THE HUMANE ELEPHANT. 1. In India, elephants are used in warfare, and are mostly employed in the transport of artillery, their great strength and intelligence being especially useful in taking the cannon up steep roads, and through difficult passes. 2. On one of these occasions an elephant was drawing up a big gun, and on the box, a little in front of the wheel, sat an artilleryman resting himself. An elephant drawing another gun came up in regular order behind. Whether from over fatigue, or the heat of the day, the man fell from his seat, and the wheel of the carriage, with a heavy gun, was just rolling over him. 3. The elephant behind seeing this, and being unable to reach the man with its trunk, seized the wheel by the top, and lifted it up, passing it carefully over the body of the fallen man, and then put it down on the other side. menagerie, a wild beast show. Ludlow, a town in Salop. vigorous, strong. recognized, knew again. lapse of time, time passed. audience, the people in fetters, chains for the feet. calculated upon, not artillery, cannon. expected. fatigue, weariness. pa-tient pre-vi-ous suf-fer-ed im-me-di-ate-ly seiz-ing en-ter-ing des-pair-ed en-cir-cled val-u-a-ble be-stow-ed at-tack-ed re-cep-tion ac-cus-tom-ed oc-ca-sions quan-ti-ty re-ceiv-ed Where was the menagerie staying? What was the name of the elephant? What had made the elephant ill five years before? Who cured her? When the elephant came a second time to the town and saw Mr. Turly, what did she do? In what other manner did she show her gratitude to the chemist? What is a bazaar? What did the woman always give to the elephant that often passed through? What happened to this elephant? When the people saw the elephant overturning the stalls, what did they do? Who was left behind? What did the elephant do with the little child? What made the artilleryman fall off the cannon? How did the elephant prevent the wheel from killing him? INDIAN ELEPHANT. AFRICAN ELEPHANT. CONTENT. 1. I neither toil nor pray for wealth; The healthy heart, the healthy hand, 2. With these what need of wealth have I? Has teachings rich and manifold; 4. The sun, the moon, each lucent star, 1. The first display of talent in the infant mind of Benjamin West was curious, and still more so from its occurring where there was nothing to excite it. America, his native country, had, at that time, scarcely a specimen of the arts, and, being the son of a Quaker, he was not familiar with pictures or prints. His pencil was of his own invention. His colours were given to him by an Indian savage. His whole progress was a series of inventions, and painting was not the result of a lesson but was an instinctive passion. 2. When only seven years of age, he was one day left in charge of an infant in the cradle, and had a fan to flap away the flies from the child. After some time the babe happened to smile, and its beauty attracted his attention. He looked at it with a pleasure which he had never before experienced; and, observing some paper on a table, together with pens and red and black ink, he seized them with agitation, and endeavoured to draw a portrait, although at that period he had never seen anything of the kind. 3. Hearing the approach of his mother and sister he tried to hide what he had been doing; but his mother observing his confusion, asked him what he was about, and requested him to show her the paper he was concealing. He obeyed, entreating her not to be angry. His mother, after looking some time at the drawing with evident pleasure, said to her daughter, "I declare he has made a likeness of little Sally;" and kissed him with much fondness and satisfaction. This encouraged him to say that if it would give her any pleasure, he would make pictures of the flowers which she held in her hand; for his genius was awakened, and he felt he could imitate the forms of any of those things which pleased his sight. 4. Young West continued to make drawings with pen and ink until camel hair pencils were described to him, when he found a substitute in the tapering fur of a cat's tail. In the following year a cousin sent him a box of colours and pencils, with several pieces of canvas prepared for the easel, and six engravings. 5. The box was received with delight, and in the colours, the oils, and the pencils he found all his wants supplied. He rose at the dawn of the following day and carried the box into the garret, where he spread his canvas, prepared a pallet, and began to imitate the figures in the engravings. Enchanted with his art, Benjamin forgot the school hours, and joined the family at dinner without mentioning the employment in which he had been engaged. In the afternoon he again retired to his study in the garret, and for several days successively he thus withdrew and devoted himself to painting. His mother at last suspecting that the colour box had occasioned the neglect of school, went into the garret, and there found him engaged on a picture. 6. Her anger was soon appeased by the sight of the performance. She saw not a mere copy, but a composition from two of the engravings. She kissed him with transports of love, and assured him she would intercede with his father to forgive him for absenting himself from school. Sixty-seven years afterwards, this piece, finished when the artist was in his eighth year, was exhibited in the same room with the sublime painting of "Christ Rejected," and West declared that there were inventive touches in his first and juvenile essay, which all his subsequent experience had not enabled him to surpass! 7. Having received some practical instruction from |