continually to the mouth of the cave, hoping to be the first to catch the gleam of the returning lights. The tardy daylight came at last, and still no news ; six, seven, eight o'clock,-the most hopeful began to despair. Poor Rita, pale and tearless, was nearly beside herself with grief and 'remorse; and Mrs. Barclay, in trying to comfort her, almost lost sight of her own overwhelming sorrow. "I am sure you are not to blame," she would say again and again, caressing the cold hands pressing her own, as Rita 2 upbraided herself for having let Leonard leave her for a moment. "They are coming! The lights are in sight!" came the tidings from the cave about mid-day, and Rita and Mrs. Barclay rushed 3 franticly forward, hoping yet fearing; but the sad faces that met them caused them to cover their eyes, and cower before the expected blow.. 5 "No news, no trace; but we must not give up, Mrs. Barclay," said Preston. "I have now quite regained my strength, and will immediately search the cavern with the guides who were with us yesterday; and I will not return without Leonard.” Another night of suspense and agony was ❝ inevitable, and with every hour that elapsed hope grew fainter. Mrs. Barclay was prevailed upon to lie down; but Rita sat by the window, her eyes set in the direction of the cave, and the lines of misery deepening every hour on the sweet young face. 6 Another twenty-four hours went wearily by. The sun was sinking, and with it every hope in the hearts of Mrs. Barclay and Rita, when a shout went up from the mouth of the cave; the glad tidings were echoed from mouth to mouth: "Leonard is found!" Words cannot paint the revolution of feeling in the sorrowing hearts as the pale and penitent boy was clasped first in his mother's, then in his sister's arms. Then the history of the search had to be given, the guides agreeing they would have given it up long before, but for Mr. Preston's determination. At the entrance of the passage near the end of which they had found Leonard asleep by the pool of water, an animated' discussion had arisen; the guides protesting it was useless to enter, that no one could possibly have wandered into it, the entrance being a foot or two above the level of the main road; but Preston sprang up, and held his light close to the ground for any traces of recent footsteps. 8 "Look ! look!" he exclaimed joyfully, a moment after; "here are some drops of sperm! some one has been here." Eagerly they all pressed in. A half-dozen yards brought them to the empty candlestick, and every little while they found new evidence of recent occupation,—a handkerchief with an embroidered monogram, fresh footprints in moist places; and, nearly a mile from where they had entered, their lights flashed on a motionless figure. For a moment Preston's heart stood still: were they to carry back only a lifeless form? But the head was raised, and Leonard, with a cry of joy, sprang forward. He was so weak, with his forty-eight hours' fast, that he immediately sank down again ; but restoratives were administered, and in a little while he was sufficiently strong to accompany them. Years have passed since then, and Rita is now Mrs. Preston, and Leonard a flourishing young lawyer; but I fancy none of the party have forgotten their memorable visit to the Mammoth Cave. 5 1 remorse, auguish; compassion; bitter repentance. 2 upbraided, reproached; blamed. 3franticly, madly; distractedly; wildly. cower, shrink with fear. suspense, a state of uncertainty. • inevitable, unavoidable; certain. ' discussion, dispute; argument; debate. sperm, sperm-oil, obtained from the spermaceti or white whale. 9 monogram, the principal letters of a name interwoven. THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE A NIGHTINGALE, that all day long 3 You would abhor to do me wrong, That brother should not war with brother, And worry But sing and shine by sweet consent, 7 Till life's poor transient night is spent, The gifts of nature and of grace. Those Christians best deserve the name, Of him that creeps and him that flies. 8 COWPER. 1 crop, a kind of bag in the throat of birds which receives the food from the mouth. 2 harangued, addressed, or made a speech to. 3 minstrelsy, music. jarring, quarrelling. 5sectaries, members to discern, to perceive; to see. 'transient, fleeting; passing; transitory; evanescent. 8 Cowper (See App.). of a party or sect. A GREAT many curious things happen to babies, in this round world of ours. One thing is-planting 1 them. This is done by the dark-skinned women of1 Guinea, and is not half so dreadful as it sounds. The mother digs a hole in the ground, stands baby in it, and then packs the warm sand round to keep him in place,—as you would plant a rosebush. It keeps him out of mischief, and he can play in the sand while his mother works. When the mother wants to carry the baby about, she ties him into a little chair which she straps to her back. On grand occasions he is decorated with stripes of white paint, and ornamented with dozens of brass rings on his arms and legs. 2 What do you think of a big shoe, stuffed with moss, to make a baby comfortable? The droll little Lapps cradle their babies in that way. The shoe is large, of course, and made of reindeer skin. It comes up high at the back, and is turned up at the toes. The moss with which it is stuffed is the famous reindeer moss, soft and white; and the odd little black-eyed baby looks very comfortable hanging from a tree, or slung across its mother's back. 3 Perhaps this baby who lives in a shoe is no more comical than the baby who lives in a fur bag,— another sober little black-eyed baby, away off in the shivery Esquimaux huts. Besides being enveloped in the fur bag at his mother's back, this round-faced little fellow wears a fur hood, and looks like some strange kind of animal peeping out on the world. You may have seen a picture of the North American Indian baby, or pappoose, bound flat to |