Author of "Hours of Thought," and the " Palace of Fantasy," &c. O HAPPY, happy Spring! that brings us violet-flowers. And thou, sweet, welcome, smiling Spring, art come to us at last, O happy, happy Spring! thy chaplet, primrose-flowers, O happy, happy Spring! that deck'st the earth with flowers, O happy, happy Spring! that gives us buds and flowers, That cheers, with halcyon, dove-like smiles, e'en life's last waning hours; That tells us winter stern is past, and points where yonder lies, A happier and a lovelier Spring, that blooms in cloudless skies. O happy, happy Spring! with pathway strewn with flowers, The gloomy season's gone, the cheerless days are past, Oh! give the bounteous GIVER praise, that Spring is come at last. THE GATHERING OF THE NATIONS, 1851. to When nations met of old, they bore But trumpet, pennon, steel; Their When nations met of old, they bore But trumpet, pennon, steel; Their The ancients' boast was th' arm-ed hosts, For ever ripe for CRES. war; But CRES. The ancients' boast was th' arm-ed hosts, For ever ripe for war; But CRES. Chapter of Varieties. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE | atmospheric air. This proportion is ATMOSPHERE. When we reflect upon the number of gases and vapours that are disengaged on the surface of the globe from all the decompositions of the great animal and vegetable kingdoms, together with all the poisonous matter of infectious disease, we might expect, at least, to find a long list of elements in the analysis of the atmosphere. But not so. Oxygen, | nitrogen, vapour of water, and a small fraction of carbonic acid gas, are all at present detected. This is the same in town or country, on the plain or the mountain top; or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say, chemistry is not yet sufficiently advanced to detect the difference. Surely the air that sweeps the Pontine marshes, branding the native of that treacherous climate with the appearance of age in his youth, or that air which surrounds the pallid sedentary mechanic in the densely populated city, cannot be the same which gives the sailor and the rustic farmer such a ruddy countenance. Therefore, at present, the best test of the purity of an atmosphere is its effect on the constitution. In 100 parts of atmospheric air there are 23 parts of oxygen gas, and 77 of nitrogen (Dumas and Boussingault). The quantity of carbonic acid gas is variable: from the mean of various experiments it exists in the proportion of one volume in 2,000 of greater near the level of the sea in summer than in winter, and greater during the night than during the day, and rather more abundant on the summit of mountains than on the plains.-Selected. a THE REASON WHY. A little fellow came running into the house, exclaiming, “Oh! sister Mary, I've such a pretty thing. It's piece of glass, and it's all red! When I look through it everything looks red too—the trees, houses, green grass, and your face, and even your blue eyes." "Yes, John,” replied Mary, "it is very beautiful, and let me show you that you can learn a useful lesson from this pretty thing. You remember the other day you thought everybody was cross to you. You said father, mother, and I, were all the time finding fault with you. Now, you were like this piece of glass. Because it is red, everything seen through it looks red; you were cross, so you thought everybody around you was cross too. But when you get up in the morning in a good humour, loving and helping every body, they too will seem kind and loving toward you. Now, remember, brother, and always be what you wish others to be-kind, gentle, loving; and they, seen through this beautiful colour of your disposition, will seem more beautiful than ever." Of all months in the year, perhaps, that of June is the most truly pleasant and beautiful. There is a perfection about the month none other wears. The spring is over, and summer is fairly here. The trees are in full foliage, the flowers in full bloom, the woods and groves in full song. Go out early in the morning, or late in the evening, and there is a freshness and sweetness and loveliness about everything you see that belongs peculiarly to June. In July, the leaves will have got a deeper tint, the flowers already begun to pass, the birds will have almost ceased to sing, and the freshness of the beginning of June, seen and felt everywhere, be found to have BIBLE CLASS MAGAZINE.] [JUNE, 1851. G |