But Jehu must not be forgot,

Left flound'ring in the flood,

With clothes all drench'd, and mouth and eyes
Beplaster'd o'er with mud.

In piteous case he waded through,
And gain'd the slipp'ry side,

Where grinning crowds were gather'd round,
To mock his fallen pride.

They led him to a neighbouring pump,
To clear his dismal face,

Whence, cold and heartless, home he slunk,
Involved in sore disgrace.

And many a bill, for damage done,
His father had to pay.
Take warning, youthful drivers all!
From Jehu's first essay.

WHY AN APPLE FALLS.

"Papa," said Lucy, "I have been reading to-day, that Sir Isaac Newton was led to make some of his great discoveries by seeing an apple fall from a tree. What was there extraordinary in that ?"

P. There was nothing extraordinary; but it happened to catch his attention, and set him a-thinking. L. And what did he think about ?

P. He thought, by what means the apple was brought to the ground.

L. Why, I could have told him that because the stalk gave way, and there was nothing left to gapport it.

P. And what then?

L. Why then-it must fall, you know.

P. But why must it fall? that is the point.

L. Because it could not help it.

P. But why could it not help it?

L. I don't know-that is an odd question. Because there was nothing to keep it up.

P. Suppose there was not-does it follow that it must come to the ground?

L. Yes, surely!

P. Is an apple animate or inanimate f

L. Inanimate, to be sure!

P. And can inanimate things move of themselves? L. No-I think not-but the apple falls because it is forced to fall.

P. Right! some force out of itself acts upon it, otherwise it would remain for ever where it was, notwithstanding it were loosened from the tree.

L. Would it ?

P. Undoubtedly! for there are only two ways in which it could be moved; by its own power of motion, or the power of somewhat else moving it. Now the first you acknowledge it has not; the cause of its motion must therefore be the second. And what that is, was the subject of the philosopher's inquiry.

L. But everything falls to the ground, as well as an apple, when there is nothing to keep it up.

P. True-there must therefore be a universal cause of this tendency to fall.

L. And what is it?

P. Why, if things out of the earth cannot move themselves to it, there can be no other cause of their coming together, than that the earth pulls them.

L. But the earth is no more animate than they are; so how can it pull?

P. Well objected! This will bring us to the point. Sir Isaac Newton, after deep meditation, discovered that there was a law in nature called attraction, by virtue of which every particle of matter, that is, everything of which the world is composed, draws towards it every other particle of matter, with a force proportioned to its size and distance. Lay two marbles on the table. They have a tendency to come together, and, if there were nothing else in the world, they would

come together; but they are also attracted by the table, by the ground, and by everything besides in the room; and these different attractions pull against each other. Now, the globe of the earth is a prodigious mass of matter, to which nothing near it can bear any comparison. It draws, therefore, with mighty force, everything within its reach; which is the cause that everything falls, or has a tendency to fall; and this is called the gravitation of bodies, or what gives them weight. When I lift up anything, I act contrary to this force; for which reason it seems heavy to me, and the heavier the more matter it contains; since that increases the attraction of the earth for it. Do you understand this ?

L. I think I do. It is like a loadstone drawing a needle.

P. Yes that is an attraction, but of a particular kind, taking place only between the magnet and iron. But gravitation, or the attraction of the earth, acts upon everything alike.

L. Then it is pulling you and me at this moment. P. It is.

L. But why do not we stick to the ground, then?

P. Because, as we are alive, we have a power of selfmotion, which can, to a certain degree, overcome the attraction of the earth. But the reason you cannot jump a mile high as well as a foot, is this attraction, which brings you down again after the force of vour jump is spent.

L. I think, then, I begin to understand what I have heard of people living on the other side of the world. I believe they are called Antipodes, who have their feet turned towards ours, and their heads in the air. I used to wonder how it could be that they did not fall off; but I suppose the earth pulls them to it. P. Very true. And whither should they fall? What have they over their heads?

L. I don't know-sky, I suppose.

P. They have. This earth is a vast ball, hung in

the air, and continually spinning round, and that is the cause why the sun and stars seem to rise and set. At noon we have the sun over our heads, when the antipodes have the stars over theirs; and at midnight the stars are over our heads, and the sun over theirs. So whither should they fall to more than we ?-to the stars or the sun.

L. But we are up, and they are down.

P. What is up, but from the earth and towards the sky? Their feet touch the earth and their heads point to the sky, as well as ours; and we are under their feet, as much as they are under ours. If a hole were dug quite through the earth, what would you see through it?

L. Sky, with the sun or the stars; and now I see the whole matter plainly. But pray what supports the earth in the air?

P. Why, whither should it go?

L. I don't know-I suppose towards the point where there might be most to draw it. I have heard that the sun is a great many times bigger than the earth. Would it not go to that?

P. You have thought very justly on the matter, I perceive. But I shall take another opportunity of showing you how this is, and why the earth does not fall into the sun, of which, I confess, there seems to be some danger. Meanwhile, think how far the falling of an apple has carried us.

L. To the antipodes, and I know not whither.

P. You may see thence what use may be made of the commonest fact by a thinking mind.

NATURE AND EDUCATION,
A Fable.

NATURE and Education were one day walking together through a nursery of trees. "See," says Nature, "how straight and fine those firs grow-that is my doing! But, as to those oaks, they are all crooked

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and stunted: that, my good sister, is your fault. You have planted them too close, and not pruned them properly." 'Nay, sister," said Education, "I am sure I have taken all possible pains about them; but you gave me bad acorns, so how should they ever make fine trees ?"

The dispute grew warm; and, at length, instead of blaming one another for negligence, they began to boast of their own powers, and to challenge each other to a contest for the superiority. It was agreed that each should adopt a favourite, and rear it up in spite of the ill offices of her opponent. Nature fixed upon a vigorous young Weymouth Pine, the parent of which had grown to be the main-mast of a man-of-war. Do what you will to this plant," said she to her sister, "I am resolved to push it up as straight as an arrow." Education took under her care a crab-tree. "This," said she, "I will rear to be at least as valuable as your pine."

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Both went to work. While Nature was feeding her pine with plenty of wholesome juices, Education passed a strong rope round its top, and, pulling it downwards with all her force, fastened it to the trunk of a neighbouring oak. The pine laboured to ascend, but not being able to surmount the obstacle, it pushed out to one side, and presently became bent like a bow. Still, such was its vigour, that its top, after descending as low as its branches, made a new shoot upwards; but its beauty and usefulness were quite destroyed.

a

The crab-tree cost Education à world of pains. She pruned and pruned, and endeavoured to bring it into shape, but in vain. Nature thrust out a bow this way, and a knot that way, and would not push a single leading shoot upwards. The trunk was, indeed, kept tolerably straight by constant efforts; but the head grew awry and ill-fashioned, and made a scrubby figure. At length, Education, despairing of making a sightly plant of it, ingrafted the stock with an apple, and brought it to bear tolerable fruit.