As the fight went on, she seized his left arm in her teeth, and rolled him over once more, but this time so that he could draw the knife with his right hand. It was an anxious moment. Mustering all the strength he had, in a moment he plunged the knife to her heart, and all was over. She fell down by his side, and never moved again. The hunter went home, bound up his wounded arm, and got a good night's rest. In the morning he found himself very little the worse for that terrible conflict. Going to the scene of battle, he saw the dead panther lying just as he had left her the previous night. He took away the skin, which was a very beautiful one; and whenever he afterwards showed it to his friends, he would tell them the story of his fight for life, Some people go about the world with a face as long as a fiddle. If you meet them morning, noon, or night, it is just the same: they seem as if the cares of a whole state weighed them down, or as if they had the national debt on their backs. You ask if anything is the matter, and find there is not; and then you wonder how these people can go through the world, without a smile or a laugh, from day to day. Now, when misfortune comes to a man, or when some heavy cloud of sorrow darkens his sky, we do not wonder that he should look sad. When a boy is in disgrace at school, it is right, too, that for a time he should look sad. But when our lesson says, 'Never look sad,' it does not refer to cases like these. It just means that we are to look cheerful and happy, to try to brighten up the faces around us, and to make everybody feel that we live in sunshine and not in cloud. Depend upon it, boys and girls, a good laugh is worth two bottles of medicine any day. Not that we are to be always laughing; not that we are to laugh when we are at work, nor to laugh when there is nothing to laugh at. No; but to cultivate this happy and cheerful temper, which will show itself in our faces, and then, when there is occasion for it, our laugh will be hearty and loud. In some parts of England there are statutes or fairs, held every year, where servants are hired. Here masters and servants meet and make their bargains. Masters or mistresses requiring servants go to these fairs, where they meet male and female servants on the look-out for new places. The servants generally stand about in the market-place or corn exchange, dressed in their best clothes, and putting on their best manners. In and out of the crowd you may see farmers or their wives walking about, looking for such servants as are likely to suit them. One day a farmer and his wife were looking for a clean, tidy, industrious girl, who could do the work of the kitchen, and who would be willing to make herself useful. They found one at last, who had a good character from her late mistress. She could milk the cows, make butter and cheese, and feed the pigs and poultry, besides doing all the work that was to be done in the kitchen. As she had lived in a farmer's house all her life, she seemed to be the very girl they wanted. The mistress wished to engage her at once, but the farmer hesitated for some time. 'She seems a good, clever, industrious girl,' said he; 'she is clean and tidy in her dress and appearance, but I don't like her face. She looks sad and sorrowful 1; and if she speaks as she looks, I could never endure to live with her.' So he went back to ask her a few questions. He asked her if she had passed through some great sorrow, such as losing her father or mother, or some dear friend. He asked her if she had been sick, or if she were very poor. But he found the girl had nothing to make her unhappy. She had health, strength, home, friends, and all the comforts of life that she could desire, but had acquired the habit of wearing a sad, discontented look. The farmer asked her if she could sing. When she told him she could not, he said, 'You had better learn, then. A sad face means a sad tongue, and a sad tongue means a sad heart. You are a suitable girl for us in every respect but one; but if you will promise to try to wear a cheerful face, and sometimes smile, I will find you a very happy home.' The girl took all this in good part, and went into the farmer's service. The farmer himself was always merry and cheerful, and she profited by his example and good advice. She soon learnt to sing and smile, and her temper became sunny and joyous and hopeful. Now, boys and girls, mind what sort of a face you wear. You will never be truly beautiful until you learn to wear a cheerful smile. Cheerful looks are worth more than fine clothes, and cost a great deal less; they will last much longer; and while they make you happy, they will please everybody around you. Never look sad, boys, never look sad, There's nought in this world looks half so bad; Never look sad, girls, never look sad,- 14. FACTS WORTH KNOWING. 1. Chimneys were first introduced into England in the year 1200. 2. Magic lanterns invented by Roger Bacon in 1252. 3. Lifeboats first used in the year 1802. 4. Spectacles invented by Spina, a monk, in I299. 5. Pins were brought from France in 1543. 6. Post-offices first established in England in 1581. 7. There are more than 200 bones in a human body. 8. The head has no less than seventy-seven muscles. 9. A man is taller in the morning than at night. 10. Human blood contains, at least, forty different substances. II. The lungs of a big man can hold twentyeight pints of air. 12. The more pure air we breathe, the better our blood will be. 13. There are more than a thousand millions of people in the world. 14. The earth is more than 90,000,000 miles distant from the sun. 15. The moon moves at the rate of more than 2000 miles an hour. 16. The sun is more than a million times the size of the earth. 17. It would take you 171 years to get to the sun, travelling a mile a minute. 18. Light travels from the sun to us in less than eight minutes. |