Willy. What are they, father? won't you please to tell me?

Mr. H. They are fountains that throw large quantities of hot water and steam to a great height in the air.

Willy. In what part of the world are they found?

Mr. H. In Iceland. One of them which is called the Great Geyser, has the appearance of a large mound. You go up its sides, and you find a large basin at the top, not quite round, being fifty-six feet across in one way and forty-six the other, and about four feet deep. In the centre is a hole or pipe going down into the earth seventy-eight feet. This pipe is eight or ten feet in diameter, widening as it opens into the basin. The hot water rises

through the pipe and fills the basin, and then runs off over the sides. Every few hours there are heard loud reports, like that of distant artillery, in the earth beneath the basin, and then water is thrown from the pipe with violence and to a great height. Willy. How high is it thrown?

Mr. H. Sometimes the column of water is thrown twenty or thirty feet high, sometimes fifty feet, and sometimes as high as seventy or eighty feet. Think of a column of water eight or ten feet in diameter thrown up seventy feet with a tremendous roar, and a cloud of steam along with it!

Willy. I should think it would be one of the most wonderful sights in the world.

Mr. H. It is so.

Willy. Does it rise swiftly?

Mr. H. Very swiftly. Sometimes large stones are thrown up. Sometimes visitors cast stones into the pipes, and they are thrown out and up into the air along with the water. Sometimes they are kept up in the air four or five minutes by the action of

the water. There are a great many smaller geysers in the vicinity of this larger one. A Mr. Henderson, who visited them in 1814, thinks he discovered the key of one of the largest of them.

Willy. The key! what did he mean?

Mr. H. The way of exciting it to action. They throw out the steam and water, as I said, at intervals. After there have been

loud reports, and a shaking of the earth, and an ejection of water and steam, they will be quiet for some time, so that the spectator has to wait several hours perhaps before he may see them in operation again. But Mr. Henderson found that by throwing a quantity of large stones into the opening he could cause

it to make an eruption whenever he pleased. At one time, when it had been excited to action in this way it threw up jets of water and steam more than two hundred feet high.

Willy. It seems as if Mr. Henderson made it angry by throwing in stones.

Mr. H. When the sun was shining on these jets they had a most brilliant appearance. The water was as white as snow, and rainbows were seen all

about it. Besides the water-pipes, there are a great many steam pipes in the vicinity-that is, holes in the earth out of which columns of steam issue. The clouds of steam sometimes thrown out cover the whole heavens from the view.

Willy. Is the water hot?

Mr. H. Yes, it is very hot, and people often get badly scalded by its falling upon them. At one time Mr. Henderson was looking into the pipe of one of the largest, when the column of scalding water came up as swift as an arrow within a few inches of his face.

Willy. I expect he ran away pretty quickly. But what is the cause of the water spurting up so?

Mr. H. I can tell you the general cause by which it is thrown up, though I cannot explain the particular manner in which it is done. The volcanic fires underneath are the cause. These fires are near the surface at this place.

Willy. Isn't it dangerous to be there?

Mr. H. It is. The crust of earth over the fire is very thin, and may fall in at any moment. Willy. What makes the fires there?

Mr. H. I can't answer that question. Probably all the interior of the earth is one mass of fire. Willy. One mass of fire! Do you suppose there is fire under our feet?

Mr. H. I presume there is; the crust between us and the fire is much thicker than in volcanic countries.

Willy. But still it may burn through. I did not think that we were in so much danger.

Mr. H. We are always in danger-are never safe but when in the Almighty's hand. There alone is safety. If we put our trust in Him, we are safe anywhere; if we do not, we are safe nowhere.

HE Natural Bridge is entirely the work of God. It is of solid lime-stone, and connects two huge mountains together, by a beautiful arch, over which there is a great waggon road. Its length from one mountain to the other is nearly