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3. As soon as the steam gets away from the hot iron, and mixes a little with the cold air, it cools, and turns into little drops of water again, making a little white cloud.

4. The way a teakettle boils is thus. The fire below heats the bottom of the kettle so hot, that the water next to it turns into steam. This steam now is a great deal lighter than the water; and so .it rises up through the water, in great bubbles.

5. If the fire is very hot, these bubbles of steam come up very fast, and make the boiling noise that we hear. This bubbling and boiling is because the fire is under the kettle, and consequently the bubbles of steam are formed at the bottom, and have to rise up through the water.

6. If the heat were to come only upon the top of the water, I suppose there would be no bubbling; for the steam would be formed there, and would pass off at once, silently, without bubbling through the water at all.

7. Now, when these bubbles come up to the upper part of the kettle, they fill the whole space above the water with steam; and, if you could peep in there, you would see that there was no cloudy appearance of vapor there; it would be pure and transparent, like air.

8. I have seen water boiled in a flask; and then I could see through the sides of the flask, and it was all perfectly transparent and colorless; though, as soon as the steam came out of the top into the cool air, it turned into a column of visible vapor.

9. Besides, if you look into the nose of the teakettle, you will see that there is no appearance of any cloudiness within, nor even without, until the steam has got away a little distance from the hot iron, so as to be cooled a little.

10. You can see it, too, in chimneys, where wood is burning, or any other fuel which contains moisture.

11. In a cold morning, a cloud of steam, as it is generally called, comes out from the top; but it does not begin to show itself, until it has got up a foot or two above the top of the chimney; for it comes out so hot, that it must proceed a little way into the air, to get cool enough to turn back into water again, or to become condensed.

12. There are two ways, then, by which water inay be carried off into the air. One is, by boiling it, and turning it into steam; and in this case, it goes off in a mass, which is, in fact, all water, though it appears like air.

13. The other way is, to let the air gradually take it up by attraction; and in this case, it mingles with the air, and floats away.

And when steam goes up into the air, it almost immediately becomes condensed into a cloud of very small, watery globules, and these are then gradually dissolved by the air.

14. If it were not for these modes, by which water is carried up and diffused through the air. the world would soon be in a sad condition ; for if any thing was once wet, we could never dry it.

15. Now, if we get oil upon our clothes or hands, or upon a board, it is very difficult to get it out. The reason is, the atmosphere will not take it up; and we cannot easily contrive any way to remove it.

16. If the air would not take up water, then, when our hands were once wet, they would have to reinain wet. Every thing we touched would be wet. We could not dry any thing.

.17. Then, again, the ground would be permanently wet and muddy; for if the atmosphere had no attraction for water, all the water which is now in the atmosphere would fall at once, and flood the ground.

18. A great part of this would run off into the rivers and sea; but enough would be retained by the attraction of cohesion, to make every thing wet and disagreeable.

19. After the water which is now in the atmos. phere, had fallen down, no more could ever get up; and we should never have any more clouds or rain. The water in the streams and rivers would soon all run off into the sea.

20. Thus you see, children, how well the properties of water have been arranged, to make this world a pleasant place for us to live in.


1. Come, let us pray: 'tis sweet to feel

That God himself is near;
That, while we at his footstool kneel,

His mercy deigns to hear.
Though sorrows cloud life's dreary way
This is our solace : let us pray.

2. Come, let us pray: the burning brow,

The heart oppressed with care,
And all the woes that throng us now,

Will be relieved by prayer.
Our God will chase our griefs away:
0, glorious thought! - come, let us pray

3. Come, let us pray: the mercy seat

Invites the fervent prayer;
Our heavenly Father waits to greet

The contrite spirit there.
0, loiter not, nor longer stay
From him who loves us : let us pray.


1. WAEN God says, Sun, shine in the skies!" the Sun directly answers, not in words, but in deeds

66 Here am I, to do my Maker's will, to light up earth and heaven with my glory, to gild all things with gold, and to make the whole creation rejoice."

2. When God says to the Moon, “ Appear!” the Moon replies — “ Here am I, with my silvery light, to scatter the darkness, and to render night lovely.”

3. When God says to the Stars, “ Shine forth!' they instantly answer— “ We are thy servants, and gladly do thy bidding. Already are we in the skies, and there will we keep watch, till thou givest us leave to retire."

4. Thus do the Sun, and the Moon, and the Stars obey their almighty Maker.

5. When God says to the Spring, “ Come forth with thy flowers !” does she tarry, or refuse to answer! No; “ I come,” says the Spring. “ Here are my greenest leaves. Here are my freshest flowers, wherewith to beautify the earth. The snowdrop is in the garden, and the primrose on the banks and in the coppice.”

6. When God says to the Summer, “ Gladden the earth!” the answer of Summer is this — “ At thy voice, I spread my influence abroad; the birds are warbling, the flowers are blooming, the trees are blossoming, and nature is rejoicing."

7. When God says to the Autumn, “Withhold not thy fruit!” “ They are here,” is Autumn's reply. “The bush is laden with berries, and the trees with fruit, and the fields are waving their golden grain, ready for the sickle of the husbandman."

8. When God says to the Winter, “ Where art thou, and where are thy storms?“Chey are abroad at thy command," replies Winter. “Frost has hound up the earth and the waters; snow has covered the ground, and the wings of the howling winds are flying through the air. Who shall stand before thy cold?

9. Thus do Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter obey the command of the Holy One.

10. And shall the Sun with his glory, the Moon with her beams, and the Stars with their light, obey their Maker? Shall Spring with her flowers, Summer with his blossoms, Autumn with his fruit, and surly Winter with his storms, gladly hasten to do the commandment of the Lord, and thou refuse to obey him? 11. o, let thy language be, —

While Sun, and Moon, and Stars are seen,

And seasons round me roll,
I will obey the Lord my

With all my heart and soul.


1. The Angel of the Flowers one day

Beneath a rose tree sleeping lay -
That spirit to whose charge is given
To bathe young buds in dews from heaven.
Awaking from his light repose,
The Angel whispered to the Rose:-

2. “ 0, fondest object of my care,

Still fairest found where all are fair,
For the sweet shade thou hast given me,
Ask what thou wilt, 'tis granted thee.

3. Then said the Rose, with deepening glow, 66 On me another

grace bestow.The spirit paused in silent thought What grace was there that flower had not?

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