THE ASSUAGING OF THE WATERS.

"And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

And the

"And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar. Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

"And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you: neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.”—GEN. viii. 13-22, ix. 8-15.

P. You may get your map of Asia, Willie, and look for the Caspian Sea. Near there is a lofty mountain called MOUNT Ararat, where olive-trees and vines grow.

The Bible tells us that "on the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month," the ark of Noah rested on this mountain. We read, too, that, as Noah saw that the waters were becoming lower and lower every day, he waited until the end of forty days, and sent forth a raven; the bird did not return to him, but went "to and fro" until the waters were dried up. He then thought it likely that there were some dry places on the earth for the raven to stand upon, and he sent forth a dove. You may read that this dove could not find any resting-place for the sole of her foot, and that she returned unto the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth.

W. Then I wonder why the raven did not come back too-was it drowned? Perhaps it flew a long way until it was very tired and could not fly back again—then it would drop into the water.

Ion. I don't think that a raven would be so silly. I have thought of