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FIRESIDE DEPARTMENT.

Answer to Enigma in June Number.

We have received only one answer to this enigma since our last issue. That is from C. B. C., Providence.

Jerry must not give such hard lessons to the young scholars in warm weather. Now, Jerry, mind that. As this is vacation, we will give you an easy one this month, but we have another from Jerry, which we intend to keep till cool weather.

ANSWER.

Father Chapelaine, Will o' the Wisp, Mosioatunya, Victoria Falls, Zambesi, Acacia, Thorny, Salt, Muromba, Tsetse, Side, Nerbudda, Lauterbunnen.

Whole-Innumerable flies, called Tsaltsalya, or Zimp, burst into life, which drive both

man and beast across the mountains.

EXPLANATION.

The following day he was brought out again and one hundred and fifty blows, with a stout bamboo, were again administered upon his swollen and inflamed feet. After other barbarous usage he was returned to prison for that day. On the third day he was taken out to the square of punishment, and there underwent the final torture of the knives, a most severe and barbarous punishment, which resulted in his death."-Harpers' Weekly.

The Will o' the Wisp, called also, Jack o' Lantern, Igneus Fatuus, and Feu Follet, is usually seen in swamps and battle-fields, because it is produced from the gases arising from the putrid matter found in these places.

The Falls of Mosioatunya, (meaning, "Smoke does sound there, ") were discovered by Dr. Livingstone, in South Central Africa. He

supposes the falls to have been formed by a

"The Acacia, or Egyptian Thorn, is a na

fissure or crack in a hard basaltic rock, opening from the right to the left bank of the Zambesi, and prolonged to the left through 30 or 40 miles of hills; and that the whole "Father Chapelaine was a French Jesuit valley of the Zambesi, before this fissure was missionary in the province of Quangsi, in made, was one immense lake, of which the Southern China. He had labored a number of small lakes scattered about in the valley are years, faithfully and quietly, in various prov- the deep places. Victoria Falls, the name givinces of the Chinese Empire, until February, en the above by Dr. Livingstone, is the only of last year, when he found himself suspect-name which he gave to any of his discoveries. ed by the authorities of being in league with the at that time victorious rebels. He tive of Africa, growing within the limits of was rudely dragged before the mandarin judge, the tropical rains, where the soil is rank from who silenced him with blasphemous ques-excssive heat and moisture. They seldom tions, and then ordered that he should receive one hundred and fifty blows with a bamboo upon the soles of his feet - sufficient, often, to kill an able-bodied man. He bore these without a murmur. Enraged at his heroic silence, he was then taken to one of the squares of the town, and placed in a cangue, or wooden collar, where, for three hours he

grow above fifteen or sixteen feet high, then flatten, and spreading wide at the top, touch each other, while the trunks are far asunder; and thus, under a vertical sun, for many miles together, there is a free space, in which both men and beasts may walk in a cool, delicious shade."

Both Bruce and Livingstone speak of salt

was left bareheaded, exposed to the heat of being used for money in East Africa. Livingthe sun and to the jeers of the multitude. I stone also speaks of calico as a currency.

Muromba is a hill discovered by Living-tation of man, while the country on the opstone, in the middle of a lake north of the posite side of the mountains is teeming with Zambesi. luxuriance, and basking under the rays of a prolific sun.

Side was an ancient town (not tower, as printed in the enigma,) on the sea coast of Pamphylia, in the route of Alexander.

Near Lauterbrunnen, in Switzerland, is the beautiful water-fall of Staubach, descending perpendicularly 800 feet. "It is one of the principal waterfalls of the eastern continent." Whole.

"The mountains which run parallel with the western shore of the Red Sea, separate vast districts, which, though exactly in the same latitude, have nevertheless a most remarkable difference in the period of their rains. Both countries are deluged with rain for six months in the year; but the wet seasons are diametrically opposite to each other. On the east side, between the mountains and the Red Sea, it rains during the six months which constitute our winter; while on the opposite side it rains during the whole of our

summer months.

"These periodical rains, which in themselves constitute one of the wonders of na

The inhabitants of these ad

joining territories, availing themselves of this singular dispensation of Providence, migrate from one side of the mountains to the other, so that, while their cattle are feeding in the cool of the morning on the most luxuriant pasture, and, during the burning sunshine of the day, are browsing on exuberant foliage, a mere geographical line divides them from a land deluged with a pouring rain, deserted by almost every living creature, and condemned to gloomy and cheerless solitude." — Bruce's

Travels.

Answer to Puzzle.

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ture, produce another which is almost equal-making SIX, or half a dozen.

ly extraordinary; for, as soon as the fat, I have not been able to solve the enigma. black earth becomes saturated with water, immense swarms of flies burst into existence;

For the Schoolmaster.
Geographical Enigma.

MINNIE.

I AM COMPOSED OF FIFTY-FOUR LETTERS.

and, with the rains, drive almost every living
creature from them. This insect, called tsalt-
`salya or zimp although it is scarcely larger
than a common bee, becomes formidable from
its immense numbers; and the buzzing sound
announcing its arrival is no sooner heard,
than the cattle forsake their food and run
wildly about the plain, till thay actually die
from fear, pain, and fatigue. Even the rhi-
noceros and elephant, whose hides are con-
sidered almost impenetrable to a musket ball,
are severely persecuted by these insects.
Therefore, either region becomes, for six
months of the year, almost unfit for the habi-mountain in New England.

My 25, 15, 17, 39, 53, 41, 49, is a city containing one of the most magnificent cathedrals in Europe.

My 52, 36, 42, 6, 35, 10, 32, 22, is a river in Asia.

My 3, 9, 22, 27, 16, 34, is a river in one of the territories.

My 23, 18, 46, 30, 34, is the name of a

My 35, 16, 11 40, 7, 6, was the birth-place ing the sights in the Franconia range, and of an eminent naturalist. managed to reach home just in time to comMy 4, 41, 33, 3, is a cape on the coast of mence his autumn term. He had seen all that Africa. tourists see, he had enjoyed and learned more

My 48, 14, is the birth-place of one of the than they. patriarchs.

His friend, the student, listening to his tales My 1, 13, 31, 43, 28, 37, 11, 31, is a town by the fireside, in the winter, was straightway in Germany. seized by a desire which drew him into a like

My 45, 3, 24, 14, 34, 38, is an island in laudable notion of pilgrimage. So, when his Oceanica. college vacation occurred, he took his bag, My 1, 54, 26, 21, is a gulf tributary to the into which he dropped his Virgil, by way of Mediterranean sea. ballast, and a dozen of his mother's gingerMy 28, 47, 53, 44, 5, is a naval station in bread cakes, with a half dozen turn-over colEurope. lars, and other etceteras, and, putting on his My 8, 29, 20, 19, 51, 16, 34, is a river trib- Sophomore hat, he stepped over the daffyutary to the Gulf of Mexico. down-dillies on his way for the train towards

My 2, 35, 46, 50, 12, 40, 33, is a cape on Mount Tom. His own journal contains an the coast of Asią.

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elaborate account of the "natives" of the several towns of Worcester and Springfield, which he saw at noon and by gas light, and a thrilling description of his sensations on first discovering Mount Tom over his right shoulder, in the Springfield train. Emulating the example of the schoolmaster, he traced with his foot-prints the banks of the beautiful Connecticut and scientifically investigated, as was his duty, the vibrations of Hadley Falls, his observations on which, together with sketches and remarks thereon, are in his portfolio. Space fails to tell of his approach to the mountain by moonlight and of his dismay at. hearing a moping owl to the moon comits southern face in the morning, and of his plain," of his ascent of the mountain, round journey due west, "towards the setting sun," as his journal sayeth. All these may be found duly written in the aforesaid journal. But our subject is most concerned with an adventure which is wholly left out on his record.

66

In the summer vacation, our schoolmaster slung his satchel on his arm and put his left foot forward for the White Hills, which he reached in due time. He shunned hotels, because he always found that his money pocket shrunk upon leaving the clerk's desk, and it was none too full at first. So, when he became weary at night, as a rap on the door of the nearest house generally brought a hospitable host to the sill, he stepped within and was generally welcome to the country fare and hearty sociability which he found there. The rubbing out of a light score in the morning preceded his departure, when he shouldered his bag and trudged on. Thus our schoolmaster traveled. He ascended Mount Washington on foot, walked leisurely through the Notch after see-ple whom he met concerning the "hospitality”

Night coming on, our Sophomore, after a bowl of milk at a country house, made numerous scrutinies of the countenances of peo

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"We've

"Well," (with a ghastly smile.) got company, or we would keep you." Sophomore turns nervously on his heel. With his back to the door and his foot on a descending step, he makes the old inquiry. "Yes. I guess you can get a place at the village.

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"How far is it?"

"O about two miles."
"Thank you."

Sophomore departs, shouldering his satchel, and gazing wistfully at the golden and purple horizon.

A knock at the next door is unanswered. It is now dark. A damp breeze lifts the rim of his hat from his wet forehead. Before him, up the main road, is a steep, high hill, rising up black and dismal. He has arrived at the village, over the high, dark, dismal hill. It is night. A tall, white house looms up on the right. The upper half of a door opens in answer to his knock, and a woman appears with a candle.

"Can I stop in this house to-night, madam?"

Madam is about to speak, but he goes on. -"I have inquired at a number of places back. I am weary and tired and there is, as

Riley Perkin's is just one mile and seven-I learn, no hotel within ten miles. I am a eighths from this gentleman's door. student, madam, traveling in pursuit of" "pleasure" he was about to say in pursuit of exercise. I will pay you for my lodging."

The Sophomore raps. He sees the sun just going down over the rocky hills in the west. It is a sublime sight, he would think, at any

other time.

The door opens.

"A pleasant evening, sir."

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Madam looks wistfully at the Sophomore, who holds his hat in his hand. She has a sweet face, and, withal, a benevolent, social

Yes, sir," answers the farmer, who is appearance. She wipes the top of the candleabout seating himself to his supper. A cu-stick gently with her apron.

"I should have no objection to having you stay, but the man of the house is not in." "Will he be in soon?"

boys, and drying his wet feet - he was sleeping in a comfortable bed in the "south room." The next day our Sophomore took the

"Yes, at nine or ten o'clock. He has gone Western Road at Huntington station for Al

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"How far is it to the next town?" "Four miles."

"I think I will not stay. The man might blame you for letting me in." Something like a tear drops on the Sophomore's check. "I am much obliged to you, madam. Door closes solemnly.

It is almost nine o'clock. Mud, over shoc, fills the road - there is no sidewalk. Darkness, thick as Newport fog, closes in around him. He passes a new white house. Hope revives. He shouts to a man who is walking in the yard with a lantern.

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Must he "camp out?"

who sometimes takes

Never! He will trudge on till daylight! He will, at any rate get out of the town of West

bany.

We happen to know both the Sophomore and the Schoolmaster. We hope that the Sophomore's experience may never be ours.

For the Schoolmaster.
The Tale of the Tub of Water.

-

ONE and twenty hundred, two score and four years have passed over the city of Syracuse, since the tale of the tub of water originated. There was, among the numerous houses of that great city, one to which a poor man, named Archimedes resorted for the purpose of bathing; - this was a long time ago, when bathing tubs were in fashion. His tub,

either by design or by accident, was filled enA reply, something like a growl, to his oft-tirely to the brim with the protoxide of hyrepeated question, says something about the drogen, which was the substance used in "housen a mile or two ahead, and about a those days for cleansing the body. The poor "double handed man man, naturally a little bronzed, was evidently in travelers. in a brown — a very dark brown - study, for king Hiero, who was very famous then, but who has since died, leaving only his name and a tin fountain, which squirts water to an amazing height, suspected that one of his goldsmiths had been cheating him by selling him plated instead of solid jewelry; the last suspected article was a crown, which the king had given orders to be made of twenty-four carat gold. Like many other great and rich men, Hiero considered rank and riches a sufficient apology for the lack of common sense, so he commanded his son, whose name was Gelon, to attend to the making of the crown and to furnish the jewelers with the gold. The crown was made, and, as Hiero thought, contained an inferior metal; but how was he to detect the deception? Instead of answering the question he asked Archimedes, his

His indignation drives him two or three miles to a large dark mansion. He must go in here. He is out of that inhospitable town, at all events. He knocks at the north door. A man answers the rap. There is a good fire in the kitchen, he can see, but all is quiet. He is determined.

"What town is this, sir?" he asks. "Huntington."

"Can I stop here to-night?"

"I don't know, I will see. Walk in, sir." This last stroke was a coup de main. In an hour - after a cosy chat with the husbandman, his hospitable wife and the girls and

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