kill other animals, and then eat them; these are called beasts of prey. Others devour dead animals; others live on grass, herbs, roots, leaves, flowers, and grain, and even on plants which would poison us.

Oxen, cows, sheep, horses, and goats eat grass. Dogs and cats eat flesh. Fowls and geese eat various kinds of grain. Bees live on the juices of flowers. Caterpillars, and many other insects, live on leaves.

Some animals have arms and legs, as the apes; others, such as snakes and worms, have neither arms nor legs. Some animals have two legs; others four, others six or eight, and some many more. Some have wings, as birds; others fins, as fishes; and others, as insects and worms, have feelers, like horns, which they can draw in or thrust out as they please.

Animals sleep when they are tired; and some of them, the hare for instance, sleep with their eyes open; some sleep standing, as the horse often does. Many of them sleep in the daytime, because they hunt at night for prey: this is the case with owls and bats, and several wild beasts. Some animals, like the dormouse, sleep through the whole winter, and do not wake till warm weather returns.

LXX.-BENEFITS DERIVED FROM ANIMALS.

WE make great use of some of the animals, particularly of sheep, of oxen, and of cows. The sheep gives us wool, of which we make our clothes. The flesh of the sheep, when it is killed, is called mutton.

The flesh of the ox is called beef. Its hide, or skin, is tanned into leather, of which the shoemaker makes shoes and boots. In many countries the ox draws the plough. The cow gives us milk; and butter and cheese are made of milk.

Horses are useful for riding, for drawing carriages, and for ploughing. Mules are smaller than horses; they are very strong, and carry heavy loads, but are not so swift-footed as horses.

In cold countries the reindeer draws sledges; and in hot countries the elephant and the camel carry heavy loads for the use of man.

Birds are useful in various ways. Some delight us with their song; some serve for food, both with their flesh and their eggs; some supply feathers, with which beds are filled. Others destroy vermin, which would injure our fruits, and some large birds kill snakes and lizards.

Fowls are commonly kept in poultry yards; waterfowl, such as ducks, swim about in ponds; singing birds are heard in the woods and fields, and some, as bullfinches and canaries, are kept in cages. Birds of prey, such as eagles, vultures, and hawks, seldom come within the reach of man.

Fishes also supply man with food.

There are

some countries where the inhabitants live all the year round mostly upon fish.

Insects render us service in destroying weeds, and in consuming the carcasses of dead animals, which would make the air unwholesome. Bees supply us with honey and wax, which they store in beehives. Some sorts of shell fish are eatable, such as the oyster, the lobster, and the crab. Mother-of-pearl, of which the handles of penknives are sometimes made, is found in the shells of fish.

Some little insects are useful in making sponge. They make it upon rocks in the sea; and they live in the holes which we see in the sponge.

The leech, which is a sort of worm, is often very useful to some sick persons by sucking their blood, and thus saving their lives.

Many animals serve us with their skins. animals are the ox, the calf, the

the hog, the goat, and the deer.

Such

sheep, the horse,

Various kinds of

leather are made of their skins; and shoes, saddles, harness, trunks, and many other useful things, are made of leather.

There is also an

animal called the seal, whose skin is very useful. Oil, for burning in lamps, is also obtained from the seal, and from other animals, as the whale.

The skins or hides of animals, when they are thickly covered with soft downy hair, are made into furs. The short hair of some animals is scraped off, and used in making hats.

The animals whose flesh is eaten, are the ox, the sheep, the hog, the deer, the hare, the rabbit, fowls, ducks, geese, turkeys, the partridge, the pheasant, and many others.

A gentle, modest lad.

And very hard this widow toiled
To feed her children four;
An honest pride the woman felt,
Though she was very poor.

To labor, she would leave her home-
For children must be fed;

And glad was she when she could buy
A shilling's worth of bread.

1 Pron. ran'dēr. 2 tǎnd.

And this was all the children had

On any day to eat;

They drank their water, ate their bread,
But never tasted meat.

One day, when snow was falling fast,
And piercing was the air,

I thought that I would go and see
How these poor children were.

Ere long I reached their cheerless home;—
'Twas searched by every breeze;
When, going in, the eldest child
I saw upon his knees.

I paused to listen to the boy -
He never raised his head,
But still went on, and said, "Give us
This day our daily bread."

I waited till the child was done,
Still listening as he prayed;
And, when he rose, I asked him why
The Lord's Prayer he had said.

"Why, sir," said he, " this morning, when

My mother went away,

She wept, because, she said, she had

No bread for us to-day.

"She said we children now must starve,

Our father being dead;