easily supplied; and so warm and gentle is the climate, that the people do not find it necessary to build tight houses, and put on thick clothing, and provide stores against the winter. Yet it is remarkable, that, where Nature has done so much, the people think it hardly necessary to do any thing; and, consequently, they are less industrious, less comfortable, and less happy, than in more cold and severe climates.

11. If you were to go to Europe, you would everywhere feel that you were in a strange land; but still many things would remind you of your own dear home in America. But if you were to go to Asia or Africa, the houses, the fields, the dress of the people, and all their manners and customs, would impress you with the idea, that you were far, very far from your native country.

straits, a narrow portion of emerge, to come forth. section, part.

the deep sea.

mosque, a temple where Mo- delicious, pleasant to the taste. hammedans worship. eastern continent, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Mohammed, a false prophet.

LESSON CXXXI.

num-ber

deer
bear van-ish
there set-tle

ref-uge
bat-tle
bound-a-ry grad-u-al-ly

con-ti-nent
an-i-mal

THE AMERICAN INDIANS.

we

HEN we look around us and see such fine cities as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Cincinnati; when we see the whole country dotted all over with towns, cities, and vil

lages, we can hardly believe that three hundred and seventy years ago America was unknown to the inhabitants of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

2. Such, however, was the fact. The country was indeed inhabited by many tribes of Indians; but these people had no books, and knew nothing of the rest of the world. Where they came from, or when they first settled in America, they could not tell.

3. There was not a white inhabitant throughout this vast country. The Indian tribes were numerous, and their whole number within the present boundary of the United States may have been two hundred thousand.

4. But these lords of, the forest gradually disappeared before the white people. Many of them were slain in battle with the settlers; the others gradually retired as the forests were cut down.

5. They lived by hunting wild deer, bears, buffaloes, and wild turkeys; and as these animals fled from towns and cities and took refuge in the forests, so the Indians went with them.

6. In this way the red men vanished from the settled portions of the country, and at this day there are few of them to be seen, except in the far western wilderness. There herds of wild deer, bisons, bears, and other wild animals are to be found, and there is now the home of the Indians.

7. The settlers of New England made efforts to Christianize the Indians soon after they came here, and many are now the true followers of Jesus; but, as a race, they are passing away.

THE DOGS OF ST. BERNARD.

I

ONCE went to the top of Mount St. Bernard, that lofty pass of the Alps which is occupied by a hospital, celebrated for the kindness of its monks, and of its noble dogs, towards poor travelers who have

fallen beneath the terrible snow-storms which sweep through those desolate solitudes.

2. There I saw a great many of the famous St. Bernard dogs. They originally came from Spain ; and yet now they would perish if they were carried to a warm climate; for they love snow.

3. These dogs are a brave, courageous race, which God seems to have created to be the friend as well as the companion of man in those dangerous places. No one can look at them without a feeling of great interest; for they share-consciously, one would think the constant perils, in which, to save the lives of others, the good monks often risk their own.

4. Some travelers have tried to buy these dogs; but no money could purchase them. One of the monks. told me that an Englishman had offered a large sum of money for a fine one; but he replied to him, that the French soldiers had been before him, and were soon made to know that the monks and their dogs could not part.

5. Without them, the generous and Christian charity of these monks would be useless, as it is the dogs, which, obeying their mysterious instinct, go in the mountains and search the deep snow-drifts where a man, woman, or child may be buried alive.

6. The St. Bernard dogs are taken care of with a sort of respectful tenderness; and I felt proud myself to stroke the head of the oldest one, called "Barry," in honor of one of his ancestors, who immortalized himself by saving the lives of fifteen persons. While I was at this place two of the monks, accompanied

by four dogs, started off on their daily errand of mercy. It was affecting to see what a human-like interest and eagerness the dogs apparently took in their duty; and, as I watched them going out in the dismal, dreary cold of the Alpine snows and the approaching night, I asked myself, "Could I go so cheerfully and so readily out of my way to do good?"

THE

HE skin is the covering or case which holds all the machinery of the body. As we look at it with the eye alone it seems to consist of only one piece of fine, firm texture; but those who have examined it with care, and by the help of a magnifying-glass, tell us quite a different story.

2. It is composed of two layers or thicknesses. The outside has no feeling in it, and is spread over the other as a protection. It is thin, so that you can see through it as through a very fine shaving of horn. It is made up of scales or cells, and in the inner part is the coloring matter.

3. The inside layer, or real skin, contains bloodvessels and nerves. The nerves render it sensitive to the touch; so that if it is cut or wounded in any way, we feel pain. It is made up of the finest fibers,