A GREAT STORY.-The following "thrilling story," although not of the highest order of merit, in a literary point of view, may serve as an amusing theme for lovers of puzzles to exercise their ingenuity. It was written by a printer, we know by the characters in it:

"We lce saw a young man gazing at the *ry heavens, with a † in 17 and a of pistols in the other. We endeavored to 8ract his at10tion by ing 2 a ¶ in a paper we had in our, relating to a young man in that § of the country who had left home in a st8 of derangement. He dropped the † and pistols from his, with the! It is I of whom U read. I had left home b4 my friends knew my design. I had so the of a girl who had refused to lis10 2 me, but smiled upon another, Id wildly from the house uttering a wild! 2 the god of love, and without replying to the ?s of my friends, came here with this and of pistols, 2 put a . to my xis10ce. My case has no || in this §.""

The Boy who dare do Right.

make me late at school. I am sure, mother, I don't think it is any of his business whether I am late or not."

"Then just before we were called out to recite, I asked him to let me copy my sums from his slate, because I had not done them; and he said it would not be right. But I dare say the reason was, that he wanted to have the highest mark for his lesson; and so he would not show me."

Mrs. Nye said nothing then; but at night, when Harry had got over his ill humor, and was ready to go to bed, she talked to him very kindly about what had happened in the morning. She showed him that it would have been wrong for Willie to have lent him his sled, because it would have tempted him to be late at school; and, that it would have been deception if he had copied his sums from Willie's slate.

She told him that, instead of being angry, and saying unkind things which he did not mean, he ought to have been grateful to Willie; for he had saved him from doing wrong twice that morning.

She asked Harry to promise her that the

nal for August. We hope many of our young friends will not only read it, but imitate the example of Willie Grant, and like him, always dare to do right.-ED.]

ONE bright day in winter, when the snow was sparkling on the ground, and the children were looking happy and rosy, Harry Nye came home from school, threw his slate upon the table, and sat down by the window.

His mother saw that he was out of temper, so she said nothing to him. But Harry could not keep still very long. He thought that his mother would ask him what the matter was; but as she did not, he said, "I can't bear Willy Grant; he is the worst boy I ever saw." "Who is Willy Grant, and what has he done?" asked Mrs. Nye.

"He is a new scholax," replied Harry; "he has been at school only a fortnight; and I wish he would go away; for I never want to see him again!'

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This morning I asked him to lend me his sled just for two or three slides down the hill, and he would not; because he said it would

for him to have one, or when he needed some help in doing his sums, (for he should never copy them from another's slate) he would ask Willie Grant for these favors.

Harry thought a great deal about the matter before he went to sleep, and though he was not quite so sure that Willie was not a bad boy, he determined to try him the next day.

The next day Harry found, much to his delight, a problem in his lesson that he could not solve. So he went to Willie, who kindly told him all he could about it, and also helped him in his reading lesson, and then said, "Harry, I am afraid you thought I was cross the other day; but I only did what I thought was my duty.

"It is hard to do it sometimes; but I always mean to try. I presume the boys will not like me at first; but they will soon find out that I really like them; and I only refuse their requests when they ask me to do what I think is wrong. And now, Harry, I wish you would take my sled, and use it all the noontime; for I know that sled will not be mended until to-morrow."

A few days after this Harry's mother said to him, "How do you and Willie Grant get along?"

Harry answered, "O, mother, Willie is one of the best boys in the world! He always does what he thinks is right. At first the boys laughed at him, and used to call him names; but now they all love him dearly; for though he is so gentle and kind, yet he is always ready for a frolic at recess or after school.

"Besides, he helps us about our lessons after we have tried to learn them and can not; but he never assists us until we have tried all we can to get them. And then, too, the school is much more quiet and pleasant now he is there.

Even when he is playing hard, he is never rough; and I am sure no one would ever think of calling him Bill,' as they do some boys who are named William. Everybody says Willie' to him; and I think he is just

like the name!

I wish all were like Willie

Grant in daring to do right."

TRUE POLITENESS.-Lord Chatham says:"I believe politeness is best to be known by description, definition not being able to comprise it. I would, however, venture to call it benevolence in trifles,' or the preference of others to ourselves in the little hourly occurrences of life. It is a perpetual attention to the little wants of those with whom we are, by which attention we either prevent or remove them. Bowing ceremonies, formal compliments, stiff civilities, will never be politeness; that must be easy, natural, unstudied; and what will give this but a mind benevolent, and attentive to exert that amiable disposition in trifles to all you converse and live with!"

FACTS OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY.-There are usually twelve ribs in the human body, though sometimes eleven or thirteen.

The skull consists of eight bones, four at the top and four in pairs at the sides.

There are three kinds of teeth, the incisors, the tearing, and the grinders, and in many the three kinds are opposite to each other above and below. The number of teeth at maturity is thirty-two, or sixteen in each jaw.

The perspiration of a man in health is twentyeight ounces in twenty-four hours. This fact alone shows the necessity of bathing and cleansing the skin. The quantity diminishes while eating, but increases during digestion and sleep.

The blood is about a fifth of the weight of the body. The heart by its muscular contraction distributes two ounces of blood from seventy to eighty times in a minute.

The lungs, owing to the continued reception of fresh and cold air, are the coldest part of the body. In sleep the respiration is less frequent than at other times. A respiration may be held for a minute and a half, or even longer, if it be taken deep and long.

In the city of New York, $20,000,000 are annually paid for animal food, and $12,000,000 of this sum is for beef alone! This is over $25

per head, for an entire population of men, women, and chldren. Apply this ratio to the whole country and we have, as the cost of the flesh-food consumed by twenty-five millions of people, the snug little sum of 625,000,000.

THE VOWELS.-A holiday was proposed to be given on one occasion to the boys at Eton, upon condition that within a given time they should discover an English word which contains all the vowels placed in regular order.

The boys set to work, and two of them with shouts of applause from their comrades, cried out," Abstemiously-Facetiously."

It has been ascertained that the population of New York exceeds six hundred thousand, and the church sittings are not equal to two hundred thousand. To meet the deficiency, it would require six hundred new churches, to be built at an expense of more than eight million dollars.

The length of the different streets in London is one thousand seven hundred and fifty miles, The paving of them cost fourteen million pounds sterling, and the yearly cost of keeping the pavement in repair is £1,800,000 sterling.

THERE are 150 rolling mills in the U. S.

EDITOR'S DEPARTMENT.

Vibrations over the Dam at Holyoke, Mass.

THIS is the title of a paper read at Montreal, before the Scientific Association, by Prof. Snell of Amherst College.

We have seen no extended report of the paper. but clip the following from one of our exchanges:

"There is found an unbroken sheet of water 1000 feet long and 30 feet high, which vibrates constantly-insomuch that all the doors and windows within miles of the spot keep time with the vibrations at the Falls. These are at the rate of two for every second. This phenomenon, when seen from below, some sunshiny morning, is extremely beautiful. It was illustrated thus: If one should stand looking down a long street in a city, where every pane of glass was illuminated by a gas light, and should see these lights extinguished and relighted twice every second, he might form a proper idea of the reflection of the sun's rays at these falls. The cause of the vibrations was attributed to the current of air passing between the fall and the dam-thus making an organ pipe one thousand feet in length."

We have often witnessed this phenomenon, at Holyoke, Lawrence, and other places, where a dam of sufficient size gives an opportunity for it to occur, and have sometimes heard the most vague theories advanced respecting its cause.

We venture to suggest the following, as the probable cause of the vibrations:

A large portion of the air, which is carried down by the water in flowing over the dam, rises underneath the fall, and has no chance of escape from its confined position between the falling sheet of water and the dam, except at the small opening at each end of the dam.

This air becomes so dense that it must have more space-it must expand-and consequently breaks through the sheet of falling water with such force as to produce often the most violent concussions in the air.

Wherever the sheet of falling water is of slight depth, it produces the beautiful waving motion spoken of in the paragraph quoted above.

The remedy for this vibratory motion of the air, so unpleasant to those living in the vicinity, is simply to break the sheet by placing perpendicular standards upon the top of the dam, and thus suffer the confined air to escape.

The Schoolmaster's Reward.

The story which we give below, is well worth the attention of every teacher. We feel assured it will receive the attention it deserves from all our readers, and that the true teacher will learn a lesson therefrom, not soon to be forgotten.

It is a fruitful theme for reflection. It shows

the responsibility of the teacher, the greatness of his work, the rich reward of his faithfulness, and exhibits a noble example of gratitude.

We heard the incident related at an educational convention, quite recently, and were intending to entrust the story to our own pen; but our eye falling upon the following, in one of our exdone, we place it before our readers as a contrichanges, which is so beautifully and faithfully bution from L. M. Sargent, Esq., over the signa ture of Sigma, in the Boston Transcript:

TURNING THE SWITCH.

How much excellent material has been wasted and utterly spoiled by unskillful fingers! This ejaculation is not less applicable to inanimate matter, than to mind and heart. How many a boy, of fine parts and excellent natural disposition, whom accident has thrown upon the wrong track, and given a false direction, has been ruined forever, by absurd mismanagement, and for the want of a judicious and friendly hand, to turn the switch!

This is a short preface to a short story, which interested me when I heard it, many years ago, and which a recent event has freshened up in my memory. I cannot remember the year-it was long ago that I passed the night, under the hospitable roof of the Hon. Salem Towne, of Charlton, in the county of Worcester. As we sat together, in the evening, and were speaking of education and of schools, Mr. Towne informed me, that about the year 1800, he taught a school, in the south western district of Charlton. An inhabitant of Sturbridge, the adjoining town, had a son, of whose abilities and general character he appeared to entertain a low estimate, and of whom he spoke to Mr. Towne, "disparagingly, as a boy who gave him trouble." Mr. Towne, notwithstanding this paternal forewarning, consented to receive the lad on probation. On the evening of the very first day, the school agent came to the teacher, and told him that the boy was a bad boy, and would disturb the whole school, and must be turned out. The agent, very probably, received his impressions from the judi

of his opinions. Mr. Towne rejected this hasty