But the notion that these pictures were the representation of actual, though now extinct, monsters; that the statements which seemed so dry and unintelligible in print were such as could be actually verified by our own eyes in nature; that, beneath and beyond the present creation, there lay around us the memorials of other creations not less glorious, and infinitely older, than our books or our teachers taught us, and that these memorials could be learned by looking at nature for ourselves—all this was strange to me. It came now for the first time like a new revelation - one that has gladdened my life ever since.

We worked on industriously at the rubbish heap, and found an untold sum of wonders. To our imagination, the plants, insects, shells, and fishes of our rambles met us again in the rock. There was little that some one of the party could not explain, and thus our limestone became a more extraordinary gathering of organic remains, I will venture to say, than ever perturbed the brain of a geologist.

It did not occur at the time to any of us to inquire why a perch came to be embalmed among ivy and rose leaves; why a seashore whelk lay entwined in the folds of a butterfly; or why a beetle should seem to have been doing his utmost to dance a pirouette round the tooth of a fish.

All these questions came to be asked afterward, and then I saw how erroneous were my boyish identifications. But knowing little of the subject, I believed everything, and with implicit faith piled up dragon flies, ferns, fishes, beetle cases, violets, seaweeds, and shells.

Then came the packing up. Each had amassed a pile of specimens well-nigh as large as himself, and it was of course impossible to carry everything away. A rapid selection had therefore to be made. And oh with how much reluctance were we compelled to relinquish many of the stones, the discovery whereof had made the opposite cavern ring again with our jubilee!

Not one of us had provided himself with a bag, so we stowed away the treasures in our pockets. Surely practical geometry offers not a more perplexing problem than to gauge the capacity of these parts of a schoolboy's dress. So we loaded ourselves to the full, and marched along with the fossils crowded into every available corner.

Such was my first geological excursion-a simple event enough, and yet the turning point in a life. Little did I dream though, then, that those few hours in the old cave would decide my career. Thenceforward the rocks and their fossil treasures formed the chief subject of my every-day thoughts. That day stamped my fate, and I became a geologist.

No...
TEACHERS' LIBRARY
SANTA CLARA COUNTY

THE SOUTH.

RICHARD HENRY STODDARD.

Half-way between the frozen zones,
Where winter reigns in sullen mirth,
The summer binds a golden belt
About the middle of the earth.

The sky is soft, and blue, and bright
With purple dyes at morn and night;
And sunny bays with inland curves
Round all along the quiet shore;
And stately palms in pillared ranks
Grow down the borders of the banks,
And juts of land where billows roar;
The spicy woods are full of birds,

And golden fruits, and crimson flowers;
With wreathed vines on every bough,
That shed their grapes in purple showers
The emerald meadows roll their waves
And bask in soft and mellow light;
The vales are full of silver mist,

And all the folded hills are bright;
But far along the welkin's rim
The purple crags and peaks are dim;
And dim the gulfs, and gorges blue,

With all the wooded passes deep;
All steeped in haze, and washed in dew,
And bathed in atmospheres of sleep!
Sometimes the dusky islanders

Lie all day long beneath the trees
And watch the white clouds in the sky
And birds upon the azure seas;

Sometimes they wrestle on the turf

And chase each other down the sands;
And sometimes climb the bloomy groves

And pluck the fruit with idle hands;
And dark-eyed maidens braid their hair
With starry shells, and buds, and leaves,
And sing wild songs in dreamy bowers

And dance on dewy eves

When daylight melts, and stars are few,
And west winds frame a drowsy tune,
Till all the charmed waters sleep
Beneath a yellow moon!

Here men may dwell, and mock at toil
And all the dull mechanic arts;
No need to till the teeming soil,

With weary hands and aching hearts;
No want can follow folded palms,
For Nature doth supply her alms
With sweets purveyors can not bring
To grace the table of a king;

While summer broods o'er land and sea,
And breathes in all the winds,

Until her presence fills their hearts
And molds their happy minds!

jut, a projection.

pil'lared, like pillars or columns.

pur vey' or (va'), one who provides food.

wel' kin, the sky.

zone, geographical belt round the earth.

DORLCOTE MILL.

GEORGE ELIOT.

A wide plain, where the broadening Floss hurries on between its green banks to the sea, and the loving tide, rushing to meet it, checks its passage with an impetuous embrace. On this mighty tide the black ships, laden with the freshly-scented fir planks, with rounded sacks of oil-bearing seed, or with the dark glitter of coal, are borne along to St. Ogg's. This town shows its aged, fluted red roofs and the broad gables of its wharves between the low wooded hill and the river brink, tingeing the water with a soft purple hue under the transient glance of this February sun.

Far away, on each hand, stretch the rich pastures and the patches of dark earth, made ready for the seed of the broad-leaved green crops, or touched already with the tint of the tender-bladed autumnsown grain. The distant ships seem to be lifting their masts and stretching their red-brown sails close among the branches of the spreading ash. Just by the red-roofed town the tributary Ripple flows, with a lively current, into the Floss.

How lovely the little river is, with its dark, changing wavelets! It seems to me like a living companion, while I wander along the bank and listen to its low, placid voice as to the voice of one who is deaf and loving. I remember those large dipping willows. I remember the stone bridge; and this is Dorlcote Mill. I must stand a minute or two here on the bridge and look at it, though the clouds are threatening, and it is far on in the afternoon. Even