hurrying backwards and forwards under the directions of a fresh bustling landlady; but still seizing an occasional moment to exchange a flippant word, and have a rallying laugh with the group round the fire. The scene completely realized Poor Robin's humble idea of the comforts of midwinter : "Now trees their leafy hats do bare Are things this season doth require." I had not been long at the inn when a post-chaise drove up to the door. A young gentleman stepped out, and by the light of the lamps I caught a glimpse of a countenance which I thought I knew. I moved forward to get a nearer view, when his eye caught mine. I was not mistaken; it was Frank Bracebridge, a sprightly, good-humoured young fellow, with whom I had once travelled on the Continent. Our meeting was extremely cordial, for the countenance of an old fellow-traveller always brings up the recollection of a thousand pleasant scenes, odd adventures, and excellent jokes. To discuss all these in a transient interview at an inn was impossible; and finding that I was not pressed for time, and was merely making a tour of observation, he insisted that I should give him a day or two at his father's country seat, to which he was going to pass the holidays, and which lay a few miles distance. "It is better than eating a solitary Christmas dinner at an inn," said he, "and I can assure you of a hearty welcome in something of the old-fashioned style." His reasoning was cogent, and I must confess the preparation I had seen for universal festivity and social enjoyment had made me feel a little impatient of my loneliness. I closed, therefore, at once, with his invitation; the chaise drove up to the door, and in a few moments I was on my way to the family mansion of the Bracebridges. INSTINCTIVE LOVE OF THEIR YOUNG IN THE BRUTE AND FEATHERED CREATION. THE more I reflect on the instinctive affection of animals for their young, the more I am astonished at its effects. Nor is the violence of this affection more wonderful than the shortness of its duration. Thus every hen is in her turn the terror of the yard in proportion to the helplessness of her brood; and will fly in the face of a dog or a cat in defence of those chickens which in a few weeks she will drive before her with relentless cruelty. This affection quickens the invention and sharpens the sagacity of the brute creation. Thus, a hen just become a mother is no longer the placid bird she used to be; but with feathers on end, wings hovering, and clucking note, she runs about like one possessed. Mothers will throw themselves in the way of the greatest danger to defend their young. Thus a partridge will tumble along before a sportsman, in order to draw away the dogs from her helpless covey. In the time of nest-building the most feeble birds will assault the most rapacious. All the swallows and martins of a village are up in arms at the sight of a hawk, whom they will persecute till he leaves the district. A very exact observer has often remarked that a pair of ravens nesting in the rock of Gibraltar would suffer no vulture or eagle to rest near their station, but would drive them from the hill with amazing fury. If you stand near the nest of a bird that has young, she will not be induced to betray them by any inadvertent fondness, but will wait about at a distance, with meat in her mouth, for an hour together. The flycatcher builds every year in the vines that grow on the walls of my house. A pair of these little birds had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a crooked bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the inconvenience that followed; but a hot sunny season coming on before the brood was half fledged, the reflection from the wall became insupportable, and must inevitably have destroyed the tender young, had not affection suggested an expedient, and prompted the parent birds to hover over the nest all the hotter hours, while with wings expanded and mouths gaping for breath, they screened off the heat from their suffering offspring. A further instance I once saw of notable sagacity in a willow-wren, which had built in a bank in my fields. This bird a friend and myself had observed as she sat in her nest, but were particularly careful not to disturb her, though we saw she eyed us with some degree of jealousy. Some days after, as we passed that way, we were desirous of remarking how this brood went on; but no nest could be found, till I happened to take up a large bundle of green moss, carelessly thrown over the nest, in order to deceive the eye of any impertinent intruder. WHITE'S" SELBORNE." BAD MANAGEMENT. "THERE are the beds to be made, and the breakfast-things to be washed, and the pudding and the potatoes to be boiled for dinner." A bad manager receives those directions from her mistress, and to work she goes, with bustle enough perhaps, as if she would accomplish it all long before dinner-time. She makes the beds, and comes down to wash the breakfast-things :-" Oh dear! oh dear! was ever anything so provoking? not a drop of water in the kettle, and the fire just out!" Then the sticks and the bellows go to work (by the way, I never knew any one but a bad manager who found it necessary often to use the bellows). At length the water boils, and the clock strikes :-"Why, what o'clock is that?-my pudding ought to be in, and it is not made, nor any water set on for it; well, I must use this, and do the teathings afterwards." The pudding is made, and put in, half an hour later than it should be; then to work again, to heat water for the tea-things; it boils-but she must now put the potatoes on, or they will not be half done by dinner-time. The potatoes are put on, and the water poured out; but now the family are assembled for dinner, and the cloth must be laid; and the potatoes are all but raw, and the pudding but half boiled-and the water cold, and the tea-things not washed up-and the mistress displeased, and the house thrown into confusion. It never seems to occur to a bad manager that there are some things which, if once set agoing, go on by themselves. If she had but supplied the fire with coals, it would have drawn up-and set on the kettle, the water would have boiled for the tea-things while she made the beds; and the fire would have been at liberty for the pudding water to be set on, and all the mischief would have been prevented. COTTAGE COMFORTS. PEARLS. THE animal that produces pearls in the greatest abundance, of the purest nature, and of the highest value, was by Linnæus classed with the mussels, but some other naturalists have formed it into a distinct genus. In this country it is usually called the pearl oyster. It inhabits the Persian Gulf, the coasts of Ceylon, the Sea of New Holland, the Gulf of Mexico, and the coasts of Japan. It attains perfection nowhere but in the equatorial seas, but the pearl fishery in the island of Ceylon is the most celebrated and productive; it is on the west coast, off the Bay of Condatchy, where the country is very sandy and nearly without inhabitants; but during the fishing season a populous town, with many streets a mile long, appears to have suddenly started up. The oyster beds or banks extend over a space of thirty miles long by twenty-four broad. The twentieth of February is generally the day of rendezvous for the fishermen. The fishery is commonly rented by a single individual, who is allowed to employ 150 boats for thirty days: there are about 6,000 boatmen and attendants. The oysters vary in their qualities, according to the nature of the ground to which they are attached; and also in the number, by the action of the tides, and other circumstances: those at the greatest depth produce the largest pearls, which are situated in the fleshy part of the oyster, near the hinge. Pearl consists of concentric coats of the same substance as that which forms the mother-of-pearl of the shell; they are produced by the extravasation of a lapidifying fluid, secreted in the organs of the animal, and filtered by its glands. For one pearl that is found perfectly round and detached, hundreds of irregular ones occur attached to the mother-of-pearl, like so many warts: they are sometimes so numerous that the animal cannot shut its shell, and so perishes. The pearl is a formation forced upon the animal by some annoying substance in its shell, which it covers with mother-of-pearl, as the bees do intrusive wasps with wax, to fix it or hinder it from affecting them by putridity, &c. The diving tackle consists of a large stone suspended by a rope, with a strong loop above the stone to receive one foot of the diver, and having also a slip-knot and a basket, formed of a hoop and network, which receives the other foot. When the fisherman has fixed himself in this tackle, and is duly prepared, he holds his nostrils with one hand, and pulling the running-knot with the other, instantly descends. When he reaches the bottom, he disengages his foot from the stone, which is immediately drawn up, to be ready for the next diver. He at the bottom throws himself on his face, and collects everything he can lay hold of into the basket when ready to ascend he jerks the rope, and is speedily hauled up, and working himself up the rope, he arrives at the surface sooner than the laden basket. A minute and a half, or two minutes, are the utmost any diver remains under water. The shark-charmers form a necessary part of the company: by their : incantations they are supposed to possess the power of preventing these voracious fishes from attacking the divers, and the fishers will not descend without their attendance. When the bed is rich, the diver often collects one hundred and fifty oysters at one dip, but sometimes not more than five. It is said that a single diver will, in one day, often bring up from one thousand to four thousand oysters. The pearls obtained from other shell-fish vary in colour; those from the wing-shell are brown, and those from the fresh-water mussels greenish; but sometimes they are yellow, pink, bluish, and some are even black: these last are very rare and dear. KIRBY, BRIDGEWATER TREATISE. PROGNOSTICS OF THE WEATHER. RED clouds in the west, at sunset, especially when they have a tint of purple, portend fine weather; the reason of which is, that the air, when dry, refracts more red or heat-making rays; and as dry air is not perfectly transparent, they are again reflected in the horizon. A coppery or yellow sunset generally foretells rain; but as an indication of wet weather approaching, nothing is more certain than the halo around the moon, which is produced by the precipitated water; and the larger the circle, the nearer the clouds, and consequently the more ready to fall. The old proverb is often correct,- "A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning; A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing the rain are opposite the sun. In the evening the rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west; and as our heavy rains in this climate are usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road to us; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is passing from us. When the swallows fly high, fine weather may be expected or continued; but when they fly low and close to the ground rain is almost surely approaching. This is explained as follows:— Swallows pursue the flies and gnats, and flies and gnats usually delight in warm strata of air; and as warm air is lighter, and usually moister, than cold air, when the warm strata of our air are high, there is less chance of moisture being thrown down from |
