animal race. It has an insatiable thirst after blood, and, even when satisfied with food, is not satiated with slaughter. Happily for the rest of the animal race, as well as for mankind, this destructive quadruped is not very common, nor the species very widely diffused, being confined to the warm climates of the east, especially India and Siam. It generally grows to a larger size than the largest mastiff dog, and its form so completely resembles that of a cat as almost to induce us to consider the latter as a tiger in miniature. The most striking difference which is observed between the tiger and the other animals of the cat kind, consists in the different marks on the skin. The panther and the leopard are spotted, but the tiger is ornamented with long streaks quite across the body, instead of spots. The ground colour on those of the most beautiful kind is yellow, very deep on the back, but growing lighter towards the belly, where it softens to white, as also on the throat and inside of the legs. The bars which cross the body from the back to the belly are of the most beautiful black, and the skin altogether is so extremely fine and glossy that it is much esteemed, and sold at a high price in all eastern countries, especially China. The tiger is said by some to perfer human flesh to that of any other animal; and it is certain that it does not, like many other beasts of prey, shun the presence of man; and, far from dreading his opposition, frequently seizes him as his victim., These ferocious animals seldom their pursue lie in ambush, and bound upon it with a surprising elasticity, and from a distance almost incredible. The strength, as well as the agility of this animal, is wonderful: it carries off a deer with the greatest ease, and will even carry off a buffalo. It attacks all kinds of animals, except the elephant and rhinoceros. Furious combats sometimes happen between

prey,

but

"Oh! why do tears steal down your cheek,"
Cried I, "while others shout for joy?"
She kiss'd me, and in accents weak,
She called me her poor Orphan Boy!

"What is an Orphan Boy?" I said,
When suddenly she gasp'd for breath;
closed; I shriek'd for aid-

And her

eyes

But, Ah! her eyes were closed in death!
My hardships since I will not tell;

But now no more a parent's joy-
Ah, lady! I have learn'd too well
What 'tis to be an Orphan Boy!

Oh! were I by your bounty fed!-
Nay, gentle lady! do not chide:
Trust me, I mean to earn my bread;

The sailor's Orphan Boy has pride.
Lady! you weep:-what is't you say?
You'll give me clothing, food, employ!
Look down, dear parents! look and see
Your happy, happy Orphan Boy.

Mrs. Opic.

Pro-con'sul*, Roman officer; com-plain'ing, sorrowful; re-cov'ered, regained; pur-suit', search; sod'den, boiled; sol'i-tude, lonely place; ca'ter-ing, providing food; cus'tom-ar-y, usual; am-phi-the'a-tre, round theatre; wistful-ly, attentively; blan'dish-ment, fondness; ca-ress', endearment.

ANDROCLES was the slave of a noble Roman who was pro consul of Africa. He had been guilty of a fault for which his master would have put him to death had he not found an opportunity to escape out of his hands and flee into the deserts of Numidia. As he was wandering among the barren sands, and almost dead with heat and hunger, he saw a cave in the side of a rock. He went into it; and finding at the farther end of it a place to sit down upon, rested there for some time. At length, to his great surprise, a huge overgrown lion entered at the mouth of the cave, and, seeing a man in it, immediately made towards him. Androcles gave himself up for gone; but the lion, instead of treating him as he expected, laid his paw on his lap, and, with a complaining kind of voice, fell a licking his hand. Androcles, after having recovered himself a little from the fright he was in, observed the lion's paw to be exceedingly swelled by a large thorn that stuck in it. He immediately pulled it out, and by squeezing the paw very gently, made a great deal of corrupt matter run out of it, which probably freed the lion from the great anguish he had been in for some time. The lion left him upon receiving this good office, and soon after returned with a fawn which he had just killed. This he laid down at the feet of his benefactor, and went off again in pursuit

Proconsul, a Roman officer who governed a conquered country with the authority of the chief magistrate of the Roman commonwealth.

of his prey. Androcles, after having sodden the flesh of it by the heat of the sun, subsisted upon it till the lion had supplied him with another. He lived many days in this frightful solitude; the lion catering for him with great assiduity. Being tired at length of this savage society, he resolved to deliver himself up into his master's hands, and suffer the worst effects of his displeasure, rather than be thus excluded from mankind. His master, as was customary for the pro-consul of Africa, was at that time getting together a present of all the largest lions that could be found in the country, in order to send to Rome, that they might furnish out a show to the Roman people. Upon his poor slave's surrendering himself into his hands, he ordered him to be carried away to Rome as soon as the lions were in readiness to be sent; and that, for his crime, he should be exposed to fight with one of the lions in the amphitheatre. This was all performed accordingly.-Androcles, after such a strange run of fortune, was now in the area of the theatre, amidst thousands of spectators, expecting every moment when his antagonist would come out upon him. At length, a monstrous lion leaped out from the place where he had been kept hungry for the show. He advanced with great rage towards the man; but, on a sudden, after having regarded him a little wistfully, fell to the grouud, and crept towards his feet with all the signs of blandishment and caress. Androcles, after a short pause, discovered that it was his old Numidian friend, and immediately renewed his acquaintance with him. Their mutual congratulations were very surprising to the beholders; who, upon hearing an account of the whole matter from Androcles, ordered him to be pardoned, and the lion to be given up into his possession. Androcles returned at Rome the kind services which he had received from him in the de

gerts of Africa. He was afterwards frequently seen leading the lion about the streets of Rome; the people every where gathering about them and repeating to one another, "This is the lion who was the man's host; this is the man who was the lion's physician."

Ex-am'ine, search into; fash'ioned, shaped; man'aged, wrought; qual'i-ties, properties; brillian-cy, lustre; miner-als, matters dug out of mines; brilliant, shining; expe'rience, practice, or frequent trial; ex-per'i-ment, trial.

GEORGE and HARRY, with their tutor, one day in their walk were driven by the rain to take shelter in a blacksmith's shed. The shower lasting some time, the boys, in order to amuse themselves, began to examine the things around them. The great bellows first attracted their notice, and they admired the roaring it made, and the expedition with which it raised the fire to a heat too intense for them to look at. They were surprised at the dexterity with which the smith fashioned a bar of iron into a horse-shoe; first heating it, then hammering it well on the anvil, cutting off a proper length, bending it round, turning up the ends, and lastly