THE MUSEUM. CHAPTER I. "WHAT a treat we shall have!" said Edward, rubbing his hands, when he had brushed his hat and laid it on the table beside him. "I really don't know what I shall do, with so many nice things to admire. We must run here and there, as the butterflies fidget among the flowers; just alight for a minute on one, and then away to another." "Ah!" replied Jane, " that might be pleasant enough to a butterfly; but we had better be bees, and bring home something profitable to lay up. Knowledge is a valuable thing; and I would rather get well acquainted with one interesting object, than just look at fifty, and learn nothing." "You are right, sister," said Edward: "and, as Mamma will be with us, the fault must be our own if we gain no instruction from what we see in the Museum. I will change my plan, and keep close to her, that I may hear what answers you get to your questions; for I know you will ask plenty." "To be sure, brother. What would be the use of having such parents to instruct us, if we did not listen to their teaching?" Mrs. Cleveland now entered; and, finding the children quite ready, they all set out together to visit a very good Museum of natural curiosities, and rare things brought from other countries. Having entered a very large room, they looked round; and both Edward and his sister felt a little confused at first, seeing so many new and strange objects on all sides, not knowing where to begin admiring them. There were cases all round the room, with glass fronts, filled with stuffed animals and birds, bottles containing reptiles, preserved in spirits, and other curiosities that quite puzzled the young people. Tables were also set out, covered with glass frames; and on these were arranged a number of beautiful shells, corals, stones, and different kinds of ore. Beyond this was another room; and the children would have liked to pass on to it at once, but their Mamma advised them first to walk round and examine what was already before them. "All these things, my dear, belong to natural history; and here you may see specimens of a very small part of the wonderful works of God in creation." "Oh, those beautiful birds!" cried Jane; "what shapes and colours they have! and how very, very small some of them are!— hardly as big as large butterflies." "Those are humming-birds," remarked her brother," and very pretty creatures too; but these are better worth looking at. See, here are noble birds,―owls, falcons, and eagles.”. "Owls are stupid creatures," said Jane. Mrs. Cleveland replied, "It is customary to call them so; and a bad name once given to any one is not easily got rid of. This ought to make us careful how we take up a reproach against, our neighbour. But as to the owl, I confess he seems to me the reverse of stupid. The moon is made to shine, and the owl to live, by night: both are seen to great disadvantage under the brightness of day. We will say nothing against the owl, until we have had opportunity of observing him at the fit time, and in his proper employment. In the mean while, let us admire the beauty of his plumage, which, though far from gay, is marked with great delicacy and exactness; and consider how well this horny beak, and these powerful talons, are adapted for his purposes as a bird of prey." "Oh, if beaks and talons are to be admired," said Edward, "just come and look at this eagle." Jane looked, and turned away, saying, “I cannot bear the sight of the cruel creature, with that innocent white bare, bleeding, in his claws." "Yet," observed her brother, "if the innocent hare was skinned and roasted, we should have no objection to eat a slice from it." "Edward is certainly right," said Mrs. Cleveland. "Man does from choice, what the eagle does from necessity; and will even be so wantonly cruel, as to hunt the poor hare for his diversion, when, if the herds, and flocks, and poultry, could not satisfy his palate, he might at least put it to an easier death. We must not quarrel with those of |