QUESTIONS.-1. By whom and how were the hopes of tnose birds suddenly blasted? 2. How did one of these birds at length lose its mate? 3. What afterward happened to this bird itself? 4. What lesson is designed to be taught in this piece?

LESSON IX.

Spell and Define-1. VAN' I TY, empty pride; conceit. 2. UN DER STAND' ING, the intellectual powers. 3. SUR'. FACE, the exterior part of any thing; outside. 4. AT. TEN' TION. the act of attending. 5. ANX' I OUs, solicitous. How does Rule III. teach you to read?

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN READING MUCH AND
KNOWING MUCH.

1. WE should always be careful to get perfectly whatever is given us to learn, and try to understand and remember what we read.

2. A person may read much, without learning much, or being much wiser for it. It is a great vanity to be desirous of having it to say, that we have read a great many books.

3. "One book," says Dr. Watts,' "read with laborious attention, will tend more to enrich the understanding, than skimming over the surface of twenty authors."

4. Two children will read the same book; the one will be able to tell you what it contains, but the other will know almost as little about it when he is done, as before he began; and what is the reason of this?

5. The one reads with attention, and strives to understand and remember what he reads; but the other reads because it is given him to read; he does it like a task which he is

desirous to finish, but the contents of which he is not anxious to treasure up in his mind.

QUESTIONS.-1. Can you expect to read well, if you do not understand what you read? 2. What then is necessary in order to understand what you read? 3. What good rule does Dr. Watts give about reading? 4. Who

was Dr. Watts ? poet of England.

Ans. An eminent Christian minister and

LESSON X.

Spell and Define-1. AN' CIENT, old; of former times. 2. PER CEIV' ING, observing; knowing by the senses. 3. PAN' THER, a fierce ferocious quadruped. 4. POUNCE, to fall on and seize. 5. HOB' GOB LIN, a frightful apparition. 6. RE AL' I TY, truth; fact. 7. SPEC' TER, a ghost. What does Rule V. direct about reading?

THE MAN AND BOY WHO BECAME FOOLISHLY
FRIGHTENED.

1. I SUPPOSE my young friends have often heard of persons, being frightened at their own shadows. Perhaps you remember, this was what ailed the ancient war-horse, Buceph'a lus, while a colt, and that no one could manage him, till young Alexander, perceiving the cause of his alarm, turned his head from his shadow.

2. Well, I am sorry to say there are many persons among us, who are even sillier than this horse; for they are often frightened at something they form in their own fancy, and then think it to be a terrific specter.

3. A person of this sort, in the country, was once on his way home, through a piece of woods, in the evening, when he heard, as

he thought, a hoarse, heavy groan, but a few rods from him.

4. He had been told that there was once a man murdered not far from that place, and as he looked round, he thought he saw a poor wounded man just breathing his last, lying partly behind a log by the fence.

5. Fearing for his own safety, he now fled as for life, till he found himself unhurt in his own house. His family had scarcely learned the cause of his fright, when a neighbor was heard knocking at the door.

6. On entering the house, and hearing but a part of the story, he requested the man to bring him a lantern, and direct him to the spot. On their arrival, they found, as the neighbor had expected, no person either hurt or in danger, but merely some swine asleep in their yokes, which caused the hard breathing the man had mistaken for a groan.

7. A silly boy who had just been listening to a frightful story about some panthers, was sent one evening to his uncle's on an errand, with permission to spend the night with his cousins, and return home in the morning. He passed on pleasantly till he reached a place, called Hemlock Hill, just in sight of the house, when, all at once, the startling cry of a screech owl broke upon his ear.

8 He had never heard such a noise before; he was thrown into a fright, and looking up into the top of a tree, in the edge of the forest,

he thought he saw a huge panther, just ready to pounce upon him. He turned toward home, running and shrieking with all his might, fearing to stop or look round, lest he should be overtaken and torn in pieces.

9. Now, this shows why we hear so many people talking about ghosts and hobgoblins. They are, in the first place, frightened at something, or fear they shall be, and then fancy to their mind this or that frightful object, and thus as fully believe they see it, as the man or the boy did; when, in reality, there was nothing more than a few sleeping swine, or a little harmless screech owl!

QUESTIONS.-1. What is said of the war-horse Bucephalus? 2. Who first perceived the cause of his alarm? 3. What is said of many persons? 4. How was a man in the country once frightened, on returning home in the evening? 5. What was afterward found to be the cause of his alarm? 6. Can you give an account of the boy who was sent to his uncle's on an errand? 7. What story.

had he been hearing before he started? 8. Why is it we often hear people talking about hobgoblins and the like? What faults are you inclined to commit in pronouncing evening, morning, ghosts, object, and shrieking?

LESSON XI.

Spell and Define-1. WON' DER FUL, strange; exciting surprise. 2. PEB' BLE, a roundish stone. 3. IM'I TATE, to copy. 4. Puz' ZLE, perplexity; embarrassment. 5. PHILOS' O PHER, ore skilled in the science of nature. 6. SAT'IS FI ED, fully gratified; made content. 7. PROMPT, to incite; to dictate. 8. ME CHAN' IC, a person skilled in mechanical art.

How are you taught to read dialogues? See Rule XII.

REASON AND INSTINCT.

1. THEODORE was about eight years old He had always lived in the city, and he knew little about the wonderful things to be seen in the country.

2. One day, when his father went with him to walk in the fields, he found a bird's nest. He asked his father what those round things were, which looked like smooth pebbles. FATHER. They are bird's eggs.

THEODORE. Who made that pretty place to put them in?

F. The birds made it. It is their nest.
T. Who showed them how?

F. They knew without showing.

T. That is strange! I could not make such a nest, if nobody showed me how.

F. You could learn by trying a great many times, if you had a nest ready made to imitate; but you never could make one as well as the birds. They need not teachers. The youngest can make a nest as well as the oldest.

T. I guess you are telling me a puzzle. F. It is a puzzle to the wisest philosopher, as well as children. The answer is, that God has given instinct to birds, and reason to you. T. I am puzzled now as much as before.

F. I am glad to hear you say so. Some boys are satisfied with words without the meaning. I am glad you are not. Now you will give attention while I explain the words I used.