form, the other jointless, and containing all the species that grow in submarine forests, or float like green meadows in the open sea. But their forms are so varied, their colors so brilliant, their number and size so enormous, that they change the deep into fabulous fairy gardens. And, as branches and leaves of firm, earth-rooted trees, tremble and bend on the elastic waves of the air, or wrestle, sighing and groaning, with the tempest's fury, so "the seaweed, slimy and dark, waves its arms, so lank and brown," and struggles with the ocean, that pulls at its roots, and tears its leaves into shreds. Now and then the mighty adversary is victorious, and rends them from their home, when, in masses, they float towards the shores of distant lands, where often fields are found so impenetrable that they have saved vessels from shipwreck, and many a human life from the hungry waves. Some These different kinds of fucus have their own well-defined limits. cling with hand-like roots so firmly to the rocky ground that, when strong waves pull and tear their upper parts, they often lift up masses of stone, and drag them, like huge anchors, many miles. They are found in every sea; the most gigantic, strangely enough, in the two Arctics, where they reach the enormous length of 1500 feet. Occasionally, they cover vast portions of the sea, and form those fabulous green meadows on deep, azure ground, which struck terror in the hearts of early navigators. The largest of these, called Sargossa Sea, between the Azores and the Antilles, is a huge floating garden, stretching, with a varying width of one to three hundred miles, over twenty-five degrees of latitude, so that Columbus spent three hopeless, endless weeks, in passing through this strange land of ocean prairies! These plants form submarine forests, growing one into another, in apparently lawless order, here interlacing their branches, there forming bowers and long avenues; at one time thriving abundantly till the thicket seems impenetrable, then again leaving large openings between wold and wold, where smaller plants form a beautiful pink turf. Creeping close to the ground, or sending long-stretched arms, crowned with waving plumes, up to the light, they form pale-green sea groves, where there is neither moon nor star, or rise up nearer to the surface, to be transcendantly rich and gorgeous in brightest green, gold, and purple. And, through this dreamlike scene, playing in all the colors of the rainbow, and deep under the hollow, briny ocean, there sail and chase each other merrily, gaily-painted mollusks, and bright shining fishes. Snails of every shape creep slowly along the stems, while huge, gray haired seals hang with their enormous tusks on large, tall trees. There is the gigantic Dugong, the siren of the ancients, the thick-haired sea-leopard, and the sluggish turtle. Look how these strange, ill-shapen forms, which ever keep their dreamless sleep far down in the gloomy deep, stir themselves from time to time! See how they drive each other from their rich pastures, how they seem to awaken in storms, rising like islands from beneath, and snorting through the angry spray! Perhaps they graze peacefully in the unbroken cool of the ocean's deep bed, when lo! a hungry shark comes slily, silently around that grove; its glassy eyes shine ghost-like with a yellow sheen, and seek their prey. The sea-dog first becomes aware of his dreaded enemy, and seeks refuge in the thickest recesses of the fucus forests. In an instant the whole scene changes. The oyster closes its shell with a clap, and throws itself into the deep below; the turtle conceals head and feet under its impenetrable armor, and sinks slowly downward; the playful little fish disappear among the branches of the macrocystis; lobsters hide under the thick, clumsilyshapen roots, and the young walrus alone turns boldly round, and faces the intruder with his sharp, pointed teeth. Like these fair children of cloud and frost, All lost in the dark and silent lake. Yet look again, for the clouds divide; A gleam of blue on the water lies; A sunbeam falls from the opening skies. At rest in the dark and silent lake. D DO IT YOURSELF BOYS. not ask the teacher or some classmate to solve that hard problem. Do it yourself. You had better let them eat your dinner than “do your sums" for you. It is in studying as in eating; he that does it gets the benefit, and not he that sees it done. In almost any school, I would give more for what the teacher learns than for what the best scholar learns, simply because the teacher is compelled to solve all the hard problems, and answer the questions of the lazy boys. Do not ask him to parse the difficult words and translate the hard sentences in Latin. Do it yourself. Never mind though they look as dark as Egypt. Don't ask even a hint from any body. Try again. Every trial increases your ability, and you will finally succeed by dint of the very wisdom and strength gained in the effort, even though at first the problem was beyond your skill. It is the study, and not the answer, that really rewards your pains. Look at that boy who has just succeeded after six hours of hard study, perhaps; how his large eye is lit up with a proud joy as he marches to his class. He treads like a conqueror. And well he may. Last night his lamp burned late, and this morning he waked at dawn. Once or twice he nearly gave up. He had tried his last thought; but a new thought strikes him as he ponders over the last process. He tries once more and succeeds, and now mark the air of conscious strength with which he pronounces his demonstration. His poor, weak schoolmate, who gave up that same problem after his first faint trial, now looks up to him with something of wonder, as to a superior being. And he is his superior. That problem lies there, a great gulf between those boys who yesterday stood side by side. They will never stand together as equals again. The boy that did it for himself has taken a stride upward, and what is better still, has gained strength to take other and greater ones. The boy who waited to see others do it has lost both strength and courage, and is already looking for some good excuse to give up school and study forever. A THE SERPENT'S INDIGESTIBLE MEAL. N immense anaconda recently arrived in Boston, from the neighborhood of the Congo river, in Africa. His length is between twenty-five and thirty feet, with a girt of thirty inches in the largest part of his body. There are a few curious circumstances connected with this great reptile stranger, since his arrival, which are worth chronicling:-Just before leaving his native land, he took a hearty meal of a dog, and no other food was eaten by him for seven months after. About the first of October, this king of snakes arrived in Boston, and was lodged in a large case, with very strong glass walls, and a double English milled blanket, folded into four thicknesses, furnished for his bed. On the 20th of November, Mr. Sears, the proprietor, thought it was full time to tempt his appetite, and therefore introduced a rabbit into his den, just at evening. On viewing the interior the following morning, the blanket was missing, while the rabbit was still alive! On Wednesday, seven days after, the blanket was discharged, whole and unimpaired, after a circuitous journey through an intestinal tube of nearly one hundred and fifty feet! It may now be seen in the apartment, being six feet wide by seven in length. Since that period, he has VOL. IV.-7 |