The Squirrel and Rattlesnake, 177 There is Time Enough, 179 The Folly of War, 180 Wager Lost, ” Anecdote of a Cat, 181 Examination of a School-boy, ” A Sly Couple, 182 The Philosopher Puzzled, ” Rising Genius, ” The French Officer and his Mastiff, 183 Laconic, ” A Wise Parrot, ” Mount Vernon, 184 Anecdotes, 185 Farewell to the Old Year, 187 Pleasant Things. _A Song_, 188 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1844, by S. G. GOODRICH, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. MERRY’S MUSEUM. Vol. VIII. JULY, 1844. No. 1. [Illustration: July] “Now comes JULY, and with his fervid noon Unsinews labor. The swinkt mower sleeps; The weary maid walks feebly; the warm swain Pitches his load reluctant; the faint steer, Lashing his sides, draws sulkily along The slow, encumbered wain in midday heat.” Such is the picture of this month, drawn by an old English poet. With us the heat is still greater than in England; yet the farmers keep busily at work in the fields; and, to say truth, it is about as comfortable to be at work, as to be idle. Leigh Hunt, speaking of this month in England, says, “The heat in this month is greatest on account of its duration. There is a sense of heat and quiet all over nature. The birds are silent. The little brooks are dried up. The earth is parched. The shadows of the trees are particularly grateful, heavy and still. The oaks, which are freshest, because latest in leaf, form noble, clumpy canopies, looking, as you lie under them, of a strong emulous green, against the blue sky. The traveller delights to cut across the country, through the fields and the leafy lanes, where nevertheless the flints sparkle with heat. The cattle get into the shade, or stand in the water. The active and air-cutting swallows, now beginning to assemble for migration, seek their prey among the shady places, where the insects, though of differently compounded natures, ‘fleshless and bloodless,’ seem to get for coolness, as they do at other times for warmth. The sound of insects is likewise the only audible sound now, increasing rather than lessening the sense of quiet by its gentle contrast. The bee now and then sweeps across the ear with his gravest tone. The gnats