matter, I perceive. But I shall take another opportunity of showing you how this is, and why the earth does not fall into the sun, of which I confess, there seems to be some danger.-Meanwhile think how far the falling of an apple has carried us !

L. To the Antipodes, and I know not where. P. You may see from thence what use may be made of the commonest fact by a thinking mind.