The screech owl in particular, sends forth a scream, which in the silence and darkness of night, sounds through the woods to a great distance, and is such as co terrify those who are not used to it. The owl is hated and pursued by other birds, and in its turn hunts and eats the smaller ones, which it can destroy.

Moses, in the law which was given to the children of Israel, puts the owl among the unclean birds, that is those which were not to be eaten, as will be seen in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus, sixteenth verse.

It is supposed that the bird called the night hawk, in this verse, is the owl. The night owl of Asia is thus described by a traveller. "It is of the size of the common owl, and lodges in the ruins of Egypt and Syria, and sometimes even in the dwelling houses. In Syria it is very voracious, to such a degree, that if great care is not taken to shut the windows at the coming on of night, he enters the houses and kills the children; the women, therefore are very much afraid of him."-That such a bird should be counted as unclean, and unfit for food, is very natural.

INTERESTING AND INSTRUCTIVE EXTRACTS.

PRIDE.

THE proud heart is the first to sink before contempt-it feels the wound more keenly than any other can. Oh, there is nothing in language that can express the deep humiliation of being received with coldness when kindness is expected-of seeing the look, but half concealed, of strong disapprobation from such as we have cause to feel beneath us, not alone in vigor of mind and spirit, but even in virtue and truth. The weak, the base, the hypocrite, are the first to turn with indignation from their fellow-mortals in disgrace; and, whilst the really chaste and pure suspect with caution, and censure with mildness, these traffickers in petty sins, who plume themselves upon their immaculate conduct, sound the alarm bell at the approach of guilt, and clamor their anathemas upon their unwary and cow ering prey.

PICTURESQUE BEAUTY OF THE OAK.

A fine oak is one of the most picturesque of Trees It conveys to the mind associations of strength and duration, which are very impressive. The oak stands up against the blast, and does not take, like other trees, a twisted form from the action of the winds. Except the cedar of Lebanon, no tree is so remarkable for the stoutness of its limbs; they do not exactly spring from the trunk, but divide from it; and thus it is sometimes difficult to know which is stem and which is branch.

The twisted branches of the oak, too, add greatly to its beauty; and the horizontal direction of its boughs, spreading over a large surface, completes the idea of its sovereignty over all the trees of the forest. Even a decayed oak

-dry and dead,

Still clad with reliques of its trophies old,
Lifting to heaven its aged hoary head,

Whose foot on earth hath got but feeble hold."——

even such a tree as Spenser has thus described is strikingly beautiful: decay in this case looks pleasing. To such an oak Lucan compared Pompey in his declining state.

TRUE NOBILITY.

Rank, titles, grandeur, are mere earthly baubles. The treasures of an upright heart are the only treasures that moths may not corrupt, and thieves break through into and steal. The refinements of the mind are indeed, what constitute nobility of demeanor, and cannot be dispensed with; they polish with higher lustre than any court etiquette; they give that native elegance which has superior charms to any that can be. acquired.

IMAGES OF TIME AND ETERNITY.

There is something attractive in the contemplation of a river it is not indeed so vast, so sublime, as that which we experience when gazing on the boundless expanse of the world of waters-the mighty ocean-but it is more analogous to the mind of man in its mortal state -the one is the image of life, the other of eternity.

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS.

The Commandment with Promise. By the Author of the "Last day of the Week." Boston, Perkins & Marvin. pp. 208.

This volume deserves a large share of attention from both pa rents and children. In the form of a narrative, it brings forward some of the main principles of family government, exhibited in practical operation. The various classes of unruly children may find their own pictures drawn here with such accuracy that they cannot deny the likeness, though they may blush to own it, and tremble while they ponder on the consequences of their conduct. The child of obedience may also find some pleasing resemblances to himself or herself, and without flattering their own vanity, may take encouragement from good example, to follow on, in the path of rectitude, with the certainty of receiving the recompense of reward, both in this life and that which is to come. Parents, too, of every age, husbands or wives, of whatever station in society, may here draw lessons of instruction from the same pages, which please and inform the minds of very little children. It is evident that the author has watched the progress of more families than one, and that he describes characters from real life, though he may for prudence' sake adopt fictitious names. Reader, change but the name, perhaps the person is yourself.

The Life of Mohammed, by the Rev. George Bush, A. M. No. X. of the Family Library. New-York: J. & J. Harper, 1830.

We are happy to see so interesting an account of the Arabian Prophet by an American writer. It is drawn up with great care from the best sources that were accessible; and not only exhibits the exciting scenes of Mohammed's life, but gives a very accurate representation of the doctrines and the style of the Koran. There is peculiar interest attached to such a work at this time, when the Mohammedan delusion is evidently falling before the power of Christianity. It gives us great pleasure to find the author every where recognizing a superintending Providence.

A Lexicon of Useful Knowledge.-The Rev. H. Wilbur, the author of several school books of good repute, has recently published a handsome duodecimo, of the above title, in which a vast number of the terms explained in the Dictionary are illustrated by appropriate wood cuts. There can be no doubt that such a work is highly advantageous in instruction, and that proper ideas are required and false ideas corrected by such pictural explanations.

The Advancement of Society in Knowledge and Religion, by James Douglas, Esq. from the 2d Edinburgh edition. Hartford: Cooke

& Co. 1830.

This is a work of great originality, and one which compels the reader to think. The author is the same who published a little work some few years since, entitled "Hints on Missions," which at that time excited very general notice. He has recently issued another entitled, "Errors regarding Religion," of which we should De very glad to see an American edition. His views of religion are

strictly evangelical, his style animated, and in many places eloquent, and his thoughts profound and practical. This is one of those few books which a man may use to put his own mind in motion, and in reading which he may be as much profited by what is suggested as by what is expressed.

POETRY.

For the Repository and Library of Entertaining Knowledge. PLEASURES OF FRIENDLY INTELLECTUAL INTERCOURSE.

BY. REV. JOSEPH RUSLING.

Is there a place to peace assigned

Secure from tumult, strife and care;

A spot where kindred spirits find

A calm retreat, their joys to share;

Some hallowed shade to friendship given,

Where souls on earth, meet souls from heaven?

Not at the gay voluptuous shrine

Of worldly pleasures, wealth and fame,
Where moral energies decline,

And bliss is but an empty name,
Where vice refined, our joys impair,
And leaves us victims of despair.
Virtue, alone conforms the mind

To happiness, its heavenly grace
Is pure and permanent, and kind,
And full of friendship, love and peace;
And brighter scenes perspective rise,
When virtue, happiness supplies.

Heaven has ordained, that perfect bliss

Should flow from goodness; as the stream

A tribute from the fountain is:

Or from the sun, the solar beam;
And where true goodness doth obtain,
Intrinsic friendship must remain.

I venerate the sacred range

Of noble minds, whose pleasures flow
In cheerful streams; whose free exchange
Of sentiment, true goodness show;
Where social charms, with beauteous smile,
The lapse of passing years beguile.

Sweet, intellectual repast;

Commerce divine; the bliss of heaven!
Long may those grateful pleasures last,
And boundless be their influence given;
Till souls congenial meet above,
In friendly intercourse and love.

THE REALMS OF AIR.

The realms on high-the boundless halls, where sports the wing of

light,

And Morn sends forth her radiant guest unutterably bright,

And evening rears her gorgeous piles amidst the purple ray,-
How glorious in their far extent and ever fair are they!

The dark autumnal firmament, the low cloud sweeping by,
The unimaginable depth of summer's liquid sky-
Who hath not felt in these a power, enduring, undefined-
A freshness to the fevered brow, a solace to the mind?

But most when, robed in nun-like garb, with sober pace and still,
The dun night settles mournfully on wood and fading hill,
And glancing through its misty veil, o'er ocean's depths afar,
Shines here and there, with fitful beams, a solitary star.

Then wearied sense and soul alike receive a nobler birth,

Then flies the kindling spirit forth beyond the thrall of earth; While lasts that soft and tranquil hour, to thought's high impulse given,

A chartered habitant of space-a denizen of heaven!

Then, seen in those eternal depths, the forms of vanished days Come dimly from their far abodes to meet the mourner's gaze; And they the fondly cherished once, and they the loved in vain, Smile tranquilly, as erst they smiled, restored and hailed again. And words which, breathed in long-past years, the ear remembers

yet,

And sounds whose low endearing tone the heart shall not forget; The parent speech, the friendly voice, the whispered vow, are

there,

And fill with gentle melody the shadowy Realms of Air.

J. F. HOLLINGS.

THE DEAD.

Ye dead! ye dead! how quiet is your long and dreamless sleep,
While the solemn yew trees o'er you their stately vigils keep-
And the long blades sighing gently, as the whisp'ring breezes pass,
Disclose the springing flow'rets amid the waving grass.

The monarch sleeps among ye-the crowds that owned his sway
Lie prone in dust before him-but he lies as low as they---
Above the mould'ring coffin lid the merry crickets sing,

And the still corpse-worm banquets there, companion of the king.
Among the crowd ungreeted, lie the unhonored fair-
The bloom has left their cheek, for no roses flourish where
That form with icy fingers has its pallid sigil prest,

To mark his chosen brides amid the loveliest and the best.