curling and whirling and purling and twirling,
And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping,
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing;
And so never ending, but always descending,
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending
All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar,
And this way the water comes down at Lodore.
FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: Robert Southey, an English poet, wrote these lines, not
for _our_ "Nursery," but for all nurseries where children are gathered
and taught. The Cataract of Lodore is near Keswick, Cumberland County,
England. Robert Southey died in the year 1813.]

BOILING MAPLE-SUGAR.

Most of the sugar we use is made from the sugar-cane, which grows in
warm countries. But in France they make a good deal of sugar from beets;
and in North America, where the sugar-maple-tree grows, some very nice
sugar is made from its sap.

Early in spring, while the weather is yet cold, and before the trees
have begun to show many signs of life, it is the time for tapping the
maples.

The sun, which has already begun to make his power felt by melting the
snow, and leaving great green patches here and there on the cleared
lands, has kissed the rugged trunks of the trees, and has set the sweet
sap mounting through every vein and tissue.

Now is the time to set the troughs in order, and to bore the holes for
the little spouts through which the juice must run. These must be made a
foot from the ground, on the sunny side of the tree; and very soon the
drip, drip, of the oozing sap will be heard, as it trickles over the
spout into the rough bowls placed to catch it at the foot of every
maple.

As each trough fills, the juice is poured, first into a large barrel,
and from thence, when all is ready, into the great iron pot, or caldron,
slung over the wood-fire on three poles.

In the picture, you may see three brothers, with their two sisters,
engaged in collecting the sap, and boiling it till it can be cooled as
sugar. If you will look sharp, you can see little bowls placed at the
root of some of the trees, and the sap flowing into them.

A syrup is made from the sap, which is very delicate, and is much used
for buckwheat-cakes. A large quantity of maple-sugar is made every year
in the northern part of the United States, and in Canada. But it cannot
be made so as to compete with the sugar of the sugar-cane in cheapness.

UNCLE CHARLES.

THE STOLEN BIR