Category: Evening Book

It is told of a religious recluse, who, in the early ages of Christianity, betook himself to a cave in Upper Egypt, which, in the times of the Pharaohs, had been a depository for mummies, that he prayed there, morning, noon, and night, eating only of the dates which some neighboring trees afforded, and drinking […]

The horseshoe was, of old, held to be of especial service as a security against the attacks of evil spirits. This virtue may have been assigned, perhaps, by the rule of contraries, from its being a thing incompatible with the cloven foot of the Evil One; or from the rude resemblance which the horseshoe bears […]

The strength and ferocity of the Grisly Bear are so great that the Indian hunters use much precaution in hunting them. They are reported to attain a weight exceeding eight hundred pounds, and Lewis and Clark mention one that measured nine feet from the nose to the tail and say that they had seen a […]

A late number of the Foreign Quarterly Review contains a notice of some scientific inquiries, made by a French gentleman, M. Arago, into the influence of the moon. The first question, which M. Arago undertakes to examine, is, whether the moon exercises any influence on the rain; and the result of his investigations is, that, […]

The island of St. Helena stands entirely detached from any group, and is about 1200 miles from the nearest land, on the eastern coast of Southern Africa. An imperceptible point in the Atlantic Ocean, this rock is nine leagues in its greatest circumference. Steep shores form for it a natural and nearly impregnable rampart. It […]

The heart must indeed be cold that would not glow among scenes like these. Rightly did the French call this stream La Belle Rivière, (the beautiful river). The sprightly Canadian, plying his oar in cadence with the wild notes of the boat-song, could not fail to find his heart enlivened by the beautiful symmetry of […]

Travellers in Europe, even those who may have, passed over the Pyrenees or Alps, can have but a faint idea of the labor and danger of crossing the Andes, that immense mountain-chain by which the continent of South America is intersected, from its southern to its most northern extremity, dividing Peru and Chile, on the […]

Dutrone calls sugar the most perfect alimentary substance in nature, and the testimony of many physicians establishes the fact. Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, says, in common with all who have analyzed it, that sugar affords the greatest quantity of mat-ter of any subject in nature.” Used alone, it has fattened horses and cattle in St. […]

In the whole circle of our manufactures there is not any thing more curious than the one that is depicted in the above engraving. Materials which appear of themselves but little fitted for any useful purpose, are blended together so as to form corn-pounds of a new and entirely distinct character. Indeed, an uninitiated person […]

(From Moore’s Evenings in Greece.) Ah ! where are they who heard, in former hours, file voice of song in these neglected bowers ? They are gone—they are all gone ! The youth, who told his pain in such sweet tone, That all who heard him wished his pain their own, He is gone—he is […]