of fourteen years. Young as she was, it will be evident from the preceding details, that, in the sphere in which she moved, the grace of God had made her 66 a burning and a shining light." Manchester, March, 1821. ANECDOTE. COURTESY EXEMPLIFIed. SIR WILLIAM GOOCH, when Governor of Virginia, being one day in conversation with a gentleman in one of the streets of Williamsburgh, courteously returned the salutation of a Negro, who was passing by on his master's business. "How," cried the gentleman, can a man of your consequence return the salutation of a Negro." SIR WILLIAM answered, “As I am determined to act in every respect like a gentleman, as well as a Governor, I cannot suffer a slave to exceed me in good manners." THE JUVENILE NATURALIST, FOR JANUARY, 1822. (From "Time's Telescope for 1822.") "IN January, the numerous tribes of birds quit their retreats in search of food. The red-breast begins to sing; larks congregate, and fly to the warm stubble for shelter; and the nuthatch is heard. The shell-less snail or slug makes its appearance, and commences its depredations on garden plants and green wheat. The missel-thrush begins its song. This bird sings between the flying showers, and continues its note till the beginning of August. "The hedge-sparrow and the thrush now begin to sing. The wren, also,pipes her perennial lay,' even among the flakes of snow. The titmouse pulls straws out of the thatch, in search of insects; linnets congregate; and rooks resort to their nest trees. Pullets begin to lay; young lambs are dropped now. "The house-sparrow chirps; the bat appears; spiders shoot out their webs; and the blackbird whistles. The fieldfares, redwings, skylarks, and titlarks, resort to watered meadows for food, and are, in part, supported by the gnats which are on the snow near the water. The tops of tender turnips and ivy-berries THE JUVENILE NATURALIST. 33 afford food for the graminivorous birds, as the ringdove, &e. Earth-worms lie out on the ground, and the shell-snail appears. "The appearances which nature presents in the vegetable kingdom, at this season of the year, are scanty indeed; yet, amid the general torpor, reviviscent signs appear, enough to invite our readers to enter upon the study of Botany. "Buds and embryo blossoms in their silky, downy coats, often finely varnished to protect them from the wet and cold, are the principal botanical subjects for observation in January, and their structure is particularly worthy of notice. Buds are always formed in the spring preceding that in which they open, and are of two kinds, leaf buds and flower buds, distinguished by a difference of shapes and figure, easily discernible by the observing eye; the fruit buds being thicker, rounder, and shorter than the others:-hence the gardener can judge of the probable quantity of blossom that will appear. "Buds possess a power analogous to that of seeds, and have been called the viviparous offspring of vegetables, inasmuch as they admit of a removal from their original connexion, and, its action being suspended for an indefinite time, can be renewed at pleasure; thus, if a bud which is coated with a resinous substance be removed from its situation, and the surface which was united to the branch be covered with wax, it may be kept for many months, or even several years; and if then planted in the earth with an inverted glass cup over it, to prevent the exhalation at first being greater than the power of absorption, it will produce a tree similar to its parent; each bud, therefore, may be regarded as an individual plant. "The Christmas rose, as it is commonly called, exhibits its pretty flowers at this inclement season: the blowing of this plant was formerly regarded as no less than a miracle, worked by the staff of the devout JOSEPH of Arimathea, which was imagined to have been stuck in the ground by him, at Glastonbury Priory in Somersetshire, where it has ever since continued to bloom and surprise the beholders! If the season be very mild and favourable about the last week of this month, the garden crocus puts forth its flower before the leaves are grown to their full length. It was formerly cultivated to a considerable extent at Walden in'Essex, (to which it gave the name of Saffron Walden,) for the sake of the pistils, which, when gathered, composed the now useless saffron of the shops. As an agreeable contrast to this golden-coloured flower, the snow-drop, formerly called 'fair maids of February,' from its generally appearing in that month, often graces the last days of this. It is a modest and elegantly drooping flower. The golden saxifrage, called also golden moss, and stonecrop, in the absence of other flowers, affords its little aid to give life and beauty to the garden. The bramble still retains its leaves, and gives a thin scattering of green in the otherwise leafless hedges; while the berries of the hawthorn, the wild rose, and the spindle tree, afford their brilliant touches of red. The twigs of the red dog-wood, too, give a richness amid the general brown of the other shrubs." 1 BRIEF ASTRONOMICAL NOTICES, FOR JANUARY, 1822. "The Planet MERCURY is a morning-star, till the 23d of this month; but, from his small height above the horizon, before sun-rise, will afford very slender opportunities for observation. "VENUS is an evening star. "MARS rises about 9 at night, on the 1st; and every succeeding evening earlier. He is seen in the body of the Lion, slowly moving, first in an eastward direction, and then more quickly retracing his steps westward. "JUPITER is on the meridian at 31 minutes past 6, in the afternoon of the 1st, and about 5 on the 24th. SATURN is below him, and the distance between them is daily increasing. Both these planets are in excellent positions for observations upon them. "SATURN is on the meridian at half past 6 in the afternoon of the 1st, and about 5 on the 23d. His motion will be direct, but much slower than that of JUPITER. "HERSCHEL will be at first too near the Sun to be visible as a morning-star: but, as the Sun is rapidly moving from him, he will be discovered before the end of the month. "Thus this month presents us with a fine appearance of the planets. At first, VENUS, SATURN, and JUPITER, will attract our attention; and soon after VENUS sets, MARS rises, and the three superior planets decorate the hemisphere, the two former in the western, the latter in the eastern portion of it. In the second week, the four planets are at the same time above the horizon; and before the end of the month, VENUS and MARS are at the same height above it, at the opposite regions, and afford us an opportunity of comparing together their respective lustres with those of JUPITER and SATURN." (Evening Amusements.) POETRY. WINTER. THE dewy morns of Spring are o'er ; And even Autumn is no more; Lo! time has brought dull Winter on. His years, alas! will soon be past; R. L. POETRY. LINES ON HEARING A ROBIN SING IN A PLACE OF WORSHIP. (Communicated by MR. W. B. BROWNE, of Kettering.) WHILE grateful crowds their ready homage pay, And holy chantings hail the sacred day, While the loud choir its note responsive swells, And the rapt soul in mute attention dwells, Say, little Robin, winter's sweetest bird, Shall thy small twitter waft its notes unheard? Shall the pure offering of thy native song the loftier strains among? Ah no! lone songstress; humble though thy note, Though small the tribute of thy warbling throat, Yet, in His eye, who marks the sparrow fall, Who, ever present, reigns the LORD of All, To Him the feeblest song, the simplest prayer, To find an audit needs but be sincere. Unheeded pass, Nor, midst the skilful tunes of vocal art, MORTALITY AND IMMORTALITY. When long this miserable frame Unlimited as thought's vast range; By grovelling matter unconfin'd; The same, while states and empires change. When suns have wan'd, and worlds sublime Their final revolutions told, This soul shall triumph over time, As though such orbs had never roll'd. 335 LINES SUPPOSED TO BE SPOKEN BY A SKULL. [Ir is said that DR. DODDRIDGE had always in his study a human skull, into whose mouth he put the following lines, which he composed for the purpose, and imagined the skull to be speaking them to him. Kettering. W.B. BROWNE.] WHY choose you in a maze of books to stray? Nor need I words my purpose to dispense, "FOLLOW ME." Matt. ix. 9. MY SAVIOUR, can I follow thee, While midnight rests upon the sea, O, let thy Star of Love but shine, Printed by T. CORDEUX, 14, City-Road, London. 0. |