XL. 



ZTbe Xessons of a 



NOT far distant from my home is a famous quarry, 

 which forms a favourite hunting-ground of geologists. 

 The temptation of a fine spring day has led me in the 

 direction of this big hole in the ground, whence the 

 builders in my locality have obtained the largest share 

 of material for the erection of the city close by. Sitting 

 on the low stone wall which separates the quarry from 

 the road, a sight that is more than suggestive meets 

 your gaze. The rock, which has been quarried to a 

 great depth, is a hard durable sandstone, whereof one 

 could have wished that our Houses of Parliament had 

 been built. That fine edifice, as most of my readers 

 know, is in a state of stone-decay. Attacked by the 

 gases of the London air, the limestone at St. Stephen's 

 is wearing away rapidly enough, and is illustrating to 

 the geological mind aptly, but sadly, that process oi 

 " weathering," which is responsible for so much 

 cosmical wear and tear. 



Below us, however, the quarry sandstone is durable 

 enough. The hand of time, with its (geological) fingers 

 of air, frost, and water, and so forth, makes but little 

 impression on this hard stone dug out from its native 

 rock ; and if perchance the sandstone is " hard to work," 

 as the mason has it, you get a fair return for the extra 



