114 HOURS WITH NATURE. 



poison the atmosphere far and wide. How well do 1 

 remember the day when my wise and affectionate father 

 initiated me into the mysteries of the Bengali alphabet, 

 and taught me the following sloka 



n 



Ever afterwards, he lost no opportunity to teach me 

 by precept and example, to love and fear God, and to 

 bend in loving reverence before the "beauty and majesty 

 of the universe" and to be always respectful to my 

 teachers and superiors. Such, however, has been the 

 wide-spread degeneration of the present day that 

 even parents do not take the trouble to train up the 

 minds of their children, but are content with leaving 

 them to their books and teachers. But I am digressing, 

 and I must ask your forgiveness, Mr. W., for causing this 

 interruption to your interesting discourse." 



"On the contrary," replied Mr. W., "you deserve my 

 best thanks for having incidentally called my attention 

 to the important subject of juvenile training. In fact, 

 every one connected with the problem of education in 

 India ought to ponder over the subject." 



THE COWRY SHELL. 



"I must call your attention, before we leave 

 this hall, to another class of familiar molluscs the 

 cowries. They are largely used as currency among the 

 poorer classes of Indians, and are procured in vast quan- 

 tities on the coast of the Congo and in the Philippine aod 



