ON ANIMALS (1).

crea'ture, an'i-mal, dif'fer-ent, un-der-stand', dif'fer.ence, var.i'e-ty, fac'ul-ty, in'stinct, nec'es.sar-y, progress, leop'ard, quad'ru.ped, do mes'tic, worst'ed, val'u.a.ble, bi'ped.

Every creature that is alive, and can feel, and move about, is called an animal. A cow, a fish, a bird, and a bee are all animals, though they are very different creatures. They differ in size, in shape, in colour, and in many other ways, yet in some things they are alike. They are all of them alive; they all feel, and can move about from one place to another whenever they please. But a tree is not an animal, for it is fixed in the ground, and can move only if something else moves it.

Men and women and boys and girls are animals. Perhaps you can tell why. Man is, however, far above all other animals, because God has given him a soul that can think and understand, and know the difference between right and wrong. Then men can talk, which the other animals cannot do, and they can teach their children what they know themselves. But the young of other animals learn nothing from their fathers and mothers, and know no more when they are old than they did when they were young. Yet the bird knows how to build its nest, and different kinds of birds make a great variety of nests; the bee knows how to build its cells, and to make honey; and the spider knows how to spin a cobweb to catch flies. For God has given to the lower animals a faculty called instinct, by which they know at once whatever it is necessary that they should know, in order to be able to take care of themselves and their young ones. But they never make any further progress.

A great many animals have four legs. You can tell the names of those you have seen. But there are other animals in far-off countries, which roam through the forests or live in dens and caverns, such as lions and tigers, wolves and bears, and leopards. These are called beasts of prey, because they live by chasing and killing other animals. All those animals that have four legs are called quadrupeds. Some quadrupeds have feet of a single hoof, like the horse; others have feet with the hoof cloven into two, like the cow, the sheep, the pig, and the goat; and others have feet with toes and claws, like the dog, the cat, the lion, the tiger, and the bear.

Many quadrupeds are very useful to man, who keeps them near his home. These are called domestic animals. Thus, the sheep provides us with both food and clothing. Its flesh is called mutton; its skin is made into leather for shoes; its wool is woven into cloth for coats, and flannel for blankets, and worsted for stockings. The cow gives us milk, of which butter and cheese are made. The flesh of cows and oxen is called beef. Their skin is made into leather, and their horns into combs and other articles. In some parts of the country oxen are employed in the field, instead of horses, to draw the plough. Horses are valuable animals, for they are useful both for riding on, and in drawing carriages.

Some animals have only two legs, and are called bipeds. Men, women, and children are bipeds, and birds are bipeds. Birds, as you know, have wings with which they can fly in the air, and go very great distances without being tired. Ducks, geese, and swans are birds which love to swim in water, and they have two web-feet, with which they push themselves along in swimming.

ON ANIMALS (2).

rep'tiles, in'sects, weath'er, trouble.some, ser'vi.ces, plough'men, man u fac'tur er, mead'ow, soft'ened, mul'ti-tudes, con tin'u.al·ly, cat'er pil·lar, co.coon'.

There is another class of animals called reptiles, but we do not see many of them in this country. Reptiles, such as snakes and serpents, have clear shining skins, like fishes, and they crawl with their bodies on the ground. Some reptiles, such as the frog and the toad, have feet, with which they can walk or leap forward.

Insects are another class of animals, of which there are great numbers in this and other countries. Flies, gnats, bees, and butterflies are insects, which we see flying about in the fine summer weather, and sometimes they are very troublesome to us. Still, they are very useful, because they are food for birds and fishes, and do other good services in creation.

Worms have no legs at all. Some boys and girls despise worms, and tread upon these little crawling creatures. But worms and insects have their own work to do, which is of very great service too. Some of them are ploughinen! and others are manufacturers ! Great numbers of earth-worms live underground in the meadows. They feed on earth, but what they like best is dead leaves, which they cannot find underground, so, after the rain has softened the ground, they contrive to make their way up to the surface in search of leaves. Then they empty their little bodies on the grass in the shape of worm-casts, and carry back dead leaves. Now these worm-casts are just what the grass wants to make it grow-nice soft earth, in which the

roots and seeds can easily make their way. Multitudes of these tiny worms are continually stirring and loosening the soil, as they make their way to the top. Then the moles chase them to feed on them, and so stir and loosen the soil still more. The finest old meadows owe their high value to the worm-casts, which, in course of years, the many multitudes of earth-worms have laid on the soil.

You have all heard of the silkworm. It is so called

because it spins silk. This little creature is a green caterpillar, with a great number of legs. It feeds on the leaves of the mulberry-tree, and when it is fullgrown, it leaves off eating, and begins to spin from its own body fine soft threads of silk, which it winds round and round its body, until it has made for itself a case or ball of silk, inside of which it goes to sleep for a time, and by-and-by it makes a hole through the case, and comes out in the shape of a small butterfly. This case or ball is called a cocoon, and it is from the cocoons spun by silkworms that all our silk is made.

Fishes are animals that live altogether in water. The greater number have skins with smooth shining scales, and they have fins with which they keep themselves up in the water. Fishes can also swim very fast, and dart through the water after the prey on which they feed. Some fishes are very large, much larger than a man; but others are small, such as herrings and minnows; and they swim in great numbers in the sea and in rivers.

There are some animals that live in the sea, that have neither legs, nor wings, nor fins, but have a hard covering or shell, such as the oyster, the lobster, and the mussel. These are called shell-fish.