the fire-an act of utter sacrilege and most to forsake these idols and to serve the living daring defiance; then, lifting up her voice, God. of the God whom she adored, and that she would abide the test of daring Pele in her very sanctuary. Accordingly, in the presence she sang the praises of Jehovah, and returned The action deserves to rank high in the of priests and people, she descended into the unharmed, in spite of the denunciations of records of female heroism and of Christian crater, taking with her some of the mountain the prophets and the wrath of their goddess, faith. We know how much of unreasoning berries which were held sacred to the goddess. to reprove the astonished people for their superstition lurks even in our own hearts; how Some of these she ate, others she cast into superstitious fears, and to exhort them the foolish stories told us as children make us even now tremble in the dark, in spite of faith of that fiery scene are to shake the firmest THE GOLDEN EAGLE. (as stated in the NEW PENNY MAGAZINE, has deigned to show himself in Norfolk, Suffolk, crags, tipped with white fleecy clouds, you Vol. I., p. 29) in 1680; and eagles have for Northumberland, Durham, and Derbyshire; may see a little black speck, wheeling round many years been seldom seen in the midland or but if you would see him at home in his soli- and round above their summits in the blue sky; southern counties of England. It is not, indeed, tary grandeur, you must visit the Highlands or, lying hid behind a jutting rock, you may very long since one was killed at Bexhill, of Scotland or the tall cliffs of the Western watch the little speck-increasing, as he nears in Sussex; and occasionally the king of birds Islands. There, standing at the foot of steep you, to the noblest of British birds-pounce sud denly upon his prey-a stoat, a hare, or even a prey too heavy to be carried off; and is sudlamb, and carry him off in his powerful talons. denly disturbed in his anticipated meal by the In the engraving (p. 76) is seen a fine appearance of the brave and faithful shepherd specimen of the golden eagle, distinguished dog, who has no idea of allowing his master's from other species by his feathered trousers property to be torn piecemeal by this powerful and more sharply-curved beak. He holds a robber." In the second engraving (p. 77), is a more touching scene. Face to face with the fierce bird stands the brave mother ready to defend her two children, one lying helpless on the ground in mortal sickness, the other crouching close against her side for protection. It seems THE BRAVE MOTHER. Noticing the manners and habits of the different inhabitants, it was said of one people (the Dyaks of Borneo), that every summer it was a common expression among them, "Please God we shall have a good harvest this year." The saying is remarkable, as showing a devout aspiration of the soul even where the knowledge of Revelation has not reached. It is remarkable also as a practical illustration of St. Paul's inspired words, that God, though for a time he suffered "men to walk in their own ways, nevertheless left not Himself without witness in that He did good, and gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness." (Acts xiv. 16, 17.) But it is hardly less remarkable that this Dyack saying is here in England uttered by Christians year by year. In a district of the west of England (I allude particularly to that portion of Devonshire which borders on Dorset) there is a very beautiful custom attached to the opening of wheat harvest. On every farm, as the men meet to cut the first field, the foreman, before cutting a single stalk, lifts the firkin of cider (supplied for the men's liquor) in his hand, and taking off his hat, the other men doing the same, as he raises the vessel to drink says, "Pray God send us a good harvest," and all the men sy "Amen." Then, after this grace all drink, and in their turn commence reaping. A Devonshire harvest field is a very gay sight, though like most old things, its prominent features are wearing out; but on most farms there are some vestiges of the ancient customs the reapers hats decked with nosegays of wild and garden flowers, and the catches and songs with which they beguile their work, would strike the eye and ear of any stranger, as they certainly go home to the heart of those who are accustomed to them. It is usual in most counties to have songs and festivities-such, for instance, as the Suffolk Largesse"-at the close of harvest; and Devonshire is by no means behind her fellows. When the last field of corn on a farm has been cut, the reapers and binders of the sheaves collect together, and, forming a ring, they commence what they call "crying the nic." It is a quaint custom, and the exact meaning of the term cannot well be defined. But men conversant with this county suggest that "nic" is so used, either as connected with the Greek "nike," "victory;" or because, having finished the cutting of the wheat, the reapers have, as they express themselves, "broke the neck of it," i. e., of the harvest. 1.-TENOR, standing forward in the ring, and repre- huzza! is sent up by all the labourers, and senting a servant. Well met, my friends! all on the high way, I pray tell to me what calling you be, 2.-BASS, answering him, and representing a No, no, brother, dear; what makes you inquire, I have something to show, whereby you shall know, this repeated with three-times-three, concludes the "nic." Few labouring men even now know the song, and every year "crying the nic," in the west, like "holloaing Largesse' in the east, is becoming rarer. Only a day or two since a Devonshire gentleman told us that throughout the whole harvest this year he had hardly heard it. Yet some few years back the villages and "combes" of Devonshire in the harvest evening re-echoed its sound. That wild cry! as we are writing we can recall the thrill that arose within us as standing on some hill, returning from an evening walk, we heard, first the reapers on one farm, then the reapers on another, then another, and another, answering, until, like the glades of an highland forest, in which the wild deer challenge their rivals, so the rival bands of reapers fill the air with their shouts. It is a scene of After every field of corn is housed, and the rakings are taken up, the men on each farm have their harvest supper. jollity, and yet a chastened one. The meat having been placed on the table, the master is sent for, who says grace, and then carres. There is the most perfect order and sobriety; and the courtesy between master and man (we are speaking from the experience of several harvest suppers at which we have been present on land farmed by squires of the parish) is most striking. Conversations about the state of the working men; jokes about particular fancies, or amusements, or habits; suggestions about education, and often most valuable hints on many important points from the working people to the master-such is the staple of the harvest supper talk. We have omitted, however, the songs which garnish it abundantly-songs which would rival, had we his phonetic genius, Mr. Barnes' collection of Dorset poems, but among which, notwithstanding, the beautiful "Woodman, spare that tree," still carries the palm. We have spoken of the decay of these ancient customs; but while they are decaying, As for your clothes so rare, give me some shoes to we hope that in some instances the decay will wear, 8.-BASS. And some boots to trample upon; Give me a good great-coat, &c. 9.-TENOR. Kind sir, what do we eat? most fine and dainty meat; bacon; 10.-BASS. As for your pies and capon, give me good beans and house, That's diet for a husbandman. be arrested; that what Professor Max Müller says of Latin, Greek, Sanscrit, and the different languages that have succeeded them-viz., that the parents did not die in giving birth to the offspring--will hold good of these customs; and that the public harvest festivities, which are slowly and yet surely arising in every parish, will not entirely do away with, but tend to conserve, these practices which we have inherited from our fathers. D CONTENTMENT. C. C. GIOGENES walked on a day with his friend to see a country fair; where he saw ribbons, and looking glasses, and nut-crackers, and fiddles, and hobby-horses, and many other gimcracks; 11.-BASS, continuing. and, having observed them and all the other Kind sir, it will bad be, if there are none such as we, finninbrums that make a complete country To plough and to maintain the land; fair, he said to his friend, "Lord, how many Neither lord, duke nor queen, that ever there was seen things in this world are there of which Dig. Can do without a husbandman. genes hath no need!" And truly it is so, (r might be so, with very many who vex and tel themselves to get what they have no need of Can any man charge God that He hath n t given him enough to make his life happy? No, doubtless, for Nature is content with a little. And yet you shall hardly meet with a man that complains not of some want; though indeed he wants nothing but his will; it may be nothing but his will of his poor neighbour, The manner of "crying the nic" is as follows:-The men, standing in a circle, as has been said, a song taken up by two solos So now good people all, both high, and great, and for not worshipping or not flattering him: alternately, a tenor and a bass, with a full chorus, is sung. The title of the song is "The Husbandman," and we are happy to be able to give it to the readers of THE NEW PENNY MAGAZINE, as it has been written out for us by a Devonshire labourer. It is as follows: Let us pray for the good of the land; So that we may for ever, do our best endeavour, CHORUS. So that we may for ever, &c. and thus, when we might be happy and quiet, we create trouble to ourselves. I have heard of a man that was angry with himself because he was no taller; and of a woman that broke her looking-glass because it would not show her face to be as young and handsome as her next neighbour's was. I knew a man that had health and riches, and several houses, all well furnished, and would often trouble himself and his family by removing from one house to another; and being asked by a friend why he removed so often from one house to another, replied, "It was to find content in some one of them." But his friend, knowing his temper, told him, if he would find content in any of his houses, he must leave himself behind him; for content will never dwell but in a meek and quiet soul. And this may appear, if we read and consider what our Saviour says in St. Matthew's Gospel: for He there says, "Blessed be the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy; blessed be the pure in heart, for they shall see God; blessed be the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" and, "Blessed be the meek, for they shall possess the earth." Not that the meek shall not also obtain mercy, and see God, and be comforted, and at last come to the kingdom of heaven; but in the meantime he, and he only, possesses the earth, as he goes towards that kingdom of heaven, by being humble and cheerful, and content with what his good God has allotted him. He has no turbulent, repining, vexatious thoughts that he deserves better; nor is vexed when he sees others possessed of more honour or more riches than his wise God has allotted for his share; but he possesses what he has with a meek and contented quietness-such a quietness as makes his very dreams pleasing both to God and himself. ISAAC WALTON. EASY READING ON SACRED THINGS.* G EOD IS LOVE, WE READ IN His Word. Think how God shows Ilis love. First of all by sending His Own Son to die for us. We all sin against God, and must have been lost for ever and ever, if God had not sent His Son from His bright home on high, to live in this world as a man, and then to die for us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Lord, came down from His home above the sky, and was born as a little Child. He was not born a rich Child, but a poor Child; and His mother's name was Mary. He was born in a stable, and laid in a manger, yet He was God as well as man, great and holy. But He hid His glory for awhile, and grew to be a man, and seemed like other men, and went about to teach. But men did not love Him, and were not kind to Him. He was good and kind to them. He made sick folks well, fed those that wanted food, gave sight to the blind, and made those that were deaf to hear. Lame men, too, He made to walk; and more still, some that were dead He made to live again. Yet men did not love Him. They hated Him more and more. They hated Him just because He was good, and they were not. And while He did good to others, He was often tired, and wanted food and drink. He had not where to lay His head, we are told, for He had not a home as we have. And this kind of life He led that He might know what it is to be poor, and to want bread, and to be weary, as you are at times, and that so He might feel for you. Yet men did not and do not love Him. Oh! how strange this is. No, they did not love Him, but hated Him, and at last put Him to death. They nailed Ilim to a Cross of wood. They spread His arins out, and then drove the nails through His hands, and through His feet; and so He hung in great pain for hours; and then He lied. When He was dead they ran a spear into His side, for they did not love Him. But He loved them, and us, all the time; and it was because He loved us that He let • Taken by permission from "Stories and Miscellaneous Reading for Evening Schools." J. and C. Mozley. men put Him to death. He died this cruel death that our sins might be put away, and we might live in the bright world He had left. He prayed to God for us, and bore the pain and death which we ought to bear because we sin so often. But He thus bore pain and death for us, and now God will wash our sins away in His Son Jesus Christ's blood, and for His sake; for God loves Him for all IIe has done for us. And will not you love Him too? Love Him for all He has done for you, and don't be like those bad men who did not love Him, but nailed Him to the Cross. You see now one way in which God has shown His love to us-by sending His Own Son to die for us. And He loves us still, and asks us to love IIim. and says if we will love Him, and do what He bids us, He will, for His Son's sake, because He died, take us when we die to a bright home above the sky. CAPE BRETON. (Continued from page 72.) OUISBURG REMAINED about three years in the hands of the English. At the when peace was restored between France and England, treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Cape Breton, together with its fortress, was given back to its original owners, in exchange for Madras, captured by the French in India. France once more repaired and garrisoned her much-prized possession, and her ships again anchored in its noble harbour. Nearly all its former inhabitants returned, and gladly occupied their former dwellings. Its trade, which had languished during the English occupation, again revived, and prosperity once more re-visited the place. French author, little known, perhaps, may deserve to be here mentioned. At an early part of the day, an hundred men had been directed to effect a landing at a rocky and almost inaccessible part of the shore nearer the city. These, with the exception of ten, were instantly killed by the French and Indians. Not aware of their failure, another attempt was made upon the same spot by order of General Wolfe. Major Scot (the officer alluded to) advanced with a body of troops against this rocky but less guarded part of the coast. His own boat, which arrived first, was shattered to pieces by the surf. Obliged thus to land and mount the rocks alone, he found, instead of the previous party of a hundred, only ten remaining. With these, however, he pushed forward, and soon encountered ten Indians and sixty Frenchmen. It was not long before he found himself with but five soldiers at his side. By their ground. A clump of trees afforded some slight threats and encouragements he induced them to hold shelter; and after having had three bullets lodged in his clothes, he and his small band were reinforced by the arrival of his other soldiers. The successful attack upon this spot materially assisted the rest of the landing. From the swampy and rocky nature of the intermediate ground, the French army, in its retreat during the night, did not reach Louisburg till ten o'clock the next morning. The siege was now prosecuted on all sides with energy. On the ninth day the camp was pitched within three hundred furlongs of the town. Upwards in the neighbourhood of the camp, to protect it from of a thousand men, under Major Scot, beat the rounds the savage and stealthy attacks of the Indians in the rear; whilst a portion of the squadron, in command of Sir Charles Hardy, cruised along the coast and at the mouth of the harbour. An important move was soon made against the lighthouse point by General Wolfe, with a large body of troops. He found there several guns, with ammunition, and a large store of provisions and wine, abandoned by the enemy. Several attempts were made to hinder the advancing works of the English But the hand of war was again destined to interrupt on this point. Sallies, both by land and water, were this prosperous state of things. During the administra-directed against it; and a shallop, mounted with two tion of William Pitt, who prosecuted the war against the French in America with vigour, another attack was to be made upon the fortified city of Louisburg. This siege, perhaps, is better known in England than the former; but in order to make my account of Louisburg more complete, I will briefly describe some of the steps by which its reduction was again accomplished. large guns, drew near, and for some time poured its shot upon them; but all in vain. Their batteries were completed and began their work, which finally ended in silencing the island battery, Louisburg's main defence. In an early part of the siege a sad reverse was snstained by the English in the destruction of a Highland corps. This detachment, to the number of two hundred, having been sent forward to take up a position near the town, upon the dark swamp already alluded to, just before the western ramparts, was surprised during the night by a daring sally from the town. They were, to a man, put to death by the French. Cochrane was the name of the commanding officer. A much more formidable armament was this time employed to effect the object. Instead of 4,000 militiamen, attended by their little fleet of 200 guns-and seconded, it is true, by Warren's thirteen ships of wara disciplined force of 14,000 regular troops, conveyed on board twenty-three sail of the line and eighteen friAgainst the main camp of Lord Amherst several fortress in so fit a state now for a defence. Its fortifi- courageous attempts were made by the besieged; and gates, now prepared to besiege the city. Nor was the cations had been neglected, and but a small fleet of six one dark night they endeavoured, with nine hundred line-of-battle ships and five frigates, protected the men, to surprise the advanced works under General harbour. Its defence within the walls depended upon Lawrence; but the vanguard of the army hastened to 2,500 regulars and 300 militiamen. To these may protect the sappers; and the French retired with the also be added, just before capitulation, however, when loss of two captains and several soldiers. General Wolfe her state was hopeless, a reinforcement of 350 men (who had been foremost in securing the most advansent from Canada, a portion of whom were Indians. tageous positions for the besiegers) succeeded, on the To balance this disparity of force there was, however, 16th of June, in establishing himself within four hunin favour of the besieged, the great difficulty of andred yards of the western gate, which post had been enemy's landing. This time, also, they were not hitherto occupied by the French pickets. A place in taken by surprise. that direction, on the western side of the harbour, is still called "Brewhouse Bridge," where Wolfe, in his attack, destroyed a distillery and other buildings by fire, and drove the people into the city. This close approach to the gates of the town was severely felt in the increased effect of the besiegers' fire. But on the 21st a terrible blow destroyed everything like hope in the garrison. Having previously sunk three of their ships at the mouth of the harbour to prevent the entrance of the enemy, they had now only five remaining, when suddenly a shot from the enemy caused the explosion of their largest line-of-battle ship, the Entreprenant. The English armament then, in charge of Lord Amherst and Admiral Boscawen, sailed from Halifax on the 28th of May, 1758, and safely reached Gabarus Bay on the 2nd of June. They selected the former landing-place (Cormoran Creek), about seven miles to the westward of the city. A delay of several days was occasioned by the violence of the surf, which on this coast often breaks with immense force. Out of three divisions of the army who approached the shore in boats, only one was intended as the real attack. This was led by Brigadier-General Wolfe, and consisted of Her flames reached two others 600 light troops, a battalion of Highlanders, and four companies of grenadiers. But he had to meet a for- and destroyed them, besides smaller vessels. Soon after midable resistance from a masked battery of the enemy, this, a daring exploit of the British sailors caused the protected by felled trees, and defended by 2000 regular loss of the other two. A large number of boats, all French troops and a body of Indians. This unex-ready armed with muskets, pistols, entlasses, and every pected and formidable defence (prematurely exposed by necessary weapon, were despatched with boarding parthe ardour of the French), combined with the difficulty ties, under command of Captains La Foley and Balfour, of landing through the surf, produced some hesitation on a very dark night. The constant rattle of small at first. But the attempt was renewed, and notwith- arms from both sides prevented their approach from standing their shattered boats, and dripping arms and being heard, as they passed the island battery into uniform, numbers also being drowned, the brave soldiers the harbour; and the first intimation received by the leader, drove the enemy from their entrenchments back report of guns in the direction of the two ships. It made good their landing; and, inspired by their daring French of this new and unexpected danger, was the into the city. It is not my purpose to enter into was now too late to render help. They soon beheld detail; but the courage displayed by an English officer one ship, which was aground near the city, in flames; in this landing, as it is recorded by an impartial and the other, the Bienfaisant, towed triumphantly |