but it is to be enjoyed by themselves only-wives, servants, ministers, governors, must all yield to them, for they will do as they please; and if they cannot be supreme, they will not be subordinate."

"It is important," said Arundel, "to expose these hideous characters to our youth, that they may learn to watch against such dispositions as may render them unamiable. How different would be the state of society if all were governed by gospel principles! How peaceful would be the condition of christian churches, if its members cultivated the spirit of meekness and love! The character must be formed in youth, for the principles that are acquired then, will strengthen and operate powerfully at the period of maturity. No title can be more honorable than that of promoter of peace:' on the other hand, nothing is more to be deprecated than that of being a disturber of the peace.''

Δραχπερικω.

WHICH IS THE MOST SAGACIOUS ANIMAL IN THE

WORLD?

A Dialogue between James, Joseph, Henry, John, Edward, and William.

James.—I understand our dog Trusty has come back again from Leeds. He was sent there about two weeks ago; and the first time he was allowed to traverse the streets, he set off home. He was taken back; and after a stay of ten days, returned to his old residence. He was carrried thither again; and, notwithstanding the distance, nearly twenty miles, he has a third time found his way home; which shows that he is a partaker of the peculiar sagacity, for which his race is so remarkable, and in which I believe they are not surpassed by any other animal.

Joseph. It was certainly very clever; yet I cannot agree with what is said of the sagacity of his race, as I think the horse should rather have that praise than the dog. For, besides finding again the place he has once frequented, he is very tractable, and will stand still to receive the burdens of his master.

Henry.-Why, as to that, the camel, and particularly the elephant, are better than the horse; for they will kneel down to be loaded. And I have sometimes heard the elephant VOL. II. 3d SERIES.

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called "the wisest of beasts," which epithet is, I think, very applicable to him. I wonder what John's opinion is?

John. My opinion differs from all I have yet heard; and, in my estimation, the beaver is much more sagacious than any animal you have mentioned. These wonderful creatures live together in villages, containing from ten to thirty houses, and frequently two or three hundred inhabitants. They seem to be under some sort of government; for, when they are constructing their habitations, or forming their embankments, they do not go to work with disorder or confusion, but divide themselves into parties; some of which are employed in fetching large pieces of timber and other materials from the woods, and carrying them to the water edge, whence they are taken by others, and conveyed to the place where the work is going forward. Here some fix the pieces of wood in their places, while others cement them with the mortar, which their companions prepare, and thus, by their mutual help, the work is greatly facilitated.

Edward. I have been accustomed to think the government and habitations of ants, more surprising than those of the beaver. The nests of the termites, or white ants, in particular, are some of them ten or twelve feet high, though their inhabitants are so many thousand times less. If you only consider the magnitude of these dwellings, you must surely agree with me, that these little insects must be the most contriving of all animals.

James. After all, the anecdotes I have heard of the dog are so striking, that I should think they might convince any person, that this quadruped is almost possessed of reason and reflection; and whoever has read Taylor's Character of the Dog, will, I think, readily assent to what I have said.

Edward. I have read it; but I have likewise read that part of Clarke's Wonders of the World, where he speaks of the termites, which immediately satisfied me that they are more ingenious than the dog, though I used to consider it to possess more of reason than any other animal.

John.-Here comes William. Suppose we ask him his opinion. Edward.-I dare say he will mention the termites, for he was reading about them yesterday.

James.-But I guess he will mention the dog, for I know dogs are his favorites.

John.-Well, William, we have been discussing a question that we scarcely seem able to answer. Which is the most sagacious animal in the world?

William.-The dog, of course.

Henry.-Still I cannot but think the elephant has greatly the precedence; and I dare say you have all read and heard many anecdotes, which might prove it to you, if you would only call them to mind, or consider them properly. There is one about an elephant being abused by some tailors, and this noble animal, without endeavoring immediately to avenge himself, went away, and fetching some dirty water in his trunk, sprinkled it over them and their work. Then there is the story of the elephant and the cocoa-nuts, in the Evenings at Home. And I once read, that an elephant having in a rage trampled his cornac, or governor, under his feet, and thus put an end to his life, the man's wife, who was standing by, and saw the deed, throwing her two children before the elephant, cried out, "Now you have destroyed their father, you may as well put an end to their lives and mine." The creature, as if from a feeling of remorse, instantly stopped, took the elder of the two children in his trunk, seated him on his neck, and would let no one else mount him. Now, are you not all convinced of the great superiority of this wonderful animal ?

James.-I believe the tale in the Evenings at Home, is only a fable.

Henry.I thought so till lately, when I read it in Bingley's Animal Biography, where we are informed that it occurred at Macassar, the capital of the Celebes.

Edward. Dr. Franklin proved, by a very interesting experiment, that ants, besides thinking, can communicate their thoughts to one another. He suspended a pot of treacle with an ant in it, from the ceiling of his apartment. This ant, having satisfied its own appetite, ascended by the string to the top of the room, and, pursuing its course along the wall, found its way down to the nest. It next (as we may reasonably suppose) informed its companions of the store; for a number of them proceeded one after another up the wall, and descending

by the string, found their way to the treacle, and having finished their repast, returned as they came. Thus they continued, one line going and one returning, till the supply was much diminished.

Joseph.-I will tell you an anecdote of the horse. A number of chargers, disabled by the fatigues of war, were kept by a general in a pasture, which he very kindly allotted to them. One day, a thunder storm coming on, these animals, supposing probably by the flashes of lightning, and the roar of the thunder, that they were in a field of battle, with one consent formed themselves into a line, almost as exactly as if they had been commanded by their respective riders.

James.-That was merely from habit; but I will relate a very pleasing fact respecting a dog, which shows some considerable degree of compassion. A person, while abroad on the Continent, lent a surgeon his dog, which was a pointer. This dog, while under the care of the surgeon, by some accident, broke one of his legs, and the surgeon undertook to cure him, in which he succeeded. The dog was very grateful for the kindness, and often visited the surgeon, after his master had returned home. One day, when the surgeon was sitting in his study, he heard a whining and scratching at the door, and when he opened it, his old acquaintance, the pointer, led in a lame companion, and, with supplicating looks, entreated the surgeon to show him the kind attention he had himself formerly experienced.

Henry. I have just recollected one more anecdote, which I think enough to give any one a favorable opinion of the elephant. In India, where elephants were formerly employed to launch ships, one of them attempted to launch one which was too heavy for him. The animal, however, used all his endeavors, yet could not accomplish his end; upon which the governor cried out, "Take away that lazy beast, and bring another." The poor creature, as if he understood the reproach, summoned up all his strength in one strong effort, by which he fractured his skull, and died on the spot!

James.-Poor creature! his master was a great deal too harsh with him.

William.-I think I will now settle the dispute, for I have just thought of an animal, that, notwithstanding all we have

said, we shall doubtless agree to be the most sagacious in the world. I mean, Man; to whom, at the creation, dominion was given "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. i. 28. WILLIAM HENRY,

THE TWO PLANTS.

SOMETIME since on visiting the garden of a friend, my attention was attracted by a very rare and beautiful flower which flourished there; and on expressing my admiration of it, I was presented with two roots of the same species, receiving at the same time particular directions for the management of them. They were alike in size and appearance, and I knew not of which to cherish the most sanguine expectations. I planted them side by side; the same dews softly distilled, the same sun shed its warm rays upon each; in short, in every respect they received similar culture and advantages. For a time both flourished well; the tender green leaves forced their way through the moistened earth, the small buds had just begun to swell, and I anticipated with much pleasure the time when I should behold the lovely hues of my flowers, and regale my senses with their delicious fragrance. But one morning when I went into my garden, I perceived that one of them looked fading and sickly; I went to it, I watered it, I lightened the earth about it, I screened it from the scorching heat; but all my efforts were fruitless-in a few days the slender stem, the pure green leaves and the buds withered; for a short time it remained in my garden, a memento of my disappointed hopes, and then it was cast away as an unsightly object. My other flower continued to grow and flourish, the green shell burst, the pearly flower appeared, it was the rich ornament of my garden, it scattered its odours on every passing zephyr, until by my father's particular request, it was removed into his hot-house, where in a more genial atmosphere, it blooms with increased beauty. And could I have hoped that circumstances like these were confined to the vegetable world-that the florist and the horticulturist were the only subjects of such disappointment, the one plant would have faded unknown, and the other have