FACTS FOR LITTLE FOLKS.

AN AMERICAN Boy.-A pious father had devoted very great attention to the moral and religious education of his son, who had maintained an unblemished reputation for veracity until the age of fourteen, when he was detected in a deliberate falsehood. The father's grief was great, and he determined to punish the offender severely. He made the subject one of prayer, for it was too important in his esteem, to be passed over as a common occurrence of the day. He then called his son and prepared to inflict the punishment. But the fountain of the father's heart was broken up. He wept aloud. For a moment the lad seemed confused. He saw the struggle between love and justice in his parent's bosom, and broke out with all his usual ingenuousness, "Father, Father, whip me as much as you please; but dont cry." The point was gained. The father saw that the lad's character was sensibly affected by this incident. He grew up, and became one of the most distinguished christians of America.

BAD BARGAINS.-At a sabbath school examination, a teacher observed, he that buys the truth makes a good bargain, and inquired if any scholar recollected any instance in scripture of a bad bargain: "I do,” replied a boy, "Esau made a bad bargain when he sold his birth-right for a mess of pottage." A second boy said, "Judas made a bad bargain when he sold his Lord for thirty pieces of silver." A third said, "Our Lord tells us, that he makes a bad bargain, who, to gain the whole world loses his own soul."

A GOOD ANSWER.-A boy was one day going to sabbath school, when he met with some lads who wished him to play truant, and go with them. When asked why he refused, he said -"Because the Bible says, My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."

"A LION, WHICH IS STRONGEST AMONG BEASTS, AND TURNETH NOT AWAY FOR ANY."-Proverbs xxx. 30. THE Holy Scriptures abound with descriptions of this most formidable of quadrupeds; and they are, also, full of the most sublime imagery, taken from its general character and habits. Those facts show, that the sacred penmen were intimately acquainted with the natural history of the Lion; and that it was very common on the coasts of Israel.

Many writers of natural history have been accustomed to extol, in the most unmeasured language, the noble generosity of the lion's nature and disposition. Nothing can be further from the truth than these eulogies. Lions, tigers, and all the cat tribe, exhibit all the same leading features in their character; the size and strength of the Lion raising him more above the influence of fear than some of the smaller animals of the same family.

The general form and figure of the Lion present a striking union of grandeur with amazing strength. His general aspect is grimly majestic; his walk is proud and confident; and his voice is very terrible. His large head, surrounded with a dreadful mane, serves to increase the terror which his look and form inspire. The amazing thickness of his limbs, and the surprising breadth of his paws, strikingly evince his power, if not his right, to reign.

The Lion is found both in Asia and Africa; though they are not the same species. His usual length is from six to eight feet; and his height about four feet and a half. The top of the head, the under jaw, neck, breast, shoulder, the hinder part of the legs, and the belly, are covered with a long hair, of a tawny colour; the rest of the body is clothed with

short hair, of the same hue. The Lion has all the requisities for hunting, seizing, overcoming, and preying upon all the beasts of the forest; whilst his terrific roar, which resembles distant thunder, as it echoes through the forest and the valleys, fills every animal with instinctive dread of approaching destruction. The tongue of the Lion is beset with prickles, as rough and hard, almost, as a cat's claws, to enable it to tear the flesh of its prey more readily from the bones; and the claws of the Lion, when protruded, appear like the fingers of a man's hand, ready to tear any enemy in pieces.

The Lioness is about one-third less than the male, and is destitute of the mane, which adds so much to the appearance of the Lion. Though generally less mischievous, as she is less powerful, than her mate, she exceeds him in rapacity, in providing for her young. She goes five months with young; and brings forth her cubs in very sequestered places, watching over them with incessant jealousy and sleepless care. The young ones are four or five in number, about the size of a pug-dog, and appear as pretty and as playful as young kittens, though they eventually show themselves to be lions. They suck about twelve months; and are five years in coming to perfection. The Lioness frequently breeds in this

country, in our menageries; but seldom has more than two cubs at a litter.

It is a remarkable fact, that, wherever population spreads itself, and, especially, if civilization spread with it, the Lion diminishes and finally disappears. In every part of the world the traces of this dreadful creature become more rare. In India, and throughout the Asiatic continent, it is rapidly decreasing; and, though the great South African Lion holds his wonted empire in the immense forests and boundless plains of that part of the world, he is sensibly retiring even there; and, no doubt, the introduction and spread of the Gospel, with all the blessings of civilization by its means, will eventually annihilate this scourge, as the wolf and other creatures have become extinct here.

It is said to be a well ascertained fact, that the Lion of South Africa prefers the flesh of the Hottentot to that of any other creature; and the Hottentots themselves have an evident instinctive dread of the Lion, the traces of which they have a peculiar faculty of discovering. Living animals are the natural food of the Lion; he likes to catch and kill for himself; and he is capable of carrying off, with ease, a horse, an ox, or a buffalo. He mostly bounds upon his prey by an amazing spring, from