LESSON VIII. ex hale', to breathe out. eạl'dron, a kettle of hot liquid. ôr'i fìçe, opening or mouth. ter res'tri al, earthly. priş mǎt'ie, having rainbow colors. trans pâr'en çy, clearness. u nïque', without an equal. GEYSERS AND HOT SPRINGS. In the Yellowstone region, described in the former lesson, hot springs are unusually numerous. It has been computed that in all there are about ten thousand of them. They vary in size from a well to a small lake. Some of the springs deposit lime, others silica or flint, and their temperature occasionally rises to more than two hundred degrees. In the early morning the hot mist which exhales from them is resorted to as a grateful relief by those who have spent the night on the ground and been chilled by the icy atmosphere of the elevated valley. The deposits around these great terrestrial caldrons are of singular beauty. Near the east fork of Madison River there is a basin comprehending more than a hundred springs, any one of which, were it alone, would be worthy of detailed description. The most beautiful of the group is distinguished by the name of the Prismatic Spring. Nothing, it has been said, devised by human art ever could equal the peculiar vividness and delicacy of coloring of these remarkable springs. Another, called the Rainbow Spring, is a basin six feet in diameter, having a thin ornamental border of silica, and filled to the brim with water of exquisite transparency. When its surface is rippled by a passing breeze, the reflected sunlight is broken by innumerable prisms, producing a most brilliant effect. Not less interesting are the geysers with which this region is thickly studded. One group of them extends along both banks of the Fire Hole River for a distance of three miles. Their temperature ranges from one hundred and six degrees to nearly two hundred. Old Faithful, as one of them is designated, spouts regularly every hour. The column of water which it throws up measures six feet in diameter and rises to a height of one hundred and thirty feet. By a series of successive impulses this column is held aloft for several minutes, after which the water falls back into the basin and flows over the edges and down the sides in streams. When the eruption ceases the water sinks out of sight, and nothing is heard but the occasional hiss caused by the steam, until the time approaches for another effort. On the opposite side of the river are two famous geysers, the Beehive and the Giantess. The former is described as a cone three feet high, with a circumference at the base of about twenty feet, and an oval orifice at the top having a diameter of three feet by two. The geyser is active about once in twenty-four hours. The column which it throws, and which completely fills the orifice, was found to rise to a height of two hundred and nineteen feet. The eruptions last from four and a half to fifteen or eighteen minutes. The stream, as seen by Professor Hayden, was fan-shaped. No water fell from it, as it was resolved into spray, which evaporated as soon as it was formed. Still more interesting, perhaps, than the Beehive is its companion geyser, the Giantess, which is not more than two hundred yards distant. Its opening is also oval, but it measures eighteen by twentyfive feet in diameter. When the geyser is at rest, gurgling sounds are heard far below, but no water is visible in the basin. When it is preparing to spout, "the water rises upward, spluttering, heaving, and hissing, and sending off immense clouds of steam. Before the final bound is made, it sometimes stands for several minutes within a few feet of the surface, foaming and gurgling and spouting jets of steam and hot water nearly to the top. “When it finally bursts forth, it hurls a column fully the size of the mouth to a height of sixty feet, and through this half a dozen smaller jets, ranging from six to fifteen feet in diameter, rise to a height of two hundred and fifty feet. The eruptions are irregular, and usually last from fifteen. to twenty minutes, so that one is able to enjoy to the fullest extent the grand and unique spectacle." Spell and pronounce: — silica, geysers, vividness, successive, column, diameter, impulse, regularly, brilliant, irregular, resolved, terrestrial, delicacy, evaporate, ornamental, and gurgling. Synonyms.-devise-invent; contrive; discover; imagine; plan; scheme; project. exquisite-nice; delicate; exact; accurate; refined; matchless; consummate; perfect. spectacle-show; sight; exhibition; representation; pageant. relief-alleviation; mitigation; aid; help; succor; assistance; remedy; redress. volumemass; bulk; quantity; dimensions. Questions on the Lesson.-What number of hot springs in the Yellowstone region? What is their size? How is the mist from them used? What is the peculiarity of the Prismatic Springof the Rainbow Spring? How high does the water rise in the various geysers described? What volume of water is lifted up by the Giantess ? How high? What heats the water? felled, chopped down. LESSON IX. eŎm'pe tençe, money sufficient to live upon. sŭe'eor (kûr), aid; help. gri māçe', a distortion of the A GOOD JOKE. A certain German nobleman provided his son with a tutor, who was to attend closely to him at all hours and improve his mind. One day these two came to the side of a wood, and there they found a tree half felled, and a pair of wooden shoes. The woodman was cooling his hot feet in a neighboring stream. The young nobleman took up a couple of pebbles and said to his tutor, "I'll put these in that old fellow's shoes, and we'll see his grimaces." "Hm!" says the tutor, "I don't think you'll get much fun out of that. You see he's a poor man, and probably thinks his lot hard enough without having stones put into his shoes. I can't help thinking that if you were to put a little money in, instead,- and you have plenty of that, you know, more than I should allow you if I were your father, -the old fellow would be far more astonished, and his grimaces would be far more entertaining. The generous youth caught fire at the idea, and put a dollar into each shoe. Then they hid behind a hedge, and watched the result of their trick. They had not long to wait. An elderly man came back to his hard work,—work a little beyond his years, and slipped his right foot into his right shoe. Feeling something hard in it, he took it off again, and discovered a bright silver dollar. His grave face wore a look of amazement, and the spies behind the hedge chuckled. He laid the coin in the palm of his hand, still gazing at it with wonder. He mechanically slipped his foot into the other shoe. There he found another coin. He took it up, and, holding up both his hands, stared at the coins with astonishment. Then he suddenly clasped his hands together, and fell upon his knees, crying out, in a loud voice: "O God! this is Thy doing. No mortal knows the state we are in at home, - my wife in her bed, my poor grandchildren, who have none but me to care for them, starving, and I hardly able to earn a crust with these old hands. It is God who has sent me these blessed coins, or one of His angels." · 66 Then he paused, and another idea struck him. Perhaps it is not an angel from heaven. There are angels even in this world,-human angels,— kind hearts that love to feed the hungry and succor the poor. One of these may have passed by, like sunshine in winter, and seen the poor old man's shoes, and dropped all this money into them, then gone on again, not even waiting to be thanked. "But a poor man's blessing flies fast, and shall overtake him, and be with him to the end of the world, and to the end of his life. May God and His angels go with you, keep you from poverty, protect you from sickness, and may you feel in your own heart some of the warmth and the joy you have brought into mine. "I'll do no more work to-day. I'll go home to my wife and little ones, and they shall kneel and |