with their tentacles raised, and clapping their 
claws. But yet they arc very circumspect beforo 
superior strength. 1 may look at them at low 
tide from a rock ever so high above them, but 
the moment they tecl that they aro observed, 
the whole crowd will beat a retreat, and in a 
moment they are lost in their sentry - boxes. 
They arc not like Aonrnt.ES, but rather like Has- 
ntbal. But wheu they feel that they aro strong 
enough, they attack. They eat the living and 
the dead. The wounded man has everything to 
fear. It is told that they devoured several of 
Drake’s sailors on a deserted island, whom they 
overwhelmed with their swarming legions. No 
living being can fight them with equal arms. 
The giant polypus, who gulps down the smaller 
shell-fish, would risk his tentacles with them. 
The mostgluttonons fish hesitates to swallow so 
thorny a beiug. 
When the crustacean grows up he is the fright 
of both land and water. In his unaltackable 
urmor bo is in a state to attack anything. He 
multiplies to excess, ami would break down the 
balance of organized beings were, it not for his 
armor, 
For Moore's Bnral New-Yorkw. 
ABOUT SHELL - FISH. 
Written for Moore's Rural Now-Tortar 
KINDNESS. 
BY LEWIS DATTOSt BURDICK. 
A (rums am r, Toico 
Bids all rejoice. 
Oft making chccrfhl and jocose 
The melancholy and morose. 
A friendly glance 
Will <5ft enhance 
Enjoyments of associates. 
Increasing confidence In mate*. 
A kindly tone 
lias power alone, 
To drive much bitterness away, 
Else In the heart of man would stay. 
A trifling word 
Of kindneaB, heard 
When trying sorrows grieve the heart, 
Sweet consolation will impart. 
A single smile 
Will oft beguile 
Away anxieties of life. 
And lessen wear of human strife. 
A helping deed 
In time of need. 
Makes such impression on the heart 
As time can never mako depart. 
Oh then, bo kindl 
Let hand and mind 
Be active through the live-long day. 
In deeds of kindness by the way. 
Yon kindly greet 
Each one you meet. 
And you will find, you may depend, 
That every ono will bo a friend. 
Groene, N. Y. 
MicHEi.irr, and not yet pnntca in me isngnsn lan¬ 
guage, may attract tho attention of your intelligent 
subscribers.— o. o. a.] 
If one should first visit our rich collection of 
the armor of the middle ages, and after having 
contemplated the heavy masses of iron with 
which our chevaliers covered themselves, should 
go immediately to the Museum of Natural His¬ 
tory to sco tho armor of the Crustacea?, one 
would pity tho arts of man. The first aro an 
assemblage of disguises, ridiculous, encumber¬ 
ing and overpowering—good lor nothing if not 
to suffocate tiie warriors and render them inof¬ 
fensive. Tho latter, especially the arms of the 
decapods , arc so frightful, that, if they wero en¬ 
larged to the size of man, none c suld sustain the 
sight of them; the. bravest would bo cowed 
down and magnetized with terror. 
There they are, all ready tor battle, under the 
redoubtable arsenal, offensive and defensive, 
which they bear so lightly; — strong pincers, 
sharp lances, mandibles fit to cut iron, cuirasses 
bristling with darts, which have only to touch 
you to stab you a thousand times. We may 
well thank Nature lor having made them of the 
size they are. For who could have fought them S’ 
No firearm could have hurt them. Tho elephant 
would have hidden away from them; tho tiger 
would have climbed into tho trees; the skin of 
the rhinoceros would not have protected him. 
One feels that' tho interior agent— the motive 
power of tills machine, centralized m its form, 
(almost always circular,) must have for this very 
reason enormous power. The slender elegance 
of man, his longitudinal form, divided into three 
parts, with fottbgreat appendages, dirergentand 
distant from the center, must iorm a compara¬ 
tively feeble being. This armor of tho cheva¬ 
liers with the great telegraphic arms, the heavy, 
hanging legs, gives tho sad impression of a do 
centralized, powerless being. The crustacean, 
on the contrary, has his appendices so close and 
compact with the body, bo short, so thick-set, 
that his lightest blow is as if given by tho whole 
mass. When the animal pinches, pricks or outs, 
it is witli his whole energy, which, even at. tho 
end of his arm, is brought into full effect. He 
has two brains (head and trunk ;) but, in order 
to make himself more compact and obtain this 
terrible centralization, be has taken tho idea of 
having no neck, but of having his head in hia 
belly. Marvelous simplification 1 This head com¬ 
bines tlu> eye*, the. feelers, the pinchers and tho 
jaws. What the eyes sco tho feelers feel, tho 
pinchers seize and the Jaws crush, and behind 
them, without intermediary organs, ia tho 
stomach, which is itself a machine for grinding, 
trituration and solution. In tv moment all Is 
ended; the prey has disappeared ; it is digested. 
Everything in this being is superior. The eyc& 
behold both before and behind. Convex, exte¬ 
rior, and with numerous facetted, they take in at 
once the larger part of the horizon. The feelers 
or antenna', which are the organs of experiment 
or warning, are triply endowed — at the end 
touch, and at the base bearing and smell,—on 
immense advantage which wc have not. What 
would be the human hand if it could smell nnd 
hear ? How rapid and compact would be oar 
observation. Dispersed among three organs of 
sense which work separately, the Impression, for 
this very reason, is often inexact or transitory. 
Of the ten feet of the decapod six are hands— 
tentacles—and more. At their extremities, there 
are organs of respiration. Tho warrior extri¬ 
cates himself here byun expedient revolutionary 
of the problem which has so much embarrassed 
the poor mollusk—“ To breathe notwithstanding 
the shell.” He lias replied to this: —“I will 
breathe by my feet and hands. Of these feeble 
parts by which I might be taken, I will mako 
arms of war; and let them dare to attack mo 
there.” The only enemies they have to fear are 
the rocks and winds. They travel but little in 
the water or at tho bottom, but arc almost al¬ 
ways on the shore watching for their prey. 
Often while they are waiting there for the oyster 
to yawn, to make a breakfast of him, the tide 
rises, takes them up, and rolls them along. Then 
their armor ia their greatest danger. Hard and 
inelastic, it receives all shocks rudely, fully, and 
with crushing force. Their points arc crushed 
MODE OF 1 UTriHING- IN INDIA. 
•, which is hia trammel and hia danger. 
Hard and fixed, yielding not to the variations of 
life, it is a real prison for him. To open through 
this wall a way for respiration, there lew been 
placed at the door n casual member, tho claw, 
which he frequently loses. To make way for hia 
growth, for the progressive extension of his in¬ 
terior organs, it is necessary—dangerous thing! 
—that his cuirass should sometimes soften, and 
beeomo no more than a Bimplo skin. He can 
admit ol such a change only by despoiling him- 
eclf, by peeling , and Iosidg a part of himself— 
moulting complete. The eyes, the branch!, 
which 6ervo him instead of lungs, submit to it 
like all the rest. 
It is a spectacle to see the lobster throw him¬ 
self ou his back und work about to rid himself 
of bis ah ell. The operation is so violent that he 
frequently breaks his claws in it. Thcu he re¬ 
mains feeble, exhausted and soft. But iu two or 
three days the calcareous substance reappears 
and makes him a new cuirass. The crab does 
not get off so easily ; he requires much time to 
regain his shell; and in the interim even the 
feeblest of beings make game of him. A terri¬ 
ble return of justice and equality. Tho victims 
have their revenge. The strong submit to tho 
feeble, fall to their level, in the grand balancing 
of the account of death. 
If ono died once for all here below there would 
be less of sadness. But every being that has 
life must die a little every day; that ia to say, 
moult, submit to tbat partial death which in its 
renewal constitutes life. Arid from this comes 
that state of weakness and melancholy which 
one does not readily acknowledge. But what 
can be-done? Tho bird who in season changes 
his feathers is sad. Sadder still is the poor udder 
who must change his skin. Also tho human being 
must, moult his skin and all his tissues; monthly, 
daily, momentarily, be is constantly and quietly 
looseuiug a little of himself, lie is not dejected 
by It, only enfeebled in vague und dreamy mo¬ 
ments, when the vital flame palea to return 
again more lucid than ever. How much more 
terrible Is this for tho poor being who must 
change all at once— whose frame-work must be 
disjointed, his inflexible envelope separated and 
torn away I He is overwhelmed, feeble, away 
from himself, a prey to the first comer. There 
are fresh-water Crustacea who must die thus 
twenty times in two months. Others (the suc¬ 
torial cruatacea,) never recover their sheila again, 
but remain deformed and without power or mo¬ 
tion. They resign, so to speak, their commis¬ 
sions as hunters, und cowardlily seek n lazy and 
parasitic life, a shameful protection in the visce¬ 
ra of larger animals, who in spite of themselves 
nourish them, exhaust themselves for them, hunt 
and work for them. 
The insect in its chrysalide seems to forget 
itself, not to know itself, and to remain a stran¬ 
ger to suffering;—ono might rather say, to enjoy 
this relative death, like a nursing babe in its 
warm cradle. Bat the crustacean in hia moult 
sees himself, appreciates hia conditon, precipi¬ 
tated all at once from the most energetic life 
to a state of deplorable helplessness. He seems 
frightened and wild. All that he knows how to 
do is to crawl under a stone and wait in trem¬ 
bling. Having never met a serious enemy or 
other obstacle, rid of all industry by the superi¬ 
ority of hia terrible arms, on the day when they 
fail him he has no resource left Association 
might protect him perhaps, if the moult did not 
come for all, and if each was not disarmed at tho 
same moment and incapable of protecting hia 
6ick brother, being sick himself. It ia said how¬ 
ever that of a certain species the male tries to 
defend bis female, and if sho ia taken the two 
| spouses arc taken together. 
Tub natives of Scinde, India, dwelling on the Others content themselves with fishing for 
shores of tho Indus, have a very primitive and the pula with a net, standing on to tho 
original method of taking the fish necessary shore. In fact, it is dangerous to venture into 
for their subsistence. The fisherman launches the river, especially at noon, when tho croco- 
into the water a large and very light earthen diles are basking in tins hot sunbeams. The 
vessel, and, lying face downard upon it, commends English, however, do nol allow themselves to 
himself to the mercy ot Allah, and pushes off bo prevented by this obstacle from bathing In 
from the shore. Impelling bis singular bark the river, even at midday, surrounded, it is true, 
forward with his feet and hands, be skims over by a cordon of domestics, swimming at soino 
tho water, as our engraving above represents, distance, and charged to frighten away tho fen* 
He holds in hia right hand ft pitchfork about clous animals by raising loud, cries and beating 
fifteen feet long, to which is attached a large their hands. 
net, which ho closes immediately the fish is M. Van Orlicii, a German author, says that 
taken, and transfers the fish to his vessel. Float- there is a temple on the banks of the Indus, In 
ing with confidence over the water, the fisher- front of which the crocodiles, according to tho 
man proceeds several miles from the shore, suf- inhabitants, never fail to stop, and, penetrated 
tering himself to be carried forward by tho cur- with respect for the divinity that resides iu that 
rent on account of the pula, a fish iu much place, they turn towards him, not the tail, but 
esteem, always swimming against tho stream. [ tho head. 
WHY WE SHOULD -WEAR BEARDS. 
There are more solid inducements for wearing 
the beard than tho more improvement of a man’s 
personal appearance and tho cultivation of such 
an aid to tho every-day diplomacy of life. Na¬ 
ture, combining, as she never fails to do, tho use¬ 
ful with tho ornamental, provides us with a fax 
better respirator than science could over make, 
and one that is never so hideous to wear as that 
black seal upon the face Uut looks like a pass¬ 
port to tho realms of suffering and death. Tho 
hair of the mustache not only absorbs the mois¬ 
ture und miasma of the fogs, but It strains the 
air from the dust and soot of our great cities. 
It nets also in the most scientific manner, by 
taking heat from the warm breath us it loaves 
tho ehest, and supplying it to the cold air taken 
In. It is not only a respirator, but with the 
beard entire woaru provided with a comforter an 
well; and these aro never left at home, like the 
umbrellas and ull Bueh appliances whenever they 
are wanted. Moffat and LivingBtone, the Afri¬ 
can explorers, and many other travelers, say that 
In the night no wrapper cun equal tho beard. 
The remarkable thing is, too, that the beard, 
like tho hair of the head, protects against tho 
beat, of the sun; but, more than this, it becomes 
moist with the perspiration, and then, by evapo¬ 
ration, cools the skin. A man who accepts this 
protection of Nature may ikeo tho rudest storm 
and the hardest winter. Ho may go from the 
hottest room into tho coldest air without any 
dread; and wc verily believe be might sleep in a 
morass with impunity —at least his chance of 
escaping the terrible fever would be better than 
his beardless companion's. 
A FARMER OF HISTORIC NOTE 
A farmer named Rolfo has just died at Bca- 
oonsfleld, Eng., who has an interesting history. 
He was the son of the farm bailiff of Edmund 
Burke, and the original of tho famous picture by 
Sir Joshua Reynolds of “ The Infant Hercules.” 
Mr. Jesse, In his 11 Favorite Haunts,” recounting 
his visit to Bcueotibliold in 184/5, thus refers to 
the circumstance :—“Mr. Rolfo’* mother-in-law 
told mo a circumstance I was little prepared to 
hear; it was the fact Llmt her good, houeat and 
portly son-in-law, whom l saw beforo me, bad 
been the very infant whom Hir Joshua Reynolds 
took as the model ol his well-known picture of 
tho ‘ Infant Hercules.* The infantile father was 
tho farm balllfl of Mr. Burke, with whom he 
wan an especial favorite, that great man in his 
happier days frequently coming to the cottage, 
sometimes eating potatoes roasted in the embers 
of a wood fire, and once trying the merits of a 
rook or jackdaw pie, or rather a mixture of both. 
Sir Joshua Reynolds, it seems, when visiting at 
Burke’s, happened to sec the Infant Kollesprawl 
ing on the grass, and was struck with the look 
of strength tho child possessed, and he took him 
for his model of tho demi-god, all powerful even 
in his teuderest years. He grow up a very 
strong and stalwart man, and so he appeared 
oven iu Ida old age, when ho was familiarly 
known to tho lust us the 1 Infant Hercules.’ Mr. 
Rolfo lived in a snug farm close to Beaeonalicld 
and to tho statesman’s favorite spot, 1 Burke’s 
Grove,’ and he used to receive strangers visiting 
hia cottage very courteously, and would show 
them relics of the Burke family. Among other 
curiosities he would, with great pride, exhibit a 
dagger, which ho maintained was the identical 
weapon that Mr. Burke threw down in tho Houso 
of Commons.” 
TEE CAROLINA PARROT 
Tins Is the only species of Parrot found 
native within the territory of the United States. 
'Hie vast luxuriant tracts lying within tho torrid 
zone, seem to bo the favorite residence of those 
noisy, numerous and riehly phunaged tribes. 
Tho Carolina parrot inhabits the interior of 
Louisiana, and tho shores of tlio Mississippi, 
and Ohio, east of the Alleghanias. Tt is seldom 
seeu north of Maryland. Their private resorts 
are low, rich alluvial bottoms along the bor¬ 
ders of creeks; deep and almost impenetrable 
swamps, tilled with sycamore and cypress trees, 
and those singular xalinot or licks, so interspersed 
over the western country. Here, too, Is a great 
abundance of their favorite fruits. The seeds of 
the cypress tree and hooch nuts, are eagerly 
sought after by these birds. 
The flight ot the C’urollna parrot is very much 
like that of the wild pigeon, in close compact 
bodies, moving with great rapidity, making o 
loud and outrageous screaming, like that of the 
red headed woodpecker. Their flight is some¬ 
times in a direct line, but most usually circui¬ 
tous, making a great variety of elegant and easy 
serpentine meanders, us if for pleasure. They 
generally roost iu the hollow trunks of old syc¬ 
amores, in parties ol thirty or forty together. 
Here they cling lant to the sides of tho troo, 
holding by their claws and bills. They appear 
to be fond of sleep, and often retire to their 
holes during the day, probably to take their 
regular siesta. They uro extremely social and 
HOW TO GO TO BED 
Hall’s Journal of Health gives the following 
advice how to go to bed in winter time. Those 
who practice retiring on the “ cuddle up” plan 
will readily fall iu with the suggestions : 
“ Do it in a hurry, if there Is no fire in the 
room; and there ought not to be unless you are 
quite an invalid. But If a person is not in good 
health, it is best to undress by a good lire; 
warm and dry tho feet well; drew on tho stock¬ 
ings again ; jump into bed, cuddle up, with head 
and ears undercover for a minute or more, until 
you feel a little warmth ; then uncover your 
bend; next, draw off your stockings, straigliteu 
out, turn over on your right side, and go to 
sleep. If a sense of chilliness come over you 
on getting into bed, it always will do an injury, 
and its repetition increases the iff effect, without 
having any tendency to ‘ harden’ yon. Nature 
abhors violence. We are never shocked luto 
health. Hard usage makes no garments last 
THE AMAZON 
I’kof. Aiussiz, in a recent lecture delivered 
In Boston, gave somn of the general results of 
his explorations in the valley of the Amazon. 
He describes it as an Immense inundated plain, 
rather than a river. Its length of more than two 
thousand miles, and its breadth of from five 
hundred to seven hundred miles, is iu reality 
but one great stream, studded with islands, the 
main current fed by gigantic tributaries wliich 
present marked peculiarities. The flat-topped 
hills, which are found uuuiy hundreds of miles 
from the sea coast, arc remarkable lor the evi¬ 
dences of glacial action which they display, and 
iu this fact the Professor saw a convincing proof 
of his favorite theory concerning the glaciers. 
He described the natural productions of the val¬ 
ley of the Amazon, and dwelt upon the capacity 
of the country for tho support ot a largo and en¬ 
ergetic population. ’ Tho elimate, he said, is not 
torrid; the equatorial heat being so tempered 
by the constant trade-winds that the mercury 
rarely rises above 
The. malarious diseases and fevers, of which so 
much has been said, he attributed to the habits 
of the people rather than tho climate. Insuffi¬ 
cient food, total neglect of sanitary precautions, 
and prevailing ignorance, aro tho exciting cattse* 
of the disorders which afflict tho population. 
Plantations properly cultivated, and civilized 
mode* of living, he contended, would remove 
all danger from climatic influences, and he esti¬ 
mated that the fertile region which is now 
almost neglected can support a population of 
twenty millions. 
ANECDOTE OF A STORK. 
Tub cheapness of the Bessemer process for 
converting iron into steel, and the improve¬ 
ments in the process for making steel rails has 
increased both in England and this country tire 
disposition to introduce steel rails as a substitute 
for iron. The Hudson River and several other 
principal roads have the improved rail under 
trial. Opinions among English railroad mana¬ 
gers seem to incline decidedly toward the use of 
steel. The London and Northwestern Railroad 
Company, which is ono of the richest and most 
prosperous in England, have established works 
capable of making three hundred and fifty tons 
of steel weekly, and it is estimated that in Eng¬ 
land and Wales together at least four thousand 
tons ot Bessemer rails are made every month. 
An English journal, recognized as good authority 
in railway matters, exprcoscs a belief that “ the 
time will come when iron rails will be obsolete, 
just aa the old cast-iron trams, and, after them, 
the flsh-bellied rail passed out of existence,” 
The English tost of a steel rail is a ton weight 
| falling twenty-five feet, while an iron rail would be 
broken by the same weight falling five or ten feet. 
Birds do uot often voluntarily take passage 
on board ships bound for foreign countries, but 
I can testify to one such case. A stork, which 
had rested near one of the palaces on tho Bos¬ 
phorus, had, by some accident, injured a wing, 
ami was unable to join his fellows when they 
commenced their winter migration to the banks 
of the Nile. Before he was able to fly again lie 
was caught and tho flag of the nation to which 
he belonged tied to his leg, so that he wiw easily 
identified at a considerable distance. As his 
wing grew stronger, he made several unsatis- 
lactory experiments ut flight, and at last, by a 
vigorous effort, succeeded iu reaching a passing 
ship, bonnd southward, and perched himself on 
a topsail yard. I happened to witness this move¬ 
ment, and observed him quietly maintaining his 
position os long ns I could discern him with my 
spy-glass. I snpposo he finished tho voyage, for 
he certainly did not return to tho palace .—Life 
in tfui East. 
For Bots. —If you should see a man digging 
in a snow drill with tho expectation of finding 
valuable ore, or planting seed on the rolling bil¬ 
lows, you would say at once that he was beside 
himself. But in what respect does this man 
differ from you, while you sow the seed of idle¬ 
ness and dissipation in your youth, and expect 
the fruits of age will be a good constitution, 
elevated affections and holy principles? 
It is the result of every day’s experience that 
steady attention to matters of detail lice at the 
routof human progress,and that diligence, above 
all, is the mother of good luck. Accuracy is also 
of much importance, and an invariable mark ol 
good training. 
Wk seldom find people ungrateful, 60 long as 
we are in a condition to render them s$rvi*«. 
