Offspring, child, children, grandchildren.
Defend, to keep from danger.

Defence, safe keeping.

Author, the maker of a book.

Prepare, to make ready.

Escape, to get clear of danger.

Tippet, a warm covering for the neck.
Constitute, to make, to put together.

THERE are three species, or kinds of bears; the white, the black, and the brown bear.

The white bear lives very far to the north, where it is almost always winter. He is much stronger, larger, and fièrcer, than either the brown, or the black bear, and sometimes measures no less than twelve feet in length. During winter, he lies buried amid the snow, in a state of torpor; in summer, he lives chiefly on fish.

The brown bear is a fierce, carnivorous animal; so extremely voracious, that he

not only attacks flocks and herds, but even devours carcasses, when in a putrid state.

The black bear can never be brought to taste of flesh, nor has he ever been known to attack any animal for the sake of devouring it. Roots and vegetables of every kind constitute his principal food; but his favorite repast is honey and milk. He is extremely common in the forests of Americá.

The form of the bear is rude and unshapely. His body is covered with a coarse and shaggy hide. His tail is very short; not more than four or five inches in length. His legs are thick and muscular and the long and flat soles of his paws, though they enable him to tread with peculiar firmness, render his pace at the same time, very awkward and heavy.

His feet are armed with sharp claws, and capable of grasping, somewhat in the manner of a hand, enabling him to climb with great facility the most lofty trees. With his fore paws, he can strike a dreadful blow. He can rear himself at pleasure on his hinder paws, and, seizing his adversary in his embrace, can easily squeeze the strongest man to death.

The bear delights in solitude, and chooses his den in the precipice of lonely mountains, or in the deep recesses of some gloomy forest. Here he passes the greater part of the winter, without ever stirring abroad.

;

He has not, like the ant and the bee, laid up any hoard of provisions for the season, but being very fat, he seems to live by his fatness. The under parts of his paws, too, are at that time full of a white milky juice, and during his retirement, he is said to derive considerable nourishment from sucking them.

When he first crawls abroad again in spring, he is extremely lean and fèehle, and his feet are so tender that he finds it difficult to move.

The young bear, which is called a cub, is very slow in growth, and follows the dam for at least a year, during all which time she displays uncommon tenderness for her offspring, and will encounter any danger in its defence.

[New Edinburgh Encyclopedia.]

A black bear, which was killed on the eighth day of October, 1827, in or near the town of Adams, in Massachusetts, and which the author saw, while he was preparing this book, was about three feet and six inches from the forehead to the insertion of the tail, and about two feet and three inches high. She had two cubs killed with her, and one was said to have escaped.

The skin of the bear, with the hair on, is used for muffs, and tippets, soldier's caps, and many other things.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

DEFINITIONS.

Insert, to put one thing into another. The handle of an axe is inserted in the axe, and the arm is inserted in the sleeve, when a coat or a gown is put on. Insertion, the act of inserting.

Ordinary, common, not very good.
Lioness, a she-lion.

Gait, step, motion, manner of walking.

Resemble, to look like.

Surround, to be all around.

Mane, the long hair about the neck of a horse, or a lion.` Majestic, grand, noble.

Furnish, to supply.

Prowl, to go about like a beast of prey.

Attack, to run upon any one, in order to kill or hurt

him.

Produced, born, brought up, made to grow.

Undaunted, without fear.

Temperate, neither hot nor cold.

Lofty, high, proud.

Bred, brought up, fed.

Formidable, terrible.

Instinct, that natural feeling in brutes, which makes them choose and act as they do.

Instinctively, naturally, without being taught by reason. Oppose, to speak against, to act against, to fight with. Ferocity, fierceness, cruelty.

Gradually, step by step, by little and little.

Decrease, to grow less, to fail.

Disposition, feeling, wish, or will.

Capable, able. We are capable of doing that which

we can do.

Amuse, to divert, to please.

Chastise, to whip or beat.

Calmness, quietness, stillness.

Proof, a certain sign, a good reason for believing.

Magnanimity, greatness of mind, noble feeling

Habit, what any one does commonly

Superior, higher, greater or better.
Superiority, higher state, or condition.
Possess, to have, to own.

Consume, to eat, to burn, to waste.

*

THE lion is one of the most terrible of all animals. Some lions are said to be nearly five feet high, and between nine and ten from the nose to the insertion of the tail. The ordinary height, however, is between three and four feet: the lioness is not so large.

*The teacher should always have in school a rule, with inches and feet marked upon it, and he should be able to tell the children the height and length of the room, the tables, the benches, &c. also the height of trees, and other things about the house, and the distances in rods and miles, of things which are known to children; that by comparison, he may enable them to understand the heights, or lengths, or distances of other things; and it is hoped that he will constantly avail himself of maps and of all other means in his power to render the lessons of children both intelligible and pleasant.