The school-boy wandering through the wood, Starts the new voice of spring to hear, What time the pea puts on the bloom, Thou fliest the vocal vale, An annual guest to other lands, Sweet bird! thy bower is ever green, Thy sky is ever clear, Thou hast no sorrow in thy song, Oh! could I fly, I'd fly with thee! M. BRUCE. Thou messenger of spring.-The cuckoo arrives in this country in spring. Hast thou a star to guide thy path ?-Compare Jeremiah viii. 7. What time the pea puts on the bloom.-Early summer, the time when the cuckoo migrates to a warmer climate. QUESTIONS: -1. Why is the cuckoo called the messenger of spring? 2. When does the cuckoo reach this country? 3. How does the cuckoo know when to come? 4. When do primroses generally make their appearance? 5. When does the cuckoo leave this country? 6. Why is the cuckoo's bower ever green? 7. Why has the cuckoo no winter in its year? 8. What is the colour of the cuckoo? 9. How big is the cuckoo? 10. How are the young of the cuckoo reared? EVERY boy and girl should learn to swim. Hundreds of lives are lost every year, because people are ignorant of the art of swimming. The first thing to do, in learning to swim, is to conquer your fear. If you throw any animal into the water, it begins to swim at once. You may have seen a dog, that had never been in water all his life, pitched into the sea. He does not sink. He comes at once to the surface, and, holding his head bravely above the water, he strikes out for the shore. Now boys and girls could swim as easily as the dog, did not their fear get the better of them, and did they not begin to scream and to dash their arms wildly about, instead of allowing themselves quietly to float. If you take a bladder filled with air, and try to thrust it into the water, you will find it very hard work. The reason is that water is more buoyant than air, and this quality tends to support the bladder, to raise it rather than to let it sink. Now we should remember that within the body of every swimmer there is an air-vessel-the lungs which tends to cause the body to rise to the surface. Timid boys generally walk into the water until it reaches their knees, and then they give one or two ducks, and run out shivering with cold. The best way is to get some older friend to take hold of you, with your full consent, and dip you over head and ears. You will soon find how easy it is to come up again. In fact, you will naturally rise to the surface at once. The celebrated Benjamin Franklin gives the following sensible advice on this point:-"Choose a place where the water deepens gradually, walk coolly into it until you are up to your breast; then turn round your face to the shore, and let an egg be thrown into the water. The circumstance of the egg not being broken in its descent to the bottom will prove to you that the water is buoyant. The egg must lie in the water so deep that you cannot reach to take it up except by diving for it. To encourage yourself, in order to do this, reflect that your progress will be from deep to shallow water, and that at any time you may, by bringing your legs under you and standing on the bottom, raise your head far above the water; then plunge under it with your eyes open. They must be kept open before going under, as you cannot open the eyelids afterwards from the weight of water above you. Now turn yourself towards the egg, and endeavour by the action of your hands and feet against the water to get forward till within reach of it." It is important not to enter the water whilst the body is too hot, and as soon as you enter it to wet the head and neck. This is for the purpose of preventing the blood rushing to the head. It should also be remembered that, whether you can swim or not, it is not good to remain too long in the water, because the body is thereby apt to become unduly cooled. Too frequent bathing is also dangerous. No boy should bathe more than once a-day. QUESTIONS:-1. What is the first thing one has to do in learning to swim? 2. What does an animal do if pitched into the water? 3. Why do not boys swim as naturally as animals? 4. Why is it difficult to thrust a bladder filled with air under water? 5. What air-vessel have we in our bodies? 6. How may you prove that persons may float quite naturally? 7. How did Franklin recommend persons to learn to swim? 8. What should you do immediately on going into the water? 9. Why? 10. Why should you not remain too long in the water? 11. How many times a-day should one bathe? LESSON VIII. ce-ment', bind together. col-lect', gather. de-sert'-ed, left, forsaken. en-dur'-ing, lasting, strong. a nest differing in form EVERY kind of bird builds and situation from that of every other. Birds of prey reside on the tops of high rocks, or on the summit of an old tower. Their nests are formed of large pieces of wood, which they are strong enough to carry through the air. A nest of this kind, when once made, serves for a long time, for it is seldom that these nests are deserted, until they have become unfit for a dwelling-place for the bird. Birds of prey are the only kind of birds that build nests of this enduring kind; for the greater number of birds are content with abodes of a less enduring nature-on the branch of a tree, against the side of a house, on the turf, or among the reeds. Some make use of bits of straw, small |