well and wisely in these after-days. Old age is the evening, or winter of life. It is dimmed with the shadows of coming night, or chilled by the frost of coming death; yet it is not a period from which we would shrink, unless, indeed, we have wasted our time, and made no preparation against the season that is to follow.Anon.

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9

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THE BUTTERFLY'S BIRTHDAY.

THE shades of night were scarcely fled;
The air was mild, the winds were still;
And slow the slanting sunbeams spread
O'er wood and lawn, o'er heath and hill.

From fleecy clouds of pearly hue

That drop a short but balmy shower,
That hung like gems of morning dew
On every tree and every flower.

And from the blackbird's mellow throat
Was poured so loud and long a swell,"
As echoed with responsive note,

From mountain side and shadowy dell.

When bursting forth to life and light,
The offspring of enraptured May,
The butterfly, on pinions bright,

Launched in full splendour on the day.

Unconscious of a mother's care,

No infant wretchedness she knew;
But, as she felt the vernal air,

At once to full perfection grew.

Her slender form, ethereal light,

Her velvet textured wings unfold,
With all the rainbow's colours bright,
And dropt with spots of burnished gold.

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Trembling with joy, a while she stood,
And felt the sun's enlightening ray;

ci Drank from the skies the vital flood, me

venAnd wondered at her plumage gay old en val

She balanced her embroidered wings,
Through fields of air prepared to sail; t
Then on her venturous journey springs,
And floats along the rising gale.

Go, child of pleasure, range the fields,
Taste all the joys that spring can give;
Partake what bounteous summer yields,
And live whilst yet 'tis thine to live.

Go sip the rose's fragrant dew,

The lily's honey'd cup explore;

From flower to flower the search renew,
And rifle all the woodbine's store.

And let me trace thy fragrant flight,
Thy moments, too, of short repose,
And mark thee then, with fresh delight,
Thy golden pinions ope and close.

But hark! whilst thus I musing stand,
Pours on the gale an airy note,
And breathing from a viewless band
Soft silvery tones around me float!

They cease but still a voice I hear,
A whispered voice of hope and joy,-
Thy hour of rest approaches near,
Prepare thee, mortal!-thou must die.

"

Yet start not on thy closing eyes
Another day shall still unfold

A sun of milder radiance rise

A happier age of joys untold.

Shall the poor worm that shocks thy sight-
The humblest form in nature's train-

Thus rise in new-born lustre bright,
And yet the emblem teach in vain?

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Ah! where were once her golden eyes,
Her glittering wings of purple pride?
Concealed beneath a rude disguise

A shapeless mass to earth allied.

Like thee the hapless reptile lived
Like thee he toiled, like thee he spun ;
Like thee his closing hour arrived

His labour ceased, his web was done.
And shalt thou, numbered with the dead,
No happier state of being know?
And shall no future morrow shed
On thee a beam of brighter glow?
Is this the bound of power divine
To animate an insect frame?
Or shall not He who moulded thine,
Wake at his will the vital flame?
Go, mortal! in thy reptile state,

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Enough to know to thee is given;
Go, and the joyful truth relate,

Frail child of earth, high heir of heaven!-Roscoe,

NURSERY EDUCATION.

THE sound nursery-education of children consists chiefly in the judicious management of diet, cleanliness, clothing, atmospherical temperature, respiration, muscular exercise, sleep, and the animal passions.

Diet. For many reasons infants are best nursed by their mothers. Though exceptions to this sometimes occur, they are rare, and might, by well-regulated conduct, be rendered more so. When children have passed the period of lactation, their diet should be simple, nutritious, and easily digested; and they may take it liberally, and at shorter intervals than adults. But they should never be gorged with it, nor allowed to eat until their appetites are cloyed. Of all solid substances, whether animal or vegetable, they should early learn the importance of thorough mastication. They should be taught, that to swallow such articles without chewing them is indecent, as well as injurious; for they will often do, in defiance of danger and positive prohibition, what they would not do in violation of good manners. High-seasoned condiments, and other provocatives, should be carefully withheld from them. So should unripe fruit, and crude vegetables,all of their diet being thoroughly cooked. Indeed, chil

dren are, on an average, much more injured than benefited by eating undressed summer fruit, of whatever kind it may be, and whether it be ripe or green. One reason of this is, that they are permitted to eat too much of it, and to take it at improper times. Every thing either highly stimulating, or difficult of digestion, should be prohibited food. Such diet is bad enough for adults; for children, tender, feeble, and susceptible as they are, it is poison, destroying life, at times, in a few hours. Infinite mischief is done by giving children a "little" of a prohibited article, because "the dear creatures wanted it, and held out their little hands for it!" A transgression of this kind by a nurse should be visited on her by an immediate dismissal. Let it never be forgotten or overlooked, that, like all other parts of the body, the stomach may be strengthened by skilful training. Let that organ receive suitable aliment, in proper quantities, and at well regulated periods, and it will be as certainly improved in its powers and sympathies, as the brain, external senses, and muscles are, by their appropriate kinds of action. It is subject to all the laws that govern other portions of organised matter. Suitable exercise, indulged in to the proper extent, strengthens it, while excessive and deficient action weakens it, and unfits it for its functions.

The cleanliness of children is indispensable to the healthy action of their skin, and through that, to their general health; and the water used in cleansing them should be tepid. Though vigorous children may bear bathing in cold water with impunity, delicate ones cannot; and even the former, if in the slightest degree indisposed, may be injured by it. Nor is infancy the proper period to attempt to produce hardihood of constitution, by exposure to a low temperature.

Personal cleanliness is much less attended to and esteemed than it ought to be. Nor does this charge implicate only the neglect of children. Adults are still

more negligent of cleanliness in themselves. During weeks and months, water touches no parts of many of them save their hands and faces, and, after long intervals, their feet and ancles. This is downright uncleanliness, not to give it a harsher name. Were the inhabit

ants of our country to use some form of ablution much more frequently than they do, they would be purer, more comfortable, and healthier than they are.

The clothing of infants should be soft, fitted to absorb moisture from the skin and retain the natural warmth of the body, and so fashioned as to be loose and free. The tight bandaging of children, and every other form of pressure made by their clothing, is pernicious." Health has been injured and life destroyed by it. This is true, more especially, of undue pressure on the abdomen or chest the parts on which it is most frequently made. ́ 'Į

The temperature of a nursery ought to be comfortable. It should neither be chill with cold nor flush with heat. To the tenderness and susceptibility of infancy all extremes are hurtful. Means to prevent the apartment from being traversed by currents of cold or damp air should be provided, and nothing neglected that may tend to secure an equable temperature.

The respiration of infants is of great importance, and cannot be too vigilantly attended to. The air breathed by them should be fresh and pure. Let nurseries, therefore, be spacious, clean, and thoroughly ventilated. Nor is it unimportant that they be well lighted. The influence of light on animal life is not sufficiently appreciated. Darkness, long continued, is scarcely less pernicious to tender animals (and children are such) than to plants. Not only the complexion, but the blood itself, which is the source of complexion, loses much of its florid hue in miners, criminals confined in dark dungeons, and other per sons long secluded from the light. During suitable weather. infants should pass several hours daily in the open air. "

The muscular exercise of children should be regulated with more judgment and care than is usually bestowed on it. Crawling is their first mode of progression. In this they should be encouraged, and induced to practise it freely. Nurses and parents, especially young parents, are generally too anxious to see their infants beginning to walk, or rather to totter along in a form of movement that can hardly be called walking. Hence they induce them to make premature efforts to that effect. The evils likely to arise, and which often do arise, from this practice, are