The mistress made a present to her little maid of an old dress. When I meet poor John, I will order him a joint of meat from the butcher's.

I have something in my eye.

The new grocer knew the draper and the shoemaker.

A pale sickly girl brought in a pail of water.

Our boys went to play for an hour.

Every one knows which is the nose.

If you will give me a ripe pear, I will give you my new pair of scissors.

Wrap up the child in a shawl, and then go and rap at the door.

First the clergyman prays, and then he calls on us to sing a psalm of praise.

He read out of a book with a red cover.

It is quite right of Tom to try and write better than he does

now.

Mary stares in surprise to see how fast Joe runs up stairs.
The thief tried to steal four steel knives.

Mary sews neatly and so does Ann, while James sows potatoes in the field.

The mother told her little son to look at the sunshine.

A funny tale it was Frank told us about the tail of a dog.
One of the tall men won the race.

I will take you to see a large yew-tree.

Do not run too fast, you two little boys.

Harry ate no less than eight pears.

What ails the brewer? He not only brews strong ales, he drinks them too. Last night he fell down stairs, and got a terrible bruise.

When we made the ascent of the mountain, we did it with my father's assent.

Our goat was bred not upon grass but upon bread.

The field itself is in the borough, but the wood and the rabbitburrow are not.

The beech-tree stood on the sea-beach.

His head was bare, and he led a bear by a chain.

Where have you been? To buy a pint of beans.

Be sure you do not touch that bee, or it will sting you.

The sky was blue, though the wind blew roughly.

If you do not bow your head as you pass under the tree, you will be caught by that low bough.

I want to buy the house by the river.

Just as I was sealing my letter, part of the ceiling of the room fell down.

The site I have chosen to build my house on is within sight of the town.

Close that box of clothes carefully.

The higher you climb up the mountains, the colder is the clime you reach, but you can hire a guide to shew you the road. My guide rode beside me.

He led his horse by the bridle, and so went on foot to the bridal of his sister. When we stood by the altar, I wished I could alter my position, and go on the other side.

The privy-council said they knew nothing about it, and could give no counsel in the matter.

The miller's coat was white, but covered with flour, and he had a flower in his button-hole.

The squirrel's fur was rubbed off against the bark of the firtree.

The principal man on the island said it was contrary to his principles to do such a thing.

He tied his boat to a stake, that the tide might not carry it off, and then went to the shop and bought a beef-steak.

MISCELLANEOUS EXERCISES.

OUR BETTERS.

Might I give counsel to any young hearer, I would say to him, try to frequent the company of your betters. In books and life, that is the most wholesome society. Learn to admire rightly; the great pleasure of life is that. Note what the great men admired; they admired great things; narrow spirits admire basely, and worship meanly.

THACKERAY-Lectures on English Humorists.

PERSEVERANCE.

Perseverance is a prime quality in every pursuit. Youth is, too, the time of life to acquire this inestimable habit. Men fail much oftener from want of perseverance than from want of talent and good disposition. As the race was not to the hare but to the tortoise, so the meed of success is not to him who is in haste, but to him who proceeds with a steady and even step. WILLIAM COBBETT.

INDUSTRY.

There is no art or science that is too difficult for industry to attain to; it is the gift of tongues, and makes a man understood and valued in all countries and by all nations: it is the philosopher's stone that turns all metals, and even stones, into gold, and suffers not want to break into its dwelling: it is the north-west passage that brings the merchant's ship as soon to him as he can desire. In a word, it conquers all enemies, and makes fortune itself pay

contribution.

CLARENDON.

COTTON.

Cotton consists of the fine long hairs which grow from the seeds of several varieties of Gossypium. These hairs are so long and numerous, that they completely fill the pod or seed-vessel. They are very delicate, of the same size throughout, but seldom jointed, and they are each separate from the other. The cottonplant is chiefly cultivated in the Southern States of North America and in India. It is produced in great abundance, and is exported to England, where it is manufactured into cloth. The cotton-factories are chiefly in Lancashire.

A CRIMEAN HERO.

The colonel being wounded, Champion took the command of the regiment. He was a man of great gentleness and piety; and if he was not highly endowed with intellectual gifts, he was able to express the feelings of his heart with something of a poetic force. His mind was accustomed to dwell very much on the world that lies beyond the grave; and in the midst of this scene of carnage he gained, as it were, a seeming glimpse of the happy state; for when the younger Eddington fell at his side, Champion paused to see what ailed him, and looking upon his young friend's pale face, he saw it suddenly clothed with a 'most sweet expression.' It was because death was on him that the blissful look had come. In the mind of Champion the sight had a deep import; for he was of the faith that God's providence is special, and to him the beautiful smile on the features of the dead was the smile of an immortal man gently carried away from earth by the very hand of his Maker.

Yet this piety of his was of no unwarlike cast. Nay, he was of so noble a sort that, though he had willingly chosen the profession of arms, yet, when he prayed, he was accustomed to render thanks to his Creator for vouchsafing to make him a hardy

soldier; and being, he said, very strong in the belief that he could die as piously on the battle-field as in a downy bed, he pressed on content, with his soldiers, to the face of the great redoubt. KINGLAKE'S Crimea.

FROM THE SATURDAY REVIEW,

JANUARY 31, 1863.

If the termination of the American war is already possible, the cautious and conciliatory proposal of the French government may facilitate the commencement of negotiations. The offer of mediation which was formerly discountenanced by England and Russia, involved an armistice by sea which would have established the independence of the Confederacy by putting an end to the blockade. The French emperor is now careful to profess his friendship for the government of Washington, and to explain that negotiation between the belligerents would not be inconsistent with the continuance of hostilities.

ENERGY.

The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between men, between the feeble and the powerful, the great and the insignificant, is energy-invincible determination—a purpose once fixed, and then death or victory. That quality will do anything that can be done in this world; and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities, will make a two-legged animal a man without it.

BURTON.