aught he knew; but he was not fond of making many acquaintances, and loved to choose his company. Whang, however, with all his eagerness for riches, was poor. He had nothing but the profits of his mill to support him; but though these were small, they were certain: while it stood and went, he was sure of eating; and his frugality was such, that he every day laid some money by, which he would at intervals count and contemplate with much satisfaction. Yet still his acquisitions were not equal to his desires; he only found himself above want, whereas he desired to be possessed of affluence. One day, as he was indulging these wishes, he was informed that a neighbour of his had found a pan of money under ground, having dreamed of it three nights running before. These tidings were daggers to the heart of poor Whang. "Here am I," says he, "toiling and moiling from morning till night for a few paltry farthings, while neighbour Thanks only goes quietly to bed, and dreams himself into thousands before morning. O that I could dream like him! With what pleasure would I dig round the pan! how slily would I carry it home! not even my wife should see me and then, O the pleasure of thrusting one's hand into a heap of gold up to the elbow !" Such reflections only served to make the miller unhappy he discontinued his former assiduity; he was quite disgusted with small gains, and his customers began to forsake him. Every day he repeated the wish, and every night laid himself down in order to dream. Fortune, that was for a long time unkind, at last, however, seemed to smile on his distresses, and indulged him with the wished-for vision. He dreamed, that under a certain part of the foundation of his mill there was concealed a monstrous pan of gold and diamonds, buried deep in the ground, and covered with a large flat stone. He concealed his good luck from every person, as is usual in money-dreams, in order to have the vision repeated the two succeeding nights, by which he should be certain of its truth. His wishes in this also were answered; he still dreamed of the same pan of money in the very same place. Now, therefore, it was past a doubt: so getting up early the third morning, he repaired alone, with a mattock in his hand, to the mill, and began to undermine that part of the wall which the vision directed. The first omen of success that he met was a broken ring; digging still deeper, he turned up a house-tile, quite new and entire. At last, after much digging, he came to a broad flat stone, but then so large that it was beyond man's strength to remove it. "There!" cried he in raptures to himself; "here it is; under this stone there is room for a very large pan of diamonds indeed. I must e'en go home to my wife, and tell her the whole affair, and get her to assist me in turning it up." Away, therefore, he goes, and acquaints his wife with every circumstance of their good fortune. Her raptures on this occasion may easily be imagined: she flew round his neck and embraced him in an ecstasy of joy; but these transports, however, did not allay their eagerness to know the exact sum; returning, therefore, together to the same place where Whang had been digging, there they found--not, indeed, the expected treasure-but the mill, their only support, undermined and fallen! THE Leopard is an inhabitant of the woods of Africa and southern Asia. The usual length of his body is three feet, of his tail, two feet three inches, and his height somewhat more than two feet. He is distinguished from all other species by his gracefulness and elegance; by the vividness of his colouring, yellow on the upper parts, white on the breast, belly, and inside of the limbs ; and the beauty of his markings, which consist of numerous rows of large rose-like spots passing along the sides, each formed of the confluence of several smaller black spots, into an irregular circle, enclosing a fawn-coloured centre: his whiskers are long and white. His prey consists of antelopes, hares, and monkeys, which last he pursues up the trees. the human race. When famished, he will attack, but by stealth, He may be tamed, but can never A female leopard in the Tower, 1829, allowed herself to be patted by her keepers, but discovered a strange propensity for snatching umbrellas, parasols, hats, muffs, and other articles of dress, and tearing them in pieces, to the great astonishment of the plundered visitors. The male was sullen and savage. The Panther is classed with the leopard; but as yet it is not decided by naturalists, whether it is to be considered a distinct species, or only a larger variety of the same, though the former opinion appears to predominate. The panther is found chiefly, if not solely, in Africa; is more than six feet in length, independent of the tail, which is about three. Major Denham killed one that measured more than ten. He is spotted like the leopard, but the colours of his skin are not so brilliant. habits are similar to those of the tiger. His AIKMAN'S ANIMAL KINGDOM. LESSON VII. ARGUMENTS FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DERIVED FROM CREATION. AND ask ye why he claims our love? O answer, all winds of even, ye O answer, all ye lights above, That watch in yonder dark'ning heaven; Thou, earth, in vernal radiance gay Why man should love the mind that made thee. There's not a flower that decks the vale, There's not a beam that lights the mountain, There's not a shrub that scents the gale, True love to us, and love undying. For in the past, ere time began, Ere first the new-made sun ascended, Even then, for thee, that bounteous mind, In far futurity designed Thy dwelling fast and lasting station. And seek we arguments of love, And ask we who he is that claims it? Mark yonder sun that rolls above, Or see yon host at starry noon Roll onward with majestic motion. |