food, and with convenient shelter. He who cannot feed a brute well ought not to own one. There can be no clearer indication of a degraded and ferocious temper than cruelty to animals, and nothing tends more directly to harden men in brutal ferocity. If they are sick, we can try to relieve them. If a horse has grown old in our service, we had better kill him outright, and afford him a decent burial, than, for a little money, to sell him to one who will overwork and abuse him.

Brutes have no sense of right and wrong, like the human species, but they have instincts, which, in many of them,, seem to be only a lower kind of intellect. They have many of the same powers of the mind which we ourselves possess, and some of them seem to exercise many of the feelings and affections of human beings. It seems wrong, in such cases, to cheat or disappoint them, or to treat them in a way different from that which they have a right to expect from our former treatment of them. Thus it seems wrong to coax and tole cats or dogs into the house, and afterwards to beat them back when they attempt to enter; or to call a cow or horse to us under the pretence that we have something for them to eat, when we have nothing, but merely wish to secure them.

What is said about animals that are sick, or that have grown old in our service? What have brutes that is a kind of intellect? What feelings and affections have many of them? What is said about cheating them? How illus trated?

It would seem right to observe the same good faith towards intelligent animals as towards our fellow-men.

Our domestic animals are very sensible to kind looks, words and gestures, and a good friendly understanding may be had between them and their owners. The noble horse may be led to serve us much better by kindness than by fear and blows. In many cases, a feeble woman has been known to control perfectly a high spirited horse, which knew her well, simply by talking to him in kind tones of voice.

Animals are capable of grief, and we should do nothing to cause them unnecessary sorrow. We might well fear that the boy who would rob birds and other harmless animals of their young, would not hesitate to take the life of a fellow-creature, when he became a man.

CHAPTER II.

REVERENCE FOR SACRED PLACES.

As among the most sacred places, buryinggrounds will first be considered. There lie those once living bodies, in which spirits like our own have dwelt. There moulder to earth those forms which we once held fast to our

What is said about observing good faith towards animals? Of a good understanding with them? What is said of robbing animals of their young? Subject of Chapter II.? What are first noticed? Why may they be regarded as sacred?

bosoms, and which were dear to us as our own life. The spirits which once inhabited them have passed away from us, and the dust which composed their bodies is all that remains. Well may it be precious to us, and rightly may we seek to adorn the last resting place of those we have loved with signs of our fond remembrance.

This practice prevailed in the most of ancient countries. "The tomb of Achilles was decorated with amaranth, and the grave of Sophocles was embellished with roses and ivy. The monuments of the Romans were adorned with chaplets of the balsam-tree and garlands of flowers." "Virgil strews on the body of Pallas leaves of the arbutus and other funeral evergreens.

The body on this rural hearse is borne,

Strewed leaves and funeral greens the bier adorn. Andromache raised green altars to the memory of Hector. Ossian represents one of his heroes as saying, 'O lay me, ye that see the light, near some rock of my hills; let the rustling oak be near; green be the place of my rest, and let the sound of the distant torrent be heard.'

"The people of Morocco surround their burial-places with a walk and plants with flowers. The Chinese plant flowers upon their graves; the mausoleums of the Crimeans are

What practice prevailed in ancient countries? What examples? What is said by one of the heroes of Ossian? How do the people of Morocco adorn their burial-places? The Chinese, etc.?

shaded by shrubs and trees; and the people of Surat strew fresh flowers on their graves every year." "The cemetery of the Moravians is a garden, whose alleys are marked with funeral stones, by the sides of which are planted clumps of flowers, and the same epitaph serves for all: He was born on such a day, und on such another he returned to his native country."

"In a beautiful little church-yard in Switzerland, almost every grave is covered with pinks. In some villages in Wales, children have snowdrops, primroses, and violets on their graves, while older persons have tansy, box, ivy, and rue. These graves are surrounded by small whitewashed stones, and no flowers or evergreens are permitted but such as are sweetscented; the pink and polyanthus, sweet-williams, gilliflowers, and carnations, mignionette, thyme, hyssop, chamomile, and rosemary, make up the pious decoration. The graves are often weeded, and if necessary planted again; and this work is always done by the nearest relations, with their own hands, and never by servants or hired persons. In Glenmorganshire, at the funeral of a young girl, a chaplet of white flowers is borne before the corpse, by a young girl, nearest in age, size and resemblance.

The people of Cabul call their burial-grounds,

The cemetery of the Moravians? What is related of the church-yards of Switzerland and Wales? What is said of funerals in Glenmorganshire? Different names of burial-grounds?

Cities of the Silent; the Egyptians called theirs, · Cities of the Dead; and the Jews, Houses of the Living. The Germans call them God's Acre.

.

It might perhaps be said that we ought thus to ornament and care for the abodes of the dead; it is certainly true that we ought to approach such places with feelings of reverence, and do nothing to injure them. "In South Wales, none ever molest the flowers that grow on graves, for it is deemed a kind of sacrilege to do so. A relation or friend will sometimes take a pink or a sprig of thyme from the grave of a beloved person, to wear in remembrance, but they never take much."

A boy. who would break down the fence around a grave, throw stones at a monument, or trample down the plants which have been set out, must be very wicked. If the law of cemeteries did not forbid it, visitors ought not to break anything from the trees, shrubs or plants of the enclosure, or even take a wild flower from the grounds.

A proper feeling of reverence for such places will prevent our visiting them with a party of pleasure, as places of mere amusement. It will lead us to enter them with soberness, and to avoid all rudeness and violence of motion; the loud laugh will not be heard, and the voice will be hushed to harmony with the murmur

What may be said of our duty to the abodes of the dead? Of South Wales? What description of boy must be very wicked? What is said about the visitors of cemeteries? Of the manner of visiting them?