The Chinese delight to decorate their gardens with this plant. It is commonly found growing wild on the outskirts of woods and forests, where it often affords a safe retreat for the hare when pursued by the hounds. The strong odor it exhales is said to defeat the keen scent of the dog. Its branches, bristling with thorns, are covered with thousands of brilliant insects, which seem to imagine this tree is provided as a protection for their weakness. * * * * * THE SICILIAN VESPERS. The word “vespers” in the Romish church means _evening song_, answering to evening prayers. The Sicilian Vespers denote a famous era in French history, 1282, being a general massacre of all the French in the island of Sicily, to which the first toll that called to vespers was the signal. The number destroyed was about 8000. * * * * * A TOURNAMENT is a martial sport or exercise which the ancient cavaliers used to perform, to show their bravery and address. It is derived from the French word _tourner_, to turn round, because, to be expert in these exercises, much agility, both of horse and man, was necessary. Tournaments made the principal exercises of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; but being at length productive of mischievous consequences, the princes of Europe gradually discouraged and suppressed them. * * * * * THE laurel-leaved Magnolia is a splendid evergreen tree, rising in its native country to sixty feet or more, but with us scarcely exceeding thirty or forty feet. The leaves grow from eight inches to one foot long, in form not unlike those of the common laurel; the flowers are white, of a large size, and emit a pleasant fragrance. * * * * * “OF what use are all your studying and your books,” said an honest farmer to an ingenious artist. “They don’t make the corn grow, nor produce vegetables for market. My Sam does more good with his plough in one month, than you can do with your books and papers in one year.” “What plough does your son use?” said the artist quietly. “Why he uses ――――’s plough, to be sure. He can do nothing with any other. By using this plough, we save half the labor, and raise three times as much as we did with the old wooden concern.” The artist turned over one of his sheets, and showed the farmer the drawing of his much-praised plough, saying with a smile, “I am the inventor of your favorite plough, and my name is ――――.” The astonished farmer shook the artist heartily by the hand; and invited him to call at the farm-house, and make it his home as long as he liked. * * * * *