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they are making. There! the brown dog has routed out the otter from under the root of the old ash-tree. The otter has caught the dog by the thigh, and bitten out the piece; for his teeth are sharp, and he never loses hold but with his life. See, see! a hunter has run the otter through against the bank; and now, with the dogs yelping and barking and leaping around him, he is holding up the fierce animal at the top of his spear. "I never saw an otter; what is it like ?"

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"Oh, it is an odd-looking creature, with a head and nose broad and flat, and a wide

mouth. Its length, from the tip of the nose to the tail, may be two feet. It lives on fish, of which it devours great numbers; and for this reason it is destroyed. When taken young, the otter may be easily tamed, and taught to catch fish for its master. The usual way of training it, is first to make it fetch and carry like a dog. A truss stuffed with wool, in the shape of a fish, is then given to it: this it is accustomed to take in its mouth, and drop at command. It is then taught to fetch real dead fish, when thrown into the water; and thus, by degrees, made to catch living fish."

"The picture of the otter-hunt is full of life and spirit. When I have an otter, he shall not be speared, for I shall teach him to fish for me."

"You forget that you blamed Fallows for fishing. I must repeat to you the wellknown lines

"The faults of our neighbours with freedom we blame, Though we tax not ourselves when we practise the same.'

But enough of pictures for the present. You shall have some more to-morrow."

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FORD AND FERRY PICTURES.

A ford-A ferry-The miller's team-The five grey horsesThe jingling bells -The wagon crossing the river-The sun and clouds reflected in the running water-Farmer Bradstock and young Starkey-Old Franklin and Jenkins the ferryman-Young Starkey gets a ducking Squire Perrins crosses the river with his young hunter in the horse-boat. "I TOLD you of the river, Edwin, but I said nothing of the ford or the ferry. The ford, you know, is a shallow part of a river or brook, where horses, carts, and wagons may

go through the water safely; and the ferry is where the ferryman carries passengers across the stream in his boat."

"Yes; and I dare say you will give me some good pictures of both. First, you must begin with the ford."

"You shall have a picture or two of the ford. Never did I see the water in the river so low before; it is not more than half its usual breadth. If it were not for the deep part just in the middle, a boy might cross it by taking off his shoes and stockings."

"Oh, then, it must be shallow. Does the water run rapidly?”

"It does in some places. Here comes a wagon laden with corn. It belongs to the miller: I can tell that by the five grey horses. The fore-horse has half a dozen bells hanging from an ornamented bow or bridge about his collar. What a jingling they make!" "Do the bells make the horses draw better?"

"I should think not: but many of the lanes in the neighbourhood are very narrow; so that if two teams were to meet in them, they could not pass, except in certain places. The bells are heard at a distance, and give notice that the miller's team is coming."

"That is a very good plan. I do not wonder at the miller having bells to his team now."

"The wagon has just entered the river, with a boy on the fore-horse, and the miller's man on the shafter; and hardly is the water above the fetlocks of the broadbacked greys. Now it gets deeper. See, see! it is more than half way up the wagon wheels. The fore-horse will stop to drinkthe boy kicks his sides with his heels, and the miller's man smacks his whalebone whip. They have now crossed the river, and are going up the steep road on the bank; the bells ringing, the traces jingling, the boy busier than ever with his heels, the man smacking his whip louder than before, and crying haw! height!' and the five greys straining all their strength."

"Well done greys! they have got through at last, and now the boy and the miller's man ought to get off the fore-horse and the shafter."

"The sun is shining bright in the skies on the opposite side of the river, and the glowing orb and many-coloured clouds are reflected in the water. A sun above, and a sun below. I am half blind with the glittering brightness. If the sun be thus glorious, how glorious must He be who made sun, moon, and stars!

'Ere the morning's busy ray
Call you to your work away,
Ere the silent evening close

Your wearied eyes in sweet repose,

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