XXXVIII.-THE IVY GREEN. Da'in-ty, fastidious. Grim, stern. Ha'le, healthy. Mo'uld, fine earth. Plě'as-ure, to satisfy. Ra're, singular. Stanch, stout. Whim, fancy, caprice. Oн, a dainty plant is the Ivy green, That creepeth o'er ruins old! On right choice food are his meals, I ween, In his cell so lone and cold. The walls must be crumbled, the stones decayed, And the mouldering dust that years have made Creeping where no life is seen, A rare old plant is the Ivy green. Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings, How closely he twineth, how tight he clings And he joyously twines and hugs around Creeping where grim death has been, Whole ages have fled, and their works decayed, For the stateliest building man can raise Creeping on where time has been, Charles Dickens (1812-1870). Pronounce and distinguish-twin, twine; wean, ween; Hugh, huge; hail, hale; lyre, liar, lair; perils, pearls. DICTATION, John and Charles are twin brothers. Tie the parcel with a piece of twine. The child has been lately weaned. This is no fitting time, I ween. Hugh was sitting on a huge stone. Hail to the chief, who in triumph advances! The minstrel was a hale old man. He struck the sounding lyre, and sang of war. The liar is justly despised by all. The panther sprang from his lair. The princess wore a necklace of pearls and diamonds. Who will dare the perils of this angry sea? WORDS DIFFICULT TO SPELL. 1. Ache, acre, aerie, aerial, aghast, aisle, allege, ankle, apartment, arithmetic, artillery, asylum, autumn, awkward, balloon, battalion, bosom, business, catechism, cemetery, chimney, chemist, cheque, chestnut, choir, clayey, cocoa, coffee, college, colliery, colonel, column, conscience, control, consumption, corps, council, counsel, crystal. 2. Delicacy, decease, despatch, disease, diamond, discipline, dispirit, duly, dungeon, eighth, embarrass, envel'op (verb), en'velope (noun), exercise, extraordinary, fatigue, February, fibre, fiery, forty, gaily, gaiety, gauge, geography, George, gluey, gorgeous, goddess, government, grammar, grandeur. 3. Harass, havoc, huge, icicle, island, isle, islet, issue, isthmus, language, languish, league, liege, lieutenant, luscious, lustre, malign, manœuvre, meagre, menagerie, microscope, mistletoe, monastery, muscle, myriad, nephew, niece, nineteen, ninety, niuth. 4. Oasis, oblige, oblique, ostrich, oyster, parallel, parliament, peculiar, peril, pewter, potato, primer, privilege, programme, pulley, quay, quotient, relic, relict, reservoir, retinue, rhyme, rhythm. 5. Safety, sanctuary, sceptic, sceptre, scissors, scythe, separate, sergeant, sheriff, spectre, stalwart, stupefy, surgeon, threshold, tongs, tongue, treacle, truly, Tuesday, uncle, utensil, vaccinate, vehicle, vengeance, victuals, villain, villainous, viscount, Wednesday, wincey, woollen, zephyr. 6. Annul, appal, cabal, canal, compel, control, dispel, enrol, enthral, excel, expel, extol, forestal, fulfil, impel, instal, instil, inthral, misspel, patrol, propel, rebel, repel, until, withal. 7. Befall, befell, downfall, farewell, foretell, miscall, recall, undersell, unroll, unwell, uphill, waterfall. SECTION III. XXXIX. THE BUTTERFLY. Ad-he'r-ing, sticking. A-e'-ri-al, in the air, airy. Con'-fi-dence, feeling of security. Fră'-gile,brittle, easily destroyed. WHO does not welcome the In'-mate, inhabitant. Mi-nu'te, small. Nec'-tar, sweet juice of flowers. form. first gay butterfly, as it flits past in the sunny air? The dreary winter days are gone, and soon the meadows will appear clothed in summer green, and gemmed with flowers; and hosts of these pretty creatures, of graceful form and splendid colours, will come abroad and display their charms in field and garden. Let me tell you something about these bright-winged fairies of the air. Butterflies belong to the class of insects; and their surpassing beauty and elegance entitle them to rank as princes in their own world. Look at this swallow-tail's wing. Can anything be more beautiful than the delicate pencillings with which it is adorned? Do not touch it; the slightest touch will mar its beauty. You may sometimes, in a thoughtless moment, have crushed such and fragile gem in the grasp of your rough hand, and have found your fingers covered with what appeared to be dust. But if you could examine this apparent dust through a microscope, you would be astonished to find that it is not dust at all, but that every little particle is a scale or feather, beautifully shaped and marked with ornamental patterns of various shades of colour. These scales cover both sides of the wing, overlapping each other like slates upon a roof; and they are so numerous that a single square inch contains no fewer than one hundred thousand of them! It is from this peculiar structure of their wings that the order of insects to which butterflies belong has got the name of Lepidoptera, which seems a hard word, but which means nothing more than "scale-winged." Butterflies have neither teeth nor jaws. "How then do they eat?" you may ask. They do not eat at all; but they can drink, and to them the one mode of feeding is as good as the other. Their food consists of the delicious nectar of summer flowers; and this they suck up by means of a long tube or trunk, no thicker than a hair, which, when not in use, lies coiled up like a watch-spring under the head. The two feelers, or antennæ, which you observe on a butterfly's head, are a puzzle to naturalists. These organs have, no doubt, their use; but what that use is remains at present a mystery. You can see the eyes of a butterfly plainly enough as the little creature rests upon a flower; but a powerful microscope is needed to reveal the minute wonders of their structure. It has two eyes, you think. True; but what seems to you one eye contains in reality about 17,000 eyelets; and each of these is a perfect organ in |