| face backwards; then rising along the keel, they again covered it with their large membranes as we saw when the poulp was swimming in deep water." a kind of bridge over the cavity left between the back of the mollusc and the retreating portion of the spire, in which the extremity of a cluster of eggs was floating." Sometimes, however, Thus has the animal been observed the animal is observed to retract its at rest, swimming in the water, and large arms so as to leave a portion of crawling along the bottom; and thus the shell uncovered by their mantle-like have the uses of its large velated arms terminations. Now let the reader refer been demonstrated; and its claim to be to fig. 1. The description proceeds :- regarded as the fabricator of its shell "We now see it (the animal) extending substantiated, a shell which is at once itself from out its shell, and protruding produced and retained by the expansive six of its arms; then it throws itself in mantle of the dorsal arms. Furthermore, violent motion and travels over the it is proved that it does not quit its shell basin in all directions, often dashing and return to it at pleasure; but that itself against the sides. It is easy for death is the rapid result of depriving it us to observe, that in these different of this covering; and that the account movements, the body leans a little to- of troops navigating the surface of the ward the anterior part of the shell; and sea, using their membranous arms as that the long slender arms, very much sails, and the long slender arms as oars, extended and gathered into a close is altogether fabulous. Our readers bundle, are carried before it, as well as may refer to Weekly Visitor, 1834, for the tube, which shows itself open and an account of the Paper Nautilus (page very much protruded. The large arms 145;) in which it will be seen that some are extended along the keel, and their opinions expressed there have been now membranes carpet the whole of the confirmed. The description of its sailshell. As to locomotion ('aquatic loco-ing is there given as a generally received motion') it is effected in the ordinary manner of poulps, ('or ordinary cuttlefish,') that is to say, it progresses backwards by means of the contraction of the sac, and the expulsion of water through the tube (siphon.") "Our poulp being fatigued with the useless efforts it had made in the narrow space where it was confined, and perhaps hurt by the shocks it had sustained against the side of the basin, allowed itself to fall to the bottom, and half contracted itself in order to take some repose; after which, it exhibited to us another spectacle, which we were far from expecting. Fixing some of the air-holes (suckers) of its free arms upon the bottom of the basin, it erected itself upon its head, spreading out its disc, and carrying the shell straight above it, and in the normal position of the shells of the gasteropods (snails.) Half drawn back into its shell, it appeared to crawl upon its disc, the palmatures of which were a little raised to follow the movements of its arms. The body was hid in the shell; the siphon placed in the anterior part of it was turned forward; those of its arms which were at liberty were much protruded, and twisting round, two on each side, like to appendages or tentacles (feelers); and finally the base of the two large arms seemed to prolong the locomotive sur opinion, not as a positive fact. At page 137, some details are given respecting the Pearly Nautilus, (Nautilus pompilius) and at page 129 of the Calamary (Loligo sagittaria) molluscous cephalopods, allied to the argonaut. Many other points of great importance in the economy of the cephalopod of the argonaut (which belongs to the cuttle-fish group) have been elicited by experiments. These, however, are more interesting to the comparative anatomist, than the general reader. OLD HUMPHREY'S REPROOF TO A IF I take up the rod, it is with grief, and not with anger; with love, and not with hatred. Giving you credit for sincerity in your Christian course, I cannot but see that you estimate yourself too highly. Something more than a good intention is required in a follower of Christ. I grant the quickness of your parts, and your willingness to labour in a good cause, but you are leading where you should follow, teaching when you should learn. Instead of feeling yourself to be, what you really are, a "babe in Christ, you imagine yourself to be a "father in Israel." The ship that is all sail and no ballast, is likely enough to founder; and, in like manner, he who has much zeal | ing in slippery places. Put a little less and little discretion is pretty sure to fall confidence in yourself, and a great deal more in God. into error. I hear of you in all directions as a reprover and a dictator, acting proudly. Have you never met with the words, "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble," James iv. 6, and Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein?" Mark x. 15. Ponder these texts in your heart, and they may do you good. 66 I am told that neither youth nor years escape your admonitions. The unwrinkled brow of childhood, and the hoary head of age, are alike subject to your reproofs. Like the Pharisees of old, who loved the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogue, you thrust yourself forward before your fellows. You seem not to draw, but to drive with a strong hand; your driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi," 2 Kings ix. 20. You lay down your opinions as though you were Moses the lawgiver. You condemn this with severity, shrink back from that with abhorrence, and insist upon the necessity of the other, as though you only were the man, and that wisdom would die with you! 66 Fair and softly, my young friend, you have many things to learn. Take a kindly word from an old man, who, in by-gone days, has been as ardent as yourself in many things, and who has been taught that by painful experience which he is willing you should know without it. Be not deceived, Blowing the trumpet is not winning the battle." What is more empty than a drum, and yet what makes a louder rattle? Is there no lesson, think ye, to be gathered from the drum and the trumpet? 66 Do not mistake me. I want you not to diminish your zeal, but to add to your humility. I would have you desire to be pure as an angel, and ardent for God's glory as the burning seraphim; but, then, coupled with this should be the conviction that you are sinful dust and ashes. Be a little more, nay, a great deal more forbearing to those around you. It is very possible to exact more from others than we do ourselves. He who prates most of purity, may not be the most pure! He, who shouts hallelujah the loudest, is not, of necessity, the most devoted servant of the Redeemer! Have a care, for you are walk If you will set yourself on a hill, wonder not that you should be looked at narrowly. If you will say, "I am white as snow," marvel not that what is in you "speckled, spotted, and ringstraked," should attract attention. Remember the text, "Let him that thinketh_he standeth take heed lest he fall, 1 Cor. x. 12; and forget not that Saul was anointed by the prophet of the Lord, yet he fell forsaken of God on Mount Gilboa. It was after David was raised up to be king over Israel, that he sank so deep in the mire of sin and iniquity. It was after Job was righteous in his own eyes, that he confessed himself to be "vile," saying, "I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes," Job xlii. 6. Now take, with good temper, the medicine draught of reproof that I have thus prepared for you: it may be so far blessed as to do you good; and fail not to read, to learn by heart, and to reduce to practice the following invaluable advice. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones." Prov. iii. 5-8. A MISSIONARY'S VOYAGE. Up to the time of the missionary's embarkation, prosperity had so accompanied his every movement, like the perpetual sunshine of a cloudless sky, that in his wrestlings by day, and his meditations by night, the utterance of the inspired oracle kept pealing in his ears, "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.' How can fading memory recall the searching inquiries to which this impressive consideration led him, when about to bid farewell to his native shores? Had he discharged aright all the more obvious duties and claims of kindred, friends, and country? Had he duly examined the evidence, the tenor, and reality of his call? Had he rightly weighed the vastly important obligations of his new office ? Had he fully considered the danger of rushing unwarrantably to uphold the ark of the testimony? Had he carefully surveyed the difficulties, and sufficiently counted the cost? Were his prevailing motives pure ?-the glory of God the chief object; the love of Christ the actuating principle; the regeneration of perishing sinners the travail of his soul; and their final redemption his richest recompense of reward? Was he, with his whole heart, prepared to give up every idol, relinquish every darling pursuit, and for the sake of Christ joyously submit to be accounted "the offscouring of all things ?" Was he really so fortified by faith and prayer, that, amid scorn, and reproach, and perils, and living deaths, he could cheerfully serve an apprenticeship to martyrdom ? But no sooner had he embarked, than that gracious God who has "the times and the seasons engraven in the roll of Providence, caused the day of visitation and of trial to arise. Seldom has there been a voyage, from first to last, so fraught with disaster and discipline; -within the " floating home" of the deep, a fiery furnace from the combustion of evil tongues and wicked hearts; -without, unusual vicissitudes of tempest and of danger. These, however, were but the beginnings of trouble--the first wavings of the rod of chastisement to prepare for the crushing stroke. On Saturday night, the 13th February, the vessel violently struck on the rocks of an uninhabited barren island, about thirty miles north of Cape Town. With the utmost difficulty the passengers and crew escaped with their lives. The noble vessel soon went to pieces, and almost every thing on board perished. The losses of the missionary were such as could not easily be recovered. Besides the loss of personal property, from a collection of books, in every department of knowledge, amounting to upwards of eight hundred distinct works, only a few odd volumes were picked up on the beach, most of them so shattered, or reduced to a state of pulp, as to be of little or no value. But what was felt most, as being to him irreparable, was the entire loss of all his journals, notes, memorandums, essays, etc. etc., the fruits, such as they were, of the reflection and research of many years, when he possessed special opportunities which he could never ex pect again to realize. "But they are gone,' was his own written declaration at the time," they are gone; and blessed be God I can say gone,' without a murmur. So perish all earthly things; the treasure that is laid up in heaven alone is unassailable. God has been to me a God full of mercy; and not the least of his mercies do I find in the cheerful resignation with which he now enables me to feel, and to say, 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord."" a The only article which was recovered, in a wholly undamaged state, was quarto copy of Bagster's Comprehensive Bible and Psalm-book; which, as the parting memorial of a few dear friends, had been carefully wrapped up in leather, and thus escaped uninjured by the waters of the briny deep. Ah! the lesson and the schooling of a mysterious Providence seemed now complete; and its designs and intentions perfectly developed. He who had thought that he had "sifted" his heart "as wheat," and could find no engrossing idol lurking there, now discovered that he had been, to a degree never previously imagined, a wholesale idolater of books and written papers! It seemed as if the heavens had suddenly opened, and a voice from the Holy One had sounded with resistless emphasis in his ears, saying, "Fool that you are, to have centred so unduly your cares, and anxieties, and affections, on books and papers! So intense and devoted was the homage of your heart towards these, in the eyes of the heart-searching God, that, as there seemed no other method of weaning you from them, your heavenly Father, to save you from the doom of an idolater, has in mercy to your soul removed the idols-sinking them all to the bottom of the deep, or scattering them in useless fragments on this desolate shore;-all, all save one, and that is, the ever-blessed Book of Life. Here is the Bible for you: grasp it as the richest treasure of infinite wisdom, and infinite love; a treasure which, in the balance of heaven, would outweigh all the books and papers in the universe. Go, and prayerfully consult that unerring chart,-that infallible directory: humbly trust to it, and to your God; and never, never will you have reason to regret that you have been violently severed from your idols, as thereby you become more firmly linked by the golden chain of grace to the throne of the Eternal." Assuredly, had Jehovah himself, in terms | such as these, addressed the poor trembling convicted idolater in accents of thunder, when standing apart on that dreary African strand, the gracious designs of Providence could not have been more distinctly interpreted, nor the precious lesson more ineffaceably engraven on the inner tablet of the soul. devoted men who have gone before me; and if, like them, I am destined to perish in a foreign land, my prayer is, to be enabled cheerfully to perish with the song of faith on my lips, 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory ?' Pardon my warmth: at such a season, coldness were spiritual treason." Having set sail in another ship from The conclusion of a letter addressed the Cape, on the 7th March, a tremenat the time to the Convener of the As- dous gale was encountered off the Mausembly's Committee, is found, on refer- ritius, in which the vessel well nigh ence to the original document, to be foundered; and at the mouth of the as follows:-" Thus unexpectedly has Ganges she was overtaken by a hurriperished part of the first fruits of the cane, and violently tossed ashore, so Church of Scotland, in the great cause that all the horrors of a second shipof Christian philanthropy; but the cause wreck were experienced. On Wednesof Christ has not perished. The for- day evening, 27th May, after nearly mer, like the leaves of autumn, may be an eight months' voyage of continuous tossed about by every tempest; the lat- and varied perils, the missionary, with ter, more stable than nature, ever reviv- his partner, reached Calcutta, more ing with the bloom of youth, will flou- dead than alive, through exhaustion and rish when nature herself is no more. fatigue. It seemed as if "the Prince of The cause of Christ is a heavenly thing, the power of the air" had marshalled all and shrinks from the touch of earth. his elements to oppose and prevent their Often has its high origin been gloriously arrival; and it seemed (if it be lawful to vindicated. Often has it cast a mock- compare small things with great) as if ery on the mightiest efforts of human for the gracious purposes of trial and power. Often has it gathered strength discipline, a certain amount of license amid weakness; become rich amid had been granted to him as in the days losses; rejoiced amidst dangers; and of old, when, in reference to one of those triumphed amid the fires and tortures worthies of whom the world was not of hell-enkindled men. And shall the worthy, "The Lord said unto Satan, Church of Scotland dishonour such a Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; cause, by exhibiting symptoms of cold- only upon himself put not forth thine ness or despondency, in consequence of hand." But foiled he was, through susthe recent catastrophe ? God forbid! taining grace, in any attempt to extort a Let her rather arouse herself into new rebellious murmuring against the dispenenergy let her shake off every earthly sations of Providence. The very conalliance with the cause of Christ, as a trary was the effect uniformly produced retarding, polluting alliance: let her -even that of calling forth and invigorconfide less in her own resources, and ating the energy of faith and confidence more in the arm of him who saith, in the Rock of Ages. In the first letter, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by dated the very day after landing in Calmy Spirit: from her faithful appeals, cutta, is found this passage:— "Thus let the flame of devotedness circulate have we at length reached our destinathrough every parish, and prayers to the tion, after a voyage at once protracted Lord of the harvest from every dwelling; and disastrous. But if, in respect to the and then may we expect her fountains things of earth, it pained and impoverishto overflow, for the watering and fertilized, the experience of my dear partner ing of many a dry and parched heathen land. For my own part, recent events have made me feel more strongly than ever the vanity of earthly things, the hollowness of earthly hopes. They have taught me the necessity of being 'instant in season and out of season,' of 'spending and being spent' in the cause of Christ. My prayer is, though at a humble distance, to breathe the spirit, and emulate the conduct of those and myself leads us solemnly to declare, that, in respect to spiritual things, it greatly revived and enriched us. For the loss of earthly comfort and possession is a rich gain indeed, when accompanied by the increase of that treasure which nothing can diminish or impair. Through God's blessing we were enabled to view the whole as the apparently severe, but unspeakably kind discipline of a Father, who afflicteth not willingly, nor grieveth the children of men.' How base were it then to fret; how ignorant to complain; how cowardly to despond? For where is faith without a victory? Where is victory without a struggle? And can there be a struggle without enduring trials, and encountering difficulties? To the feeble and dastardly soldier of the cross be all the ease of indolently lagging in the rear; and all the security that can result from being the last to engage, and the foremost to escape from approaching danger! us, we would pray, be the toil and the hardship, and the danger, and the crown of victory for our reward,- -or death, when maintaining our Master's cause, for an eternal glory !"-Dr. Duff. THE WORKING CLASS IN TOWN AND COUNTRY. To In How different is the life which a woman leads in the country, compared with that spent in a town! the former, if even her husband has a very modetate income, possesses many enjoyments which the latter seldom attains, unless she be placed now beyond middling circumstances. The London women think it a great treat to spend only a day in the country; to reach Norwood or Greenwich; to take tea at some little roadside cottage, where a board is displayed, announcing, "Tea made, or water boiled:" to them this is a rural treat, a matter to be talked of for days after, when they have retired to their close streets and unhealthy rooms. the country 'kith and kin" are dispersed in the neighbouring villages; relations meet each other oftener; their visits are extended for a week or two; they have room to accommodate some of their friends: the children can run on the common, in the garden, or the fields; there is no fear of their being lost. In London, if one party visits another, (I speak of those in very moderate circumstances,) they are all crammed together in one room; perhaps the party visited lives in lodgings; the children are not permitted to go out for fear of being run over; or they have a bit of a yard to run in (miscalled a garden) where there is scarcely room to "swing a cat;" where clothes are hung to dry, and often washed over again before night, so thickly are they blackened with falling soot. Thousands of women in London are compelled to do their washing in the small rooms in which they live, and in wet weather to dry their clothes in the same apartments. In the country this is seldom the case, even in what is called wet weather; for only let there come on an interval of dryness, if it be but for an hour or two, and there is so much fresh air, that comes sweeping over the wide heaths and broad meadows, that they are dry "in next to no time," to use one of their own phrases. In London, very few of the 'middling sort" of houses have boilers and ovens; they (the inhabitants) rarely know what it is to eat a bit of "homemade bread;" to enjoy the luxury of a "baked potato" on a cold night, or a hot cake of their own making. All these things must be done by the baker, and the price of fuel causes the charges to come high: we pay twopence for a dinner baking, which, in the country, is charged but an halfpenny. 66 66 66 In the country, the meanest cottage has generally an oven and boiler; such is also the case in the small market towns. As to buying bread ready made, they rarely think of such a thing; they generally bake once a-week, and on baking days," have a few "yeast dumplings," and hot cakes for tea; to eat baker's bread, they say, is like eating money, it's so swift." In London, you have to " 'put your hand in your pocket," as the saying is, for every thing you want. Coals are very dear; fire-wood the same; milk is high, and often very inferior; butter fetches a great price, and is sold by the regular pound; rents are enormous; and potatoes double the price that they are in the agricultural districts. To a family fresh from the country, these things appear serious; they have perhaps been used to live in a good-sized house, for which they paid ten pounds a-year; in London they pay twenty for one much less. As to fire-wood, every lane, and hedge, and forest-side, abounds with it; and it is wonderful to see what large lumps of dry bread the children will eat after they have been out a few hours to gather their pinafores full of sticks; besides, if you are compelled to buy it, you obtain as much for a penny as will, with care, last a whole week. Potatoes I have known, many a time, to sell for fourpence the peck, or fourteen-pence a bushel; not more than a farthing a pound.-Miller's Rural Sketches. |