AMERICAN 
CHILDREN OPENING THE GATE.-TRUE 
Engraved for the American Agriculturist. 
POLITENESS. 
What is the first thought on looking at this beautiful 
engraving ? Is it about • the ragged clothing of the 
largest hoy ? No, certainly ; for his open, pleasant coun¬ 
tenance, and his respectful salute, made by carrying his 
hand to the place where a lint ought to be, at once make 
you feel “I like that boy.”—Not a thought is given to what 
he wears. His homely garb makes his kindly look and 
polite manner even more noticeable. Good manners arc 
belter than fine clothing. That is the first lesson of the 
picture.—But there is something more to be noticed. See 
how trustingly the lad's little sister nestles up to his side, 
and you can also tell by his brother’s face that they are 
on the best of terms. This lad’s politeness, then, is some¬ 
thing inore than appearing pleasant; it springs from a 
loving nature. He lias taken no lessons in the parlor, but 
his heart prompts him to kind feelings, which show them¬ 
selves in looks and actions: that is true politeness. We 
have seen a young man full of smiles and bows for 
young ladies, when in company, but rude and selfish 
toward his sister at home ; and there are young ladies, so 
called, that are all sweetness in the parlor, but unfeeling 
in their treatment o.f their mothers; sucli might learn a 
good lesson from this poor country lad. Many persons 
who are good at heart might be greatly improved by 
taking more pains to be agreeable, but it is better to be 
good and kind, wilhout appearing so, than to appear 
without possessing lliose trails. Politeness may be called 
the oil of society, which enables persons to easily pass 
along w ithout unpleasant friction. It has made more than 
one man’s fortune. An instance is related of a former 
Governor of one of tiie Western States. When a boy, he 
w us once holding a calf, while his mother was milking 
the cow. A gentleman approached and said, “ Why don’t 
you lake off your hat, my little man ?” “ So I will, sir, if 
you will hold the calf,” replied the boy, respectfully. 
The gentleman was pleased with the quick answer, but 
still more with the pleasant way in which it was spoken. 
He at once became the boy’s friend, helped him to an edu¬ 
cation, and the boy rose to distinction.-But what are 
these children looking at? Something in the picture 
tells you, and it will be pleasant to study it out. We think 
they have opened the gate for a man on horseback. 
USoys’ :md {jiirls* Garden—No. 7. 
The season of flowers has nearly past, and if you have 
carefully read and thought about what has been said con¬ 
cerning them, you will no doubt wish that it might have 
been longer, to study new specimens. But we have not 
yet done with the plants chosen for illustration. After 
the flower comes th e fruit, and there is something to be 
learned about 1 his. In general we are accustomed to re¬ 
gard fruit as something eatable, but correctly speaking, 
it is the ripened pistils of the flower, no matter what its 
character. In other lessons vve have tried to show you 
the relation of the different parts of the flower, and you 
have probably observed that they were all subservient to 
the pistils : the floral envelopes—the calyx and corolla— 
though they make up the showy part of the flower, are 
only intended to surround and protect the more impor¬ 
tant parts. The stamens fulfill their office in furnishing 
pollen to fertilize the ovules contained in the pistil, in or¬ 
der that they may become seeds. The whole life of the 
plant is directed towards the formation of seeds by which 
to continue its kind, and as the seeds are contained in the 
ripened pistil, it will be seen that it is the most important 
part of the flower. After the ovules are fertilized, the 
petals, stamens, and sometimes the calyx, fall away, and 
the pistil continues to grow, to accommodate the rapidly- 
increasing seeds. When the pistil and the enclosed seeds 
are ripe, they together form the fruit. The fruit presents 
a great many different forms, and the pistils frequently 
become very much changed from what we have known 
them in the flower. It was stated in the last lesson that 
the Pea had one of the simplest forms of pistil. Garden 
peas are generally gone by this time, but you will find 
some pods still on the Sweet Pea. The pea-pod is the 
fruit of the pea: that is, it is the matured pistil. The 
change which has taken place is mainly one of size. The 
little flat green pistil has very much enlarged, and the 
minute ovules it contained, which were smaller than a 
pin’s head, have become full-sized peas. You w ill recol¬ 
lect it was stated that all the parts of the flower were 
to be looked upon as leaves modified to serve a particular 
purpose, and you had no difficulty in understanding that 
this might be the case with parts of the calyx and co¬ 
rolla: with the other parts of the flower it is perhaps 
more difficult to make you see this. Still the botanist 
looks upon the pistil as a modified leaf, or leaves, and he 
thinks that you can have no difficulty in imagining a pea- 
pod‘as a leaf folded together and bearing the peas on the 
pari where the edges of the leaves meet. Imagine the 
edges of the leaves turned in a little, and you will see 
that they form a place to which the ovules are attached. 
This portion is called the placenta, and is a mere line in 
the pea, but it is much more conspicuous in other fruits. 
