turbed, and snores while asleep. The common Seal moans piteously when pursued on land, as it is hurrying to the sea; the ursine kind low like an ox, and the leonine both grunt and snort. Fish are probably susceptible of pleasurable feelings, for no bird or quadruped seems to be happier. They appear to be easily satisfied with food, and do not suffer from inclemency of weather, or variations of the seasons. They are always in one even temperature, and are supposed to enjoy a longer continuity of health and strength than most other animals. They possess a natural longevity, which, in some of their classes, surpasses that of man. Like the vegetable and other animal tribes, they have been made useful to man, both in contributing to his sustenance, and in supplying him with many important conveniences (as for instance, the Whale supplies us with oil and whalebone.) But independently of the human race, they have been created to be happy beings in themselves. They display to us our Creator's power; enlarge our knowledge of His omnipotence, and give us ocular evidence of its multifarious application. Turner's Sacred History. BEAUTIES OF NATURE. How sweet at summer's noon to sit and muse While echo wafts the notes from grove to hill; And bleat of lambs, that crop the verdant sward And to the source of goodness raise the soul,- Diffuses life and happiness to all-Gillespie. GREAT VALUE OF WATER IN HOT CLIMATES. "For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye be of Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward." IN our temperate climate we scarcely understand the full force of this expression of our Saviour; but in hot eastern climates, a cup of cold water is frequently a very essential relief and refreshment. In some parts of the East, considerable pains and expense have been bestowed on inventions to supply travellers with water, and these are always considered as works of peculiar benevolence. It is remarkable, that it is mentioned of the Hindoos, in some parts of India, that they sometimes go a considerable distance to fetch water, and bring it to the road-side, where travellers are likely to pass, and offer it to them in honour of the gods. Fountains are common in the East. Their number is owing to the nature of the country and climate. The soil, parched and thirsty, demands moisture to aid vegetation; and a cloudless sun, which inflames the air, requires for the people verdure, shade, and coolness, its agreeable attendants; hence fountains occur not only in the towns and villages, but in the fields and gardens, and by the sides of the roads, and by the beaten tracks on the mountains. Many of them are the useful donations of humane persons, while living, or have been be queathed as legacies on their decease. The Turks esteem the erecting of them as meritorious, and seldom go away after performing their ablutions or drinking, without gratefully blessing the name and memory of the founder. The method used by the ancients for obtaining the necessary supplies still prevails; this is done by pipes or paved channels. When arrived at the destined spot, it is received by a cistern with a vent, and the waste current passes below from another cistern, often an open sarcophagus. It is common to find a cup of tin or iron hanging near by a chain, or a wooden scoop with a handle placed in a niche in the wall. The front is of stone or marble, and in some painted and decorated with gilding, and with an inscription in Turkish characters in relievo. The blessing of the name and memory of the builder of one of these fountains, shows that a cup of water in these countries is by no means a despicable thing. Niebuhr tells us, that among the public buildings of Kahira those houses ought to be reckoned where they daily give water gratis to all passengers that desire it. Some of these houses make a very handsome appearance, and those whose business it is to wait on passengers, have some vessels of copper curiously tinned and filled with water, always ready on the window next the street. Hall, in his "Peru," gives the following account of the value of water at Payta.-Being nearly choked with dust I began the conversation by begging a glass of water; upon which one of the matrons pulled a key from her pocket, and gave it to a young lady, who carried it to a corner of the room, where a large jar was placed, and unlocking the metal lid, measured out a small tumbler-full of water for me; after which she secured the jar, and returned the key to her mother. This extraordinary economy of water arose, as they told us, from there not being a drop to be got nearer than three or four leagues off; and as the supply, even at this distance, was precarious, water at Payta was not only a necessary of life, but, as in a ship on a long voyage, was considered a luxury. The following extract from Carne's Letters from the East, will show the value of water in these climes:"Fatigued with heat and thirst, we came to a few cottages in a palm wood, and stopped to drink of a fountain of delicious water. In our northern climate, no idea can be formed of the exquisite luxury of drinking in Egypt; little appetite for food is felt; but when, after crossing the burning sands, you reach the rich line of woods on the brink of the Nile, and pluck the fresh limes, and mixing their juice with Egyptian sugar, and the soft river-water, drink repeated bowls of lemonade, you feel that every other pleasure of the senses must yield to this. One then perceives the beauty and force of those similes in Scripture, where the sweetest emotions of the heart are compared to the assuaging of thirst in a sultry land." Saturday Magazine. GRACIOUS RAIN. THE east wind had whistled for many a day The butterfly folded her wings as if dead, Or awaked ere the full destined time; Every flower shrunk inward, or hung down its head I too shrunk and shivered, and eyed the cold earth, And I listened in vain, for the summer bird's mirth, But, lo! while I listen'd, down heavily dropt A few tears from a low-sailing cloud: Large and slow they descended, then thickened-then stopt Then pour'd down abundant and loud. Oh, the rapture of beauty, of sweetness, of sound, With laughter and singing, the valleys rang round, The wind sunk away, like a sleeping child's breath, And the sun, like a spirit triumphant o'er death, On this beautiful world such a change had been wrought On some cold stony heart might be worked too (methought,) Sunk in guilt but not senseless of shame. If a few virtuous tears by the merciful shed, Touch'd its hardness, perhaps the good grain That was sown there and rooted, though long seeming dead, Might shoot up and flourish again. And the smile of the virtuous, like sunshine from heaven, Might chase the dark clouds of despair, And remorse, when the rock's flinty surface was riven, Oh! to work such a change-by God's grace to recall ON EQUALITY. As to Equality, if by it be meant an equality of property or condition, there is no such thing; nor was there ever such a thing in any country since the world began. The Scripture speaks of Pharaoh and his princes in the time of Abraham, when he was forced by a famine to go down to Egypt, about 430 years after the flood. Abraham himself had, at that period, men-servants and maid-servants, and was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. He and Lot had herdsmen and servants of various kinds; and they every where met with kings who had subjects and soldiers. The inequality of property and condition, which some silly or bad people are so fond of declaiming against, existed in the very infancy of the world, and must, from the nature of things, exist to the end of it. |