covered with? Scales. The scales grow from the skin in the same manner as the hairy covering of land animals. Have fishes any feet? No; but where the feet should be, they have fins, to assist them in swimming. What kind of a tail has a fish? Generally flat and broad; it is by bending the body, and pressing the tail against the water, that they move forwards. Look at the form of the fish-its head tapers to a point-the body swells in the middle, and tapers or grows less towards the tail, and the head seems to join the body without a neck. How do fishes breathe? Not as we do, by taking pure air into the lungs, but by taking water into their mouths, and passing it out through their gills, which are the lungs of fishes; but it is not water, after all, that keeps the fish alive; for if there were not air mixed with the water, the fish would die, so that it is the air which is in the water that they breathe. All fishes have a skull and back bone, a brain, and nerves to feel with. They have eyes, but no eye-lids-ears, which are inside their heads, and they have the senses of smell, taste, and touch. The blood of fishes is cold. Fish are produced from small eggs called spawn. You have seen the hard roe of the herring; this is the spawn. You know that fish live and move about in the water; but I want you to think how they move. When we walk about, we rest our weight upon the ground, and move along by steps. Birds, when at rest, perch on trees or on the ground to support the weight of their bodies, and they fly by beating their wings on the air, thus supporting and moving themselves; but if a bird closes his wings, he falls to the ground, for he is heavier than the air. Now let us turn to the fish. If you drop a stone into the water, it sinks. Why? It is heavier than the water. If you place a piece of wood on the water, it floats. Why? It is lighter than the water; but a fish neither rises nor sinks; it is about the same weight as the water, so that it can stay still where it likes, and has

N

VERSES FOR VERY LITTLE CHILDREN.

God lives on high,
Beyond the sky;
And angels bright,
All cloth'd in white,
The praises sing
Of heaven's King.

This God can see
Both you and me;
Can see at night
As in the light;
And all we do
Remembers too.

"Tis he bestows
My food and clothes;
And my soft bed
To rest my head;
And cottage neat,
And mother sweet.

And should not I

For ever try

To do what he

Has ordered me,

And dearly love

This Friend above?

I always should

Be very good;

At home should mind

My parents kind;

At school obey

What teachers say.

Now if I fight,

And scratch and bite,

In passions fall,

And bad names call,

Full well I know

Where I shall go.

And when I learn my hymns to say,
And work, and read, and spell,
I will not think about my play,
But try and do it well.

For God looks down from heaven on high,

Our actions to behold;

And he is pleased when children try

To do as they are told.

BROTHERLY LOVE.

The God of heaven is pleased to see
That little children all agree,

And will not slight the praise they bring
When loving children join to sing.

For love and kindness please him more
Than if we gave him all our store,
And children here, who dwell in love,
Are like his happy ones above.

The gentle child who tries to please,
Who hates to quarrel, fret, and tease,
And would not say an angry word-
That child is pleasing to the Lord.

O Lord! forgive, whenever we
Forget thy will and disagree,
And grant that each of us may find
The sweet delight of being kind.

Mrs. Gilbert.

CHILDREN BROUGHT TO JESUS.

As infants once to Christ were brought,
That he might bless them there,

So now we little children ought

To seek the same by prayer.