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bees, probably from its agreeable flavour, for it affords but a scanty supply of honey.

They ply the spotted leaves of the vetch for three months together, as well as its flowers; the beans. also, which most attract them, are those with spotted leaves. Some writers think that the spotted leaves arise from some disease in the plant, which causes them to throw out a sort of honey dew, which the bees delight in more than in the flower.

Turnips, mustard, and all the cabbage tribe are of great use, as well as buck wheat.

"Bees will rejoice," says Mr. Isaac, "when they see the neighbourhood variegated by the blossoms of sun-flowers, holly-hocks, and Spanish broom, and even dandelion, which embellishes the garden of the sluggard."

The holly, the privet, phillyrea, elder, and common bramble, together with sweet fennel, nasturtium, and asparagus, are also much frequented by

bees.

The blossoms of the cucumber, the gourd, and vegetable marrow, also yield a considerable quantity of honey and farina, as likewise those of the white lily.

Colts-foot greatly attracts bees. Borage is good, and mignionette. Lemon thyme should be in every bee garden. The great water lily is excellent, affording honey as well as having some cups of water on its floating leaves, which they can conveniently sip without danger. The great hairy willow herb is useful.

Furze, broom, heath, and sainfoin, are good neighbours to a bee-house.

Ivy is useful, from the lateness of its bloom, when there is little else. A wall, covered with ivy, will - resound with the hum of bees on a fine day at the end of October. Commons surrounded by woods are found to be highly advantageous to bees. They feed upon the wild flowers on the heath, and on the honey-dew on the trees.-Bevan on the Honey-bee.

Mother and Child.

MOTHER AND CHILD.

CHILD.

I saw the glorious sun arise
From yonder mountain, grey
And, as be travell'd through the skies,
The darkness went away;

And all around me was so bright,
I wish'd it would be always light.

But when his shining course was done,
The gentle moon drew nigh,

And stars came twinkling, one by one,
Upon the shady sky,

Who made the sun to shine so far,
The moon, and ev'ry twinkling star?

MOTHER.

'Twas God, my child, who made them all
By his Almighty skill:

He keeps them, that they do not fall,
And guides them as he will.

That glorious GOD, who lives afar
In heav'n, beyond the highest star.

CHILD.

How very great that God must be,
Who rolls them through the air,
Too high, by far, to notice me,
Or listen to my prayer!

O tell me, will he condescend
To be a little infant's friend?

MOTHER.

He will, my love; for though he made
Those wonders of the sky,

You never need to be afraid

He should neglect your cry;

For, humble as a child may be,

A child that prays, he loves to see.

Behold the daisy, where you tread,
That little lowly thing;

Behold the insects, overhead,

That play about in spring:

Though we may think them mean and small,
Yet GoD takes notice of them all.

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And will not Jesus deign to make

A feeble child his care?

Oh, yes! He died for children's sake,
And loves the infant's prayer.
GOD made the stars, and daisies too,
And watches over them and you.

Hymns for Infant Minds.

DIALOGUE ON VILLAGE SCHOOLS.

Sarah Simons, and Jane Williams.

Sarah.-WELL, neighbour, and what do you think of this country of ours? You have been in the parish now long enough to know how you like it.

Jane.-O, pretty well. I think, in many respects, I like it very well; there is a great deal that makes it very convenient.

S.-Yes, and how convenient the school is for us to send the children to! The ladies and gentlemen are so good as to subscribe their money: the poor people's children can now all learn to read and to work. I remember, in my young days, it cost my father and mother a deal of money to send me to school, and I am sure I feel thankful to them for it ; for I now experience the benefit of it. Why, if I was not a pretty good hand at my needle, how could I keep all my nine children any thing like tidy and comfortable; they must either be in rags, which I could not bear to see, or I must get somebody else to mend and to make for them, and I am sure I never could raise the money for that. And then, as to reading, when I have a little time, I find great comfort in it, and, I hope, some benefit. But I know how hard my poor father used to work, and my mother, too, to raise the money to send us to school. How thankful then ought we to be, that, in this parish, all the poor people may send their children to school for nothing.

Dialogue on Village Schools.

283

J.-Why, as to that, I am not quite so fond of the school, and I don't know that I shall send my children any longer.

S-Indeed! why not?

J.-Why, in the parish where I came from, we all learned lace-making, and so every child, after a little while, could earn a something: but here, there is nothing coming in; only, may-hap, one frock in a year, which the ladies give them. I don't see how it can answer to send them to school.

S.-Why, neighbour, if you are only thinking how much you can get by sending your children to school, perhaps it may not very well answer;but, for my part, I always thought that children were sent to school, not to earn money there, but to learn something which might be of use to them afterwards. They learn to read, that they may know, from the Bible, the blessings that belong to Christians, and the way that Christians ought to live and they learn to work, that they may be of use to themselves and their families when they grow up. I think it a very great thing, indeed, for children to learn these things whilst they are young.

J.-But in some of these schools they pay nothing, and in some only a penny a week. I cannot think there is much good to be got for a penny. And where the thing costs nothing, we may suppose that it is not worth much.

S.-Why, as to that, Jane, these schools cost as much as ever they did, and more too, for every thing now is got up in a much handsomer manner than it was in former days; but now the gentlemen and ladies pay the expences themselves; and we poor people have all the benefit of it.

J.-O, that's it, is it?

S.-Yes, and I am sure we ought to be very thankful for their kindness. There are some people who are always ready to dispise a thing, because

they can get it for nothing: they will send away their children to other schools, and think they will learn more, because the expense is greater. I hope I shall not be so foolish as that, and so quarrel with my own interest.

J.-Why that is folly great enough, to be sure. And, from what I have said, it seems that I have sometimes been tempted to think that myself.

S.-Why, you see, if we are determined to look for objections, we may find them in every thing. But it is better for us to be getting all the good we can from these things, and let those people make the objections, whose delight is in finding fault.

EXTRACTS FROM DIFFERENT AU-
THORS.

CONSTANTINE had a conceit, that, because baptism washed away all sins, he would not be baptized till his death-bed, that so his soul might never lose the purity thereof, but immediately mount to heaven. But, sudden death preventing him, he was not baptized at all, as some say, or only by an Arian bishop, as others affirm. If any do, on the same supposition, put off their prayers to the last, let them take heed, lest, long delayed, at last they prove none at all, or none in effect.

Fuller.

The free forgiveness of others is an essential grace in the Christian; nor have we any just right to expect mercy from God whilst we obstinately refuse to forgive the offences of a fellow-creature. The spirit of forgiveness is perhaps the most distinguishing mark of the Christian from the heathen. The heathen accounts revenge his noblest pas

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