wind whistles. We shall have a storm very soon, you may depend upon it."

"Yes, mother, we will go, for I am sure you know better than I do. You did about the ice, and you do about the clouds."

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Why, my dear, I have lived longer than you have, and I have taken notice of things, and that is the way to learn what to do. Look at old Roger yonder with his hay-fork under his arm. He is going to give hay to the cows in the top field. Roger would not put on his great coat if he did not think a storm was coming."

So home they hied, mother and Jane, and had no sooner reached home, when it became so darkened by the clouds and falling snow that they were obliged to stir up the fire to give a good blaze by which they might see to take off their frosty garments. Jane was very cold, and went to the hot fire to warm her cold fingers.

"Stop, Jane, stop, dont do so, they will smart worse if you do. Always when your fingers are very cold, take out your pocket handkerchief, and hold it open to the fire, and when you have warmed it, double it up and put your hands inside of it, and then rub them with the warm 'kerchief, and they will get warm gradually and safely without smarting at all."

"So they do, mother; it is nice-well: I should not have thought of that either."

"And now, my dear, there is another thing which perhaps you have not thought of.”

"What is that mother."

"You have been on the bright clear ice, and you see how the broad flakes of snow are falling thicker and faster, and already all the fields are covered with a white mantle. Have you thought of Him who worketh all these wonders."

"You mean the LORD, mother."

"I do, my dear, and we ought not to be like the horse and the mule which have no understanding.

ACCIDENTS ON THE ICE.

We ought to think of His wondrous works. We can think about them, and we can talk about them, and we ought to do so. Wicked people do not, but we must not be like them."

"No, mother, we should not; I am sure I should not like to be wicked and forget God."

"That is right, my dear, and I hope you will always feel so. And now reach the Bible and read Job xxxviii." (Jane reads, and says) "That is very grand, mother."

"It is, my dear; but God has done one thing grander than all those of which you have been reading."

"Oh, I think I know what you mean, mother. You mean about his sending Jesus Christ into the world that he might die for our sins and make us happy in heaven for ever."

"I do, my dear, and I hope you will never forget that."

ACCIDENTS ON THE ICE.

We regret to learn that on Sunday last a most melancholy accident occurred on the St. John river, opposite Sugar Island, about ten miles above this city, by which a person named Darcas, and a child named O'Harra, lost their lives. It appears that Darcas was amusing himself by skating, with his sister's son, a child of about seven years of age, in his arms, when the ice suddenly gave way, and both plunged into the river to rise no more in life. The accident was seen from the shore, and immediate steps were taken for the recovery of the bodies, which, after about an hour's exertion, were both found, that of the child being firmly clasped in the uncle's arms, but both of course quite dead.

We learn that one of a number of persons belonging to this city, who were skating on the river below,

on the same afternoon, had a narrow escape from a similar fate; and we hope these occurrences will be a warning to our skaters not to indulge in that amusement on the river until the ice is sufficiently strong to render the chances of such accidents less numerous than they appear to be at present. It has often been remarked that a great majority of these accidents occur on the Sunday, and although this may be accounted for by the fact of there being often a great many more chances for accidents of this kind happening on that day than on any other, yet we cannot help thinking that occurrences such as we have just noticed, should lead to some reflection on the part of those who indulge in this amusement.

From Nova Scotia.

DAYS WITHOUT NIGHTS, AND NIGHTS WITHOUT DAYS.

DR. BAIRD, in his lectures, has given some interesting facts-There is nothing that strikes the stranger more forcibly, if he visits Sweden at the season of the year when the days are the longest, than the absence of the night. Dr. B. had no conception of it before his arrival. He arrived at Stockholm, from Gottenburg, 400 miles distant, in the morning, and in the afternoon went to see some friends-had not taken note of time-and returned at midnight; it was as it is here half an hour before sun down. You could see distinctly! But all were quiet in the streets. It seemed as if the inhabitants had gone away or were dead. No signs of life-shops were closed. The sun in June goes down in Stockholm a little before ten o'clock. There is great illumination all night, as the sun passes round the earth to the North Pole, and the refraction of its rays is such that you can see to read at midnight. Dr. B. read a letter in the forest near Stockholm, at midnight, without artificial light.

AND NIGHTS WITHOUT DAYS.

There is a mountain at the head of the Gulph of Bothnia, where, on the 21st of June, the sun does not go down at all. Travellers go up there to see it. A steamboat goes up from Stockholm for the purpose of carrying those who are curious to witness the phenomenon. It only occurs one night. The sun goes down to the horizon, you can see the whole face of it, and in five minutes it begins to rise again.

At the North Cape, 72 deg., the sun does not go down for several weeks. In June, it would be about 25 degrees above the horizon at midnight. The way the people there know that it is midnight, they see the sun rise up again. The changes in those high latitudes, from summer to winter, are so great, that we can have no conception of them at all. In the winter time, the sun disappears, and is not seen for five or six weeks. Then it comes and shows its face. Afterwards, it remains for ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes, and then descends, and finally it does not set at all, but makes almost a circle around the heavens. Dr. Baird was asked how they managed in regard to hired persons, and what they considered a day? He could not say, but supposed they worked by the hour, and twelve hours would be considered a day's work.

Birds and animals take their accustomed rest at the usual hours. The doctor did not know how they learn the time, but they had, and go to rest whether the sun goes down or not. The hens take to the trees about seven o'clock, P. M., and stay there until the sun is well up in the morning, and the people get into this habit of late rising too. The first morning Dr. Baird awoke in Stockholm, he was surprised to see the sun shining into his room. He looked at his watch, and found it only three o'clock; and the next time he awoke it was five o'clock, but there was no person in the streets. The people are not in the habit of rising so soon. The Swedes in the cities are not very industrious, owing, probably, to the climate.

PARENTAL AUTHORITY IN A PALACE. "SOME time ago, Miss Hillyard, the governess in the royal family, seeing the Prince of Wales inattentive to his studies, said, 'Your Royal Highness is not minding your business; will you be pleased to look at your book and learn your lesson?' His Royal Highness replied that he should not. Then,' said the governess, 'I shall put you in the corner.' His Royal Highness again said that he should not learn his lesson, neither should he go into any corner, for he was the Prince of Wales; and, as if to show his authority, he kicked his little foot through a pane of glass.

Surprised at this act of bold defiance, Miss Hillyard, rising from her seat, said, 'Sir, you must learn your lesson; and if you do not, though you are the Prince of Wales, I shall put you in the corner.' However, the threat was of no avail; the defiance was repeated, and that too, in the same determined manner as before, his Royal Highness breaking another pane of glass. Miss Hillyard seeing her authority thus set at nought, rang the bell, and requested that his Royal Highness Prince Albert might be sent for, Shortly the Prince arrived, and having learnt the reason why his presence was required, addressing the