I

the table, pur, upon and sweep her long tail across my face, then catching a glimpse of me, jump down again, and run out as if she was frightened. I feel that I am now getting old, and almost beyond further service. have an ugly crack, occasioned by the careless stroke of a broom, all across my left corner; my coat is very much worn in several places; even my new frame is now tarnished and old-fashioned, so that I cannot expect any new employment. Having now, therefore, nothing to reflect on but the past scenes of my life, I have amused myself with giving you this account of them. I have made physiognomy my study; and I have seen occasion so far to alter the opinions of my inexperienced youth, that for those who pass the least time with me, and treat me with little consideration, I conceive the highest esteem, and their aspect generally produces the most pleasing reflecJANE TAYLOR.

tions.

ARABIAN HOSPITALITY.

the enemy's

he

A CHIEF of a party of the Bey's troops, pursued by the Arabs, his way, and was benighted camp. Passing the door of a tent that was stopped his horse and

assistance, being almost exhausted fatigue and thirst. The warlike Arab bid

his

enter his

with confidence, and

with all the hospitality and respect for which his are so famous.

Though these two chiefs were talked with candour and friendship to ing the

when a sudden paleness

the host.

few

was

he

He

him

in war, they other, recount

of themselves and their ancestors, the countenance of from his seat and retired, and in a afterwards sent word to his that his bed and all things for his

,

repose;

that

not well himself, and could not attend to the repast; that he had examined the Moor's horse, and found it too much to bear him through a hard the next day, but that before sunrise an able would be ready at

the

,

of the tent, where he would meet him, and

him to depart with all expedition. The stranger, for the conduct of his host,

not able to

to rest.

He was waked in time to take

before

,

his departure, which was ready prepared for him; but he of the family, till he perceived, on

saw

the

the bridle of his

door of the tent, the master of it
horse, and supporting his stirrups for him to
No sooner was the stranger mounted, than his
nounced to him, that through the

camp he had not so

an

of the enemy's

an enemy to dread as himself. " in the of your ancesto me the murderer of my father. I his death, and to seek

"Last

," said he,

tors, you

have many

sworn to

me as one determined on

You have mounted a horse not

stands

of mine,

destruction.

to the one that

for myself; on its swiftness surpassing that or both." After saying

this, he shook his

one of our

him. The Moor, profiting by the few moments he had in reached the Bey's army in to escape his

THE parental instinct of Insects is well worthy your atNot only do these minute creatures when alive undergo as severe privations as the largest quadrupeds in nourishing their offspring; but they also exhibit, in the very article of death, as much anxiety for their preservation. A very large proportion of them are doomed to die before their young come into existence; but these, like affectionate parents in similar circumstances, employ their last

efforts in providing for the offspring that are to succeed them.

as if

Observe the motions of that common white butterfly, which you see flying from herb to herb. You perceive that it is not food she is in pursuit of; for flowers have no attraction for her. Her object is to discover a plant upon which to deposit her eggs. Her own food has been honey drawn from the nectary of a flower. This, therefore, or its neighbourhood, we might expect would be the situation she would select for them. But, no: aware that this food would be to them poison, she is in quest of some plant of the cabbage tribe. But how is she to distinguish it from the surrounding vegetables ? She is taught of God! led by an instinct far more unerring than the practised eye of the botanist, she recognises the desired plant the moment she approaches it, and upon this she places her precious burden; yet not without the farther precaution of ascertaining that it is not preoccupied by the eggs of some other butterfly. Having fulfilled this duty, from which scarcely any obstacle, any danger, can divert her, the affectionate mother dies.

The dragonfly is an inhabitant of the air, and could not exist in water; yet in this element, which is alone adapted for her young, she ever carefully drops her eggs. The larva of the gadfly are destined to live in the stomach of the horse :-how shall the parent, a twowinged fly, conduct them thither? By a mode truly extraordinary. Flying round the animal, she curiously poises her body for an instant, while she glues a single egg to one of the hairs of his skin; and she repeats this process until she has fixed, in a similar way, many hundred eggs. Whenever, therefore, the horse chances to lick any part of his body to which they are attached, some of them stick to his tongue, and conveyed into his mouth, and thence But here a question occurs to you. part of the horse's body which he can reach with his tongue what, you ask, becomes of the eggs deposited in other parts? I will tell you how the gadfly avoids this dilemma. She places her eggs only on those parts of the

by that means are into his stomach. It is but a small

skin which the horse is able to reach with his tongue: nay, she confines them almost exclusively to the knee or the shoulder, which he is sure to lick.

Not less admirable is the parental instinct of that vast tribe of insects called ichneumons, whose young are destined to feed upon the living bodies of other insects. You see this animal alight upon the plants where the caterpillar is to be met with, which is the appropriate food for her young. She runs quickly over them, carefully examining every leaf, and, having found the unfortunate object of her search, she inserts her sting into its flesh, and there deposits an egg. She repeats the same operation until she has darted into her victim the requisite number of eggs. The larva, hatched from the eggs thus deposited, find a delicious banquet in the body of the caterpillar, which is sure eventually to fall a victim to their ravages. So accurately, however, is the supply of food proportioned to the demand, that this event does not take place until the young ichneumons have attained their full growth. In this strange operation, one thing is truly remarkable. The larvæ of the ichneumon,

though every day, perhaps for months, it gnaws the inside of the caterpillar, carefully all this time avoids injuring the vital parts, as if aware that its own existence depends on that of the insect on which it preys. Thus the caterpillar continues to eat, to digest, and to move, apparently little injured, to the last, and only perishes when the grub within it no longer requires its aid.

KIRBY & SPENCE-Entomology.

A GOOD MAN.

WHEN a man is said to be " good," the term is to be understood with limitations. None are good perfectly; for "there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not." None are good naturally; for all men are derived from the same depraved source: "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" We are not born" good," but are made such. Only those are good" who are saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost.Such is the origin of the character. But what are its features?

good man" there must be piety.

In a 66 He loves and fears God. He keeps holy the Sabbath of the Lordhe enters His house-he reads and hears His word-he goes to His table-he approaches His throne for mercy and grace to help him in time of need. And while

others live without God in the world, he is actuated by a desire to please and glorify Him in all his actions.

In a "good man" there must be sincerity. You would not think of applying the word to a mere pretender-to one whose actions were at variance with his word and his heart to a whited sepulchre, which looks fair outwardly, but is within full of corruption. But you feel no reluctance to apply the term to one who is what he appears to be-even though he has not much light, and is not free from infirmities. Our Saviour would have said of such a one," Behold, an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile."

In a "good man" there must be uniformity. He is not one thing alone, and another in company. He is not a meek follower of the Lamb in the house of God, and a tyrant in his own house. He is not prayerful in sickness, and prayerless in health. He is not humble in adversity, and proud in prosperity. He is the same in all the varieties of human condition: the changes of life serve only to prove and to develop his character.

In a 66 good man" there must be also benevolence and beneficence. It is not enough to be barely moral, and to render to all their due. A good man" does not keep just within the precincts of legal obligation; but goes forth where no human statute would punish him for neglect; and having freely received, he freely gives. The love and the gratitude which he cannot extend to God himself overflow upon his fellow-creatures. He has imbibed the spirit of Him who went about doing good; and, as he has opportunity, he does "good unto all men, especially unto them that are of the household of faith." This is what is meant by a "good man.' "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the latter end of that man is peace."-" Go, and do thou likewise !"

JAY-Short Discourses.