But one sly maiden spake aside: "The little witch is evil-eyed! Her mother only killed a cow,

Or witch'd a churn or dairy-pan;
But she, forsooth, must charm a man!"

Poor Mabel, in her lonely home,
Sat by the window's narrow pane,
White in the moonlight's silver rain.
She strove to drown her sense of wrong,
And, in her old and simple way,
To teach her bitter heart to pray.

Poor child! the prayer, begun in faith,
Grew to a low, despairing cry
Of utter misery: "Let me die!
Oh! take me from the scornful eyes,
And hide me where the cruel speech
And mocking finger may not reach!

"I dare not breathe my mother's name :
A daughter's right I dare not crave
To weep above her unblest grave!
Let me not live until my heart,

With few to pity, and with none
To love me, hardens into stone.
O God! have mercy on Thy child,

Whose faith in Thee grows weak and small, And take me ere I lose it all!"

A shadow on the moonlight fell,

And murmuring wind and wave became
A voice whose burden was her name.
Had then God heard her? Had He sent
His angel down? In flesh and blood,
Before her Esek Harden stood!

He laid his hand upon her arm:
"Dear Mabel, this no more shall be;
Who scoffs at you, must scoff at me.

You know rough Esek Harden well;
And if he seems no suitor gay,

And if his hair is mix'd with gray,
The maiden grown shall never find

His heart less warm than when she smiled
Upon his knees, a little child!”

Her tears of grief were tears of joy,
As folded in his strong embrace,
She look'd in Esek Harden's face.
"O truest friend of all!" she said,
"God bless you for your kindly thought,
And make me worthy of my lot!"

He led her through his dewy fields,
To where the swinging lanterns glow'd,
And through the doors the huskers show'd.
"Good friends and neighbours!
Esek said,

"I'm weary of this lonely life;
In Mabel see my chosen wife !

"She greets you kindly, one and all; The past is past, and all offence

Falls harmless from her innocence. Henceforth she stands no more alone; You know what Esek Harden is;He brooks no wrong to him or his.'

Now let the merriest tales be told,
And let the sweetest songs be sung,
That ever made the old heart young!
For now the lost has found a home;
And a lone hearth shall brighter burn,
As all the household joys return;

Oh, pleasantly the harvest moon,

Between the shadow of the mows,

Look'd on them through the great elm-boughs!

On Mabel's curls of golden hair,
On Esek's shaggy strength it fell,

And the wind whisper'd, "It is well!"

FINGAL'S CAVE.

FINGAL'S CAVE, situated in the island of Staffa,

famous natural curiosities in Great Britain. It is about two hundred and thirty feet in length, sixty feet in height, and the entrance forty feet wide. The sides are composed of huge basaltic pillars, all regular in form, the prevailing type 1 being pentagonal or hexagonal.

2

By some means or other, probably owing in a great measure to the action of the sea, the huge cavern has been hollowed out, and the roof, especially at the entrance, has the appearance of a Gothic arch. Looking up, you see in the ceiling sections of the dark columns, as if they were the extremities of pillars sunk in the solid ground above.

The water through which our boat glided into the cave was perfectly clear, and beautiful anemones, like the pink blossoms of the rhododendron, were seen in gay clusters. On the western side of the cave the columns rise up almost unbroken to the roof; on the eastern side there is a precarious causeway, formed of the broken shafts. It was remarkable, however, that when the pillars were broken the section was perfectly horizontal, there were no jagged pieces, so that the only danger arises from the slippery nature of the hard rock. The broken pillars, however, were not all of the same length, so that progress along the side of the cavern was rather a scramble than a walk. A handST. 6.

8

rope was fixed in the more dangerous parts, for the use of the timid or cautious.

It is difficult at first to believe that these symmetrical' pillars have been formed naturally, but such is the case. Far back in the remote past, but at a time which may be considered recent compared with the period which produced the Scotch hills, the spot now occupied by Staffa was the seat of a submarine volcano. The

lava which was poured out cooled and crystallised beneath the water, and in crystallising assumed these regular forms which we now admire. In process of time this crystallised lava was raised by volcanic action above the surface of the waves. The billows of the ocean then began to work, and they have carved out the cave and formed the causeway.

As we took our farewell glance of the cave we called to mind the lines written by Sir Walter Scott on this handiwork of nature.

The shores of Mull on the eastward lay,
And Ulva dark, and Colonsay,

And all the group of islets gay

That guard famed Staffa round.
There all unknown its columns rose,
Where dark and undisturb'd repose
The cormorant had found;

And the shy seal had quiet home,
And welter'd' in that wondrous dome,
Where, as to shame the temples deck'd
By skill of earthly architect,
Nature herself, it seem'd, would raise
A minster to her Maker's praise.

1 Prevailing type, the general pat

tern.

2 Pentagonal, five-sided; "hexagonal," six-sided (Gr. pente, five; hex, six; gonia, corner).

3 Anemones, a kind of fish that cling to the rocks, and look like marine flowers.

4 Symmetrical, regularly shaped.
5 Submarine, under the sea. (Lat.
mare, the sea; sub, under.)
6 Crystallised, formed crystals. (Sec
lesson on "Snow Crystals.")

7 Weltered, rolled about.

8 A minster, a cathedral, a state. church.

A

THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

GOOD ornithologist1 should be able to distinguish birds by their air, as well as by their colours and shape, on the ground as well as on the wing, and in the bush as well as in the hand. For though it must not be said that every species of birds has a manner peculiar to itself, yet there is somewhat in most kinds at least that at first sight discriminates them, and enables a judicious observer to pronounce upon them with some certainty.

Thus, kites and buzzards sail round in circles, with