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to turn in to hard study, and give up
our jolly rides and hunts, for a long
time. But, you see, before we begin
on the books, we want to have one
famous ‘blow-out,’ and then, you know,
we can settle down contentedly to ‘rith
matick,’ ‘ jography,’ grammar, and all
that sort of dry stuff.”
“ But,” I asked, “ what kind of a
‘blow-out’ is it, Will, that you propose
to take before you settle down to your
books?”
•‘Didn’t Pa tell you about it?” he
asked.
“Yes,” said I, “he mentioned some
thing to me about your wanting to go
off upon an ‘exploring expedition,’ but
he didn’t tell me that he had given his
consent to it.”
“ Oh, but he will though, I am sure,
if you and Mr. Pitt will agree to go
along with us (as of course you will);
and you must talk to Pa about it the
first thing in the morning. I know he’ll
consent to let us go if you’ll only ask
him.”
In return for this little of blarney on
the part of Will, I assured him I would
do all I could to get his Pa’s consent to
the expedition.
“But where,” said I, “does this un
known region that you propose to ex
plore, lay?”
“There is,” said cousin Lawrence,
“a scope of country, lying due north
from the head waters of the Rio Frio,
or cold river, to the head waters of the
San Saba, that has only been very par
tially explored, and that is the region
we wish to examine. The Mexicans
say it is a fine country —that it abounds
in game of all kinds—that there are
beautiful rich valleys along the streams,
well timbered with oak, pecan, cypress,
and walnut trees, and that many silver
mines are supposed to exist in the high
rocky ranges of hills that intersect the
country north of the road leading from
San Antonio to Presidio, on the Rio
Grande.
“The fact is,” continued Lawrence,
“I have always had a great desire to
visit this region ever since I came out
to Texas, and have talked so much
about going to see it 4 some of these
days,’ that I have inoculated all the
boys with the same desire, and they are
crazy to see the wonders of this unex
plored wilderness. The only objection
Pa has to our taking the trip is, that
the country is a favorite resort for the
plundering and marauding bands of In
dians, who frequently stop in its seclu
ded valleys and dells to recruit their
horses, on their way to and from the
settlements below. However, they sel
dom go in large parties ; and really, I
don’t believe we would be in more dan
ger in that country than we are daily
exposed to here —riding around hunt
ing, or herding our stock. On the con
trary, I think our risk would not be so
great, for when in the enemies’ country
we would be more on the look-out,
and much better prepared for them in
BURKE'S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
the event we should be attacked by
them.”
“ I think you are right about that,
cousin Lawrence,” said I; “ and I feel
confident that I can persuade uncle
Rivers to give his consent to the expe
dition.”
“ Hurrah for you, cousin Jack,” said
Will, “ that’s the way I like to hear you
talk ; and now the thing is settled, I’ll
go to sleep, for I must be up soon in
the morning, as there are lots of things
to do before we will be ready to start.”
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
THE SPIDER’S BREAKFAST.
In a letter to Sammy C , of Wil
mington, N. C.
SITTI NG Ijy my window,
one morning in last
Jlj September, just after
t breakfast, I heard a
shrill buzzing directly over my head.
I immediately turned to see where
the noise came from. It was made
by a young horse-fly, entangled in a
spider’s web. up in the corner of the
window, almost directly over my head.
The fly was struggling for life ; but the
little spider, (not much more than half
as large as the fly,) was as busy as a
bee, running up and down his lines,
doubling all of them that stretched to
wards the intruding and ensnaring fly ;
just as a general, when an engagement
is coming on, hastens along his lines to
see if they are properly arranged, or if
the fortifications are sufficient for the
attack. So the little spider ran busily
along his lines, increasing their strength
and renewing those that the struggling
fly had broken, until he evidently thought
them strong enough to secure his prize.
He then sprang on a cord that led
directly to the fly and running down
with lightning speed to his victim he
threw one fore foot on the tip of the
fly’s left wing, and as each foot has on
its end a little ball perforated with fine
holes through which are spun the deli
cate threads we see in a web, of course
a little globule of sticky substance was
left on the wing, and as soon as this
was done the fly struggling all the
while the spider ran back to the up
per corner of the window pane as fast
as his feet could carry him, drawing
out, as he ran, the cord whose end was
fastened to the fly’s wing, making the
other end of this secure in his den. The
spider again ran down to the scene of
action, fastened another thread to the
other or right wing of the fly and again
ran back to the corner of the window
pane, spinning out his thread and fast
ening it as before. Again he ran down,
threw his foot on one of the fly’s feet,
leaving another globlue, from which he
spun another cord as he ran back to his
den. He kept repeating this, busy as a
courier carrying orders on a battle
field, until he had the fly bound wing
and foot with quadruple cords, and al
though the fly made a desperate struggle
and rent in many places the delicate fab
ric, yet the spider was all life and action,
running hither and thither) like soldiers
trying to repair the breaches of a fort
in the midst of the battle), mending
every broken strand, until
he found the fly was secure;
and then came the triumph.
Going up to his den, he be
gan by sudden jerks to draw
up the fly by the connecting
ropes to his den. The fly
struggled, but all in vain,
and he was safely drawn up
(as you may have noticed a
miller draw up bags at the
mill by a rope and pulley)
by his cords to the top of
the window pane, right in
mm//
front of the spider’s den, there to un
dergo the butchering process ! Mr.
Spider soon spun several more cords
round the fly’s body to make the prize
more secure, and then, with evident
satisfaction, commenced bis breakfast !
Affectionately, your Friend,
Amateur.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
A STAR LESSON WITH A BRIGHT PICTURE.
FOR THE CHILDREN.
BY AN EX-BOY.
a wonderful sight is that
ever y clear night is
spread above every little boy
or girl, who walks out in the yard and
looks upward! Stars! Stars ! STARS!
big stars, little stars, bright stars, faint
stars, white stars, red stars, stars close
together, stars wide apart, stars in
straight lines, stars in curved lines, stars
in crooked lines, stars that seem to
wink at you every second, and stars
that seem to shine more steadily, stars
that rise and set, and stars that never
set! “How long will it take me to
learn them all?” 0 ! never mind that
question. Learn one good star every
night and you will be an Astronomer
some day.
I hope you have learned the Big and
Little Dippers and have found out for
yourselves that the stars seem to move
around the North Pole. Notice this
evening and find some striking star or
group of stars low down in the East.
Go out after an hour has passed and you
will see the same star or group higher
up, and after a few hours it will be over
head. It will be well for you to know
than any star comes to the same point
in the sky about four minutes earlier
each day. Suppose you notice a bright
star this evening just rising in the East,
over a house top at eight o’clock. The
same star to-morrow evening will be
rising over the house top at four min
utes to eight, and next evening at eight
minutes to eight and so on. And the
same remark applies to a star rising
above the horizon in the East. And
as four minutes daily make nearly two
hours in one month, any star that rises
about ten o’clock on the first of August
will rise about eight o’clock on the first
of September. And this is true of all
the stars.
Now, let us hunt up the two Bears,
review them well, and learn anew clus
ter. If it is about the first of August,
at eight o’clock in the evening the Great
Dipper will be in the North West the
handle pointing upward. Look at the
star in the Dipper at the corner where
the handle joins it. How far do you
measure that to be from the North Star?
“Not far from thirty degrees /”
Very well, that is enough for our pur
pose just now. Now, draw a straight line
from that corner star to the North Star,
and keep on in the same direction about
as far beyond the North Star to the
right. There you strike a conspicious
star, with several bright ones scattered
below it, averaging about five degrees
apart. That is Cassiopeia’s Chair. You
can try your skill in making a chair out
of the bright stars in that neighborhood.
You can easily find this constellation
at any time by remembering that it is
always as far from the North Star as the
Great Dipper, and on the opposite side,
so that when the Dipper is on the left
of the Pole, as it is at eight o’clock to
night, Cassiopeia is on the right at the
same distance. That whole quarter of
the sky near Cassiopeia is well filled
with fine stars, but we most keep them
for another time. Good night.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
Feed the Birds.
Altered from “ Our Dumb Animals.”
tBIRD appears a thoughtless thing,
As, ever living on the wing,
He keeps up such a carolling,
~ That little else to do but sing
A child would guess had he.
No doubt he has his little cares,
And very hard he often fares,
The which so patiently he bears
That, listening to those cheerful airs,
His object scarce we see.
In want of his next meal of seeds,
I think for that his sweet song pleads;
If so, his pretty art succeeds
With each kind heart that gladly feeds
So small a thing as he.
Sidney Herbert.
Troy, Alabama, 1870.
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