ess; and he was just in time to save it
from death, to the no small delight of the cow. Some days after, when
passing through the same field, the cow came up to him as if to thank
him for his kindness. As among the various animals with which the
earth abounds none is more necessary to the existence of man than the
cow, so likewise none appears to be more extensively propagated; in
every part of the world it is found, large or small, according to the
quantity and quality of its food. There is no part of Europe where it
grows to so large a size as in England, whose pastures are admirably
suited to its nature. The quantity of milk and butter varies according
to the difference of its pasture; some cows in favorable situations
yield twenty quarts of milk in a day.

To form a just idea of the value of this animal, we ought to consider
that there is scarcely any part of it without its utility to man. The
skin is manufactured into leather; the hair, mixed with lime, is used
in plastering walls and building houses; the bones serve as a
substitute for ivory; when calcined, they are used by the refiners of
silver to separate the baser metals; and when ground and spread over
the fields, they form a fertilizing manure. Combs, knife-handles and
many useful articles are made from the horns, which, when softened in
boiling water, become pliable, so as to be formed into lanterns--an
invention usually ascribed to King Alfred. We are furnished with
candles from the tallow, and the feet afford an oil adapted to a
variety of purposes. Glue is made from the cartilages, gristles and
parings of the hide boiled in water; calves' skins are manufactured
into vellum; saddlers and others use a fine thread prepared from the
sinews, which is much stronger than any other equally fine. The blood,
gall, etc., are used in many important manufactures.

[Illustration: THE COW AND HER CALF.]

MINUTES.

We are but minutes--little things!
Each one furnished with sixty wings,
With which we fly on our unseen track,
And not a minute ever comes back.

We are but minutes; use, use us well,
For how we are used we must one day tell.
Who uses minutes has hours to use;
Who loses minutes whole years must lose.

[Illustration: {Uncle Godfrey wades through snow, two horses and a
dingo nearby}]

GOING FOR THE LETTERS.

AN AUSTRALIAN STORY.

It was a bitter cold day in the end of the month of January. The
m