happened to be at their house, and who, it seems, did not know it herself And Frank said, that when lonce it had been put wrong into his head, he could never get it right again; he was in this like the triangle manvull Mary ventured to ask, why, if the earth is quite round, and the globe quite a globe, should Frank talk of the long way or the short way round it. "I thought that a globe measured the same every way-should it not?" Frank informed her, and was very glad to be able to do so, that the earth, though it is called a globe, is not quite round, that it is more in the shape of -an orange, or a turnip. T A nod from his friend confirmed his assertion, and Frank now, feelingencouraged to show his learning, went on to prove that he understood the causes of day and night; and, farther, he dashed into explanations of an eclipse of the sun, and of summer and winter but there he found that he stuck fast, he could neither get backward nor forward, but, quite confused amidst the paths of the sun, moon, and earth, he was compelled to acknowledge, that he was not yet master of their motions. Ashamed of himself, he willingly listened to Mary's observation, that it was getting very late, and after wishing the engineer a good night, and a good bye, for he knew that he was to go early in the morning, Frank said, "I hope, that by the time you come again, sir, I shall be quite clear about summer and winter. How long do you think it will be before you come again?" The engineer said he did not know, perhaps in a week, perhaps in a month. "A month!" exclaimed Frank, "I shall have time and time enough to learn it, mamma, shall not I?" "And to forget it perhaps, Frank," said his mother. END OF VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED BY CHARLES WOOD, |