of air, which presses upon a man, is about sixteen

"Sixteen tons! father," exclaimed Thomas. "I should think sixteen tons on his shoulders would crush a man, as stout as Goliath himself."

"So it would, were it on his shoulders alone," said Mr. M. "But instead of this, it presses on all sides of him equally; and besides this, he has air also within his body, which just balances the pressure without.

"I will illustrate this. Suppose we take a thin glass vial, and having corked it tight, sink it deep in the water. The pressure of the water will break the vial. But, if we first fill the vial with water, we may sink it to any depth, without breaking it; because the water within, resists or balances the pressure of the water without. So, the air within us, just balances the pressure of the air without."

"Father, what is the air made of?" asked James. "It is composed of several things; but the principal are two fluids, called oxygen and nitrogen. These are so mixed together, that when we breathe, we draw them both into our lungs, at the same time!"

"What is the difference between these two fluids?" "I will tell you," said Mr. M. "and you will see the wisdom and goodness of God, in combining them together.

"The oxygen supports life-but to breathe it alone would be like a man's drinking rum alone-it would intoxicate him. I have seen a mouse put into a glass vessel, containing only oxygen, and he danced himself to death.

"Now, on the other hand, to breathe nitrogen, alone would destroy life. I have, also, seen a mouse put into a glass vessel, containing only nitrogen, and he died in a moment.

"God has, therefore, wisely and kindly so mingled the two together, that the compound is just fitted to support us, and make us comfortable.”

"Father, what a great and wonderful being God is!" exclaimed Harriet.

"Truly he is wonderful, my child. We may well exclaim with the psalmist, 'the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work.-How manifold are thy works, O Lord! In wisdom has thou made them all.'

"But, besides the importance of the atmosphere, in enabling us to breathe, it has many other uses, which greatly contribute to our comfort, and show how good God is.

"Without an atmosphere, my children, our eyes would be useless; the moment we turned them from the sun, the heavens would appear as dark, as in the night-we should see no beauty in objects, for they would have no color.

"Nay, without the atmosphere, we should hear nothing-smell nothing. It is the air, which carries our voices-which conveys all sound-which diffuses all fragrance. Without it, we should have no clouds -no rain-no vegetation and no fire.

"True, when put in motion, as in a whirlwind, and the tornado, it becomes terrific. But, even then, we have the comfort of reflecting that these are not without their uses. They agitate the mighty mass-prevent it from becoming stagnant, and carry off those vapors which would cause sickness, and even pestilence.

"What I have now told you, my children, should lead you to reflect upon the goodness of God. It

should teach you how dependant you are upon him, for your comfort. If he did not constantly control the air, what terrible desolation would it cause. Should he only change the proportion of the fluids, which compose it, how laborious might it be for us to breathe. Should he withdraw the nitrogen of which I have told you, and let the oxygen only remain, what dire ruin might ensue. Nothing makes bodies burn so furiously as pure oxygen. Were burning bodies once to take fire in an atmosphere of it, their flames would sweep through the world, with almost the rapidity of lightning. "Thus dependent on God, how greatly should we fear to offend him-how anxious should we be to please him.

How excellent his love,

Whence all our safety springs!
Oh, never let my soul remove
From underneath his wings!

THIRD DAY.

"We will next take a view of the third day's work. Here is a picture also of that day's work.

"Sophia, you may read to us, what is recorded of this day's work."

Sophia.

And God said, (Gen. i, 9-13.) Let the waters, under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 'And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas: and God saw that it was good.