with a terrible crash, and the poor raven was killed by the thick branches."

"Poor raven! I am very sorry! It was quite a pity to cut down the tree while the raven was there.'

"Besides the birds and flowers, the insects and animals begin to be alive. Gnats are seen dancing in the sunbeams; bees go abroad; beetles are stirring in the ditches and on the grass; bats

bestir themselves in the evening of the day, and

the mole throws up the soft earth to the surface of the ground."

Ay, I wonder how it is that they can make their way under ground."

"They are formed for the purpose, Maurice; for the Almighty Maker of all things has fashioned his creatures according to the way in which they are to live. Moles have feet very much like our hands; so that with their claws, or you may call them fingers, they scratch their way through the ground, and fling up the soft earth out of their runs, just as they like. There are other things, you know, live in the ground."

Yes, worms! you mean worms, Michael!"

"I do, Maurice. See! I have just pulled one out of the ground, with this long root. There is a great deal of difference between this earth-worm and the silk-worm."

'Yes, there is this is not half so pretty as the silk-worm, and then it has no legs."

"I was reading some verses yesterday about the silk-worm and the earth-worm, and at last I learned them by heart. Should you like to hear them?" Very much! Do let me hear them!"

“Listen, then.

The silk-worm comes first.

The worm! the worm! the silken worm!

He's one of a happy and wealthy firm.

He lives at his ease 'mid the mulberry trees,
Weaving his web by slow degrees :

He quaffs his goblet of sparkling dew,

And dines on the best, for his cares are few:

His coat is fashion'd of velvet and gold,
And in silken robes, during winter cold,

D

He gathers his own little self to sleep,
Careless of those who wake and weep.
Ha! ha ha! he is snug on high,
Dreaming of wings and a sunny sky.

'The worm! the worm! the grubbing worm!
He's one of a poor but a numerous firm.

He toils in the earth from the day of his birth,
And shrinks in his hole at the shout of mirth;
The wither'd leaves are his bitter repast;

In the slime and the darkness his days are cast:
The sun may scorch, or the bleak wind freeze,
He is as bare as the skeleton trees;

No visions of splendour glad his eyes;

No wings has he for sunny skies.

Ho! ho! ho! there is sorrow below,

'Neath the foot of man and the desolate snow.'

You see, that according to these verses the silkworm is happy and rich, and the earth-worm poor and sorrowful; but this is not the case in reality. God, in his goodness, has made them different the one from the other, because they are to live different lives; but, no doubt, the earthworm is as happy in his dark hole in the ground, as the silk-worm is when crawling on his mulberry leaf, or when fluttering about as a moth with his downy wings."

"I should hardly have thought that, either; but I suppose it is so."

"The farmer, in February, finishes dressing up

his fences, and lays down new thorn hedges; then he clears off the ground the turnips that have not been eaten by the cattle and sheep, and prepares for the spring wheat sowing; for the other wheat has been in the ground all the winter. He puts, also, his beans into the ground, that there may be beans for the horses, and bean-flour for the pigs, to make them fat. The shepherd begins to be very busy, as the ewes are bringing forth their lambs. If he does not look after them well, many a lamb perishes in the cold. The gardener has quite enough to do in digging, weeding, and sowing for cabbages, lettuces, and table vegetables of different kinds, as well as in getting his hotbeds in proper order for melons and cucumbers."

"The country people do begin to be busy now, however."

"The mole-catcher sets his traps; the ratcatcher unbags his ferrets in the barn, that they may follow the vermin into their holes; while in the fields sportsmen are abroad with their guns or their greyhounds, or mounted on horseback, pursuing over hedge and ditch the hare and the fox. February has been called 'fill-dike,' because of the heavy rains which sometimes fall in the month; and while the descending rains fill the dikes, the mercies of our heavenly Father ought to fill our hearts with thankfulness and praise."

MAURICE took the first opportunity that offered to get from old Michael an account of the country in March. What he had heard of farmer Brown

ing and the Grange had highly pleased him, as well as the account of the sparrow, the robin, and the raven. Michael was very busy in hoeing up the soft dark mould in high ridges close against the celery plants, when Maurice ran into the garden.

What is to be seen in the country when the March wind blows, Michael?" said he. "I cannot