compose them, are taken up again by the air, and so they disappear.

11. The evaporation of water is going on all the time, from all ponds, and lakes, and seas, and rivers from the ground, the leaves of trees, the brooks-from all vessels of water, or watery liquids

and from all wet things, of every kind; and thus the air is continually receiving new supplies.

12. Then there is another way by which water is turned into vapor, besides being taken up by the atmosphere; that is, by boiling it, and thus changing it into steam.

13. What you see coming out of the nose of the teakettle is not strictly steam, though commonly so called. Real steam is invisible.

14. If you heat water very hot indeed, it turns into a kind of hot, scalding air, which is really steam. This steam is, in fact, water spread out, as it were, very thin, and pressing out in every direc tion, just like air, only it is all composed of particles of water; and as soon as you let it cool, it turns back to water again.

THE SAME.. - CONTINUED.

1. So there are two ways of getting water off from an iron which is wet. The first way is, to leave the iron out in the air, and the air will gradually take all the water up, by its attraction for water; and if you warm the iron or the air a little, the air will take it up all the faster.

2. But the second way is, to put the iron over the fire, and heat it very hot indeed; then the water will turn at once into steam, and go off from the iron, whether there is any air over it or not.

3. As soon as the steam gets away from the hot iron, and mixes a little with the cold air, it cools, and turns into little drops of water again, making a little white cloud.

4. The way a teakettle boils is thus. The fire below heats the bottom of the kettle so hot, that the water next to it turns into steam. This steam now is a great deal lighter than the water; and so it rises up through the water, in great bubbles.

5. If the fire is very hot, these bubbles of steam come up. very fast, and make the boiling noise that we hear. This bubbling and boiling is because the fire is under the kettle, and consequently the bubbles of steam are formed at the bottom, and have to rise up through the water.

6. If the heat were to come only upon the top of the water, I suppose there would be no bubbling; for the steam would be formed there, and would pass off at once, silently, without bubbling through the water at all.

7. Now, when these bubbles come up to the upper part of the kettle, they fill the whole space above the water with steam; and, if you could peep in there, you would see that there was no cloudy appearance of vapor there; it would be pure and transparent, like air.

8. I have seen water boiled in a flask; and then I could see through the sides of the flask, and it was all perfectly transparent and colorless; though, as soon as the steam came out of the top into the cool air, it turned into a column of visible vapor.

9. Besides, if you look into the nose of the teakettle, you will see that there is no appearance of any cloudiness within, nor even without, until the steam has got away a little distance from the hot iron, so as to be cooled a little.

10. You can see it, too, in chimneys, where wood is burning, or any other fuel which contains

moisture.

11. In a cold morning, a cloud of steam, as it is generally called, comes out from the top; but it does not begin to show itself, until it has got up a foot or two above the top of the chimney; for it comes out so hot, that it must proceed a little way into the air, to get cool enough to turn back into water again, or to become condensed.

12. There are two ways, then, by which water may be carried off into the air. One is, by boiling it, and turning it into steam; and in this case, it goes off in a mass, which is, in fact, all water, though it appears like air.

13. The other way is, to let the air gradually take it up by attraction; and in this case, it mingles with the air, and floats away. And when steam

goes up into the air, it almost immediately becomes condensed into a cloud of very small, watery globules, and these are then gradually dissolved by the air.

14. If it were not for these modes, by which water is carried up and diffused through the air. the world would soon be in a sad condition; for if any thing was once wet, we could never dry it.

15. Now, if we get oil upon our clothes or hands, or upon a board, it is very difficult to get it out. The reason is, the atmosphere will not take it up; and we cannot easily contrive any way to remove it.

16. If the air would not take up water, then, when our hands were once wet, they would have to remain wet. Every thing we touched would be wet. We could not dry any thing.

17. Then, again, the ground would be permanently wet and muddy; for if the atmosphere had no attraction for water, all the water which is now in the atmosphere would fall at once, and flood the ground.

18. A great part of this would run off into the

rivers and sea; but enough would be retained by the attraction of cohesion, to make every thing wet and disagreeable.

19. After the water which is now in the atmosphere, had fallen down, no more could ever get up; and we should never have any more clouds or rain. The water in the streams and rivers would soon all run off into the sea.

20. Thus you see, children, how well the properties of water have been arranged, to make this world a pleasant place for us to live in.

COME, LET US PRAY.

1. COME, let us pray: 'tis sweet to feel
That God himself is near;

That, while we at his footstool kneel,
His mercy deigns to hear.

Though sorrows cloud life's dreary way,
This is our solace: let us pray.

2. Come, let us pray: the burning brow,
The heart oppressed with care,
And all the woes that throng us now,
Will be relieved by prayer.

Our God will chase our griefs away:
O, glorious thought!-come, let us pray.

3. Come, let us pray: the mercy seat
Invites the fervent prayer;

Our heavenly Father waits to greet
The contrite spirit there.

O, loiter not, nor longer stay

From him who loves us : let us pray.

OBEYING GOD.

1. WHEN God says, "Sun, shine in the skies!" the Sun directly answers, not in words, but in deeds

"Here am I, to do my Maker's will, to light up earth and heaven with my glory, to gild all things with gold, and to make the whole creation rejoice."

2. When God says to the Moon, "Appear!" the Moon replies" Here am I, with my silvery light, to scatter the darkness, and to render night lovely."

3. When God says to the Stars, "Shine forth! they instantly answer-"We are thy servants, and gladly do thy bidding. Already are we in the skies, and there will we keep watch, till thou givest us leave to retire."

4. Thus do the Sun, and the Moon, and the Stars obey their almighty Maker.

5. When God says to the Spring, "Come forth with thy flowers!" does she tarry, or refuse to answer? No; "I come," says the Spring. "Here are my greenest leaves. Here are my freshest flowers, wherewith to beautify the earth. The snow- drop is in the garden, and the primrose on the banks and in the coppice."

6. When God says to the Summer, " Gladden the earth!" the answer of Summer is this "At thy voice, I spread my influence abroad; the birds are warbling, the flowers are blooming, the trees are blossoming, and nature is rejoicing."

7. When God says to the Autumn, "Withhold not thy fruit!" "They are here," is Autumn's reply. "The bush is laden with berries, and the trees with fruit, and the fields are waving their golden grain, ready for the sickle of the husbandman."

8. When God says to the Winter, "Where art thou, and where are thy storms?" "They are abroad at thy command," replies Winter. "Frost has bound