work, take care and do not let the body cool too quickly; for, if it does, the blood may be thrown too violently back into the heart, and produce much evil. This is the reason why we should not bathe when the body has been much heated. The sudden change from the heat into the cold water is very injurious.

5. Should you, in the course of a walk, come to a stream which has no bridge, and which you desire to wade across, examine the current very carefully before venturing in. Some rivers are very treacherous. The water is very clear, and you can see the bottom quite easily, and so you imagine they cannot be deep. But very frequently the clearest rivers are the deepest. Always remember that water in motion has very great force, and, if you are once carried off your feet, it is most difficult to regain your position. Whenever you find the current becoming too strong, your safest plan is at once to turn back and reach the bank you left. It is no sign of cowardice to act thus. The bravest men are the most cautious.

QUESTIONS:-1. Why is it dangerous to crowd one side of a boat? 2. What should we do if a boat gives a sudden lurch to one side? 3. Which is the safest position when a boat is like to be overturned? 4. What should we do if we happen to fall through the ice? 5. Why? 6. Why is it dangerous to leave a railway train when in motion? 7. How should we act in attempting to leave a carriage when in motion? 8. Why? 9. Why is it dangerous to cool the body too rapidly when heated? 10. Why should we not bathe when much heated? 11. What rivers are often the most dangerous to wade through?

di-a'-me-ter, measure through im-mense', very large.

IN all ages, the oak has held the chief place among trees, and has been often called the "mon

arch of the woods." Its great size, its noble appearance, and the strength and durability of its wood, all entitle it to be considered as the chief among all timber trees.

The wood of the oak is of great strength. Some timber may be harder, some more difficult to rend, and some not so easily broken across, but none contains all these qualities united to such an extent as the oak; and hence it is much used in ship-building, where these qualities are required.

crop

The seed of the oak, or acorn, is a well-known nut; and, in former ages, the fattening of hogs upon acorns was an important trade. So very important was it, that the failure of the acorn is said to have been one of the chief causes of famine. William the Conqueror brought much ill-will on himself because he would not allow the Saxons to fatten their hogs in the forests. He wished the forests to be kept as hunting ground. This was one of the grievances which King John was forced to redress, when he signed the Great Charter, near Runnymede.

Oaks live to a great age, and some attain a very large size. There are well-known cases of oaks that were from three to four hundred years old, and some writers say that the oak, if sound, can reach even a far greater age than this. An oak, felled at Witby Park, Shropshire, in 1697, was nine feet in diameter without the bark, and the spread of the top from bough to bough was one

hundred and forty feet. Damory's oak, in Dorsetshire, was one of the largest oaks of which we have any account. It measured sixty-eight feet round the trunk, and the cavity of it, when it began to decay, was sixteen feet long, and twenty feet high; and was long used by an old man as an ale-house.

Some oaks are famous in history. Not a hundred years ago, the oak in the New Forest, against which the arrow of Sir William Tyrrel glanced before it killed William Rufus, was said to be still standing. The royal oak at Boscabell, in which. Charles the Second concealed himself after the defeat at Worcester, has disappeared; and, though several trees were raised from the acorns, the race seems now to be lost. An oak lately stood at Torwood Wood, in Stirlingshire, under the shadow of which Wallace is said to have gathered his friends, and to have urged them to join him in freeing their country from the English.

A sturdy oak which nature forms,
To brave a hundred winters' storms;
While round its head the whirlwinds blow,
Remains with root infixed below.

When felled to earth,—a ship it sails
Through dashing waves and driving gales,

And now at sea again defies

The threatening clouds and howling skies.

I *

William the Conqueror, William of Normandy, who, in 1066, invaded and conquered England. He was fond of hunting, and turned much land into forests.

King John, King of England (1199-1216 A.D.), was compelled by his nobles to sign, at Runnymede, near Windsor, the Great Charter, called Magna Charta, by which he granted the redress of many grievances. The Charter was signed a.d. 1215.

William Rufus, King of England (1087-1100 A.D.), was killed in the New Forest, as mentioned in the lesson. Charles the Second reigned from 1660-1685 A.D.

QUESTIONS:-1. Why has the oak been called the "monarch of the woods"? 2. What qualities make it so valuable? 3. In what is it largely used? 4. What is the seed of the oak called? 5. What is the acorn used for? 6. What was often a chief cause of famine? 7. Who was William the Conqueror? 8. How did he acquire great ill-will to himself? 9. What was the Great Charter? 10. When and where was it signed? 11. How long does the oak live? 12. Mention some famous oaks. 13. Who was William Rufus, and when did he reign? 14. Where is the New Forest? 15. When did Charles the Second reign? 16. By whom was he defeated at Worcester? 17. Who was Wallace?

ar-ter'-y, veins that convey the pro-cur'-ed, obtained.

blood from the heart.

re-mote', far from houses.

sa-gac'-i-ty, wisdom.

au-thor'-i-ty, one whose opin-res'-cue, save.

ion is highly valued.

com-press', to squeeze tightly..

IN the winter of 1720, as a number of boys were skating on a lake in a remote part of Yorkshire,