THE STREAMLET.

1. I saw a little streamlet flow
Along a peaceful vale,

A thread of silver, soft and slow,
It wandered down the dale;
Just to do good it seemed to move,
Directed by the hand of love.

2. The valley smiled in living green;
A tree, which near it gave
From noontide heat a friendly screen,
Drank from its limpid wave.

The swallow brushed it with her wing,
And followed its meandering.

3. But not alone to plant and bird
That little stream was known,
Its gentle murmur far was heard-
A friend's familiar tone:
It glided by the cotter's door,

It blessed the labour of the poor.

4. And would that I could thus be found,
While travelling life's brief way,
A humble friend to all around,
Where'er my footsteps stray.

Like that pure stream, with tranquil breast,
Like it, still blessing, and still blest.

streamlet, a small stream. | tranquil, quiet. meandering, wandering. familiar, well known.

swal-low lim-pid peace-ful tra-vel-ling
brush-ed sil-ver

la-bour

friend-ly fol-low-ed seem-ed di-rect-ed fam-il-i-ar

COFFEE.

1. The coffee tree is a beautiful evergreen shrub, seldom exceeding twelve feet in height. It is very slender, and at the upper part divides into long trailing branches. The bark is almost smooth, and of a brown colour.

2. The leaves are three or four inches in length, oval in form, and pointed at the end. They are of a brilliant green colour. The flowers are white, and

in form not unlike those of the jessamine tree. The flower emits a most agreeable perfume, more pleasant even than the scent of an orange grove.

3. The fruit which succeeds the flower is a red berry resembling a cherry, having a pale insipid

pulp, inclosing two hard oval seeds each about the size of a small bean.

4. One side of the seed is convex, while the other is flat and has a little straight furrow running through its longest dimension. While growing, the flat sides of the seeds are towards each other.

5. The trees begin bearing when they are two years old. The produce of a good tree is from 1 to 2 pounds of berries. The aspect of a coffee plantation during the period of flowering, which does not last longer than one or two days, is very interesting.

In one night the blossoms expand themselves so profusely, as to present the same appearance, which has sometimes been witnessed in England, when a casual snow storm in the autumn covers the trees

with snow.

6. The tree is a native of Arabia, and is most carefully cultivated there. The coffee tree is raised from seed, which the natives sow in nursery gardens, and plant out when required. They choose for their plantations a moist shady situation on a small eminence, or at the foot of the mountains. They take great care to conduct little rills of water from the high ground in small channels to the roots of the trees.

7. It is very necessary that the trees should be constantly watered, in order to produce and ripen the fruit. In places much exposed to the south, the coffee trees are planted in regular lines, sheltered by a kind of poplar tree, which extends its branches to a great distance every way, and protects them from the intense heat of the sun. The seeds are known to be ripe when the berries assume a dark red colour, and if not then gathered, will drop from the trees.

8. The planters in Arabia do not pluck the fruit but shake the trees, and the ripened fruit drops readily on mats which are spread beneath. The fruit is afterwards exposed to the sun's rays until it is perfectly dry, when the husk is broken with large heavy rollers made of wood or stone.

9. The seeds thus cleared of the husk are dried thoroughly in the sun, that they may not be liable to heat when packed for shipment.

10. The method of gathering coffee employed in the West India plantations differs from that in Arabia. When the berries are sufficiently ripe they are picked by the hand. For this purpose a canvas bag, having an iron ring or hoop at its mouth to keep it always open, is provided. This is hung round a man's neck so as to leave both hands at liberty. When the trees are in full bearing, an industrious man will often pick three bushels in a day.

11. Before coffee is fit for use as food, however, it must be roasted, and this roasting is a process which requires some nicety. If burnt, much of the fine aromatic flavour will be destroyed, and a disagreeable bitter taste substituted.

12. Coffee roasting is now usually performed in a cylindrical vessel, which is continually turned upon its axis over the fire, in order to prevent the too great heating of any one part, and to keep up a continual shifting of the contents.

13. Coffee should not be kept for any length of time after it is roasted, and should never be ground until the moment it is required for use, as much of its fine flavour will be lost.

14. The use of coffee as a beverage dates only from modern times. In 1615, mention is made of its use in a letter sent from Constantinople, and in the year 1652, the first coffee-house was opened in London. Since that period, it has become, next to tea, the favourite beverage of most civilized countries in the world.

15. Coffee is the favourite drink in France, Ger