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268 pense; but conscious of the danger of her son, if he irritated the beast, she rushed some distance up the rock. Yet, with the fearless mind of childhood, and a temper little used to control, he fearless ly threw the fragment with all his might at the ferocious animal. It struck one of his feet. lie gave a sudden growl, lashed his tail with fury, and seeming about to spring. “Get your rifle, Joshua ?” The poor man stirred not. His glazed eye was fixed with a look of death upon the panther, as he appeared paralyzed with fear. llis wife leaped from the stand, and placing her hands upon her husband’s shoulder, looked into his face and said — “Are you a man, Joshua Eaton? Do you love your child ?” He started as if from sleep, and ran with furious haste from the ravine. Again the mother looked towards her son. He had fallen upon his knees, and was whispering the little prayers, which she had taught him, not in cowardly fear, but a thought came across his mind that he must die. The distracted mother could keep still no longer. She rushed up the steep ascent with the energy of despair, reckless of danger, thinking only of her son. The rocks crumbled and slipped beneath her feet, yet she fell not. On, on she struggled in her agony. The ferocious creature paused a mo ment when he heard the wretched mo ther approach. True to his nature he sprung at the boy, and fell backward, as Hannah ascended the opposite side. “Ah,” said she, laughing deliriously, “the panther must try it again before he parts us, my boy, but we won’t part.” And sinking on her knees before him, she fondly folded him to her breast, bathing his young forehead with tears. Unaltered in his ferocity, and his man mer of gratifying it, the panther again sprang from his situation. This time he was more successful. 11 is fore foot struck the edge of the crag. “He will kill us, mother, he will kill us !” and the boy nestled close to his mother’s bosom. The animal struggled to bring his body to the crag —his savage features but a step from his mother’s face. “Go away, go aw T ay,” shrieked the mo ther, hoarse with horror, “you shan’t have my child !” Closer —closer still he came —his red eyes flashed fury, and the thick pantings of his breath came in her very face. At this awful moment she hears the faint re port of firearms coming from the gulf below'—the panther’s foothold fails, his sharp claws loosen from the rocks and the balllcd beast rolls down the preci pice at the foot of Joshua Eaton. The sun’s last rays gleamed on the little group at the mouth of the gorge. SOUTHERN LITERARY GAZETTE. They were on their knees—the mother’s hands raised over the head of her son, and the voice of prayer going to their Guardian for llis mercy in thwarting the panther’s leap. CURIOUS HABITS OF THE SPIDER. The spider has many enemies, and hence its web is always in danger of be ing deranged and damaged. To meet this inconvenience, nature has furnished the insect with a magazine of materials for occasional repairs, and which, al though frequently exhausted, still con tinues to be replenished. This reservoir is drained in time. When spiders grow old, their gum is dried up ; but when this calamity happens, the cunning creature is not destitute of resources which avail it for some time longer. A crafty old spider, having no longer the means of securing a subsistance, seeks out a young one, to which it communicates its wants and necessities; on which the other, ei ther out of respect to old age, or from a fear of old pincers, resigns its place and spins anew web in another situation. Hut if the old spider can find none of its species which will either from love or fear resign its net, it must perish for want of subsistance. The water spider spins no web to catch its prey ; nevertheless offers one of the most singular objects of contemplation. If we possessed no other evidence that the world had been planned and created by an Intelligent Being, the habits, proceedings and instincts of this little creature would be alone sufficient to prove the fact. As soon as it has caught its prey on the shore, it dives to the bot tom of the w aters and there devours its booty. It is, therefore, an amphibious animal; although it appears more fitted to live in contact with the atmosphere than with the water. The diving bell is a modern invention, and few facts excite our wonder more than the possibility of a man’s being able to live at the bottom of the ocean. Triumph of reason over the unfriendly element, however, was anticipated by an insect —the spider in question. This creature spins some loose threads, which attach to the leaves of aquatic plants; it then varnishes them with a glutinous secretion, which resem bles liquid glass, and is so elastic as to admit of considerable distention and con traction. It next lays a coating of the same substance over its own body, and underneath this coating introduces a bub ble of air. Naturalists conjecture that it has the power of drawing in air at the anus from the atmosphere at the surface of the pool, but the precise mode in which it is separated from the boily of the atmosphere and introduced under the pellicle, covering the insect’s body, has not been clearly ascertained. Thus clothed, and shining like a ball of quicksilver, it darts through the wa- ters to the spot in which it had fixed its habitation, and, disengaging the bubble from under the pellicle, it dexterously introduces it into a web formed at the bottom. After repeatedly moving from the top to the bottom of the water, and at each journey filling its habitation with a fresh bubble of air, at length the lighter completely expels the heavier fluid, and the insect takes possession of an aerial habitation, commodious and dry, finished in the very midst of the waters. It is about the size and shape of half a pi geon’s egg. From this curious chamber the spider hunts, searching sometimes the land for its prey, which, when ob tained, is transported to this sub-aquatic mansion, and devoured at leisure. The male as well as the female exhibits the same instinct. Early in the spring the former seeks the mansion of the latter, and having enlarged it by the introduc tion of a little more air, takes up its abode with its mate. About the middle of April the eggs are laid, and packed up in a silken cocoon in a corner of their house, and watched with incessant care by the female. LETTERS FROM A LADY ABROAD. NO. IX. Munich, (Bavaria,) Sept. 18, 1852. Hotel Do Bavi^re. Dear Mr. Richards : —From this beau tiful city l address you. I will endeavour to give you some account of my impres sions of it, but must first speak of our tour hither. We left Halle on the 15th, in the evening train for Leipsic, and passed without the city gates, where Tet zel, in other days, sold indulgences. The next day we left Leipsic at early noon, and commenced our long rail-road day’s journey to Nuremberg. Passing over the battle field of 1813—the grave of Na poleon’s pride and prowess —we entered the Dukedom of Saxe Altonburg. The scenery is fine. Rich valleys, sown with thatched cottages, are adorned with foliage of various shades of green, with here and there a tree embrowned with an autumnal tint, or a willow with silvery hues. As we advanced toward the hilly country, we found the moun tains covered with fir trees, where the storks make their nests. Hos, one ot the raii-road stations which we passed, is not distant from the birth place of Jean Paul Richter; and to his early home, our spi rits prompted us to make a pilgrimage, but we were whirled away. Passing into Bavaria, w T e found the scenery enchanting. This region ot coun- [ December 11,