'So they are its hands, too, aunt. Will you look, if you please, here is the fish, which the actiniæ swallowed, just put up again, only not quite so large as when it took it in. And now, mamma, do look at the hermit-crab, if you please, how drolly it feeds. Oh! look! every body look! there it holds some fish in one claw, picks off a bit with the other, and puts it into its mouth, just as any of us might do with our hands ;—is it not very droll?'

Yes, indeed, my dears, it is very droll; it reminds me of a monkey. Observe how the meanest creatures are taught by instinct to take care of themselves you see how they are provided with sources of enjoyment by the Almighty Creator of all. I am glad you have seen these animals; they may tend to give you further proofs of the superintending providence of God over all His works. This poor little hermit-crab, though it has a shell on the front of its

belly and its claws, has no protection for its tail; but instinct, which is given him by God, teaches him to look for an empty shell to guard his tail, and by that means he is enabled to travel over the hardest rocks, and through the roughest gravel, without injury. And these poor helpless actiniæ are also provided for they cannot have food as frequently as animals which are more lively, but they can better bear a long fast; and if they receive a wound from which they have little means of guarding, they do not suffer from it as other animals would, but recover speedily, and do not appear the worse for being hurt. The gracious God formed His creatures to be happy; sin has destroyed much of that happiness: but even now we see the remains of wonderful contrivances to promote the enjoyment of all created beings; and it ought to be our delight to do all in our power to promote what we evidently see forms

part of the arrangement of our great God and Heavenly Father. Our muchloved Cowper, in his "Winter Walk at Noon," shews the care he had for the meanest reptiles. He speaks of the manner in which a person of sensibility would avoid injuring them, and then adds

." If man's convenience, health,

Or safety interfere, his rights and claims
Are paramount, and must extinguish them.
Else they are all-the meanest things that are-
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,

As God was free to form them at the first,
Who in His sovereign wisdom made them all."

We ought to take care of our little pets; -Charles, my dear, carry this pan, with these creatures, and lay it on a table you will see in my dressing-room near the window. I am now obliged to leave you, my dear children.'

They all expressed a hope their dear and kind parent would soon take them out again to walk with her.

CONVERSATION XXIX.

FARM ANECDOTES.

ONE day, after Mrs. Stewart had spent about two hours in her dressing room, instructing the young people, Charles was allowed to take the girls under his care, and accompany Mrs. Jane, to see the poultry fed, to visit the cows at pasture, and look at the other animals, who were grazing in the fields.

When Mrs. Jane went out to walk, the children were surprised to see a duck running after her, it kept quite close, waddling about wherever she went; when she opened the door of the poultry yard, a number of ducks and chickens ran to be fed; but Mrs. Jane's duck, instead of joining and feeding with them, ran to its mistress, showing

every sign of fear, and she was obliged to take it in her arms. The young people expressing their surprize at this conduct, in the duck, she told them she would relate its history, when they had arrived at a pleasant grass bank, to which she would take them. After having emptied her basket of grain, and distributed to her winged dependants, as she judged best, she brought Charles and the girls into a field, from which they had a view of the sea, and the vessels flitting past at a distance; and having seated them and herself, on a pleasant bank, and leaving her pet duck to feed beside her, she said :

I shall now, my dears, give you the history of this little animal. Last spring a number of eggs was put under a duck for her to hatch; and an accident destroyed all except this one, and the mother forsook it; I found it the very day it left the shell, wrapped it in wool, fed, and warmed it. After