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been for me, es I had been boss of the
consarn, to have h’isted the log into
the water, I sung out at the top of my
voice, before I thought what I was
doin’, ‘ Git a prize under the butt end,
old feller, and she’ll come, sartain! ’
“ But the minit I said this, ‘bang! ’
went the old chap’s tail agin on the
yearth, and quick as a wink every feller
dropped his work, let go all holts, and
tumbled into the water, and in a se
cond not a beaver was to be seen any
wheres, and everything was as still and
quiet about the dam as if there hadn’t
been one in five mile of it.
“The last thing I seed was the ole
boss’s tail flapping under the water,
arter the rest of the beavers had all
popped out of sight. It was so ridicu
lous the way the varmints acted, that I
larfed till I shuck the dirt from the
sides of the pit in which I was hived,
and then I crawled up and put out fur
camp ; and that was the fust and last
time too that I ever cotch the beavers
at their work.”
“Why,” said Mr. Pitt, “you must
have surprised ’em as much as Tam
O’Shanter did the witches, when he
sung out, ‘ Weel done, cutty sark.’ ”
“May be so,” said Uncle Seth; “but
I never knowed Mr. Shanter; and I
ruther expect it was the ‘ Wichitaws’
he surprised; for if there’s a tribe of
‘ Witches’ on these frontiers I’ve never
hearn tell of ’em yit.
“But come, boys,” he added, “I
reckon it’s time to be moving, and we
had better saddle up the horses.”
■
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
A STAR LESSON.
BY AN EX-BOY.
\ iWtP N any clear night in December
our y° un S readers, by looking
towards the East, can see the
planet Jupiter. You can hardly mis
take him for anything else, or anything
else for him, as he is the brightest ob
ject in all that part of the sky. He will
rise about sundown at the middle of
the month, and will perhaps be bright
enough at that time to cast a faint sha
dow where there is no moolight. You
will know more hereafter about the dif
ference between planets and stars. It
may be enough now to say, that the
planets are much nearer to us than the
stars are, and planets are dark bodies,
like the Earth and Moon shining only
with the reflected light of the sun, while
the stars give light of themselves. The
planets also move about among the
stars, as the name planet, or “ wander
ing one ,” means.
Jupiter was very near the Seven Stars
last April, and you see how far he has
wandered away from them since then.
He takes about twelve years to finish
his circuit among the stars, and get
back to his starting-point, so that it
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
will be sometime in 1882 before he will
get back to the Seven Stars again. He
always really moves from West to East
among the stars, that is, from right to
left as we front the South to look at
him. And yet, strange to say, he seems
to move backward for several months
in every year. That is the case just
now. You may suppose that night after
night he rises and sets in the same spot
among the stars. But, watch him close
ly, and you will see him slowly moving
Westward among the stars. He is now
a little to the left (East) of a straight
line joining two stars. In a few even
ings he will be exactly in a line with
the same stars, and in a few evenings
more he will be clearly to the right
(West) of this line. This will continue
until about the 10th of February next,
when he will stop, and turn Eastward
again. It will take him until April to
get back into line with the two stars
mentioned above; and it will be early
in May before he gets back to the spot
among the stars where he was last Oc
tober, when he began his backward
motion.
Early in June he will be across the
Milky Way, in between the feet of Ge
mini. By the first of November, 1871,
he will be nearly in a straight line with
the beautiful stars, Castor and Pollux,
in the heads of the Twins.
It will soon be time for him to turn
backward for a few months. About the
middle of March, 1872, he will “right
about face,” and move on Eastward
regularly, passing the Beehive cluster
in Cancer in July, and by December
will be very near the bright star Regu
lus in Leo.
You must think and read, in order
to find out the riddle about him seem
ing to move backward, while all the
time he is really moving uniformly for
ward among the stars. You can, at
least, see for yourselves that he does so
move, if you have as much curiosity
and patience as Burke’s readers ought
to have.
Follow this magnificent p’anet for
yourselves from year to year, and you
will learn more than a book can tell
you ; though you must go to a book to
find out his size, distance, etc.
He is more than one hundred times
as large as our world ! And if you can
get a peep through a small telescope
(or a large spy-glass even) at his four
satellites, all in a row at his side, you
will then know that there are many
wonders in the skies above us which
our dull eyes cannot see.
But this lesson is too long already.
Put down the newspaper, and go out
doors, and see this shining world for
yourselves.
The character is like white paper ;
if once blotted it can hardly ever be
made to appear as white as before.
One wrong step often stains the charac
ter for life. — Berkeley.
*
* * *
*
*
THE MIDNIGHT CROSS.
IN IDYI.S.
The Hall.'
<& HERE is dust on the door-way!—
■ there is mould on the wall;
(\JDI There’s a chill at the hearthstone:
a hush through the hall:
VfV) And the stately old mansion stands
darkened and cold
Q/ 3 By the leal loving hearts that it
sheltered of old.
No light at the lattice, no gleam from the
door,
No feast on the table, no mirth on its floor;
But "Glory departed,” and silence alone,
"Dust unto dust,” upon pillar and stone.
No laughter of childhood! no shout on the
lawn :
No footstep to echo the'feet that are gone;—
Feet of the beautiful, forms of the brave,
Failing in other lands, gone to the grave!
No carol at morning; no hymn rising clear;
No song at the bridal nor chaunt at the bier —
All the chords of its symphonies scattered
and riven ;
Its Altar in ashes, its incense in Heaven !
Is there poean for Glory, whose triumph shall
stand
By the wreck of a home once the pride of the
Land!
Its chambers unfilled as its children depart—
The melody stilled in its desolate heart!
Yet the verdure shall creep to the moulder
ing wall,
And the sunshine shall sleep in the heart of
" The Halt,;” —
And the foot of the pilgrim shall find till the
last
Some fragrance of Home at this shrine of the
Past.
*
Good for Evil.
A TRUE INCIDENT.
_
vj Y& N the little town of H —, one
winter evening, several men
were seated in the parlor of
ths “Golden Lion,” drinking beer,
and entertaining each other with stories
and jokes, at which they were laughing
heartily, when a weary looking man
entered, and modestly seated himself
at a side-table. His long beard and
peculiar features showed him to be a
Jew.
Instead of finding the rest and re
freshment he needed after his journey,
he was received with rude jests and
scoffs; and when, at last, one of the
party (a young carpenter) attempted to
set fire to his beard, the poor Jew left
the room, and took refuge in the stable
with his horse, until his termentors had
dispersed to their homes.
In the middle of the night, when the
whole town was hushed in sleep, all
were suddenly roused by the sound of
the fire-bell. Soon a number of men
with buckets of water collected at the
spot, and it was found that the fire ori
ginated in a carpenter’s shed, and had
quickly spread to the adjoining house ;
and before the fire-engine could reach
the place, the wind, which was blowing
strongly, had increased the blaze so
much, that the whole house seemed to
be wrapped in flames. The carpenter’s
wife had escaped at the first alarm, and
was standing in the street beside her
husband, who seemed stupefied with
fright. Tl eir only child, a little girl of
four years old, was still asleep in an
upper room, and the mother cried, in a
despairing voice, to the bystanders to
save her child. But the stairs were al
ready partly burnt away, and, no one
dared make the attempt, until a strang
er, who had been gazing silently on the
scene for a few minutes, suddenly ad
vanced to the house, and by means of
an espalier, to which a vine was trained,
climbed to the window: and with a pow
erful hand dashed in the frame and dis
peared.
All stood in breathless expectation
for a few seconds, when the brave
stranger was seen with the child tied to
his back by the bed-sheet. Carefully
descending the tottering ladder, he
placed her unhurt in her mother’s
arms, and was gone. Shortly after,
the upper part of the house fell iti
with a crash, and all the property and
stock-in-trade of the poor carpenter
was buried in the ruins.
Early next day, the landlord of the
“Golden Lion” came to the house
where the ruined man, with his wife
and child, had found a temporary re
fuge, and said : --
“The stranger who saved your child
has sent you this money (handing him
a purse), all he had with him ; and do
you know, he is the very Jew whom
you treated so badly at my house last
night! ”
Dear children, if you are ever inclined
to make sport of a Jew, remember this
little story, and rather pity the poor
outcast people of Israel, on whom the
word of God has been fulfilled —that
they should be scattered over the face
of the whole earth. Quiver.
_ —
A List of Your Friends,
1. Keep a list of your friends, and
let God be first on the list, however
long it may be.
2. Keep a list of the gifts you get,
and let Christ, who is the unspeakable
gift, be first.
3. Keep a list of your mercies, and
let pardon stand at the head.
4. Keep a list of your joys, and let
joy unspeakable and full of glory be
first.
5. Keep a list of your hopes, and let
the hope of glory be foremost.
6. Keep a list of your sorrows, and
let sorrow for sin be first.
7. Keep a list of your enemies, and,
however many they may be, put down
the “ old man,” and the “old serpent”
first.
8. Keep a list of your sins, and let
the sin of unbelief be set down as first
and worst of all.
187