find them sleeping; their bright eyes are usually open, and they look, indeed, quite thoughtful, as though already reflecting about their little family. 8. The male, among some tribes, occasionally relieves his mate, by taking her place awhile, and among all varieties he exerts himself to bring food to her, and to sing for her amusement. But, altogether, this voluntary imprisonment of those busy, lively creatures, is a striking instance of that generous, enduring patience which is a noble attribute of parental affection. 9. The robin with us is musical only in early spring; the rest of the year he is a very silent bird. Some few occasionally linger through the cold weather as far north as the Mohawk; but this seems accidental. Many take a south-eastern direction toward the sea. shore, and many more go still further south to a milder climate. They are with us, however, eight or nine months of the year, honest, homely creatures, running through plowed furrows, and about the grassplots and paths around our doors; so that they are every where considered as friends of the house. - 10. I have seen it asserted that the early colonists gave to the gaudy oriole the name of "English robin;" showing how fondly memory colored all they had left behind, since one bird is very plain in his plumage, the other remarkably brilliant. The name of robin, however, has now attached itself decidedly to the large red-breasted thrush, with which we are all familiar. This bird, though differing in many respects from the Robin Redbreast of Europe, yet with the name inherits also the favor of his kinsman, getting all the credit, in this part of the world, of watching over the Babes in the Woods, picking berries to feed them, and gather ing leaves for their covering. MISS SUSAN F. COOPER. LXVII. THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. IN-STILL', v. t., to infuse by drops. A-NAL'O-GY, n., resemblance. Avoid saying produx, insex, objex, &c., for products, in'sects, ob'jects, &c. 1. THOUGH it be impossible and absurd to wish that every young person should grow up a naturalist by profession, yet this age offers no more wholesome training, both moral and intellectual, than that which is given by instilling into the young an early taste for out-door physical science. "Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; 't is her privilege, 2. How to give habits of enterprise, patience, ac curate observation, — above all, how to develop the physical powers without engendering brutality and coarseness, are questions becoming daily more puz zling, while they need daily more to be solved, in an age of enterprise, travel, and ĕmigration, like the present. Without undervaluing other branches of science, it may be safely affirmed that Natural History, or the history of the natural products of the earth, is capable of affording more to interest and instruct, more to refresh and relax, the well-disposed mind, on a very slight acquaintance with it, than any other pursuit. 3. Not a step can the learner advance in it, but he meets with wonders previously unsuspected. The more he knows, the more he desires to know; and the further he advances, the more does he perceive how much delight is yet in store for him. The beneficent Creator of all has not only ordained that every part of his works should be good, - should be adapted to answer its designed end, and should contribute, in the highest degree of which it is capable, to the well-being of his creatures,—but he has made every thing "beau tiful in its season." 4. He has so formed the mind of man that it derives pleasure from the contemplation of the glorious works around us. And it is, therefore, a worthy employment of our faculties to encourage this pleasure, and to place it upon a more solid and extended foundation than that afforded by the mere forms and colors of objects, however beautiful these may be. One great source of the pleasure derived from the inquiry into the structure and mode of existence of the living beings around us, arises from the adaptation of their parts to each other, and of the whole to the place it has to occupy. 5. The philosopher who studies the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the station of this earth among them, traces these adaptations no less clearly; but it requires profound and long-continued study to be able to comprehend them aright. The naturalist, however, can discern them, with far less re-search', in every plant that grows, in every animal that breathes; and he meets with a constant variety, which prevents him from growing weary of the pursuit. 6. Yet the young are too frequently kept in igno rance of the wonders and beauties around them; and, whilst encouraged to learn many languages, and read many books, they remain unacquainted with the bright volume of creation, the pages of which are daily and hourly unrolled before them, "written," to use the im pressive words of Lord Bacon, " in the only language which hath gone forth to the ends of the world, unaf fected by the confusion of Babel." 7. If boys were acquainted with the wonderful structure of insects, and of other animals low in the scale, they would not be found sticking pins into flies, or tormenting cats; nor, when men, would they treat those noble domestic animals, the horse and the ox, with cruelty. The girl who has learned to derive enjoyment from observing the operations and watching the metamorph'oses of insects,— who knows their history, and is con'versant with their structure, habits, and curious economy,—will mark these circumstances in animals higher in the scale; and, ascending to her own species, will learn also the elevation of her own nature. 8. The young person who, in strolling through the fields and woods, can tell you the name of every wild flower and every bird you see,-can inform you as to its habits, the time of its appearance, and in what regions of the earth it is to be found,-possesses a fund of useful and entertaining knowledge which must lend a charm to every ramble, and make his or her society prized by all who have souls to rec'ognize and admire the manifold indications in creation of Providential bounty and Omniscient skill. 9. The just relations of all created things to one another prove them to be the work of one almighty Designer. The great globe may be considered as a mu-se'um, furnished forth with the works of the Supreme Being; man being placed in the midst of it, as alone capable of comprehending and valuing it. if this be true, as certainly it is, what then becomes man's duty? Moralists and divines, with nature herself, testify that the purpose of so much beauty and perfection being made manifest to man, is that he may study and celebrate the works of God. If we have no And, vital and intelligent faith in the things which are seen, how shall we believe those which are not seen? 10. A happy sensibility to the beauties of nature should, therefore, be actively cherished and developed by the young. It engages them to contem'plate the Creator in his wonderful works; it purifies and harmonizes the soul, and prepares it for moral and intellectual discipline; it supplies a never-failing source of amusement; it contributes largely to bodily health; and, as a strict analogy subsists between material and moral beauty, it leads the heart by an easy transition from the one to the other, and thus recommends virtue for its transcendent loveliness, and makes vice appear the object of contempt and abomination. LXVIII.-CATO'S MESSAGE TO CÆSAR. ROS'TRUM, n., a platform for speakers. | CAP'I-TOL, n., a temple in Rome. LEGION, n., a body of soldiers. [vice. SAC'RI-LEGE, n., the crime of violat DIS-BAND', v. t., to dismiss from ser- ing sacred things. DIC-TA'TOR, N., an absolute ruler. EX-POST'U-LATE, v. i., to plead with. Decius. Cæsar sends health to Cato. Cato. Could he send it To Cato's slaughtered friends, it would be welcome.- Cæsar sees Dec. My business is with Cato. Cato. My life is grafted on the fate of Rome. Dec. Rome and her senators submit to Cæsar; Who checked his conquests, and denied his triumphs. |