a traveller stamping his foot heavily, or speaking with a quick, loud voice, so as to cause a sudden motion of the air, or a bird flying quickly over, will loosen a small bit of snow. This, if no bigger than a nut, rolling down, becomes every moment larger and larger. Then it breaks off other pieces, and these rush on, growing all the time, until the mass becomes very large and heavy; and so it rolls on, carrying away trees, rocks, and everything in its course.

"Well, it seems that avalanche buried Marie's home and parents. When the spot was visited afterwards, there was not a trace of them to be found, but a great rock, as big as a church, covered the place where the cottage stood. She tried to point out the very rock, but I don't know whether I saw the right one or not.

"And what did you do then?' asked mamma.

"My uncle took me to his house,' said Marie. 'He is very kind; but I can't help crying sometimes for my own dear father and mother. My eldest sister is married, and lives in Germany, and one of my brothers is in the army. The other one drives a diligence, and I see him occasionally. I do all I can to help my uncle and aunt. I take care of the children, pick flowers to sell, and search for crystals in the brooks.'

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"By this time we had filled our baskets with flowers, for we had been picking while we were talking, and the little ones had helped us too. Oh, such flowers !-the lady-slipper, small sunflower, violets and roses, harebells and geraniums,

-and they grew in such abundance! I never saw anything like it. We could not bear to leave them; but night was closing in, so we came down from the hill, and Marie and the children walked to the hotel with us."

1crystal, a substance resembling glass.

I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER.

I REMEMBER, I remember the house where I was born,
The little window where the sun came peeping in at morn ;
He never came a wink too soon, nor brought too long a day,
But now, I often wish the night had borne my breath away!

I remember, I remember the roses red and white,
The violets and the lily cups, those flowers made of light!
The lilacs where the robin built, and where my brother set
The laburnum on his birthday,-the tree is living yet!

I remember, I remember where I was used to swing,
And thought the air must rush as fresh to swallows on the
wing;

My spirit flew in feathers then, that is so heavy now,
And summer pools could hardly cool the fever on my brow!

I remember, I remember the fir-trees dark and high;
I used to think their slender tops were close against the sky:
It was a childish ignorance, but now 'tis little joy
To know I'm further off from heaven than when I was a boy.

Thomas Hood.

STOCKHOLM, the capital of Sweden, is situated at the eastern extremity of the Mælar Lake. This is one of the largest and most beautiful lakes in Sweden. It is about eighty-one miles in length, has an average breadth of thirteen miles, and contains upwards of twelve hundred islands. The grassy slopes and cliffs bordering the lake are adorned with many trees, castles, country-seats, and villas, and enlivened by quite a dozen towns and villages.

Stockholm, which is one of the most beautiful capitals of Europe, is built partly on the 1 mainland, and partly on nine holms or islands, lying in the channel through which the Mælar Lake discharges its waters into the Baltic, about thirty-six miles distant.

Stockholm contains many fine public buildings. The Royal Palace, built in the Italian style of architecture, and commanding a view of the romantic shores of the lake, is certainly the finest. Among the other public buildings, most noteworthy are the cathedral, or St. Nicolai's, the Knights' Hall, the 2 Observatory, the Church of St. James, and the College of Surgery.

The most picturesque of the nine islets of Stock

holm is the Sodermalm, on whose steep sides the houses, connected more frequently by steps than by roads, rise in terraced rows to the top, which is crowned by St. Catherine's Church. On the northeast side of Stockholm are the famous Zoological

Gardens, in one of the finest public parks in Europe. This park covers a peninsula two miles long and one wide, and art has been judiciously employed to enhance its natural beauties.

Stone and wooden bridges connect the various islands of the town. The streets of the older

quarters are narrow, crooked, and ill-paved; but in the modern parts of the town there are fine straight streets, and capacious squares with well-built stone houses; in the suburbs the houses are mostly of wood.

Stockholm is the seat of the government, and of the chief courts of law and administration, the residence of the sovereign, and the place of assembly for the legislative chambers. It is the centre of the literary and social activity of the country, and has numerous scientific, artistic, educational, and benevolent institutions. No city has more picturesque environs, or more numerous public gardens and walks than Stockholm; while the many channels and canals, connected with its large and commodious harbours, facilitate traffic and intercommunication with the interior and with foreign ports.

Stockholm is the principal 7 emporium of Swedish commerce; iron, timber, and deal planks are its main articles of export; but it is also the centre of an active trade in leather, cotton, woollen, and silk fabrics, glass and porcelain, iron and steel goods, steam-engines, etc., which it sends, together with the ordinary colonial and other imports, to all the other towns of Sweden.

1

mainland, the continent; the principal or chief land. 2 observatory, a place or building used for making observations on the heavenly bodies. 3 judiciously, with good judgment; skilfully. * administration, the act of administering (managing or conducting) public affairs. legislative chambers, the parliament, or assembly by whom the laws are made. environs, places which surround another place, or lie in its neighbourhood.

5

place of trade or traffic; mart or market.

6

7

emporium,