wood where he had so often gathered nuts, or climbed for
birds' nests with his boyish companions; there, its thatched roof more
lichen-covered than of old, stood his father's cottage, at the door of
which years ago he had kissed his mother for the last time--ah! was she
still alive to welcome the returning wanderer?

Seated in the kirk among unfamiliar faces, his eyes sought at once the
well-known corner where, as a boy, he had been used to sit, and with an
almost overwhelming rush of thankfulness and joy he saw once more his
mother's face, the same, yet changed, its added wrinkles and silvered
hair telling, perhaps, of many tears and long sorrow for her lost sailor
son.

There sat his father, too, the portly, respectable-looking elder, in
blue cap and coat of homespun tweed. In vain did Alexander seek to join
in the psalm or prayer, his looks and thoughts were ever wandering; and
he was not alone in this, for the dark eyes of his old mother turned
continually with an eager, inquiring gaze to the grand stranger
gentleman, strange yet so familiar. Then her eyes were cast down once
more on her book, as she tried to give heed to the service, till at last
a sudden smile which lit up Alexander's face, showed her that she saw
before her the son for whom she had longed and prayed, whom no doubt she
had before this counted as among the dead. In her sudden joy the old
woman forgot all else, and rising, rushed towards the place where the
returned wanderer was seated.

The whole family, with Alexander in their midst, now made their way out
of the kirk, and returned home to talk of the great deliverance which
God had given to their lost kinsman.

On this true story of Selkirk was founded the tale of the Adventures of
Robinson Crusoe.

CAPTAIN COOK'S LAST VOYAGE.

The discovery of a supposed north-west passage from the North Atlantic
to the North Pacific Oceans, had for many years been ardently sought
for, both by the English and the Dutch. Frobisher, in 1576, made the
first attempt, and his example was in succeeding times followed by many
others. But though much geographical information had been gained in the
neighborhood of Hudson's Bay, Davis' Strait, Baffin's Bay, and the coast
of Greenland, yet no channel whatever was found. By act of parliament,
L20,000 was offered to the successful individual. But though Captain
Middleton, in 1741, and Captains Smith and Moore, in 1746, explored
those seas and regions, the obj