his astonished guest. This sympathy with the world of life outside of man fills his text and his illustrations to overflowing.--_Evansville (Ind.) Courier._ ACCORDANCE OF NATURE. For Nature beats in perfect tune, And rounds with rhyme her every rune, Whether she works in land or sea, Or hide underground her alchemy. Thou canst not wave thy staff in air, Or dip thy paddle in the lake, But it carves the bow of beauty there, And the ripples in rhymes the oar forsake. The wood is wiser far than thou; The wood and wave each other know. Not unrelated, unaffied, But to each thought and thing allied, Is perfect Nature's every part, Rotated in the mighty heart. --_Emerson._ O painter of the fruit and flowers, We thank thee for thy wise design, Whereby these human hands of ours In Nature's garden work with thine. And thanks that from our daily need The joy of a simple faith is born. That he who smites the summer weed May trust thee for the autumn corn. Give fools their gold and knaves their power, Let fortune's bubbles rise and fall, Who sows a field or trains a flower Or plants a tree is more than all. For he who blesses most is blest, And God and man shall have his worth Who toils to leave as a bequest An added beauty to the earth. --_Whittier._ [Illustration: WATER LILIES. CHICAGO: A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER.] THE WATER LILY. This is the name of an aquatic plant of the genus _Nymphæa_, distinguished for its usually very fragrant flowers and large, floating leaves; applied also to the yellow pond lily of the genus _Nuphar_. The species alba has a large flower filled with petals, so as almost to appear double; it raises itself out of the water and expands about seven o'clock in the morning, and closes again, reposing upon the surface, about four in the afternoon. The roots have an astringent, bitter taste. They are used in Ireland and in the island of Jura to dye a dark brown or chestnut color. Swine are said to eat it, goats not to be fond of it, kine and horses to refuse it. The flowers, the herb, and the root were formerly used in medicine, but are all now obsolete. The lotus resembles our common white species in the form of the flower and leaves, but the latter are toothed about the edge. It is a native of the hot parts of the East Indies, Africa, and America, is very common in parks, lakes, and rivers in Jamaica and grows in vast quantities on the plains of lower Egypt, near Cairo, during the time they are under water. It flowers there about the middle of September and ripens toward the 12th of October. The Arabians call it _nuphar_. The ancient Egyptians made a bread of the seed of the lotus dried and ground.