easily, and burn with a great flame; and the wood of the pine has so much of this quality, when dry, that it has been used in many countries for torches.

Har. I know deal shavings burn very briskly.

Geo. Yes; and matches are made of thin slips of deal, pointed, and dipped in brimstone.

Tut. True;-and when it was the custom to burn the bodies of the dead, as you read in Homer, and other old authors, the pines and pitch-trees composed great part of the funeral pile.

Har. But what are pitch-trees? Does pitch grow upon trees?

Tut. I was going on to tell you about that. Tar is a product of the trees of this kind, especially of one species, called the pitch-pine. The wood is burned in a sort of oven, made in the earth, and the resinous juice sweats out, and acquires a peculiar taste, and a black colour, from the fire. This is tar. Tar, when boiled down to dryness, become pitch.

Geo. Tar and pitch are chiefly used about ships; are they not?

Tut. They resist moisture, and therefore are of great service in preventing things from decaying that are exposed to wet. For this reason, the cables and other ropes of ships are well soaked with tar; and the sides of ships are covered with pitch, mixed with other ingredients. Their seams, too, or the places where the planks join, are filled with tow, dipped in a composition of resin, tallow, and pitch, to keep out the water. Wood, for paling, for piles, for coverings of roofs, and other purposes of the like nature, is often tarred over. Cisterns and casks are pitched, to pre

vent leaking.

Har. But what are sheep tarred for, after they are sheared ?

Tut. To cure wounds and sores in their skin. For the like purposes, an ointment made with tar is often rubbed upon children's heads. Several parts of the pine are medicinal. The tops and green cones of

the spruce fir are fermented with treacle, and the liquor, called spruce beer, is much drunk in America, particularly for the scurvy?

Geo. Is it pleasant?

Tut. Not to those who are unaccustomed to it. Well, I have now finished my lesson, so let us walk. Har. Shall we go through the grounds?

Tut. Yes; and then we will view some of the different kinds of fir and pine more closely, and I will show you the difference of their leaves and cones, by which they are distinguished.

A DIALOGUE ON DIFFERENT STATIONS IN LIFE.

LITTLE Sally Meanwell had one day been to pay an afternoon's visit to Miss Harriet, the daughter of Sir Thomas Pemberton. The evening proving rainy, she was sent home in Sir Thomas's coach; and, on her return, the following conversation passed between her and her mother:

Mrs. Meanwell. Well, my dear, I hope you have had a pleasant visit.

Sally. O yes, mamma, very pleasant; you cannot think what a great many fine things I have seen. And then it is so charming to ride in a coach!

Mrs. M. I suppose Miss Harriet showed you all her playthings?

Sally. O yes, such fine large dolls, so smartly dressed, as I never saw in my life before. Then she has a baby-house, and all sorts of furniture in it; and a grotto all made of shells and shining stones. And then she showed me all her fine clothes for the next ball; there's a white slip all full of spangles and pink ribands; you can't think how beautiful it looks.

Mrs. M. And what did you admire most of all these fine things?

Sally. I don't know-I admired them all; and I think I liked riding in the coach better than all the rest. Why don't we keep a coach, mamma ? and why

have not I such fine clothes and playthings as Miss Harriet?

Mrs. M. Because we cannot afford it, my dear. Your papa is not so rich, by a great deal, as Sir Thomas; and if we were to lay out our money upon such things, we should not be able to procure food, and raiment, and other necessaries for you all.

Sally. But why is not papa as rich as Sir Thomas? Mrs. M. Sir Thomas had a large estate left him by his father; but your papa has little but what he gains by his own industry.

Sally. But why should not papa be as rich as anybody else? I am sure he deserves it as well.

Mrs. M. Do you not think that there are a great many people poorer than he that are also very deserving ?

Sally. Are there ?

Mrs. M. Yes, to be sure. Don't you know what a number of poor people there are all around us, who have very few of the comforts we enjoy? What do you think of Plowman, the labourer? I believe never saw him idle in your life.

you

Sally. No; he is gone to work long before I am up, and he does not return till almost bedtime, unless it be for his dinner.

Mrs. M. Well! how do you think his wife and children live? should you like that we should change places with them?

Sally. O no! they are so dirty and ragged.

Mrs. M. They are, indeed, poor creatures; but I am afraid they suffer worse evils then that.

Sally. What, mamma ?

Mrs. M. Why, I am afraid they often do not get as much food as they could eat. And then in winter they must be half-starved, for want of fire and warm clothing. How do you think you could bear all this ?

Sally. Indeed, I don't know. But I have seen Plowman's wife carry great brown loaves into the house;

and I remember once eating some brown bread and milk, and I thought it very good.

Mrs. M. I believe you would not much like it constantly besides, they can hardly get enough of that. But you seem to know almost as little of the poor as the young French princess did.

Sally. What was that, mamma?

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Mrs. M. Why, there had been one year so bad a harvest in France, that numbers of the poor were famished to death. This calamity was so much talked of, that it reached the court, and was mentioned before the young princesses. Dear me !" said one of them, "how silly that was! Why, rather than be famished, I would eat bread and cheese." Her governess was then obliged to acquaint her that the greater part of her father's subjects scarcely ever ate anything better than black bread all their lives; and that vast numbers would now think themselves very happy to get only half their usual pittance of that. Such wretchedness as this, was what the princess had not the least idea of; and the account shocked her so much, that she was glad to sacrifice all her finery to afford some relief to the sufferings of the poor.

Sally. But I hope there is nobody famished in our country.

Mrs. M. I hope not, for we have laws by which every person is entitled to relief from the parish, if unable to gain a subsistence; and, were there no laws about it, I am sure it would be our duty to part with every superfluity, rather than let a fellow-creature perish for want of necessaries.

Sally. Then do you think it was wrong for Miss Pemberton to have all those fine things?

Mrs. M. No, my dear, if they are suitable to her fortune, and do not consume the money which ought to be employed in more useful things for herself and others.

Sally. But why might she not be contented with such things as I have; and give the money that the rest cost to the poor?

Mrs. M. Because she can afford both to be charitable to the poor, and also to indulge herself in these plea sures. But do you recollect that the children of Mr. White, the baker, and Mr. Shape, the tailor, might justly ask the same questions about you? Sally. How so?

Mrs. M. Are not you much better dressed, and as much more plentifully supplied with playthings than they are, as Miss Pemberton is than you?

Sally. Why, I believe I am; for I remember Polly White was very glad of one of my old dolls; and Nancy Shape cried for such a sash as mine, but her mother would not let her have one.

many

Mrs. M. Then you see, my dear, that there are who have fewer things to be thankful for than you have; and you may also learn what ought to be the true measure of the expectations of children and the indulgences of parents.

Sally. I don't quite understand you, mamma.

Mrs. M. Everything ought to be suited to the sta tion in which we live, or are likely to live, and the wants and duties of that station. Your papa and I do not grudge laying out part of our money to promote the innocent pleasure of our children; but it would be very wrong in us to lay out so much on this account as would oblige us to spare in more necessary articles, as in their education, and the common household expenses required in our way of living. Besides, it would be so far from making you happier, that it would be doing you the greatest injury.

Sally. How could that be, mamma?

Mrs. M. If you were now to be dressed like Miss Pemberton, don't you think you would be greatly mortified at being worse dressed when you came to be a young woman?

Sally. I believe I should, mamma; for then perhaps I might go to assemblies; and, to be sure, I should like to be as well dressed then as others.

Mrs. M. Well, but it would be still more improper