green fields and the beautiful flowers; but we turn away our eyes in disgust from the boy or girl whose face is dirty, and whose hair is hanging loosely about.

Thomas Sampson not only used to wash his hands and face, but he also CAREFULLY cleaned his shoes every morning before he came to school. Some of the other boys had their shoes cleaned by the servant, and some did not look as if they had been cleaned at all. It was no expense and very little trouble to this boy to clean his shoes, and when he became used to it, he would have felt ashamed to come to school without having done his duty in this respect.

I dare say if a gentleman were to come to school, and say he wanted a boy to help him at his office, he would notice DIRECTLY Thomas Sampson's shining shoes. He would be more pleased when he found out that he had cleaned them himself. He would say to himself, "This is a tidy, RESPECTABLE boy, and he will keep the office neat and clean." And if he found out from the master that his BEHAVIOUR was good, and his lessons were well attended to, I have no doubt he would offer him EMPLOYMENT in this way. We see, then, how very important all these.little things are.

But we have not only to gain respect from others; we must try and respect ourselves. If we lived all alone, each one by himself, we should be better pleased with ourselves if we washed our faces, and cleaned our shoes. We should feel happier and better, and our consciences would tell us that we had done our duty. How well do dumb animals instruct us in this respect! We seldom see a dirty cat, or a dirty rabbit. Cats seem never tired of washing themselves, and what is more pretty than to see a rabbit wet its two paws in its mouth, and wash its face as CLEVERLY as a boy or girl could. This pretty little animal cannot see itself in the looking-glass, and yet it seems to know when it is dirty, and longs to be clean.

But there is another reason why we should be careful to wash ourselves, and that is because it will keep us healthy and strong. There is much impure matter in our flesh, that ought to come out through the holes or

ON BEING CLEAN.

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pores in the skin; but in dirty boys and girls these little holes are stopped up, and so this bad substance is kept in the body, where it does a great deal of harm. It is this impure matter coming out of our body which makes us want clean shirts and clean stockings very often.

When we are very hot, we take our HANDKERCHIEF and wipe it off our face, because then we can feel it streaming down. But this same process is going on always in our bodies, though we do not feel it so plainly as when we have been running and are hot. It is necessary, for the sake of our health, that this should not be stopped; and so we should make the skin pure and free from dirt, and then the pores or holes will not be CLOGGED up.

Boys and girls who have dirty hands make their reading-books and COPY-BOOKS dirty. No one likes to write in a dirty copy-book. When the copy-book becomes soiled, the writer thinks it will be of no use trying to do his best, as it will not look well if he does. Thus we see how important a thing it is that we should give our bodies a sound healthy cleansing as frequently as possible.

EXERCISE.

How does being clean improve our health? What animals teach us this duty? What benefits are we likely to get by being clean, and to lose by being dirty?

A

LESSON XXXVII.

LUCY GRAY; OR, SOLITUDE.

[This is a poem by William Wordsworth, about a little girl who was lost in the snow, and was never found. Wordsworth died in the year 1850.]

"To-night will be a stormy night;
You to the town must go,
And take a lantern, child, to light
Your mother through the snow."

"That, father, will I gladly do ;
'Tis scarcely afternoon;

The MINSTER-CLOCK has just struck two,
And yonder is the moon."

LUCY GRAY.

At this the father raised his HOOK,
And snapped a faggot band;
He plied his work, and Lucy took
The lantern in her hand.

Not blither is the MOUNTAIN ROE:
With many a WANTON stroke
Her feet disperse the powdery snow,
That rises up like smoke.

The storm came on before its time;
She wandered up and down;
And many a hill did Lucy climb,
But never reached the town.

The wretched parents all that night
Went shouting far and wide,
But there was neither sound nor sight
To serve them for a guide.

At daybreak on a hill they stood,
That over-looked the moor,

And thence they saw the bridge of wood,
A FURLONG from the door.

And, turning homeward, now they cried,
"In heaven we all shall meet;"

When in the snow the mother spied

The print of Lucy's feet.

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Then downward from the steep hill's edge,
They tracked the footmarks small,
And through the broken HAWTHORN hedge,
And by the long stone wall.

And then an open field they crossed-
The marks were still the same;
They tracked them on, nor ever lost,

And to the bridge they came.

They followed from the snowy bank
The footmarks, one by one,
Into the middle of the plank,
And further there were none !

Yet some MAINTAIN that to this day
She is a living child-

That you may see sweet Lucy Gray
Upon the lonesome wild.

O'er rough and smooth she trips along,

And never looks behind,

And sings a solitary song,

That whistles in the wind.

EXERCISE.

Why was Lucy sent to the town? What was the cause of her death? Write down the verses which describe the search of the parents.

SILK is the fine thread of a small worm called the silkworm, which lives and grows best in hot countries, such as Italy, India, and China. The worm is seen in different conditions. First a small egg, about the size of a pin's head, changes into a CATERPILLAR or worm. In this state it feeds on the leaves of trees, chiefly the MULBERRY tree.

After a time it begins to spin its silken thread, with which it surrounds itself, so that it looks something like a YELLOWISH ball of silk.