188 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



watches over the welfare of the meanest objects of His crea- 

 tion. He regulates with unerring wisdom, and with benefi- 

 cent providence, the expanding of every leaf, and the un- 

 folding of every flower; not a sparrow falls without His 

 supervision, for " His kingdom ruleth over ALL ! " What 

 an encouragement is here for our implicit trust in His care, 

 even as regards the comparatively trifling affairs of this life, 

 " what we shall eat, what we shall drink, wherewithal we 

 shall be clothed;" "seeing He clothes the grass of the field, 

 and feeds the fowls of the air." And we are of far more 

 value in His sight than these : if we do His holy will, and 

 rely on Him by faith, we are raised above all anxiety, for 

 Omnipotence and Omniscience itself is pledged to care for 

 us : " Who is he that shall harm you, if ye be followers of 

 that which is good ? " 



C. Look ! what is this among the grass ? it is a little 

 Tortoise. 



F. They are not uncommon in some of the brooks: there 

 is a brook running through what is called the Eobinson farm, 

 on the banks of the Coatacook, near SpafFord's bridge, where 

 this species ( Terrapene Clausa) is quite numerous. I have 

 caught several at different times ; if I should not rather say 

 " found," for a tortoise is not a very difficult thing to catch. I 

 kept one in the house for some days, where he was rather 

 amusing : when touched, he would draw in his head and legs, 

 and curl his tail so tightly to his body that my fingers could not 

 pull it away : if left alone, he would gradually put forth his 

 ugly, hawk-like head, but did not like to crawl if watched, 

 contenting himself with merely looking out. If put into a 

 room, however, by himself, he would soon take courage, and 

 rattle over the floor with a speed I could not have antici- 

 pated from his uncouth appearance. He managed to get 



