rows-would ask her forgivenèss, her blessing. He kissed his mother's letter, read it again, and then lifted up his heart to God, the first time for long years.

11. He sought the soldier to whom had fallen his mother's socks, offering his own and money for them. "Then it was your mother that knit them, was it?" questioned the rough soldier when he heard the strong desire of "Boy George" to obtain them. "Well, you shall have them: give me your duds, and take them."

12. How precious those socks seemed to him! Every stitch wrought by his mother's kind hand; and with every stitch a sigh heaved, or a prayer breathed. He seemed to hear the sighs and prayers; he held the socks in his hand, and dropped tear åfter tear upon them, until his heart was moved, so softened, that he fell upon his knees, as he had not done since he was a child, and prayed, " God forgive me!"

13. It was broad daylight, and no work to be done in the house, when Widow Randall dropped her knitting-work just as she was binding off the heel, never taking câre to fåsten her needles, and letting her ball roll on the floor. One of her neighbors had brought her a letter which he said "had come from the war," and he "mistrusted that it might be from John, or might tell something about him." No wonder, then, that the mother dropped her needles quickly and forgot her ball. News from John! John alive!

14. She read, "Dear Mother-How shall I write you? I am alive, but I shall never see you again, never hear you speak my forgiveness. I am môrtally wounded,1 and have not long to live. The socks with your note in them came just before the battle. They broke me all up, and sent me to my knees befōre God. Bless you, mother, that you never forgot me, never forgot to pray for me; and it is your prayers that have led me to pray at låst. How I have mourned for you, mother! I heard you were dead, and feared it was my unkindness that caused your death. May God and you both forgive your repentant and dying son." 15. The full fountain so long sealed is at last opened. The eyes that have not wept for many a year weep now. Joy, grief, which is uppermost? Which is strongest? Widow Randall

1 Wounded (wond'ed).

knows that she is childlèss, but she knows that her son died repentant and prayerful. She knows, too, that her labor has not been in vain in the Lord; not in vain the bread cåst on the wide waters; not in vain her hope, and patience, and prayer. Never, never is prayer in vain when prompted by love, and winged by faith.

MRS. P. H. PHELPS.

FA

SECTION VI.

I.

19. EGGS AND FEATHERS.

PART FIRST.

AR south, in the Indian Ocean, in the midst of almost ceaseless sûrf and spray, rises what is appropriately termed Danger Island. Of all the lonely spots on the globe whose existence has been ascertained, this is probably the most lonely. Once only since the creation has it been known to be visited by man.

2. The sea for many hundred miles rolls and flashes over a shallow bottom, till, arriving at a certain degree of latitude, the floor of rock abruptly ends, and the ocean becomes, in a mōmènt, of unfathomable depth. On the věry edge of this abyss 2 stands Danger Island, which the least touch of an earthquake, or an unusual stroke of a hurricane, may topple over into the bottomless gulf.

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3. From this persuasion, possibly, man has never attempted to erect his dwellings upon it: thêre it stands, in the midst of the sûrge, overcanopied by the bluëst of blue skies, surrounded by a boundless expanse of waves, generally shining and beautiful, but as little specked by sails as if they girdled an uninhabited world. Yet, though no gale is astir, the billows incessantly fret and fōam against the cliffs of Danger Island, which on all sides descend sheer into the deep, so as to appear from a distance perfectly inaccessible.1

1 Indian (ind'yan).

A byss', a gulf; a bottomless depth; hence, any very deep space.

3 Surge (sẽrj), rolling water.

• In'ac cess'i ble, not to be obtained, approached, or reached.

4. A surveying ship, traversing1 the ocean in all directions, for scientific purposes, once approached this wild rock. The weather was calm and lovely; the waves, usually so restlèss, being afforded by the wind no pretext for climbing and roaring about the cliffs, lay still and smooth, as if to entrap the unwary2 mǎriner.3

5. Taking advantage of the occasion, a few dâring young officers ordered a boat to be lowered, and, pushing off with many a sturdy 4 rower from the ship's side, soon drew near the perpendicular 5 precipices of Danger Island. Nature has perhaps nowhere produced a more strange or fairy spot.

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6. As the men rested on their ōars, and looked up, they beheld trees of dense and beautiful fōliäge throwing out their arms over the cliffs 10 on all sides; while birds of the most variegated and brilliant plumage seemed to hang like clustering flowers on the boughs. Having never been distûrbed by man, they were ignorant that his approach boded 11 them mischief, so that if they now and then quitted their perches, and spread out their dazzling wings, it was only in frolic and spōrt.

7. After rowing to a considerable distance ălong the foot of the precipices, the gentlemen discovered a small fissure,12 through which they felt confident they could climb to the summit; and the boat being pushed quite close to the rocks, two or three of the most dâring landed, and, after no slight toil and peril, reached the top. The prospect which then presented itself was truly extraordinary. Rendered green as an emerald 18 by the agency of hidden springs, the whole surface of the island was thickly strewn with eggs of innumerable oceanic 14 birds, which,

1 Trǎv'ers ing, wandering over; crossing.

2 Un wa'ry, not watchful against danger; unguarded.

* Măr'in er, seaman; sailor. ♦ Sturdy (stēr ́dí), hardy; strong. 5 Per'pen dĭc'u lar, exactly upright; toward the earth's centre.

6 Prec'i pice, a very steep descent of land or rock.

1 Fairy (fâr'i), relating or belonging to fairies. Fairies were imaginary, not real, spirits, once thought to be able to take a human form,

either male or female, and to meddle in the affairs of mankind.

8 Děnse, compact; close.

'Fō'li age, leaves; a cluster of leaves, flowers, and brånches.

10 Cliff, a high and steep rock; a very steep or overhanging place.

11 Bōd'ed, foreshadowed. 12 Fissure (fish'or), a split, or narrow opening.

13 Em'e rald, a precious stone of a rich green color,

11 Oceanic (ō she ǎn'ik), relating to, or found or formed in, the ocean.

rising from the tåsk of incubation,1 formed a canopy of fluttering wings overhead'.

8. The eggs were of all colors-white, light chocolate, and dark blue, dotted with brown or crimson, tûrquoïse 2 or black. Here and there little bills protruded from the shells; and the mothers, though scâred away for a moment by the unusual appearance of men, soon alighted near their young, being, in spite of the name of their home, thoroughly unacquainted with danger. It might almost be said that the whole sûrface of the isle formed but one nest, divided into several compartments, where the naturalist, if he could live on eggs, might study the appearance, habits, and character of hälf the winged dwellers. on the deep.

9. It is altogether unnecessary, however, to voyage so far in order to contĕm'plate the beauty of one of Nature's måsterpieces-the egg. On few things has so much beauty been lavished. Just peep, in any lane, or break, in spring, into a bird's nest, and, lying cozily in their mossy couch, you will behold a number of mysterious spheres, ěvèry one of them with life within, but externally smooth and brilliant as a gem, penciled with delicate lines, flecked with red, cloudy, streaked, furnished with thousands of invisible5 pōres, through which the air penetrates to the imprisoned bird, to hästen its development, and coöperate with animal heat in imparting to it all the mysterious powers of organization and vitality."

10. Considering one of these marvels from our own point of view, we should, bēfōre instructed by experience, imagine it was something intended to last for ever, so wonderful is its constitution, so râre its beauty, so ex'quisite 10 the finish and polish

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1 In'cu ba'tion, the act of sitting on, or otherwise warming, eggs for the purpose of hatching young.

2 Turquois, (těr kēz'), a mineral, used in jewelry, of a peculiar bluishgreen color.

Protruded (pro trod'ed), thrust out; came fōrth.

Con těm'plāte, to look at on all sides or in all beârings; to study.

5 In vis'i ble, unseen; not capable of being seen.

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❝ Or'găn i zā ́tion, the parts of which a thing is formed; structure.

Vi tǎl'i ty, life; the power or means of maintaining life.

* Marʼvěl, that which causes admiration or surprise; a wonder.

9 Con'sti tu'tion, the state of being; make.

10 Exquisite (ěks'kwi zit), cârefully selected or sought out; hence, very nice; very great; giving râre satisfaction.

with which, so to speak, it has been chiseled and turned out of hand. Yet it is meant to endure but for a few days at fûrthèst. The young birds are cradled in things of beauty, which, when they have served their pûrpose, are thrown aside like the mèrèst dross; not here and there, scantily and by driblets, but profusely, in incalculable quantities, over the whōle sûrface of our globe. And why not? The power that called the egg into existence can, when it is broken and thrown ǎside, bring forth others of equal loveliness in multitudes that know no limit.

11. If you pierce the shell, what do you find within? First, a covering, white, thin, and delicate like the pětal1 of the rârèst flower, which envelops the young bird, and preserves it from contact with the polished but hard substance of the shell. Then, if you proceed further, you come upon the mighty process of matter quickening into life-the changing of two dissimilar fluids into bones, and flesh, and feathers, and tǎlons, and heart, and brains, together with all the machinery of voice, instinct,2 affection, and such other things as characterize life in all creatures, whether they emerge, like the ostrich, from a huge globe, or like the humming-bird, from an egg scarcely equaling in. size the smallest pea.

12. Every one has heard of the egg-hatching ovens of Grand Cairo ; but unless by actual inspection, it would be almost impossible to form a correct idea of them. They are, in fact, not ovens at all, but long suites of small, lōw chambers, lighted from above, and heated by hypocausts below the flooring. When you look down the long line of rooms, you imagine yourself to be gazing upon whōle acres of eggs, and experience a warmth equal to that which you would feel if forty hens were sitting on you. About the nineteenth day the throbbings of life are first seen in the egg; soon after which the shell parts, and leaves the bird exposed to the outer changes of life. Then man

1 Pět'al, one of the inner or colored leaves of a flower.

2 In'stinct, inward impulse; the natural, unreasoning impulse in an animal by which it is guided to the performance of any action.

3 Cairo (ki'ro), the capital city of Egypt. Population, 250,000.

4 Suite (swēt), a connected series; a collection; also, a train of fol. lowers.

5 Hyp'o caust, an arched, underground room from which the heat of a fire is conducted to rooms above by means of earthen tubes. It was first used in baths.