POCAHONTAS.* T last they brought him to Meronoco moco, where was Powhatan, their emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim courtiers stood wondering at him as he had been a monster till Powhatan and his train had put themselves in their greatest braveries. Before a fire, upon a seat like a bedstead, he sat covered with a great robe, made of Rarowcun skins, and all the tails hanging by. On either hand did sit a young wench of sixteen or eighteen years, and along on each side of the house two rows of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and shoulders painted red, many of their heads bedecked with the white down of birds, but every one with something, and a great chain of white beads about their necks. At his entrance before the king, all the people gave a great shout. The queen of Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and another brought him a bunch of feathers, instead ofa towel, to dry them. Having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought before Powhatan; then as many as could laid hand on him, dragged him to them, and thereon laid his head; and, being ready with their clubs to * The work from which this selection is taken was written by Thomas Studley, Robert Fenton, Edward Harrington and Captain John Smith. The selection is believed to be from the pen of Captain Smith. beat out his brains, Pocahontas, the king's dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got his head in her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death; whereat the emperor was contented he should live to make him hatchets and her bells, beads and copper; for they thought him as well of all occupations as themselves. For the king himself will make his own robes, shoes, bows, arrows, pots; plant, hunt or do anything so well as the rest. F They say he bore a pleasant show, CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. READING. OR general improvement a man should read whatever his immediate inclination prompts him to; though, to be sure, if a man has a science to learn, he must regularly and resolutely advance. What we read with inclination makes a stronger impression. If we read without inclination, half the mind is employed in fixing the attention; so there is but half to be employed on what we read. I read Fielding's Amelia through without stopping. If a man begins to read in the middle of a book and feels an inclination to go on, let him not quit it to go to the beginning. He may perhaps not feel again the inclination. DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON. TH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. ROBERT BROWNING. HIS author has been designated "one of England's greatest of modern poets.' "His poetry, however, is too obscure to please the general reader." He was born at Camber well, A. D. 1812, and educated at the Uni versity of London. He married the eminent poetess Elizabeth Barrett in the year 1846. After their marriage they resided in Italy until her death, A. D. 1861, when he returned to his native country. His poems are numerous, and are held in high esteem by many critics. The celebrated actor Macready took the part of the hero in his trag edy entitled Stafford, which was produced in A. D. 1837. He died A. D. 1889. ERASMUS DARWIN. exposed by Dr. Thomas Brown, Dugald Stewart, Paley, Good and others. S. AUSTIN ALLIBONE. HANNAH FLAGG GOULD. HANNAH FLAGG GOULD was born in Lancaster, Vermont, but while yet a child her father removed to Newburyport, Massachusetts. She early wrote for several periodicals, and in 1832 her poetical pieces were collected in a volume. In 1835 and in 1841 a second and third volume appeared, ERASMUS DARWIN, M.D. (born 1731; nothing of it but good. It is poetry for a died 1802), was a native of Elton, near Newark, Nottinghamshire. He studied both at St. John's College, Cambridge, and at Edinburgh, and, having chosen his profession of medicine, practised first at Northampton and sober, quiet, kindly-affectioned Christian heart. It is poetry for a united family circle in their hours of peace and leisure. For such companionship it was made, and into such it will find, and has found, its way. subsequently at Lichfield, where he acquired [Died at Newburyport, September 5, 1865.] a profitable practice. Being left a widower, he was married in 1781 to Mrs. Colonel Pole, by whose influence he was induced to retire to Derby, where he died suddenly in 1802. Dr. Darwin enjoyed considerable reputation as a botanist, philosopher and poet. Darwin's powers of description and of dramatic effect were undoubtedly great. The absence of judgment and taste is equally clear; hence the decline of his early fame. His fallacies, especially his theory which refers instinct to sensation, have been amply | CHARLES D. CLEVELAND. HENRY HART MILMAN. THIS poet and historian was the son of Sir Francis Milman, physician to George III., and was born at London, February 10, 1791. He was chosen in A. D. 1821 professor of poetry at Oxford, but is perhaps best known as the editor of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, having appended copious notes to that important work. He died in September, 1868. LEAVES FROM THE DIARY OF A POOR ECEMBER 18th.-These hol- | This is wonderful. God's works are wonderful as they are manifold. idays are very welcome to me. Mind as well as body needs refreshment. The frost is still severe, but the sun shone this morning with the splendor of a May day, and the slight covering of snow, which in these country-places does not become sullied as in towns, gave unusual beauty to the whole landscape. The peculiar character of trees is much more perceptible in winter than in summer, when the tracery of their branches is hidden by the leaves. I was struck by this to-day as I walked down the lane adjoining the grounds of the Hall. The trees here are of great size; the oak, the maple, the horse- and Spanish chestnuts, the birch, the ash, and even elm, grow finely grouped together in a comparatively small space. Here and there a black evergreen, the Scotch and Weymouth pine, add still greater diversity. Bare trees shooting up and spreading out their branches into the keen, bracing air have always had, to my fancy, a fine effect. They seem hard and gray as if made of iron; each has its own peculiar and characteristic twist and turn and angle; each individual twig of the same tree differs from the rest; yet all have the same general character, and that in all lands and from all time unchanged. He Instead of pursuing the lane forward to the meadows, I crossed the stile to the left and went down to the old ponds below the Hall, which, being now hardly-frozen over, are a great attraction to the boys. If I had wanted my whole school, I should have found them assembled here with red-and-white comforters round their necks and worsted gloves on. I have an instinctive knowledge of, as well as liking for, boys. I know all in the villageeven the Sunday-scholars. I soon discovered, therefore, that among the sliders was one who was a stranger. He might be ten or twelve, looked poor and was scantily clothed, and neither had he any skill on the ice. kept near the edge, apart from the others, and was making little essays with more perseverance than success. I watched him for some time. Among the sliders yonder were boys not half his age, who slid fearlessly twenty or thirty yards at once. I thought him one of those maladroit beings who do everything in a clumsy, left-handed way, and felt compassion for him. To such, whether boys or men, the easiest things are hard; good intention avails little; their work is without completeness; they blunder rather than go through life; their very existence seems a blunder. While I stood thus thinking, he fell; it was an awkward fall, and I feared he was hurt. I stepped upon the ice, therefore, to help him up, but he sprang nimbly to his feet and received my expressions of |