ever adorned a work of human art, afford a picture of beauty and grandeur beyond the power of imagination to conceive.

The margins of the Grand Cañon, on either side, are beautifully fringed with pines. In some places the walls are composed of massive basalt, so separated as to look like irregular mason-work going to decay.

Standing near the margin of the Lower Falls and gazing down the cañon, which appears like an immense chasm in the rock, with its sides fifteen hundred feet high, and decorated with the most brilliant colors ever seen by human eye, with walls presenting an almost infinite variety of forms, with here and there a pine sending its roots into the clefts on the sides, as if struggling with uncertain success to maintain a precarious existence-the scene is one which is rarely equaled, and which can never be surpassed.

WILLIAM F. PHELPS.

the

Notes. The Yellowstone Country is a region lying near Rocky Mountains, extending on both sides of the Yellowstone River, in Montana Territory.

Weathered means worn away or altered under atmospheric influence.

A divide is a ridge between the tributaries of two streams, keeping them separate.

Professor Hayden was an explorer of the regions lying near the Rocky Mountains.

Gorges are narrow passages between mountains.

Gothic is a name applied to the race of men that spread over Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Language. - Radius of vision means the distance seen in any one direction from a certain point of view.

"Snow-white" and "bead-like" are compound words, since they are made up in each case of two simple words.

Complex words are formed by the union of a simple word with a prefix or a suffix; as "countless," "intermixed," "remarkable.”

54. THE DISCOVERY OF PHOSPHORUS.

ab brē' vi at ing, shortening. serupu lous, careful. mĕrean tile, commercial. bănk'rupt, a person unable to

pay his debts.

as sūmed', took.

sümpt'ü qus ly, luxuriously.

ǎl'ehe my, an ancient science which aimed to change other metals into gold.

tra di'tion, an unwritten tale; oral communication.

vit'ri ol, a powerful acid.

re tôrt', a chemical vessel.

Some of his very "Nick" Brandt; but Most persons, so far placed a title before

A little more than two centuries ago, there lived in Hamburg, one of the free cities of Northern Germany, a very rich and very famous merchant. Nicholas Brandt was his name. intimate friends called him these were few in number. from abbreviating his name, it. Even boys, who are not given to bestowing titles, were scrupulous to address him in a manner becoming a prince.

N

In truth, he was a merchant prince, and there was no better way to get a start in the world than to secure a place in the great merchant's establishment. Had you visited Hamburg at the time I am speaking of,. and put up at the best hotel, you would have found yourself quartered in one of Brandt's fine buildings. You would have noticed a great warehouse just opposite. That belonged to Brandt. So did the finest ship in the harbor. So did the finest carriage that came down the street. Brandt had the finest of every thing.

Of course, Brandt lived in the very best style. He had pleasure boats for the water, and pleasure carriages for the land. 'He was clad in purple and

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fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." Had you seen his dinner table any day in the year, it would have reminded you of Thanksgiving Christmas.

or

Brandt was engaged in almost every branch of mercantile business, and he prospered in all of them. For years and years he had a singular run of good luck. On account of good fortune or superior judgment, he was always able to buy cheap and to sell dear.

The fish oil which he bought for little more than a song, he traded off for olive oil in some Mediterranean port, always making a good profit. The cod and herring which he bought so cheaply of the Norwegian fishermen, always happened to be in demand in Spain as soon as he had made the purchase.

If the market was overstocked with any particular thing, he would buy it up; and then it would be found that there was an active demand for it at some port within easy sailing of his ships, whose sails were never struck by evil winds.

He traded in laces, silks and satins, and even sent to distant India to procure diamonds and Cashmere N shawls. If he sold these for cash it was for double the amount he gave. If he bartered them he made still more money than before.

But an evil day came to the great and prosperous merchant, as it has come to other men who have not stopped trying to make more money when they had enough. As if it were not enough to carry on trade in the four corners of the earth, he rushed into speculation. One fine morning he awokę and found himself a ruined man,

Now, what did Brandt, the bankrupt, do? Hadn't he been in the herring business in his prosperous days? And didn't he know, even after the great hauls he had made, that "there were as good fish in the sea as had ever been caught "?

Of course he did. And of course he knew it was the general understanding that most of the gold and silver coins that he had dropped into his money bags and strong boxes during his prosperous days had been made out of old horse-shoes, copper bolts and lead bullets.

And so, strong in his faith and purpose, as every man should be who expects to accomplish any thing, he set about preparing to make money again: this time in a new way. There were not a great many books on the subject of changing old pewter spoons into nice new gold coins, and the few that were in existence were held at a high price.

Nevertheless he bought all the volumes that treated of this subject, that his limited means would allow. To increase his stock of knowledge he cultivated the society of certain persons, who were said to be thoroughly acquainted with the principles and practices of alchemy.

He fitted up a small room in the basement of his house, and stocked it with such chemicals as the market afforded. When he went down to engage in his new work, the place seemed rather strange to him. He took time to consider what he had better do first. The books reported, and some of his new friends said that it was possible to convert scrap iron into solid gold, but that it was easier to change silver.

He concluded, being a new hand at the business,

that he would not commence on the most difficult experiment first. When he got into practice he would make bright gold out of rusty iron, as others did; but in his first day's work he would be satisfied with making it from silver.

N

He had an old silver pocket-piece, which he had carried a long time for luck. His uncle, for whom he was named, had given it to him. He purposed, as it was a little worn, to convert it into a gold coin.

The stove which warmed the apartment of Brandt, the alchemist, and which served the purpose of a chemical furnace, did not look a bit like the iron stoves we use. It was a large, square, awkward-looking affair, made of Dutch bricks.

Brandt, the alchemist, was too intent on his work to keep a correct account of all he did, and I can not, therefore, give the exact details of his experiment. A tradition states that he placed a porcelain dish on this queer-looking stove, into which he dropped his silver pocket-piece. On this he placed some lime, and afterward poured on some queer liquid and oil of vitriol. The contents were soon boiling, and he stirred them with a stick.

He soon noticed that the end of the stick turned black as a coal; but this did not alarm him—he was on the look-out for strange things. After stirring the mixture for some time his stick all turned to coal and became part of the contents of the dish. There was no appearance of gold, and he concluded to make a change in his plan of operations.

So he scraped the material, which had become quite dry, into an earthen retort, the bulb of which