[BE SURE HOW YOU BEGIN.]

BY GEORGE BIRDSEYE.

"When once begun,
The work's half done," So says the proverb old;
But even here,
You'll see it clear, The truth is but half told;
For wisdom says
There are two ways, One loses and one wins;
You'll find, young friends,
That all depends Upon how one begins.
If wrong begun,
And work half done, So much the worse for you;
If right—go on
Until you've won The goal you had in view.
In life you gaze
Upon the ways Of virtue and of sin;
Be led by truth,
And in your youth Be sure how you begin.

[ECLIPSES AND HISTORICAL DATES.]

In a total eclipse of the sun the point of the shadow cone, which is constantly projected into space by the moon, touches a narrow strip of the earth's surface, from which region alone the sun is totally obscured.

These total eclipses occur about three times in four years, but a total eclipse for any given region does not occur oftener than once in two hundred years.