still be in forty fathoms of water. Flowing, however, through a region very scantily peopled, there are fewer vessels upon its surface throughout the year than are seen every hour of the day on the bosom of the Mississippi.

5. The researches of travelers have shown that the vegetable and animal productions of the basin of the Amazon outnumber in species and varieties nearly all the products of the same kingdoms in Europe and North America taken together; and yet many tributaries of this mighty stream, flowing from the vast unknown interior to the north and to the south, have been only partially explored. What a noble field for enterprise, when even the fibers and nuts of a few species of palm afford valuable objects of trade!

Selected.

XXXVI. THE DAISY.

suc-ces'-sion, a following in order; Reihenfolge.

twine, to wind about; umschlingen.

heath, a plant; Heidekraut.

broom, a plant; Ginster.

gale, a blast of wind; Windstoß.

haunt, to frequent; häufig besuchen.

glen, a narrow valley; Thal; Schlucht.

car-na'-tion, a pink; Gartennelke.

con'-se-cra-ted, sacred; geheiligt; geweiht.
pen'-sile, hanging; hängend.
per-en'-ni-al, constant; beständig.

1. There is a flower, a little flower,
With silver crest and golden eye,
That welcomes every changing hour,
And weathers every sky.

2. The prouder beauties of the field,

In gay but quick succession shine;
Race after race their honors yield,
They flourish and decline.

3. But this. small flower to nature dear,

While moon and stars their courses run, Wreathes the whole circle of the year,

Companion of the sun.

4. It smiles upon the lap of May,

To sultry August spreads its charms,
Lights pale October on its way,

And twines December's arms.

5. The purple heath, and golden broom,
On many mountains catch the gale;
O'er lawns the lily sheds perfume;
The violet in the vale:

6. But this bold floweret climbs the hill,
Hides in the forest, haunts the glen,
Plays on the margin of the rill,
Peeps round the fox's den.

7. Within the garden's cultured round,
It shares the sweet carnation's bed;
And blooms in consecrated ground,
In honor of the dead.

8. The lambkin crops its crimson gem;
The wild bee murmurs on its breast;
The blue-fly bends its pensile stem
Light o'er the skylark's nest.

9. 'Tis Flora's page; in every place,
In every season fresh and fair,
It opens with perennial grace,
And blossoms everywhere.

James Montgomery.

XXXVII.-WHAT ANIMALS USE FOR HANDS.

crop, the craw of a bird; Kropf.
poise, to balance; wiegen; schaukeln.
wrench, to wrest by force; reißen.

pud'-dle, dirty, standing water; Pfüße.

1. Though animals do not have hands, they have different parts which they use to do some of the same things that we do with our hands. I will tell you about some of these.

2. When a dog carries anything, he takes it between his teeth. You carry a basket along in your hand, but the dog holds it in his mouth, because he has no hands as you have.

3. The cow and the horse crop the grass with their front teeth. They take up almost any kind of food- a potato, an apple-with these teeth. These teeth, then, answer for hands to the cow and horse. same purpose in many cases. into his mouth with the lips. animals in another respect. lips just as we do with the tips of our fingers.

Their lips answer also the The horse gathers his oats The lips are for hands to such They feel things with their

4. My horse once, in cropping some grass, took hold of some that was so stout and so loose in the earth that he pulled it up by the roots. As he ate it the dirt troubled him. He therefore knocked the grass several times against the fence, holding it firmly in his teeth, and thus got the dirt out, just as people do out of a mat when they strike it against anything.

5. I once knew a horse that would lift a latch or shove a bolt with his front teeth as readily as you would with your hand. He would get out of the barn-yard in this way. But this was at length prevented by a very simple contrivance. A piece of iron was fixed in such a manner at the end of the bolt that you could not shove the bolt unless you raised the iron at the same time, and the horse could not manage the two things together.

6. I have heard about a horse that would take hold of a pump-handle with his teeth and pump water into a trough when he wanted to drink. This was in a pasture where there were several horses; and what is very curious, the other horses, when they wanted to drink, would, if they found the trough empty, tease this horse that knew how to pump; they would get around him, and bite and kick him till he would pump some water for them.

7. Monkeys have four things half way between hands and feet. With these they are very skillful at climbing. There are some kinds of monkeys that use their tails in climbing as a sort of fifth hand.

8. The cat uses for hands sometimes her paws, with their sharp claws; sometimes her teeth; sometimes both together. She climbs with her claws, she catches mice and rats with them, or anything that you hold out for her to run after. She strikes with her paws, just as angry children and men sometimes do with their hands.

9. When the cat moves her kittens from one place to another, she takes them up with her teeth by the nape of the neck. There is no other way in which she can do it. She can not walk on her hind feet and carry them with her fore paws. It seems as if it would hurt a kitten to be carried in such a way, but it does not.

10. When a squirrel nibbles a nut to make a hole in it, he holds it between his two fore paws.

11. The bill of a bird is used as its hand. It gathers with it its food to put into its crop. When you throw corn out to the hens, how fast they pick it up and send it down into their crops! The humming-bird has a very long bill, and in it lies a long, slender, and very delicate tongue. As he poises himself in the air before a flower, his wings fluttering so quickly that you can not see them, he runs his bill into the bottom of the flower where the honey is, and puts his little tongue into it.

12. One of the most remarkable things used in place of a hand is the trunk of an elephant. The variety of uses to which the elephant puts his organ is very wonderful. It can strike very heavy blows with it. It can wrench off branches of trees, or even pull up trees by the roots with its trunk. The trunk is its arm with which it carries its young. It is amusing to see an old elephant carefully wind its trunk around a new-born elephant, and carry it gently along.

13. But the elephant can also do some very little things with his trunk. You see, at the very end of the trunk there is a sort of finger. It is a very nimble finger, and with it this monstrous animal can do a great variety of little things. He will take with it little bits of bread, and other kinds of food that you hand to him, and put them into his mouth. He will take up a piece of money from the ground as easily as you can with your fingers.

14. The elephant can reach a considerable distance with his trunk. And this is necessary, because he has so very short a neck. He could not get at his food without his long trunk. In the end of the trunk there are two holes; into these he can suck water and thus fill his trunk with it. Then he can turn the end of the trunk into his mouth and let the water run down its throat.

15. But sometimes he uses the water in his trunk in another way; he blows it out with great force. He does this when he wants to wash himself, directing his trunk in such a way that the water will pour over him. He sometimes blows the water out in play, for even such great animals have sports like children.

16. Perhaps you have heard of the tailor who pricked the trunk of an elephant with his needle. The elephant, as he was passing, put his trunk into the shop window, hoping that the tailor would give him something to eat. He was angry at being pricked, and was determined to make the