POETRY.

The verdant nest of interwoven moss,
Fast to the blushing apple's forked branch,
Amid the blossoms of the codlin tied?

Thou, prying school-boy, spare the neat design,
And think of HIM whose all-protecting hand
Secretes the nestling with innumerous leaves,
And with abundant foliage makes obscure,
And to the sight impervious, branches erst
Easily pierced, or by the solar ray,
Or beam of human eye, or arrowy gale;
Dark and impenetrable now to all.
Think of His mercy that protects the nest;
And, kind to all, with more especial love
The linnet spare, and finch of crimson face,
That twitter each the non-offending song
Of quiet prettiness, and pluck the down
Of the prolific thistle for their bread.

Not to destroy be earnest, but to save.-Hurdis.

My mither was wae, for my father was dead,

And they threaten'd to tak' our auld house o'er our head,
Her earnings grew scanty, the meal was got dear.

And, auldest o' five, I could whiles see a tear,

When she cam' hame at nicht, glisten bright in her e'en
Half-hid, as it didna just want to be seen.

I spakna a word, but my wee heart wad ache,
And I wished I was big for my puir mither's sake.
There were farmers around wanted herds for their kye,
And my mither had said she had ane that wad try,
I mind how I trembled, half fear and half joy,
When a farmer ca'd in just to look at the boy.
He bade me stand up, said he thought I was wee;
But my frank, honest face, he said pleased his e'e.
He wad tak' me and try me ae half-year, and see,
For a pair o' new shoon and a five shilling fee.
We were proud to hear tell o't, a bargain was struck,
And he left me a saxpence o' erles for luck.
My jacket and trousers were patched for the day,
And my mither convoyed me a lang mile away.

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Wi' threatnings and warnings 'gainst a' kinds o' crime,
And rules she laid doun I thought hard at the time.
If the kye should gae wrang, I was never to lee,
Tho' they sent me away 'bote my shoon and my fee.
Sae I fell to my wark and I pleased right weel-
A word or a wave and I plied hand and heel.
But my troubles came on, for the fences were bad,
And the mid-simmer flee made the cattle rin mad:
And in cald blashy weather, sair drenched wi' the rain,
Whiles wee thoughts o' leaving wad steal o'er my brain;
But with courage I dashed aye the tear frae my e'e,
When I thought on my shoon and my five shilling fee.
And Marti'mas brought me my lang-wished for store,
And proudly I counted it twenty times o'er;
And years hae fled in a fortunate train,

But I never experienced such raptures again.

The sailor just safe through the wild breakers steer'd,
Proud Waterloo's victor when Blucher appear'd,
Ne'er felt as I felt when I placed on the knee
Of a fond-hearted mither my five shilling fee!

VARIETIES

A REAL CURSE.

You know that there is often conversation among boys, of an indelicate nature; conversation which you would be very unwilling that your father or mother should hear. Without great care you will in early life get your mind so poisoned and corrupted in this way, that it will be a calamity to you as long as you live. You will, during all the years of your man. hood, have cause to mourn that such impure words and thoughts ever entered your mind. There is hardly anything I have written in this book which I deem so important to your welfare and happiness as a caution upon this subject. You cannot be too careful to avoid all such words and thoughts. I do entreat you, with the utmost earnestness, never to utter a word or an idea, which you would not be willing to repeat to your parents.

THE FLAMINGO OF SARDINIA.

The Stagni are deservedly renowned for the quantity of aquatic birds, of every species, which resort thither. The most remarkable is the flamingo. These majestic and beautiful creatures, arriving from the south about the month of September, adopt in their flight the most methodical order and regularity; their phalanxes, which consist of from one to five thousand, being cuniform their closeness to each other, and steady simultaneous movement of the wings, given the appearance of one united mass. The exquisitely bright crimson tint of their plumage, slightly relieved by the paler hue of the inner feathers, resembles, when lighted up by the sun's rays, a cloud of fire. Nor is the spectacle less interesting when, collected and moving on the shores of the Stagni, they appear at a distance like a fringe of crimson silk lightly fanned by the passing breeze. Their nests are peculiar, consisting of a conical pile of weeds, shells, and other matter, about two and a half feet high; having deposited their eggs on this, they sit astride the pile and thus hatch them, the length of their legs requiring this strange position.-Tyndale's Travels in Sardinia.

THOUGHTLESS CRUELTY.

I was very much shocked by observing a fish. woman skinning a live eel, with the greatest unconcern. On inquiring how she could be so cruel as to perform that operation while the creature was alive,— "Pho'!" said she, "they are quite accustomed to it, for I do it every day." "But not to the same eel," said I. "No, that is true. ." "Think, then, how you should like to have your skin torn from your flesh whilst you were alive. Could the poor helpless animal speak, it would call out,- Oh, murder! Oh, the pain, torment, and misery I am suffering! Rather cut off my head, and kill me outright! I am willing to be a dinner for any man, but oh, do not torment me!'" The woman threw down the eel, and asked me who I

was; for she never heard a man express pity for an eel before. "I fear," added she, "you have prevented my skinning any more." A man came to the stall and asked for a skinned eel. "There is one half-skinned," she said, "you can finish the work yourself." He paid for it, and took it away.

THE MISSISSIPPI KITE.

Early one morning, whilst I was admiring the beauties of nature, as the vegetable world lay embalmed in dew, I heard the cry of a bird that I mistook for a pewee fly-catcher. It was prolonged, I thought, as if uttered in distress. After looking for the bird a long time in vain, an object which I had at first supposed to be something that had accidentally lodged in a branch, attracted my attention, as I thought I perceived it moving. It did move distinctly, and the cry that had ceased from the time when I reached the spot where I stood, was repeated, evidently coming from the object in view. I now took it for a young one of the chuckwill's widow, as it sat lengthwise on the branch. I shot at it, but perhaps did not hit it, as it only opened and closed its wings, as if surprised. At the report of the gun the old bird came, holding food in her claws.

She per

ceived me, but alighted and fed her young with great kindness. I shot at both, and again missed, or at least did not succeed, which might have happened from having only small shot in my gun. The mother flew in silence, sailed over-head just long enough to afford me time to reload, returned and to my great surprise, gently lifted her young, and sailing with it to another tree, about thirty yards distant, deposited it there. My feelings at that moment I cannot express. I wished I had not discovered the poor bird; for who could have witnessed, without emotion, so striking an example of that affection which none but a mother can feel; so daring an act, performed in the midst of smoke, and in the presence of a dreaded and dangerous enemy ?-Audubon.

OUR dear young readers have often heard their parents and others speaking of Providence. We are anxious to give them a simple view of that wondrous working of God which has this remarkable name. Here, then, is a family of little birds, and the parent birds feeding them-how is this to teach you anything about Providence? Well, we should think that this nice little picture may do so in this way: Here, then, is a nest most beautifully adapted to the necessities of these little creatures, so that when laid there in the eggs and hatched, till they appeared as living creatures, their little home has been found most comfortable, and