well, he placed it in the school- THE VALUE OF PUNCTU room window because it needed light. This morning early it was ALITY. He ENERAL WASHINGTON was a pattern of punctuality. When he engaged to meet Congress at noon, he never failed to be at the door of the hall just as the clock was striking twelve. always dined at four o'clock; and if the guests whom he had invited were not present, the dinner went on precisely at the appointed hour, without waiting for them. Washington looking so fresh and pretty, but after a time it began to fade, and by twelve o'clock it was quite withered. When master looked closely at it, he saw that it had had a fall, for the pot was cracked, the plant broken, and the stem was only held up by being tied to a thin stick, which could not be seen at first sight. Master is very angry, and says he will severely punish the boy who has done VOL. XIV. SECOND SERIES.-April, 1874. D 66 would make no apology, but simply remark, Gentlemen, we are punctual here." When those people got another invitation to dine with the President, they would be sure to be in time. A person had a pair of beautiful horses to sell, which the President wanted to buy. Five o'clock in the morning of a certain day was fixed as the time for Washington to see them; but the horses were not brought till a quarter past five, when the owner was told that the President had been there at the hour appointed, but had gone away. The man thus lost a good chance of selling his horses by his delay of one quarter of an hour. "TIME ENOUGH YET." NE day a gentleman was stopped in a street of New York by a shabbylooking man, who asked him if he did not remember his old schoolmate, Harry B-; and then begged him to lend him five dollars. The gentleman remembered Harry B- very well. He knew that his father was a rich man, and that when he was at school, Harry's business prospects were better than those of any other boy in his class. He looked with surprise on this man's dirty, threadbare clothes, and asked, "Can it be possible that you are my old friend, Harry B-?" "It is even so," said he. "Do tell me, what has brought you to this condition of poverty and want?" Now mark what this poor man said. "Time enough yet has brought me to it. I got into the way of saying this on all occasions. I used always to put off doing things at the right time. This has ruined me. If I had only formed the habit of prompt action when I was young, I might have been a rich man to-day. Time enough yet' has been my ruin." THE OWL. HE appearance of owls is so singular, that when once seen they are not readily forgotten. They have but little beauty of form. The head is large, the body bulky, the plumage soft and downy. They seek their prey during the twilight of morning and evening, and probably through a good part of the night, when the moon each other while in the gloom they scour the woods in search of mice and small birds, a stranger to their cries may almost be forgiven, especially if he be alone, for a moment's timidity. These birds appear to be very sensitive to light; and in the day-time, the eyes of several varieties of them are either shut entirely, or are protected by an inner eyelid, which they are able to let down or raise with great rapidity. Their faculty of hearing is probably more acute than that of many other birds; the opening towards the ear is in some species very large, and furnished with a covering which is moveable at pleasure. Their flight is easy and light, but not rapid; and from the softness of their feathers, even those of the wings, they fly without noise. They vary greatly in size; the larger ones devour small animals, birds, reptiles, and sometimes fishes, while the smaller kinds feed upon beetles and moths that fly in the twilight. Owls are usually arranged by naturalists in two principal groups, or families; one, in which all the species have two tufts of feathers on the head, which have been called horns, or egrets; another, in which the heads are smooth and round without tufts. The Eagle Owl, which is one of the largest species of the family, inhabits the North of Europe generally, but is not often seen in this country. Its food consists of game, such as fawns, hares, grouse, etc., as well as birds. It pounces on these creatures upon the ground, seizing them with its feet, and seldom advances its head towards its victims till their struggles are over. The nest of this bird is placed among rocks or the walls of old ruins, the materials collected for it being spread over a surface of several square feet. The White, or Barn Owl, is found in this country all the year round; it is remarkable for the colour of its plumage, and is probably the best known of all the British species of owls. It inhabits churches, barns, old malting-kilns, or ruined buildings of any sort, and also takes up its abode in holes in decayed trees. If not molested, the same haunts are frequented, either by parent birds or their offspring, many years in succession. It is an active destroyer of rats and mice, for which service they are by some strictly protected. They seldom leave their retreat during the day; and if their place of concealment be approached with caution, and a view of the bird be obtained, it will generally be observed to have its eyes closed, as if asleep. About sunset a pair of these owls, particularly when they have young ones, issue forth in quest of food, and may be seen flapping gently along, searching lanes, hedge-rows, orchards, and small enclosures near outbuildings. They feed on young rats, mice, shrews, small birds, and insects. Sometimes they even succeed in catching fish. A gentleman residing in Yorkshire, having observed some scales of fishes in the nest of a pair of these birds, which had built near a lake on his premises, was induced one moonlight night to watch their motions. To his surprise he saw one of them plunge into the water, and seize a perch, which it bore away to its nest, whence it was afterwards taken. This species is said, when satisfied, to hide the remainder of its meat, like a dog. Owls have been noticed for an extraordinary attachment to their young. An instance of this was witnessed by a Swedish gentleman, who lived several years on a farm near a steep mountain, on the summit of which two Eagle owls had built their nest. One day in the month of July a young bird, having quitted the nest, was caught by the servants. This bird was, considering the seasonof the year, well feathered; but the down appeared here and there between those feathers which had not attained to their full growth. After it was caught, it was shut up in a large hencoop, when to the captors' surprise, on the following morning, a fine young partridge was found lying dead before the door of the coop. It was immediately concluded that this provision had been brought there by the old ones, which no doubt had been making search in the night time for their lost young one. And such was, indeed, the fact; for night after night, for fourteen days, was the same mark of attention repeated. The game which the old birds carried to the captive consisted chiefly of young partridges, for the most part newly killed, but sometimes a little spoiled. On one occasion a moor-fowl was found, so fresh that it was still warm under the wings; at another time a lamb |
