in her last fight upon the scaffold, she had triumphed gloriously; victoriously she had tasted death. A soldier who had sworn to throw a fagot on the pile, turned away, a penitent for life, on hearing her last prayer to her Saviour. He had seen, he said, a white dove soar to heaven from the ashes where the brave girl had stood. Illustrious to-day, through the efforts of her countryman, Monseigneur Dupanloup, Joan's memory is to be held up to still greater fame. Through the sunlit windows of a great Cathedral, the gift of the noble of Joan's sex, her legend as told in the tinted glass will cause men to give glory to Him who was her strength. The name that fire could not tarnish will, through the cheery reflections of summer sun and autumn glow, through the gladdening gleams of spring's fair mornings, be reflected in the house of her Creator. The chills of the winter of historical falsehood have passed, Joan lives in the windows of holy Church, the glory of her sisters' land. COMPOSITION. Give a short sketch of Joan's execution. Name three or four noble ladies who also met with tragic deaths for their country or for God's And false the light on glory's plume, And love, and hope, and beauty's bloom Write the first stanza of this selection. Change all the nouns, adjectives and verbs in last two stanzas. Mention six circumstances in which we see "the smiles of joy;" six on which we notice "the tears of woe." Explain "fancy's flash," "reason's ray." illusion deceitful plume fancy's THE LION. THE lion is often erroneously styled lord of the forest; nevertheless, the forest is not his haunt; he lives in desert, arid plains, lightly covered with shrubby vegetation, or interspersed with tracts of low brushwood; or, in India, he frequents the borders of rivers, and makes his lair in the jungles. The lion slumbers during the day in his retreat, and as night falls he prowls abroad in search of prey. He loves the nocturnal tempests of wind and rain so common in Southern Africa; his voice mingles with the thunder, and adds to the terror of the timid animals, on whom he then boldly advances. He usually, however, waits in ambush, or creeps insidiously towards his victim, which he dashes to the earth, with a bound and a rush. In South Africa the lion is seldom seen, unless surprised asleep in his lair of thicket. Except in darkness or during violent storms, which excite the fiercer carnivora, he is a timid animal, much less feared by the people than the angry and agile leopard. When encountered in the daytime, he stands a second or two gazing; then turns slowly round, and walks as slowly away for a dozen paces, looking over his shoulder; he then begins to trot, and when he thinks himself out of sight, bounds like a greyhound. : If attacked, however, he will show fight, as the following experience, not likely to be often repeated, will testify: 'Being about thirty yards off the foe," says Dr. Livingstone, "I took a good aim at his body, through the bush, and fired both barrels into it. The men then called out, 'He is shot! he is shot!' others cried, 'He has been shot by another man, too; let us go to him!' I did not see any one else shoot at him; but I saw the lion's tail erected in anger behind the bush, and, turning to the peeple, said, 'Stop a little, till I load again! When in the act of ramming down the bullets I heard a shout. Starting, and looking half round, I saw the lion just in the act of springing upon me. I was upon a little height. He caught my shoulder as he sprang, and we both came to the ground below together. Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced a stupor similar to that which seems to be felt by a mouse after the first shake of the cat. It caused a sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense of pain or feeling of terror. It was like what patients partially under the influence of chloroform describe, who see all the operation, but feel not the knife. This singular condition was not the result of any mental process. The shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of horror in looking round at the beast. This peculiar state is probably produced in all animals killed by the carnivora; and, if so, is a merciful provision by our beneficent Creator for lessening the pain of death. Turning round to relieve myself of the weight, as he had one paw on the back of my head, I saw his eyes directed to Mebalwe, who was trying to shoot him at the distance of fifteen yards. His gun, a flint one, missed fire in both barrels. The lion immediately left me, and, attacking Mebalwe, bit his thigh. Another man, whose life I had saved before, after he had been tossed by a buffalo, attempted to spear the lion while he was biting Mebalwe. He left Mebalwe and caught this man by the shoulder, but at that moment the bullets he had received had taken effect, and he fell down dead. The whole was the work of a few moments, and must have been his paroxysm of dying rage. Besides crunching the bone into splinters, he left eleven teeth wounds in the upper part of my arm.'" Dr. Livingstone contradicts the generally received stories about the majestic roar of the lion. "The silly ostrich," says he, "makes a noise as loud, yet it was never feared by man.' On my mentioning this fact some years ago the assertion was doubted; so I have been careful ever since to inquire the opinion of Europeans who have heard both, if they could detect any difference between the roar of a lion and that of an ostrich. The invariable answer was that they could not when the animal was at a distance. The natives assert that they can detect a variation at the commencement of the noise of each. There is, it must be admitted, a considerable difference between the singing noise of a lion when full, and his deep, gruff voice when hungry. In general, the lion's voice seems to come deeper from the chest than that of an ostrich but to this day I can distinguish between them with certainty only by knowing that the ostrich roars by day, and the lion by night. Attempts to deprive the lion of its prey are of frequent occurrence in the interior of Africa. Indeed, it is no unusual thing to find a number of natives residing near such pools of water as are frequented by antelopes, other wild animals, and their constant attendant, the lion, subsisting almost altogether in this way, or on carcasses which the lion has not had time to devour before the return of day, when it is his habit to return to his lair. Questions: Why should not the lion be termed the "lord of the forest"? Where does he usually live? When does he hunt his prey? What seasons are specially agreeable to him? What is his usual way of hunting his prey? What are the "carnivora"? What is his ordinary character? What animal do the natives of Africa dread more than the lion? How does the animal act when encountered in the daytime? Who was Dr. Livingstone? Give an account of his adventure with a lion. What effect had the shock upon him? What does he suppose was the cause of this state? What wise purpose may be seen in this? What is its great use? Does Dr. Livingstone believe in the "majestic" roar of the lion? Whose cry does its roar resemble at other times? How was Dr. Livingstone able to distinguish between the cry of the ostrich and that of the lion? How does the lion contribute to the support of many of the natives of Africa? COMPOSITION. Write a short account of the lion's roar. Tell how it may be distinguished from the ostrich's cry. Describe the manner in which lions furnish some of the natives with food. |