5. "Speak, father!" once again he cried,
"If I may yet be gone;"
And but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames rolled on.

6. Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair;

And looked from that lone post of death,
In still, yet brave despair,

7. And shouted but once more aloud,

My father! must I stay?"

While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,
The wreathing fires made way.

8. They wrapped the ship in splendor wild,
They caught the flag on high,

And streamed above the gallant child,
Like banners in the sky.

9. There came a burst of thunder sound;"
The boy! oh! where was he?-

--

Ask of the winds, that far around

With fragments strewed the sea,

10. With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part,

But the noblest thing that perished there

Was that young faithful heart.

QUESTIONS. Who was Casabianca? 2. What was his appearance? 3. Why did he not leave the burning vessel? 4. Why did not his father tell him he might go? 9. What explosion took place on board the vessel? 10. What became of Cas. bianca?

ERRORS.3. Week for wick; 4. win'der for win'dow; 4. eend for end; 6. so'fy for so'fa; 6. git for get; 7. tur'pen-time for tur' pen-tine; 18. pre-cize' for pre-cise'; 12. ac'crate-ly for ac'cu-rate-ly; 15. ile for oil; 15. kit'tle for ket'tle.

PHILOSOPHY OF LAMP-LIGHTING.

J. S. C. ABBOTT.

1. ONE evening, Rollo's mother was trying to light a lamp, to go into her bedroom for something that she wanted. In a little vase upon the mantel-piece, there were usually some lamp-lighters, which were long, slender rolls of paper that Rollo had rolled up for this purpose.

NOTE.

When the flames reached the powder in the vessel, it exploded, and Casabianca perished in the explosion.

2. They were kept in this vase upon the mantel-piece, in But the vase was now order to be always ready for use. empty. The last lamp-lighter had been used; and so Rollo's mother folded up a small piece of paper, and with that attempted to light the lamp which she was going to carry into the bedroom.

3. But the wick would not take fire; and Rollo saw that, while his mother was continuing her efforts to make it burn, the flame of the paper was gradually creeping up nearer and nearer to her fingers.

4. At last, finding that there would soon be danger of burning her fingers, she walked across the room toward a window which was open, still endeavoring to light the lamp; but it was all in vain. She reached the window just in time to throw out the end of the paper, and save her fingers from being burned.

5. 66

Why will it not light?" said Rollo.

6. Rollo's father was sitting upon a sofa, taking his rest after the labors of the day; and when he saw that the lamp failed of being lighted, he said, "You will have to get a longer lamp-lighter, unless you have got some spirit of turpentine to put upon the wick."

7. "Spirit of turpentine?" repeated Rollo.

8. "Yes," said his father. In hotels, where they have a great many lamps to light, they have a little bottle of spirit of turpentine, with a wire running down into it; and when they take out the wire, a little drop of the spirit of turpentine hangs to the end of it, and they touch this to the wick, and then it will light very quick."

9. "Why, sir?" asked Rollo.

10. Because spirit of turpentine is very combustible, or rather inflammable."

water.

NOTE. - a Spirit of turpentine is obtained by distilling or boiling turpentine in The spirit rises in vapor, and is condensed by passing through a tube immersed in water.

11. "That means, it will burn very easily, I suppose," said Rollo.

12. "Yes," replied his father.

13. "That makes me think of something Jonas said, which "He said that, in books, burning is always called combustion, and I told him I meant to ask you why they could not as well call it burning."

I was going to ask you," said Rollo.

14. "I do not think that Jonas said exactly that," said his father.

15. "Yes, sir, he did," replied Rollo; "at least, I understood him so."

16. "It is true, no doubt," added his father, "that, in philosophical books, philosophical terms are very often used, instead of the common language which we ordinarily employ." 17. "Why are they, father?" said Rollo. "I think the common words are a great deal easier to understand."

18. "Yes," said his father, "but they are not precise in their signification. They are vague and ambiguous; and so philosophers, when they wish to speak accurately, employ other terms which have an exact signification." Rollo looked perplexed. He did not understand at all what his father meant. In the mean time, his mother had brought a fresh bundle of lamp-lighters from the closet, and had lighted her lamp with one of them, and was just going away. As she was going out, however, she said to her husband, "Please to wait a minute until I come back; for I should like to hear what you are going to say."

19. "Well," said he; "and you, Rollo, may come and sit down by me, and I will explain it to you when mother comes back." 20. So Rollo came and took a seat on the sofa by the side of his father, saying, "Father, I wish you would have a bottle of spirit of turpentine for us to light our lamps by."

21. "It is not of much advantage in a family," said his father, "where the lamps are lighted in various parts of the house, and only a few in all to be lighted."

22. But where there are a great many, it is quite a saving of time to have a little spirit of turpentine to tip the wicks with. In an illumination, they always touch the wicks so, and by that means they can light up suddenly."

23. "But, father, why will the wick light any quicker?" 24. " Why, different substances take fire at different temperatures. For instance, if you were to put a little heap of sulphur, and another little heap of sawdust, on a shovel together, and put them over a fire, so as to heat them both equally, the sulphur would take fire very soon, but the sawdust would not until the shovel was very nearly red hot.

25. "So if you were to put oil in a little kettle over the fire, and spirit of turpentine in another kettle, and have the fire the same under both, the spirit of turpentine would inflame long before the oil. There is a great difference in different substances, in regard to the temperature at which they inflame."

26. "What do you mean by temperature, father?" said Rollo. 27. "Why, heat," said his father.

28. "Then why do you not say heat?" said Rollo.

29. His father smiled.

30. "What are you smiling at, father?" said Rollo.

31. "Why, that is the same question you asked at first, and I promised to wait till mother came before I explained it. So we will wait until she comes."

32. They did not have to wait long, for Rollo's mother soon returned; and she put out her lamp by means of a little extinguisher, which was attached to the stem of the lamp itself. Then she sat down at the table, by the light of a great lamp which was burning upon it, and took out her work

QUESTIONS. 1. What was Rollo's mother trying to do? 5. What did Rollo say? 6. How is spirit of turpentine obtained? 8. How did his father say they light lamps in hotels? 10. How does spirit of turpentine cause them to light? 18. Why do not philosophers employ common terms? 22. Why do they apply spirit of turpentine to the wicks, in illuminations? 24. Do all substances take fire at the same temperature? 25. Which takes fire the more readily, oil or turpentine?