tically, one after another, from the abyss at the bottom of the fall; and each, when it had ascended a little above the edge of the cataract, displayed a beautiful rainbow, which in a few moments was gradually transfer. red into the bosom of the clouds that immediately succeeded. 9. "The spray of the Great Fall had extended itself through a wide space directly over me, and, receiving the full influence of the sun, exhibited a luminous and magnificent rainbow, which continued to overarch and irradiate the spot on which I stood, while I enthusiastically contemplated the indescribable scene. 10. "The body of water which composes the middle part of the Great Fall is so immense that it descends nearly two thirds of the space without being ruffled or broken; and the solemn calmness with which it rolls over the edge of the precipice is finely contrasted with the perturbed appearance it assumes after having reached the gulf below. But the water toward each side of the fall is shattered the moment it drops over the rock, and loses, as it descends, in a great measure, the character of a fluid, being divided into pyramidal-shaped fragments, the bases of which are turned upward. 11. "The surface of the gulf below the cataract presents a very singular aspect, seeming, as it were, filled with an immense quantity of hoar-frost, which is agitated by small and rapid undulations. The particles of water are dazzlingly white, and do not apparently unite together, as might be supposed, but seem to continue for a time in a state of distinct comminution, and to repel each other with a thrilling and shivering motion, which can not easily be described."-HowISON. 12. By descending a circular staircase, seventy or eighty feet in perpendicular height, a person may pass, by a narrow and slippery path, behind the Great Fall on the Canada side; but here he is frightfully stunned by the roar of the cataract; clouds of spray sometimes envelop, and almost suffocate him, and it is only a person of the strongest nerves that can proceed to the bottom of the fall; and there, it is said, only one emotion is experienced by every adventurer-that of uncontrollable terror. 13. Most descriptions of the falls are those of persons who have viewed them only in fine weather, when the contrast is most marked between their stern and awful grandeur, and the beauty of the surrounding landscape. But it seems that their grandeur is enhanced, if possible, by being viewed during a thunder-storm. 14. "Presently," remarks the writer from whom we first quoted, "a thunder-storm rose up from the west, and passed directly over us; and soon another came, still heavier than the preceding. And now I was more impressed than ever with the peculiar motion of the fall, not, however, because it experienced a change, but because it did not. The lightning gleamed, the thunder pealed, the rain fell in torrents; the storms were grand; but the fall, if I may give its expression a language, did not heed them at all! the rapids poured on with the same quiet solemnity, with the same equable intentness, undisturbed by the lightning and rain, and listening not to the loud thunder." LESSON XXIII.-A VISION'S SPELL-NIAGARA. 1. I STOOD within a vision's spell; 1 saw, I heard. The liquid thunder Ever, ever fell Into the invisible abyss that opened under. I was like a captive bound; A universe of sound Troubled the heavens with ever-quivering motion. Boiling up forever, Steam-clouds shot up with thunder-bursts appalling 4. A tone that since the birth of man Was never for a moment broken, Hath spoken still to man- 5. Foam-clouds there forever rise With a restless roar o'erboiling- Beautiful they rise, Cheering the cataracts to their mighty toiling. 6. And in that vision, as it passed, Was gathered terror, beauty, power; And still, when all has fled, too fast, And I at last Dream of the dreamy past, My heart is full when lingering on that hour.-Anon. But oft the sweetest birds of heaven 4. Here daily from his becchen cell The hermit squirrel steals to drink, 5. And here the wagoner blocks his wheels, 6. And oft the beggar, marked with tan, 7. And, lulled beside thy whispering stream, And sees the angel of his dream 8. Dear dweller by the dusty way, The tribute of a heart to-day Weary and worn is thine!-READ. LESSON II.—THE HEADSTONE. 1. THE coffin was let down to the bottom of the grave, the planks were removed from the heaped-up brink, the first rattling clods had struck their knell, the quick shoveling was over, and the long, broad, skillfully cut pieces of turf were aptly joined together, and trimly laid by the beating spade, so that the newest mound in the church-yard was scarcely distinguishable from those that were grown over by the undisturbed grass and daisies of a luxuriant spring. The burial was soon over; and the party, with one consenting motion, having uncovered their heads in decent reverence of the place and occasion, were beginning to separate, and about to leave the church-yard. 2. Here some acquaintances from distant parts of the parish, who had not had opportunity of addressing each other in the house that had belonged to the deceased, nor in the course of the few hundred yards that the little procession had to move over from his bed to his grave, were shaking hands quietly but cheerfully, and inquiring after the welfare of each other's families. There a small knot of neighbors were speaking, without exaggeration, of the respectable character which the deceased had borne, and mentioning to one another little S incidents of his life, some of them so remote as to be known only to the gray-headed persons of the group; while a few yards farther removed from the spot were standing together parties who discussed ordinary concerns, altogether unconnected with the funeral, such as the state of the markets, the promise of the season, or change of tenants; but still with a sobriety of manner and voice that was insensibly produced by the influence of the simple ceremony now closed, by the quiet graves around, and the shadow of the spire and gray walls of the house of God. 3. Two men yet stood together at the head of the grave, with countenances of sincere but impassioned grief. They were brothers, the only sons of him who had been buried. And there was something in their situation that naturally kept the eyes of many directed upon them for a long time, and more intently than would have been the case had there been nothing more observable about them than the common symptoms of a common sorrow. But these two brothers, who were now standing at the head of their father's grave, had for some years been totally estranged from each other; and the only words that had passed between them during all that time had been uttered within a few days past, during the necessary preparations for the old man's funeral. 4. No deep and deadly quarrel was between these brothers, and neither of them could distinctly tell the cause of this unnatural estrangement. Perhaps dim jealousies of their father's favor-selfish thoughts that will sometimes force themselves into poor men's hearts respecting temporal expectations-unaccommodating manners on both sides-taunting words which mean little when uttered, but which rankle and fester in remembrance-imagined opposition of interests that, duly considered, would have been found one and the samethese, and many other causes, slight when single, but strong when rising up together in one baneful band, had gradually but fatally infected their hearts, till at last they, who in youth had been seldom separate and truly attached, now met at market, and, miserable to say, at church, with dark and averted faces, like different clansmen during a feud. 5. Surely, if any thing could have softened their hearts toward each other, it must have been to stand silently, side by side, while the earth, stones, and clods were falling down upon their father's coffin. And doubtless their hearts were so softened. But pride, though it can not prevent the holy affections of nature from being felt, may prevent them from |