Pro] AND SYMBOLS. 285 



of these, everything seems to go forward with success, the 

 mariners suppose themselves every hour approaching their 

 wished-for port, the wind fills their sails, and the ship's prow 

 seems to divide the water, but at last by miserable experience 

 they find that instead of going forward, they have been all the 

 time receding. The business of currents therefore makes a con- 

 siderable article in navigation, and the direction of their stream 

 and their rapidity has been carefully set down. A. 



The Protection of Parents by their Offspring 1 . 



The birds can teach ungrateful children their duty towards 

 aged parents. It is an old tradition with regard to storks, says 

 Mr. Morris in his " British Birds," that they take care of and 

 nourish their parents when they are too old to take care of 

 themselves, from whence the Greek word " pelargicos," signifying 

 the duty of children to take care of their parents ; and " pelargicoi 

 nomoi," signifying the laws relating to that duty, both derived 

 from the Greek word for a stork : " Pelargos," from pelas, black ; 

 and " argos," white, alluding to the prevailing colours of the 

 stork. HI. 



Protective Influences. 



Protective influences may be apparently insignificant, yet in 

 reality mighty. There is a grassy-looking weed that grows 

 among the sand near the seashore. It is so coarse in substance 

 that even hardy cattle turn from it with disdain. Yet this sea- 

 reed, Arundo arenaria, as it is called, performs such useful ser- 

 vice to man that its presence in this particular situation cannot 

 be deemed less than providential. Many low-lying coast lands 

 require to be defended not only from the sea, but also from the 

 sand cast ashore by the waves. This loose sand gradually 

 accumulates, is driven hither and thither by every gale of wind, 

 and has a tendency to encroach upon the fertile fields and con- 

 vert them into desert wastes. The threatened danger is averted 

 by this humble weed, and the slightest consideration of its 

 habits demonstrates that it was specially created for the pur- 

 pose. While most plants instinctively seek out the richest 

 soils, this one prefers the driest sands. The gritty storms so 



