office, and handed the draft to one of the clerks. The clerk read the draft, then turned it over and looked at the back, and then he looked at Forester. He seemed to hesitate a moment, and then he carried the draft to an elderly-looking gentleman, who was sitting at a desk at the back side of the office.

28. The gentleman looked up at Forester a moment, and then made a sign of assent, and the clerk wrote a check and carried it to this gentleman to sign. When it was signed, he handed it to Forester, and put the draft in a drawer.

29. As they went out, Marco wanted to see the check. Forester showed it to him, and he saw that it was drawn upon the Massachusetts Bank. They went down State Street to the bank, and presented the check and got bills for the amount.

30. After this, Marco and Forester went home. On their way, Marco said, "I know a great deal more about banks and bankers than I ever did before."

“True,” rejoined Forester; "but, after all, you know very little."

THE HOURGLASS.

pass

1. MARK the golden grains that
Brightly through this crystal glass;
Measuring, by their ceaseless fall,
Heaven's most precious gift to all.

2. Pauseless till the sand be done,
See the silent current run;
Its task performed, its travel past,
Like mortal man, it rests at last.

3. Yet let some hand invert the frame,
And all its powers return again;
For all the golden grains remain,
To work their little hour again.

4. But who shall turn the glass for man, From which the golden current ran ? Collect again the precious sand

Which Time has scattered with his hand?

5. Bring back life's stream with vital power,
And bid it run another hour?

A thousand years of toil were vain,
To gather up one single grain.

FURNISH YOURSELF WITH IDEAS.

1. THE way to attain an extensive treasure of ideas is, to read the best books, and converse with the wisest men, and suffer no hour to pass in idleness, or in impertinent, useless chattering.

2. There are some persons who never arrive at any valuable knowledge in either science, or in the business of life, because they are perpetually fluttering over the surface of things in a curious wandering search after an infinite variety.

3. They are ever reading, ever hearing, and ever asking after something new, but impatient of any labor, to lay up and preserve any ideas they have gained.

4. Their minds may be compared to a looking glass, that receives the images of all objects, whichever way it is turned, but retains none.

5. A love of reading should be cultivated; and care should be taken to select the very first order of

books, because young persons are, to some extent, chameleon-like. They are apt to take a tinge from the company they keep; so they may from the books they read.

6. It is not enough merely to read books. Care must be taken how we read them. One class of readers may be compared to the hourglass. Their reading is like the sand; it runs in, and it runs out, and leaves no vestige behind.

7. Another class is like the sponge; it imbibes every thing, and returns it nearly in the same state, only a little more impure. A few are like the filter, which allows all that is pure to pass through it, and retains only the refuse and dregs.

PRIDE AND THE POPPIES.

1. "WE little Red-caps are among the corn,
Merrily dancing at early morn.

We know that the farmer hates to see
Our saucy red faces; but here are we!

2. "We pay no price for our summer coats,
Like those slavish creatures, Barley and Oats;
We won't be ground, winnowed, or beat,
Like our heavy-head neighbor, Gaffer Wheat.

3. "Who dare thrash us, we should like to know! Grind us, and bag us, and use us so!

Let meaner and shabbier things than we
So stupidly bend to utility!"

4. So said little Red-cap; and all the rout
Of the Poppy clan raised a mighty shout-
Mighty for them; but if you had heard,
You had thought it the cry of a tiny bird.

5. So the Poppy folks flaunted it over the field; In pride of grandeur, they nodded and reeled, And shook out their jackets, till naught was seen But a wide, wide shimmer of scarlet and green.

6. The Bluebottle sat on her downy stalk,

Quietly smiling at all their talk.

The Marigold still spread her rays to the sun,
And the purple Vetch climbed to see the fun.

7. Forth went the reapers, a right merry band; The sickles were glancing in each strong hand; And the wealthy farmer came trotting along On his gay little 'mid whistle and song.

pony,

8. "We'll cut this barley to-day," quoth he, As he tied his white pony under a tree; "And next the upland wheat, and then the oats." How the poppies shook in their scarlet coats!

9. Ay, shook with laughter, not fear; for they Never dreamed they too should be swept away; Yes, they chuckled, they laughed, to think that all Their "useful" neighbors were doomed to fall.

10. They swelled and bustled with such an air, The cornfields quite in commotion were; And the farmer cried, glancing o'er the grain, "How those rascally weeds have come up again!"

11. "Ha ha!" laughed the Red-caps; "ha! ha! what a fuss

Must the poor weeds be in! how they're envy

ing us!

But their mirth was cut short by the sturdy

strokes

They speedily met from the harvest folks.

12. "Ah!" said the Bluebottle, " my dying friends, The same dire fate alike attends

Those who in scarlet or blue are dressed;

Then how silly the pride that so late possessed

13. "Our friends the Red-caps! How low they lie, Who were lately so pert, and vain, and high! They sneered at us and our plain array;

Are we now a whit more humble than they?

14. "They scorned our neighbors; the goodly

corn

Was the butt of their merriment, eve and

morn;

They lived on its land, from its bounty fed,
But a word of thanks they never have said.

15." And which is the worthiest now, I pray?
Have ye not learned enough to-day?

Is not the corn sheafed up with care?
And are not the poppies left dying there?

16. "The corn will be carried and garnered up
To gladden man's heart both with loaf and

cup;

And some of the seed the land now yields
Will be brought again to its native fields,-

17. "And grow and ripen and wave next year,
As richly as this hath ripened here;
And we poor weeds, though needed not,
Perchance may spring on this very spot.

18. "But let us be thankful and humble too;
Not proud and vain of a gaudy hue;
Ever remembering, though meanly dressed,
That usefulness is of all gifts the best."