most pleasing of all amusements, her delicious company and heavenly harmony.

5. "It was," said he, "the opinion of learned philosophers of our race, who lived and flourished long before my time, that this vast world, the Moulin Joly, could not itself exist more than eighteen hours; and I think there was some foundation for that opinion; since, by the apparent motion of the great luminary that gives life to all nature, and which, in my time, has evidently declined considerably toward the ocean at the end of our earth, it must then finish its course, be extinguished in the waters that surround us, and leave the world. in cold and darkness, necessarily producing universal death and destruction.

6. "I have lived seven of these hours, a great age, being no less than four hundred and twenty minutes of time. How very few of us continue so long! I have seen generations born, flourish, and expire. My present friends are the children and grandchildren of the friends of my youth, who are now, alas! no more. And I must soon follow them; for, by the course of nature, though still in health, I can not expect to live above seven or eight minutes longer.

7. "What now avails all my toil and labor in amassing honey-dew on this leaf, which I can not live to enjoy? What the political struggles I have been engaged in for the good of my compatriot inhabitants of this bush, or my philosophical studies for the benefit of our race in general! For, in politics, (what can laws do without morals?) our.present race of ephemera will, in the course of minutes, become corrupt, like those of other and older bushes, and consequently as wretched.

8. "And in philosophy, how small our progress! Alas! art is long, and life is short! My friends would comfort me with the idea of a name, they say, I shall leave behind me; and they tell me I have lived long enough to nature and to glory. But what will fame be to an ephemera who no longer exists?

And what will become of all history in the eighteenth hour, when the world itself, even the whole Moulin Joly, shall come to an end, and be buried in universal ruin?"

WORD ANALYSIS AND DEFINITIONS.

Dr. Franklin.

E phem'e ra (eph, for; ē'me-rā, a day), a kind of fly that lives only one day. Plural, ephemeræ.

Ex pire' (ex, out; pire or spire, to breathe), to breathe out; to die. Lu mi'na ry (lumin, light; ary, that which), a body that emits light;

the sun.

Progress (pro, forward; gress, to go), a going forward; advancement.
So lil'o quy (soli, alone; loquy, a talking), a talking to one's self.
U ni ver'sal, including or pertaining to the whole.

LESSON XVII.

LITTLE NELL AND THE SEXTON.

The old Sexton soon got better, and was about again. He was not able to work; but one day there was a grave to be made, and he came to overlook the man who was digging it. He was in a talkative mood; and little Nell, at first standing by his side, and afterwards sitting on the grass at his feet, with her thoughtful face raised toward him, began to converse with him.

Little Nell. You were telling me about your gardening. Do you ever plant things here?

Sexton. In the churchyard? Not I.

Little Nell. I have seen some flowers and little shrubs about;

there are some over there, you see. I thought they were of your rearing; though, indeed, they grow but poorly.

Sexton. They grow as Heaven wills; and it kindly ordains that they never shall flourish here.

Little Nell. I don't understand you.

Sexton. Why, this it is; they mark the graves of those who had very tender, loving friends.

Little Nell (earnestly). I was sure they did! to know they do!

I am very glad

Sexton. Ay, but stay. Look at them. See how they hang their heads, and droop, and wither. Do you guess the reason'? Little Nell. No. What is the reason?

Sexton. Because the memory of those who lie below passes away so soon. At first those loving friends tend the flowers morning, noon, and night; but they soon begin to come less frequently, from once a week to once a month; then at long and uncertain intervals; then not at all. Such tokens seldom flourish long. I have known the briefest summer flowers outlive them.

Little Nell. How sad that is! I grieve to hear it.

Sexton (shaking his head). Ah! so say the gentlefolks who come down here to look about them; but I say otherwise. "It's a pretty custom you have in this part of the country," they say to me sometimes, "to plant the graves; but it's melancholy to see these things all withering or dead." I crave their pardon, and tell them that, as I take it, 't is a good sign for the happiness of the living. And so it is. It's nature.

Little Nell (very seriously). Perhaps the mourners learn to look to the blue sky by day and to the stars by night, and to think that the dead are there and not in the graves.

Sexton (doubtfully). Perhaps so. It may be.
Little Nell (in a low tone, to herself).

Whether it be as I believe it is or not, I'll make this place my garden. It will be no harm, at least, to work here day by day; and pleasant thoughts will come of it, I'm sure.

Charles Dickens. (Adapted.)

QUESTIONS. Where should the rising inflection be used in this piece? The falling inflection? Why? (See Introduction, page ix). Where is the movement slow? Where medium? (See page xv). Point out any examples of absolute emphasis. Of antithetic emphasis.

1. Although cotton was not generally known among the nations of the earth until a much later period than the other substances used for clothing, such as flax, wool, etc., it is now raised in such abundance as to afford the cheapest material for this purpose. From its resemblance to sheep's wool, it was called by the ancients the "wool of trees"; and the term cotton-wool is still often employed. The Germans call it treewool.

2. The many varieties of the cotton-plant have been divided into herb-cotton, shrub-cotton, and tree-cotton, according to the mode of growth. Of these, the most useful is the herb-cotton,

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which is extensively cultivated in the southern parts of the United States, in India, China, and other warm countries.

3. The most esteemed variety of the herb-cotton is that known by the name of sea-island cotton, which is of long staple, its fiber being much longer than that of any other description, and of a fine, silky texture. It is an annual plant, and derives its name from the circumstance of its being cultivated with great success in the low sandy islands which lie along the coast of South Carolina.

4. In the Southern States it grows to the hight of from four to six feet. Its leaves are of a dark green color. The blossom expands into a pale yellow flower, which falling off, a pointed, triangular pod appears. This gradually increases to the size of a large hickory nut, and becomes brown as the woolly fruit ripens. The expansion of the wool then causes the pod to burst, when there appears a ball of snowy white or yellowish down adhering to the seeds. The appearance of a cotton-field while the pods are progressively opening is highly interesting, the fine, dark green of the leaf contrasting beautifully with the brilliant white of the cotton suspended from the pods, and floating to and fro at the bidding of the wind.

5. Shrub-cotton grows in most countries where the annual herb-cotton is found. In the West Indies, its duration is about two or three years; in India, Egypt, and some other places, it lasts from six to ten years. In the hottest countries it is perennial, and furnishes two crops a year. In cooler climates it is annual. In appearance it is much like a currant-bush. Tree-cotton grows in India, China, Egypt, and in the interior and on the western coast of Africa, and in some parts of America. It attains a hight of from twelve to twenty feet.

6. Great care is bestowed, in the Southern States, upon the cultivation of the cotton-plant. The ground is thrown up by the plow into beds five or six feet apart; and in these the seed is sown, in March, April, or May, according to the season.