Category: Evening Book

It must be observed, that the Sloth does not hang head-downwards, like the vampire. When asleep, he supports himself from a branch parallel to the earth. He first seizes the branch with one arm, and then with the other; and after that, brings up both his legs, one by one, to the same branch, so […]

One of the most beautiful of cats is the Ocelot. It is smaller than the leopard, being generally about three feet in length and eighteen inches in height. Upon a gray ground, slightly tinged with fawn, are marked longitudinal bands, of which the margins are perfectly black, and the central parts of a deeper fawn […]

The honey mentioned in the Apocalypse was sweet in the mouth, but bitter in the stomach; but we cannot say that honey is ever very sweet to us, because we keep thinking of the cruel method of taking it from the bees, which generally prevails. The following method, said to be pursued in Cash-mere, though […]

The earth which we inhabit is not precisely a spherical body, but a spheroid flattened at its poles, similar in shape to an orange. Its shortest diameter is about 7940 miles, its longest about 7966 miles ; their difference being about 26 miles. This body passes through its orbit, which is nearly a circle of […]

(Agave Americana.) The flowering of this plant used to be considered as a very rare occurrence, and as not taking place till it attained the age of one hundred years; but the specimens being now numerous the delay in flowering is found not to be fact. Its interest as a marvel has, consequently, fallen off; […]

Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory, do we come, From God, who is our home. Heaven lies about us in our infancy WORDSWORTH I may begin with the question of Henry IV of France, when found by an ambassador at romps with his children,—” Are you a […]

On the Continent of America the works of nature are on a great and extensive scale; and in estimating their magnitude, the mind is actually lost in wonder. When we think of the valley of any river in this country,” says an English writer ” we have only in view a district of ground measuring […]

The narrations of a frontier circle, as they draw round their evening fire, often turn upon the exploits of the old race of men, the heroes of the past days, who wore hunting-shirts, and settled the country. In a boundless forest full of panthers and bears, and more dreadful Indians, with not a white within […]

The bamboo is a native of the hottest regions of Asia. It is likewise to be found in America, but not in that abundance, with which it flourishes in the old world. It is never brought into this country in sufficient supply for any useful purposes, being rather an object of curiosity than of utility. […]

Among all the excellent things which Mrs. Barbauld has written, she never penned any thing better than her essay on the inconsistency of human expectations; it is full of sound philosophy. Every thing, says she, is marked at a settled price. Our time, our labor, our ingenuity, is so much ready money, which we are […]