and beyond, tall chimneys sending forth dense volumes of smoke, which, wreathing upwards, formed a dark canopy over the scene. Then there were large uncouth buildings, above which huge beams appeared, lifting alternately their ends with ceaseless motion, now up, now down, engaged evidently in some Titanic operation, while all the time proceeding from that direction were heard groans, and shrieks, and whistlings, and wailings, and the sound of rushing water, and the rattling and rumbling of tram or railway waggons rushing at rapid speed across the country, some loaded with huge lumps of glittering coal, others returning to be refilled at the pit's mouth. Those high buildings contained the steam-engines which worked the machinery employed in the coal mine; the tall chimneys carried up the smoke from the furnaces and produced the current of air which kept them blazing. As the evening drew on, the women retired into their cottages to prepare supper for their husbands and sons, whose return home they were now expecting. Already the corves which took them down to their work in the early morning must be on their way up to the surface, and it is time to have the savoury messes ready for dishing up. Abundance is on the board, for the miner's wages are sufficient to supply him with what would be luxuries to an ordinary labourer above ground; but were they far higher, could they repay him for a life of constant danger, of hard incessant toil, and the deprivation for more than half the year of a sight of the blue sky, the warming rays of the sun, and the pure air of heaven, except on the one blessed day of the week when he enjoys them with the rest of God's creatures? For months together he descends the shaft in the gloom of morning, and does not return till darkness has again shrouded the earth. Many of the good wives had looked at their clocks to judge when to take off the bubbling saucepans from the blazing fires, when, to their dismay, they felt the earth tremble beneath their feet, while a dull rumbling sound like the dis M* charge of musketry struck their ears, coming from the direction of the works. Pale with terror, they rushed out-of-doors to see a vast black mass of dust and smoke rising into the air and forming an inverted cone, beneath which, for an instant, could be distinguished shattered beams and planks, corves and pieces of machinery, which quickly fell again to the earth. The next instant a darkness, like that of early twilight, pervaded the atmosphere, and fine ashes, such as are ejected from a volcano, fell in a thick shower to the ground, which it covered to such a depth that the feet of the terror-stricken women left their imprints on it as they ran towards the scene of the catastrophe-some shrieking and lamenting, but, in most cases, the intensity of their alarm preventing them from giving utterance to their feelings. There had been an explosion of fire-damp, that deadly enemy of the miner, and of more than 200 men and boys who had descended. the shaft in the morning full of life and vigour, only twenty-five were brought out alive. W. H. G. KINGSTON. Titanic operation.-The Titans were giants, who are represented as having made war on Jupiter. In order to reach his seat on Olympus, they piled mountain Hence Titanic came to mean very upon mountain. great, something surpassing human strength. Corve.--The basket or cage in which the miners descend into, or come up from, the mine, Fire-damp.-A species of gas, of a highly explosive nature, generated in coal-mines. When brought into contact with flame, it explodes with terrific force, and with the most deadly results. EXERCISES. 1. Distinguish between these words--boy, buoy; seen, scene ; current, currant; board, bored; miner, minor; rays, raise, raze; pale, pail. 2. Give the meaning of sound in the following phrases—(a) I heard the sound of water; (b) He arrived safe and sound; (c) They sailed up Plymouth Sound; (d) The sailors took soundings. Give the origin of the words Titanic and volcano. 3. Why should miners receive higher wages than an ordinary labourer? Apart from the danger attendant on his calling, what disadvantages has it? 4. What are luxuries, savoury messes, calcined heaps, a dark canopy, incessant toil, shaft, discharge of musketry, inverted cone, the scene of the catastrophe. LESSON XXXVIII. To a Dying Infant. ac'-cu-rate, exact. ruff-ling, shaking. shrine, temple, case. ance. wight, person. SLEEP, little baby, sleep! Yes! with the quiet dead, Would fain lie down with thee. Flee, little tender nursling! Flee to thy grassy nest; There the first flowers shall blow; The first pure flake of snow Peace! peace! the little bosom Those are the damps of death. I've seen thee in thy beauty, Baby, thou seem'st to me! Thine upturn'd eyes glazed over, By the convulsed lid, Their pupils, darkly blue. Thy little mouth half-open Thy soft lip quivering, |