voice, and I said to her, Jane, you have a good voice, and you may lead in the singing.' She brightened up, and from that time her mind seemed to be more active. Her lessons were attended to, and she soon gained a high rank. One day, as I was going home, I overtook her with a school companion. Well, Jane,' said I, 'you are getting along very well, how happens it you do much better now than at the beginning of the quarter?" "I do not know why it is,' she replied. I know what she told me the other day,' said her companion. "And what was that?' I asked. 666 this he became an engraver, laid up money enough to go to Europe, studied the works of old masters, sent home productions from his own pencil, which have found a place in some of the best collections of paintings, and is now one of the most promising artists of his years in the country. After the boy gained the medal he sent the teacher a beautiful picture as a token of respect, and while he was an engraver, the teacher received frequent tokens of continued regard, and I doubt not, to this day, he feels that that teacher, by the judicious encouragement he gave to the natural turn of his mind, has had a great moral and spiritual effect on his char Why she said she was encouraged."" Yes, here we have it-she was encour-acter. aged. She felt she was not dull in everything. She had learned self-respect, and thus she was encouraged. Some twelve or thirteen years ago, there was in the Franklin school an exceedingly dull boy. One day the teacher, wishing to look out a word, took up the lad's dictionary, and on opening it found the blank leaves covered with drawings. He called the boy to him. "Did you draw these ?" said the teacher. "Yes, sir," replied the boy. "I do not think it is well for boys to draw in their books," said the teacher, "and I would rub these out if I were you; bnt they are well done, did you ever take lessons?" "No, sir," said the boy, his eyes spark THE OTTER. LL anglers, with ShowIzaak Walton at their head, have tivan inveterate hosatility against the otter, inasmuch as it may be regarded as their rival in the destruction of the finny race, but not a fair rival, since it is ever upon the spot, incessant in its exertions, voracious in the extreme, and works like a poacher during the night, nefariously thinning the river of the finest fish, and thereby depriving the angler of his anticipated enjoyment. The complaint that "the otter devours much fish, and kills and spoils much more than he eats," is very true; for where his prey is abundant, he only devours the fish from the head. downward to the vent, leaving the tail as a witness against him. Like the fox and wild-cat, the otter is in fact a nocturnal beast of prey, remaining quiet in its retreat till the night has set in, when it begins its depredations, and continues them till the first beams of sunrise warn it to retire. The ease and celerity of its aquatic evolutions during the chase of its victims are astonishing: rapid as the trout is in its motions, arrow long his sleep, she took him up in her fore paws, and plunged into the water." It is during the spring and summer months, while the young of the otter are depend like as is its speed, the otter hunts it down, for his perseverance is equal to his celerity; he follows the fish in every turn and double, and maintains the pursuit with a pertinacity which generally insures suc-ent upon the mother's care, that the de cess. Fishes seem to have an instinctive dread of the otter, for it has been seen to collect into a shoal a vast number of trouts in a river, and drive them before it until the greater part have thrown themselves on shore. The otter usually avails himself of any convenient excavation in the bank overhanging the water, especially if covered and concealed by the twisted roots of a tree, or overarched by intertangled shrubs or bushes. Buffon say that the otter will even take up its abode among piles of floating wood. Sometimes, however, its retreat is at a considerable distance from its usual fishing baunt. In the month of March, or early in April, the female brings forth her young, from three to five in number, upon a bed of sticks or grass, in the excavation she has chosen for their concealment, and she attends them with great solicitude. The strength of the instinctive attachment for her young is thus noticed by Steller. "Often," says he, "I have spared the lives of the female otters, whose young ones I took away. They expressed their sorrow by crying like human beings, and followed me as I was carrying off their young, which called to them for aid in a tone of voice very much resembling the crying of children. When I sat down in the snow they came quite close to me, and attempted to carry off their young. On one occasion, when I had deprived an otter of her progeny, I returned to the place eight days afterward, and found the female sitting by the river, listless and desponding, who suffered me to kill her on the spot, without making any attempt at escape. On skinning her, I found she was quite wasted away with sorrow for the loss of her young. Another time I saw at some distance from me an old otter, sleeping by the side of a young one about a year old. As soon as the mother perceived me, she awakened the young one, and enticed him to betake himself to the river; but as he did not take the hint, and seemed inclined to pro struction she makes among the fish is most considerable; she has not only her own wants, but those of her offspring to provide for, and her exertions during the silent hours of night are unremitting. The sport of otter-hunting, formerly maintained by country gentlemen for the sake of the diversion, may be regarded as having been brought to a close in England, with the termination of the last century, and is now only practised for the sake of extirpating a noxious animal. the present day, few or no packs of otterhounds are kept. THOUGHTS AND THINGS. At HOUGHTS never die. They are a part of the unseen things that are eternal. The minds in which they spring, or in which they are implanted, have "life everlasting;" and impressions made upon them, never cease to affect their welfare, for better or for worse. They make them better and happier, or worse and more miserable for ever. Things perish. Most of them soon decay, and the most enduring will ere long be consumed. Our bodies, to us the most valuable and the most curious of things, are but dust, and to dust will shortly return. Impressions made on perishable things, must perish with them. Soon no trace will remain, to show that they have ever been. He who endeavors to impart thoughts to the minds of men, toils for immortality. If he is successful, the produce, the effects, of his labors will endure for ever. When ages, and millions of ages shall have rolled away, they will still be operative for the benefit or injury of those who receive them. JUNE. But he who labors to produce things, labors for what is perishable The productions of his toil, if it is even as successful as his heart desires, will soon cease to be. He sows to the corruptible, and "shall reap corruption." Tha laborer who produces things, may do it for the service of the thought; and then his labors take hold on eternity and are of worth. The touch of faith changes their nature, and imparts to them an infinite value. 271 by them, not be paid with things. It matters little. If he thinks that he may be thus paid for doing, he debases the precious to the service of the vile, and deserves to be unpaid; but if he aims as worthily as he should, at rewards in the world of thought and of eternity, he will find them there; nor mourn that this thoughtless world has paid him poorly. JUNE. THE goddess Juno is said to claim the honor of giving name to this month; others assert it to be derived from Junius Brutus. By the Saxons, it was termed Sere-monath, or dry month. Man of thought! honor the man of toil! You could not live to think, and benefit the world by your thoughts but for his toil. It is only when the toiler toils for things as an end, and raises not his eye to the higher good to which those things should be made subservient, that he is worthy, if a human being ever is, to be despised. When he toils for himself as a being of thought, or for others that they may live and think; then he is your wor-ly thy brother. If he is, to the extent of his ability, a thinking man, his honor is not the less for his toil. June is really, in this climate, what the poets represent May to be-the most lovemonth of the year. Summer is commenced, and warm weather thoroughly established, yet the heats rarely rise to excess, or interrupt the enjoyment of those pleasures which the scenes of nature now afford. The trees are in their fullest dress, and a profusion of the gayest flowers is every where scattered around, which put on all their beauty just before they are cut down by the scythe, or withered by the heat. Soft, copious showers are extremely welcome about the beginning of this month, to forward the growth of the her Man of toil! honor mer of thought, whose thoughts are good. There are many such. Some originate thoughts, and others only convey them from one to another. Some impart them to children and youth, in the school or college; and others to adults in the pulpit, or by the press. Some do it by the voice, others by the pen. But in whatever way they work, they are all producing that which will be eternal in its duration and useful-bage. ness, and is therefore infinite in its value. The fruits of their labor will still exist and retain their value, when all the productions of the farm and the shop shall have ceased to be. One of them may show you, on a few inches of paper, the produce of many days, or weeks, of earnest effort. It looks small, but despise it not. It may impart a new thought to thousands of minds, and to each of them it may be of endless benefit and of count-mences as soon as the warm weather is less worth. If it is evil, it may rend a so far settled that the sheep may without nation; if it is good, it may save a soul. danger lay aside great part of their clothing. It is fit that they who produce what is infinitely valuable, should be well paid for it; and they will be. Men may be so blind as not to see the worth of their productions, and the thinker may not be paid One of the earliest rural employments of this month is the shearing of sheep, a business of much importance in many parts of the country, where wool is one of the most valuable products. This country is becoming celebrated for its breeds of sheep, which yield wool of various qualities, suited to the different branches of the woollen manufactory. The season for sheep-shearing com Before shearing, the sheep undergo the operation of washing, in order to free the wool from the foulness it has contracted. KARA HISSAR. and the population is supposed to exceed 50,000. The castle is situated at the top HE town of Kara of a steep rock, nearly 200 yards in perHissar, in the prov-pendicular height. At the summit there ince of Anodoli, in is a wall flanked by round towers, within Asia Minor, is about which are some old cannon made of iron 180 miles distant from bars and pieces of old armor. There are Constantinople in a places for holding water, partly of stone, direct line; about 200 and partly hewn out of the rock, and a miles from Smyrna deep well. If supplied with water and and the gean sea; and 130 miles from provisions; the place would be impregnathe port of Adalia on the southern shores ble. This strong natural citadel appears of the Mediterranean; consequently it is only to have been intended for occasional placed nearly in the centre of the penin- use in times of trouble. The entrance sula known under the name of Asia Mi- could be closed by a gate. The western nor. There are no properly-constructed frontier of Asia has often been the battleroads in any part of the Turkish empire, field of contending powers, and such a though the remains of the Roman lines of place as this castle might be intended as communication are still to be observed, and the last resort of the vanquished. Asia some of the Roman bridges are yet in Minor was ravaged by barbarians, and afuse; but Kara Hissar enjoys the advanta- terward for two centuries endured the ges which are derived from such roads as tyranny of the Persian yoke. are common to the country. The road from Smyrna to the east, toward Armenia, Georgia, Persia, and the countries bordering on the Euphrates, passes through it; FORM AND STRUCTURE OF THE and it is the rendezvous of the caravans proceeding from Constantinople. Hence nearly all European manufactures and colonial produce which are distributed to the eastward and southward, pass through Kara Hissar. This renders it a place of considerable importance, and stimulates the industry of the inhabitants; as the numerous caravans which pass through it bring produce and merchandise from distant parts, and the shops are accordingly well supplied. A great proportion of the houses are built of stone. The manufacture of carpets is chiefly carried on in the country between Kara Hissar and Smyrna; but fabrics of wool and tapestry are among the staple articles of industry in the former place. From the large quantity of opium cultivated in the neighborhood, it is generally called Afioum Kara Hissar. The situation of the town is striking. Lofty and naked rocks rise up on one side, and on the other is a range of high fruitful hills covered with vineyards. A small stream, which in winter and spring is abundantly supplied, runs through the town. The circumference of the town is nearly three miles, it contains ten mosques, EARTH. NE interesting peculiarity in geology is the close relationship in which it stands to many other departments of science, lending light to them, and receiving it from them in return. |