How is Great Britain able to govern such a vast country――so superior in extent and in population, and at the same time so distant? It is done by the superior knowledge, energy and skill of the English people. The people of Hindostan are ignorant and indolent; they are content to dwell in houses made of bamboo-cane, covered with palm leaves: they love to sit for hours in indolent repose, careless of the past and the future: they are satisfied with a little rice for food, and a tea-cup full will suffice for a day. Such a people become an easy prey to such busy, grasping people as the English. A few thousand British soldiers keep one hundred and forty millions of Hindoos in subjection. It is indeed a wonderful thing, and it shows what a mighty difference there is between an educated and industrious people and an ignorant and lazy people. Peter Somebody and the Woodpecker’s Nest. The following story is sent to us by one who affirms that he knew Peter in his boyhood――and he assures us that this story is true, every word of it. Peter Somebody was the companion of my youth, and at an early period of his boyhood commenced that series of observations in the field of nature which has enabled him in maturer years to tell so many stories about the objects of nature. Almost from his infancy, he delighted in being out of doors. He loved to wander through the fields――in the forests――through the wild and uncultivated glen――to climb the mountain’s top and walk along the giddy precipice. Nor were these idle rambles. In the course of them he made himself acquainted with birds and insects and creeping things――whatever was rare and singular engaged his attention, but most of all was he pleased with those plans which led to adventure. In his excursions he was often attended by several other boys, belonging to the neighborhood, of whom he was always the leader――the first to move forward and the last to get tired out. It may well be said of him, what was said of another choice spirit: “If e’er a pleasant mischief sprung to view, At once o’er hedge and ditch away he flew, Nor left the game till he had run it down.” Bird-hunting and egg-gathering were among the favorite sports of our boyhood. Often we collected quite a quantity of eggs, thus robbing the poor birds of their rightful property, and a proper place for which it had cost them much labor to provide. I do not mention this because I now approve of the practice, but for the purpose, among other things, of expressing my regret for the example which I then set. It is considered, ofte-times, great sport by unthinking boys, but what is sport to them is the source of sorrow and mourning to the harmless beings, whose labors and hopes they thus destroy.