ligious instruction than females. Whoever reflects for a moment on the influence which the former are destined in a little while to exert, cannot but regret this circumstance. May not some plan be devised to remedy this evil? And will not he who shall suggest such a plan do as great service to the church, and the world as has been rendered by the founder of Sabbath Schools, and those numerous other institutions which are the ornament of the present age?

I am, with sentiments of high respect,

Salem, Nov. 1824.

Yours,

E. CORNELIUS.

EARTHQUAKE IN SICILY, IN MARCH, 1823.
An Extract.

On Wednesday, the 5th of March, 1823, at 26' after 5 P. M., Sicily suffered a violent shock of an earthquake. I was standing in the large plain before the palace, in a situation where I was enabled to preserve that tranquillity of mind necessary for observation. The first shock

was indistinct, but tending from below upwards; the second was undulatory, but more vigorous, as though a new impulse had been added to the first, doubling its force; the third was less strong, but of the same nature; a new exertion of the force rendered the fourth equal on the whole to the second; the fifth, like the first, had an evident tendency upwards. Their duration was between sixteen and seventeen seconds; the time was precisely marked by the second hands of a watch which I had with me. The direction was from northeast to southwest. Many persons who ran towards me from the southwest at the time of this terrible phenomenon, were opposed by the resistance of the earth. The spear of the vane on the top of the new gate connected with the palace, and upon which I fixed my eyes, bowed in that direction, and remained so until the sabbath, when it fell; it was inclined to the southwest in an angle of 20°. The waters in the great basin of the Botanical Garden, as

was told me by an eye witness, were urged up in the same direction by the second shock; and a palm tree, thirty feet high, in the same garden, was seen to bow its long leafless branches alternately to the northeast and southwest, almost to the ground. The clocks in the observatory, which vibrated from north to south, and from east to west, were stopt, because the direction of the shock cut obliquely the plane of their respective vibrations; and the weight of one of them broke its crystal. But two small clocks in my chamber kept their motion, as their vibrations were in the direction of the shock. The mercury in the sismometer preserved in the observatory, was put into violent motion, and at the fifth shock, it seemed as much agitated as if it were boiling.

To the west of Palermo, within the mountains, the earthquake retained little of its power; since at Morreale, four miles distant, trifling injury only was sustained by the (benedictine) Monastry of S. Castrense, the house of the P. P. Conviventi and the Seminary dei Cherici. At Parco, six miles distant, Mary's College, the Monastery, the parish Church, and a few peasants' cottages, were all that suffered. At Piana, the battlements of the tower were thrown down. But more of its power was felt in places on the sea-coast as appears from its effects at Capaci, four miles distant, where the Cathedral and several houses were ruined, and at Torretta, fourteen miles, where the Cathedral, two storehouses and some dwelling houses were destroyed. Beyond, its power continued to diminish; and at Castellamare, twenty-four miles, the State-house alone had the cleft, which was made in 1819, enlarged.

In Maritime places east of Palermo, the shock was immense. At Altavilla, fourteen miles from Palermo, the bridge was shaken. At Trabia, twenty-one miles, the castle, and at Godiano, the Cathedral and some houses were destroyed, enormous masses from Bisambra, a neighbouring mount, were loosened, and fell. At Termini, twenty four miles, the shocks were very violent, exceeding all that had happened within the memory of its inhabitants. Those of 1818-19 were

very strong, but the city received at those times no injury; now, the convent of St. Antonio, Mary's College, and various private houses felt its effects.

The warm waters, as well those of the baths as those from the neighbouring wells, which proceed from the same subterranean source in the mountains along the coast of Termini, increased in quantity and warmth, and became turbid; consequences that always succeed convulsions of she earth, by which their internal streams are disordered. The clay tinged the fluid with its own colour, and equal volumes of the water yielded a greater quantity of the clay than before, when the colour was deeper. Most of the houses in the little new town of Sarcari, two miles from the shore, and consisting of less than a hundred houses, were rendered uninhabitable; the walls were thrown down, and the more lofty buildings were all damaged. The effects of the earthquake are found to be greater in proportion to its advance eastward.

Forty-eight miles from Palermo, at Cefalu, a large city on the shore of a promontory, the effects were various and injurious. Without the walls, two convents, a storehouse, and some country houses, were injured, but no lives were lost. The sea made a violent and sudden rush to the shore, carrying with it a large ship laden with oil; and when the wave retired, she was left quite dry; but a second wave returned with such immense force, that the ship was dashed in pieces, and the oil lost. Boats, which were approaching the shore, were borne rapidly forward to the land, but at the return of the water, they were carried as rapidly back, far beyond their first situation. The same motion of the sea, but less violent, was observed all along the shore, as far even as Palermo. Pollina, a town with nine hundred inhabitants, occupying an elevated position at a little distance from the sea, was injured in almost every building; particularly in the church of St. Peter and Nunciata, in the castle, the tower, and in other places. Nor did Finale, a little nearer the shore, suffer less; five of its houses fell in consequence, on the eleveth of March.

Beyond the towns which have been mentioned, towards the interior of the island, the shock was vigorous to a certain extent; but kept decreasing as it proceeded, throughout the whole surface. At Ciminna, south of Termini, a statue was shaken from its place on the top of a belfrey in front of the great church, and a part of the clock tower, falling, killed one person and badly wounded another. In Cerda, the shock affected the great church, some houses, and half of one of the three forts, placed near the city to support the earth on the side of a great declivity.

Succeeding Shocks.

After the shock of the 5th, the black clouds which covered the heavens on the north and west formed a dark band, measuring from the zenith towards the horizon 60° and extending from north to south. It was terminated at base by a circular line, passing from north to south, through the west, and elevated at the southern part about 30° above the horizon. The sky itself was very clear, and its extreme brightnes was increased by the contrast with the dark bank above, and by the sun just on the point of setting. A little below the band were two other lines parallel and perfecly regular. This mysterious appearance inspired with fear the minds of the people, who are always seeking in the heavens for signs of future events. But it prepared a tempestuous night which followed, with torrents of rain, with thunder, snow, hail, and wind.

On the night of the 6th, at forty five minutes past one, in St. Lucia de Millazzo, six miles from the shore which looks towards Volcano and Stromboli, a severe shock was felt, and afterwards, at various intervals, horrible noises were heard, four distinct times, rumbling fearfully beneath them; and finally, at half past three o'clock, the shock was repeated. Both were felt at Messina, but without any subterranean noises. Nothing of it was felt at Palermo, or in any places in the west. At fifty-six minutes past ten, in the night of the 7th, another shock was felt at Palermo, sufficiently strong to put in motion the per

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dulum of a small clock, which I had stopped that I might regulate it in the Morning. Its vibration from N. E. to S. W. showed me with certainty the direction of the shock. Light ones were felt on the 26th. On the 31st, at two and fifty-two minutes, P. M. one was felt at Messina, moderately severe, of five or six seconds duration, and undulating. Two others on the first of April, and one at Costelbuono on the 28th. I should add that they mention a slight one there on the 16th of February, but they are more certain of those of the 5th of March, one at 1 P. M. the other at three. These were they, which induced the inhabitants of Naso to leave their habitations and flee into the country, where they were when their city was laid waste. Here the professor mentions many other places, in which small shocks were felt, in July and August; but upon which no important remarks are made.

SELECT SENTENCES OF COMPOSITION BY A PUPIL IN THE SAUGUS CLASSICAL SEMINARY.

THE importance of improving our time is a subject which ought to concern every reflecting mind.

Youth is the most important season for cultivating the mind, expanding the intellectual powers, and gaining useful information.

If the days of our youth are misimproved and trifled away we shall have no mental treasure in store to furnish sources of reflection.

Every misimproved moment will add another to that catalogue of pangs which conscience must one day feel.

(For the Monitor.)

CLOSE OF THE YEAR.

The harvest is passed; and the summer is ended ;
No longer the fields are mantled in green,

The birds on the branches their songs have suspended;
No birds skilled in music, are now to be seen.

Soon the snow will come down, earth's bosom to cover;