to the silkworm. With what wonderful properties has it pleased our heavenly Father to endow the lower creatures!" "I shall be made wiser to-day, uncie, than I have ever been before." "The mole is an engineer, and forms a tunnel quite as well as if he had been instructed by an engineer. The nautilus is a navigator, hoisting and taking in his sails as he floats along the water, and casting anchor at his pleasure.' "I should never have believed that any one could have made these things out so clearly." "Let me finish them by observing that the jackal is a hunter, the hawk an expert birdcatcher, the leech an excellent surgeon, and the monkey the best rope-dancer in the world." "Well done, uncle; you have amused me, indeed. I could listen an hour longer without being tired." "Whether you remember what I have told you or not, about God's goodness to his lower creatures, you will do well not to forget his greater goodness to mankind, in his gift of reason, his gift of his holy word, and his gift of the Saviour by whom alone a sinner can be saved. And now, as you are learning all you can as a scholar, let me advise you to set up at once the trade or calling of a schoolmaster, by teaching with humility and kindness those around you who may happen to know less than yourself. We all should be carrying on the calling of a schoolmaster, teaching others by precept and example, Without a rod, or angry word, IF we were to ask our readers the question, "What is the best book? we cannot doubt that they would all give one answer. Their minds would at once turn to that one which, by way of eminence, is called "THE BOOK." But if we were to ask again, "What book do you take most delight in reading ?" there might be a great variety of answers; for neither young nor old always love most the best things. We now give them, however, the example of a youth who took more delight in reading the best of books than all others. The life of Wilberforce Richmond, son of Rev. Legh Richmond, author of the "Dairyman's Daughter" and "Young Cottager," furnishes us one of the most delightful examples of early piety on record; and these are his words: "For the last three months, the Bible has been my sole instructor. It has gradually led me on to clear light and real experience, till every promise is my own. I have read the greater part of it through several times during my illness; and often on a Sunday, when I have spent the day alone, I have read the whole of the New Testament, unable to leave off till I had grasped all the mind of the Spirit at once." Again, he said to his sister on a certain occasion: "You must pray over the Bible. Without the teaching of the Spirit it will do you no good. You must apply it, as you go on, to yourself, and feel it personally; or you will get no benefit, though you stand the whole day over it. I have been in the habit of reading my Bible on my knees, and I recommend you to do the same. It encourages prayer. I have found it very useful to turn Scriptures into prayer, using the very words. There is not a psalm that I have not turned into a prayer. I have felt safe in making prayers from the Bible, because then I knew I could not err. Let prayer always be preceded by self-examination. Lay your heart bare before God. dulge not even a doubtful feeling; one secret sin will cloud all." In If all our youth would follow his example, in loving and reading the Bible, none can tell how greatly they would be blessed. May it be said of every young reader as it was of Timothy, "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." THE HIVE AND ITS WONDERS. No. 8. SWARMING OF THE BEES. THE bee of most consequence in all the hive is, of course, the royal mother and head of all, the queen. She is always the leader of a new swarm. The swarming of the bees is very singular. It occurs when the bee family has become too large for the hive. They then send off a colony to seek a new home for themselves. In the spring, when the weather begins to be settled and warm, the first swarm usually goes forth. The hive is then well stocked with eggs, and is likely to become crowded. If plenty of room is given to the bees, they do not often swarm. The best swarms are those which leave the hive early in the season; as, if it is later than June, they have not time to build their comb and to provide themselves with sufficient food for the next winter: while a strong, active swarm, going off early, will make honey enough for the use of the hive, and some to spare for the owner. The first swarm of the season is led by the old queen, after she has laid a great number of eggs in the different cells of the hive. When the young worms in the royal cells are nearly ready to come forth and appear in the hive, the queen-mother leaves it, taking along with her a swarm. More than one queen is never suffered to live at the same time in the hive, and she is really obliged, as it were, to leave her old home. If she were to remain till the young queens left their cells, none of them would be saved; for she, having so much more strength than they, would destroy them as soon as they appeared. After the old queen has conducted the first swarm from the hive, the remaining bees take particular care of the worms in the royal cells, especially to prevent them from leaving the cells as they are hatched, except at intervals of several days. At length, the female hatched from the egg laid earliest leaves her cell, and at first the workers appear to treat her with indifference. But she seems immediately to feel the greatest anxiety to destroy those who are her rivals, and she tries to get at them in their cradles, but the workers will not allow her. No sooner does she approach than they bite, pull, and worry her, till she is forced to remove; and thus she goes from one royal cell to another, scarcely finding a place of rest for a moment. She passes through the different groups of workers, very much agitated, and at length a general confusion takes place. In a few minutes, notice seems to have reached all the bees; the young queen rushes towards the door, a crowd follow after her, and the second swarm passes out of the hive. The same circumstances may even occur again, when another queen is set at liberty, and a third colony may go out from the old hive in the same season. When the bees leave the hive, they hover for a few moments around it, as if to give time for all who wish to join them, and then fly into the air. They do not often rise very high, |