"Not always, Paul. It depends on the shape of the ground between the hills. In North Wales the mountains are high, but you never hear of the Welsh lakes. Reflect for a moment. If two hills of a sugarloaf form stand close together, there is no valley left wherein the water could form a lake; there is merely a channel for a brook or river in which the water from the mountains runs away; but if, on the contrary, the high hills are more apart, and have valleys between them with deep hollows, then the waters from the mountains are sure to form lakes, just as we see them in Westmoreland and Cumberland.

"How plain you make it appear to me. I seem to understand it all now,-how odd that I never thought of this before."

"Young people are usually much fonder of seeing sights than of reflecting upon them. A habit of reflection is an excellent thing: it is the quickest way of becoming wise. Seek to form, in youth, as many good habits as you can, Paul; a habit of industry, a habit of observation, a habit of reflection, a habit of thankfulness, and a habit of kindness and usefulness to those around you.

Give me, amid this selfish world,

That heart, where'er it goes,
That warmly beats for others' joys,
And bleeds for others' woes!

How sweet is the Scripture language-Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.' "After enjoying the prospect from the seat in Lanth

waite wood, and wandering by the side of the river Cocker, which flows from Crummock Water, I walked to the village inn at Scale Hill, a distance of only a few hundred yards, where I met with a companion who would have suited many people better than he suited me. You shall hear all about him when I tell you of Lowes Water."

"Thank you, thank you! I shall be glad to hear all about him, and all about Lowes Water."

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CHAPTER XIII.

LOITERINGS ABOUT LOWES WATER.

Pleasure.-Captain Kill-all.-The captain's account of the battle of Sobraon.-War, sin, and sorrow.-Lowes Water.-Low Fell and Blake Fell.-Fly-fishing.-The captain's Manton and dog Snap.Hills, hollows, and sykes.-Harmony in the colour of different objects.-Proper colour for houses and cottages.-A giant angling.Bobbing for eels.-The vale of Norton.-Whiteside.-Grisedale Pike.-Wythop Fells.-Children at play.—The yew-tree.

PAUL RITTER remembering that the model at Keswick, which his father had spoken of, had in it no more than sixteen meres, and that his father had already described eleven of them, began to look forward to the end of his treat with something like regret. Thus it is with every earthly pleasure. Its existence is but for a season, and that a very brief one.

"For pleasures are like poppies spread,

We seize the flower, its leaves are shed;
Or like the snow-falls on the river,

A moment white, then gone for ever."

"I promised to tell you, Paul," said Mr. Ritter, "about Lowes Water, and of the companion who accompanied me in some of my rambles in the neighbourhood of the lake. No sooner did I reach the inn at

Scale Hill, after leaving the banks of the river Cocker, than I was accosted by a tourist who was staying a short time at the inn, on his way to Crummock and Buttermere. He was dressed in coarse fustian, strong shoes and a cap, but his general bearing and conversation told me, at once, that he was a military man. Cheerful, frank, and gentlemanly in his behaviour, I should have enjoyed his society much, had it not been for one trait in his disposition; he seemed never to be happy unless he was talking of battles, or deer-stalking, or hunting, or fishing, or pheasant-shooting, or some work of destruction. I could not help thinking that captain Kill-all would have been a suitable name for him."

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Yes, a very good name indeed. What did he tell you about battles ? "

"One of his narrations was of the battle of Sobraon, in Hindoostan, at which he was present. He said that it began at six in the morning, that at nine o clock the two armies were at it, hand to hand, and the British bayonet was doing its work. By eleven o'clock it was all over, and the Sikh army of thirty-five thousand men utterly discomfited, ten thousand of them being slain, and half the remainder disabled or wounded."

"Ten thousand men killed in a few hours! "

"Yes, Paul, and a great many more, for the ten thousand were on one side only. War is a great evil, and it becomes us all to pray that it may be done away for ever. There is, Paul, and there will be, where God's restraining power and grace are not in operation,

much evil in the world; much anger, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness; much war and bloodshed between nations, and much sin and much sorrow in private life.

'Sons bringing shame to a father's cheek,

And daughters doing their mothers wrong;
The strong man trampling on the weak,

The weak man worshipping the strong.""

But in the midst of all this, let us encourage a hopeful disposition, and take heed to God's holy word, as a guide to our steps and a goodly storehouse of precious promises. He that believeth in the Redeemer shall not be confounded.' Captain Kill-all, as I call him, talked so much of the bravery of lord Hardinge, and general Gough, and major-general Dick, and of the British charge with bayonets, and the dismay and distress of the Sikhs when driven into the deep ford, that I saw his heart was in the thing. What I said against war, and in praise of peace, had no effect on him. Battles, hunting, shooting, and fishing were his delight."

"Did captain Kill-all go among the mountains with you?"

“He did, and among the valleys too; but we saw things with different eyes. He regarded the lakes merely as so many fish-ponds, and the mountains and moors as one large preserve for game. The simplicity, the beauty, the variety, the grandeur, and sublimity of the lake district seemed not to affect him. The length of Lowes Water is not quite a mile, and