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winds of their treasures, to serve as reservoirs for the rain waters, and to distribute them afterwards, as they are needed, over the surrounding plains. Their wet and

cloudy summits seem to be untiringly occupied with this important work. From their sides flow numberless torrents and rivers, carrying in all directions wealth and life. Every system of mountains becomes the centre of a system of irrigation, which gives to its neighbourhood one of its choicest gifts.

From the operation of this power of condensation, there falls on the summits of the mountains more water than on their slopes, and at their foot there falls more than on the neighbouring plains. Besides this, the side of the chain exposed to the sea winds receives a quantity of rain much beyond that which falls on the opposite side; so that the great systems of mountains not only divide terrestrial spaces, but separate different and often opposite climates.

GUYOT, "Earth and Man."

CHRISTMAS IN THE OLDEN TIME.

The English, from the great prevalence of rural habit throughout every class of society, have always been fond of those festivals and holidays which agreeably interrupt the stillness of country life; and they were in former days particularly observant of the religious and social life of Christmas. It is inspiring to read even the dry details which some antiquaries have given of the quaint humours, the burlesque pageants, the complete abandonment to mirth and good fellowship, with which this festival was celebrated. It seemed to throw open every door, and unlock every heart. It brought the peasant and the peer together, and blended all ranks in one warm generous flow of joy and kindness. The old halls of castles and manor-houses resounded with the harp and the Christmas carol, and their ample boards groaned under the weight of hospitality. Even the poorest cottage welcomed the festive season with green decorations of bay and holly;

the cheerful fire glanced its rays through the lattice, inviting the passengers to raise the latch, and join the gossipknot huddled round the hearth, beguiling the long evening with legendary jokes and oft-told Christmas tales. WASHINGTON IRVING.

CLAY-SLATE SYSTEM.

I.

Slate

This vast and valuable series is composed almost entirely of argillaceous masses, distinguished by the fine grain, hard texture, and fissile structure so well known from the universal employment of slate for economical purposes, as writing, roofing, and paving. Our supplies of tin and copper are chiefly obtained from these rocks. Organic remains are few, consisting of shells and corals, and are wanting altogether in the lower beds. rocks prevail largely in Cornwall and Devon, North Wales, Anglesey, and Man, and nearly the whole of the lake district of Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire is formed of them. They are extensively displayed in the Lammermoor Hills, and the connected ranges which run through the south of Scotland, from St. Abb's Head, on the east coast, to Port Patrick, on the west, and are principal components in some of the mountain systems of Ireland,

II.

The slate districts have a striking, and often a very magnificent physiognomy. The rocks rise to grand elevations, more than three thousand feet, and form, in Sca Fell and Snowdon, the highest points of land in England and Wales. Variety of outline and intricacy of combination, with enormous crags and fearful precipices, clear, quiet lakes and roaring cascades, with valleys sometimes richly wooded and, watered, distinguish the style of landscape. The Cumbrian slate region excels in

point of picturesque beauty, owing to the frequent grouping of rock, water, and wood. The Cambrian is pre-eminent for majestic proportions and deep effective colouring. MILNER, "Our Home Islands."

DESPATCH IN BUSINESS.

I.

You must beware of stumbling over a propensity, which easily besets you from the habit of not having your time fully employed. I mean what the women very expressively call dawdling. Your motto must be Hoc age. Do instantly whatever is to be done, and take the hours of reflection or recreation after business, and never before it. When a regiment is under march, the rear is often thrown into confusion because the front do not move steadily and without interruption. It is the same thing with business. If that which is first in hand is not instantly, steadily, and regularly despatched, other things accumulate behind, till affairs begin to press all at once, and no human brain can stand the confusion.

II.

A habit of the mind it is which is very apt to beset men of intellect and talent, especially when their time is not regularly filled up, but left at their own arrangement. But it is like the ivy round the oak, and ends by limiting, if it does not destroy, the power of manly and necessary exertion. I must love a man so well to whom I offer such advice, that I will not apologize for it, but expect to hear you are become as regular as a Dutch clock-hours, quarters, minutes, all marked and appropriated.

Sir W. SCOTT, "Letters."

THE STUDY OF NATURE.

I.

Happy, especially, the sportsman who is also a naturalist; for as he roves in pursuit of his game over

hills or up the beds of streams, where no one but a sportsman ever thinks of going, he will be certain to see things noteworthy, which the mere naturalist would never find, simply because he could never guess that they were to be found. I do not speak merely of the rare birds which may be shot, the curious facts as to the habits of fish which may be observed, great as these pleasures are; I speak of the scenery, the weather, the geological formation of the country, its vegetation, and the living habits of its denizens.

II.

A sportsman out in all weathers, and often dependent for success on his knowledge "what the sky is going to do," has opportunities for becoming a meteorologist, which no one beside, but a sailor, possesses; and one has often longed for a scientific gamekeeper or huntsman, who by discovering a law for the mysterious and seemingly capricious phenomena of scent, might perhaps throw light on a hundred dark passages of hygrometry.

The fisherman, too, what an inexhaustible treasury of wonders lies at his feet in the subaqueous world of the commonest mountain burn! All the laws which mould a world are busy, if he but knew it, fattening his trout for him, and making them rise to the fly, by strange electric influences, at one hour rather than at another.

C. KINGSLEY, "Glaucus, or the Wonders of the Shore."

HOW TO LEARN TO WRITE.

To learn to write, one must write a great deal in imitation of those who know how, and under their guidance, just as one learns to draw or paint from good models, and by means of wise instruction. It is a school process, or a workshop process, if the phrase be preferred, and to a great extent mechanical and literal, but indispensable to the student of letters. Thus the musician must wrest his fingers to pliancy, in order to execute easily and instantaneously all the movements necessary

for the quick production of sounds, depending on the structure of his instrument. Thus, likewise, the singer must become master of all the movements of his throat, and must long and unremittingly practise vocal exercises, until the will experiences no difficulty in determining those contractions and expansions of the windpipe which modify and inflect the voice in every degree and fraction of its scale. M. BAUTAIN, "Extempore Speaking."

THE USES OF TREES.

I.

These stupendous specimens of creative power spread not their wide extended roots, nor lift their lofty heads in vain. Beneath their cooling shades our flocks and herds find a comfortable asylum from the scorching rays of a summer sun: the wild stragglers of the forest have a place of refuge among their woods and thickets, whilst the feathery songsters of the grove build their little dwellings in security, and sing among their branches. But in what a variety of respects, besides affording the inhabitants of warm climates an agreeable shelter from the mid-day heat, are they made subservient to the use of man!

II.

Some, as the bread-fruit tree of the Pacific Ocean, the cabbage-tree of East Florida, the tea-tree of China, the sugar-maple tree of America, the coffee-tree and sugarcane of the West Indies, and the numerous luxuriant fruitbearing trees scattered over the face of the globe, contribute to our wants in the form of food. The candleberry myrtle presents the inhabitants of Nankin with a substitute for animal tallow. The salt-tree of Chili yields a daily supply of fine salt. The cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and pimento furnish us with spices. The Jesuit's-bark, manna, senna, and others, produce a variety of simple but useful medicines.

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