THE SEASON

There are four seasons in the year,-spring, summer, autumn, and winter. In spring, the farmer ploughs and sows his fields; the birds build their nests, lay eggs, and hatch them; they had been silent in winter, but now they renew their cheerful songs; the fruit trees are in blossom; and all nature assumes a gay aspect. In summer, the weather gets very hot and sultry; the days are long, and, for a week or two, there is scarcely any darkness; there are thunder and lightning and heavy showers; the trees are all over with leaves, and while some kinds of fruit begin to ri'pen, other kinds are quite ready for eating. Flowers abound in the gardens and the fields; the corn, of all sorts, that was sown in spring, grows green and strong, and shoots into the ear, and appears to turn whi'tish; every plant attains the full vigour of its growth; and the country wears its richest garb. In autumn, all the crops get ripe, and are cut down with scythes and sickles; apples, filberts, and other things of that kind, are taken down from the trees, as fully ready for being pulled; the flowers fade by degrees, and every day there are fewer and fewer of them in the open air. The leaves wither and fall off; the days become short; and though the weather is for the most part dry and steady, the air gets chilly at night, and it is neither so safe nor so pleasant as it was in summer, to be walking out at a late hour

In winter, the chief comforts of life are to be found within doors; there is now intense cold, hoar frost, ice, snow, and sleet; the days are short, and the nights are not only long, but dark and gloomy, except when the moon shines. Sometimes there are dreadful storms, in which there are many ship'wrecks at sea, and in which many shepherds, and other people, per'ish by land. In all the seasons, we behold a pres'ent, a perfect, and an ever-working, God. We behold him in the beauty and delights of the spring time. We behold him in the light and heat, the richness and the glory, of the summer months. We behold him in the stores of food which he provides for us in autumn, that we may have enough to support us in the cold se-vere' weather that succeeds. And we behold him in the tempest of winter, when he "gives snow like wool, scatters his hoar frost like ashes, and casts forth his ice like morsels," and when all nature lies prostrate before him. In all these, we behold the most striking proof of the power, the wisdom, and the goodness of Him, who is the God of the Sea

sons.

QUESTIONS.

How many seasons are there in the year? What are they called? What does the farmer do in spring? During what season of the year are the days longest? What do you call that season of the year when the crops get ripe and are cut down with scythes and sickles? Where are the chief comforts of life to be found during winter? When are the days shortest? When do birds build their nests? What do we behold in all the seasons?

A WASP AND A BEE.

A wasp met a bee that was just buzzing by,
And he said, "little cousin, can you tell me, why,
You are lov'd so much better by people than I?

"My back shines as bright and as yellow as gold,
And my shape is most elegant, too, to behold
Yet nobody likes me for that, I am told."

"Ah! friend," said the bee, "it is all very true, But if I were half as much mischief to do, Then people would love me no better than you.

"You can boast a fine shape, and a delicate wing, You are perfectly handsome, but yet there's one thing

That can't be put up with,—and that is your sting.

"My coat is quite homely and plain, as you see, Yet nobody ever is angry with me,

Because I'm a useful and innocent bee."

From this little sto'ry let people beware,

Because, like the wasp, if ill-natured they are, They will never be loved, tho' they're ever so fair.

DIVINE LAWS.

What doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways,

and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy Go with all thy heart, and with all thy soul? Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any gra'ven im'age, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.-Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.—Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; six days shalt thou la'bour and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work.

Ye shall

He that

Honour thy father and thy mother. fear every man his father and his mother. smi'teth his father or his mother, and he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death. If a man have a stubborn son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him unto the elders of his city, and unto the gates of his place; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn, and will not obey our voice, he is a glutton and a drunkard;

and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God.-Thou shalt not re-vile' the judges, nor curse the ruler of thy people.

Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart; thou shalt not a-venge' nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him, nor covet any thing that is his. Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not raise a false report. Keep thee from a false matter. Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale bearer against thy people.

Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shalt fear thy God. Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother, and if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it into thine own house, and it shall be with thee, until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost things of thy brother's, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise; thou