Spec'ta-cle, sight; ev'i-dence, proof; af-ford'ing, yielding; re-mind'ed, put in mind; in'fer-ence, conclusion; benev'o-lent, kind; rig'ours, severities; ad-ap-ta'tion, suitableness; buoy'an-cy, lightness; em-phat'i-cal-ly, forcibly; merid'ian, noon-day; nig'gard-ly, sparing; de-fined', decided; un-e-quiv'o-cal-ly, plainly.

A GROUP of school-boys on the surface of a frozen pond or lake is a most animated and interesting spectacle.-The motions, the accents, and the countenances of the various individuals who compose it, furnish an evidence of real enjoyment. Whether they glide along the ice on skates, or, by means of the more humble instrumentality of wooden shoes, fenced with iron, or of a staff, armed with a pike, a spectator, accustomed to reflection, cannot fail to recognize, in the happiness which prevails around him, an evidence of a benevolent Creator.

It might, perhaps, appear ludicrous, were I to assert that ice is formed smooth and hard, for the purpose of affording means of healthy and exhilarating sport to the young. Such an.assertion might lead me to be reminded, that this is just the form which the crystallizing process takes in other instances, and the natural result of its laws. Be it so; but still it is impossible to deny, that the youthful mind is so framed as to take pleasure in the exercises which the smooth and level surface of the ice affords; and surely we do not go beyond the bounds of legitimate inference, when we assert, that this is one of the benevolent contrivances by which the rigours of winter are softened, whether the adaptation lie in the polished surface of the frozen plain, or in the buoyancy of the youthful mind, or in both. This observation may be greatly extended; for there is scarcely any object with which we are surrounded, that is not, to the well constituted mind, a source of enjoyment. In the young this is more conspicuous, because the pleasurable feeling lies nearer the surface, and is more easily excited, and expressed more emphatically by outward signs. But it would be a great mistake to measure

the relative enjoyments of childhood and manhood by their external expression, or to suppose that nature, even in its most familiar aspects, does not present as many objects of interest, and of agreeable sensation, to those who are in the meridian of life, or even verging towards the shades of evening, as to those who flutter in the morning sunshine.

If the ice afford to the school-boy the joy of gliding swiftly on its smooth expanse, it is not niggardly of its amusements to the more sedate minds of the mature in age. To every northern country, some amusement on the ice is familiar; and, among these, that of curling may be mentioned as the game peculiarly prized in many districts of Scotland; and also, if I mistake not, in the Netherlands; from which latter country it seems to have been originally derived.

"You can give no reason, says Mr. Abbot, a pleasing and amiable American writer, "why the heart of a child is filled with such joyous glee, when the first snow-flakes descend. There is no very special beauty in the sight; and there are no very well defined hopes of slides or rides, to awaken such joy. At fifty, the gladness is not expressed so unequivocally; but yet, when the gravest philosopher rides through a wood, whose boughs are loaded with the snow, and whose tops bend over with the burden, and looks upon the footsteps of the rabbit, that has leaped along over the ground, he feels the same pleasure, though he indicates it, by riding on in silent musing, instead of uttering exclamations of delight. Can you explain this pleasure? Is there any describable pleasure in a great expanse of white? Is the form of the trees, or the beauty of their foliage improved by their snowy mantle? No! the explanation is, that God, who formed the laws of nature, formed also the human heart; and has so adapted the one to the other, as to promote, in every variety of mode, the enjoyment of the beings he has made. There is no end to the kinds of enjoyment which God has thus opened to us every where. They are too numerous to be named; and no intellectual philosopher has ever undertaken the hopeless task of arranging them.”

Duncan's Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons.

Sym'me-try, proportion; sa-ga'cious, wise, acute; gen'erous, open-hearted; cour-a'geous, bold; do-min'ion, government, Mo-roc'co, an empire in the north-western extremity of Africa; ad'age, proverb.

THE horse is universally allowed to be the most noble, beautiful, and useful of the four-footed animals that God has put in subjection to mankind. "The noble largeness of his form, the glossy smoothness of his skin, and the exact symmetry of his shape, have taught us to regard him as the first and most perfectly formed.' Though less sagacious than the elephant or the dog, he possesses very much of that quality, especially when properly trained. There is a difference, too, in the disposition of horses, as of human beings; but they are generally generous, mild, and affectionate, in return for good treatment; and so docile, that " a little child may lead them." How kind is the Creator, so completely to subject this strong and courageous animal to the dominion

of a child! It is not easy to ascertain the country from which the horse originally came; but Arabia and Persia appear to have the fairest claim, as it is there found in its wild state in the greatest perfection. Numerous herds of horses are seen wild among the Tartars. They are very small, but remarkably fleet, and capable of eluding their most vigilant pursuers. It is said that these will not admit a tame horse into their society, but instantly surround him and compel his retreat; while those of South America, which are found in herds of ten thousand together, use all their efforts to seduce the domestic horse, and frequently with success, to the loss of the owners. Egypt, from an early period, as you may gather from the Scriptures, was famous for its horses. The Israelitish rulers were forbidden to multiply their horses, or go to Egypt for that purpose; but that command was not strictly obeyed, for Solomon carried on a trade with Egypt in horses. He had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen; and he is noticed as giving for an Egyptian horse, a hundred and fifty shekels of silver, that is, about seventeen pounds; a vast sum in those days. It does not appear to have been the practice of the ancients to shoe their horses, as is now done. Hence the strength and solidity of its hoof was of so much importance, and one of the first qualities of a horse. A writer, in an account of Morocco, says, that the Arabs have an adage, that if a cavalcade be passing through a stony country, the gray horses will break the stones with their feet." This opinion appears to be founded on experience; for, in the stony districts of the East, a much greater proportion of gray horses is found than of any other colour. Their feet are so hard," says the same writer, "that I have known them travel two days' journey through the stony defiles of Atlas, without shoes, over roads full of loose broken stones and basaltic rocks.' Many heathen nations have dedicated horses to the sun, which they worshipped as a deity, and represented as riding in a chariot drawn by the most beautiful and swiftest horses in the world. The Jews, in their idolatrous age, had fallen into this sin; and their kings are said to have given horses to the sun. These, good Josiah removed, and abolished the idolatrous practice. For size

and beauty the English horses are now become superior to those of every other part of the world, travelling at a greater speed, bearing greater fatigue, and performing greater feats of strength than those of any other age or nation. An ordinary racer is said to be able to go at the rate of a mile in two minutes. One, of the name of Childers, is reported to have frequently run at the rate of nearly a mile in a minute, and to have run round the course at Newmarket, which is nearly four miles, in six minutes and forty seconds. That was evidently a stretch of humanity, as well as of speed; and so is horse-racing in general.

Monthly Teacher.

16.-A Remarkable instance of Bravery, Humanity, and

Im-pris'oned, confined; im-plo'ring, beseeching; suc ́cour, help; ex-ploit', action; peas'ant, countryman; stren'u-ous, vigorous; ex-pose', risk; Ver-o'na, a large city in Italy.

A GREAT inundation having taken place in the north of Italy, owing to an excessive fall of snow in the Alps, followed by a speedy thaw, the river Adige carried off a bridge near Verona, except the middle part, on which was the house of the toll-gatherer, and who, with his whole family, thus remained imprisoned by the waves, and in momentary expectation of certain destruction. They were discovered from the banks, stretching forth their hands, screaming, and imploring succour, while fragments of the only continuing arch were dropping into the impetuous torrent. In this extreme

danger, a nobleman, who was a spectator, held out a purse of one hundred sequins, as a reward to any adventurer who would take a boat and save this unhappy family. But the risk was so great of being borne down by the impetuosity of