Other Exhibits.
I cannot stay to mention even one-twentieth of the different exhibits. Little folk who have seen the Show will know it is not possible for me to do so here. There are foreign annexes full of interesting articles. The London Water Companies have a pavilion all to themselves. The South Gallery may be regarded as an elaborate model of the food of London. Then the British Beekeepers' Association will explain much of an instructive kind about the busy bee. In short, the whole Exhibition is so full of information of a useful and, in some cases, even of a delightful sort, that I must now leave the subject with the intimation of that fact.
Young Heroes.
Some time ago a child fell off Oreston Pier, near Plymouth, and had drifted out about seven yards in twelve feet of water, when a little boy, nine years old, named S. G. Pike, plunged into the sea with his clothes on, reached the child, and swam back with it to some steps, where they were both assisted out. Another boy, W. W. Haynes, aged twelve, saved the life of a child who had fallen from a bridge into the river at Llanberis, near a whirlpool. E. S. Deacon, a girl, twelve years old, rescued a lad from drowning at Blackpool, near Dartmouth. The boy had slipped off a rock and become unconscious, when Miss Deacon jumped into the water fully dressed, and succeeded in holding him up until help arrived. We are glad to know that the Royal Humane Society rewarded these brave children for their noble heroism.
An Intelligent Mare.
A mare, with her young foal, was grazing in an orchard on an American farm, when she was noticed to run at full speed from a distant part of the orchard, making a loud cry—not like her usual voice, but a kind of unnatural "whinny," like a scream of distress. She came up to a farm servant, as near as a fence would allow, turned back for a short distance, and then returned, keeping up the shrill noise all the while. The man's curiosity became excited, and as soon as he started to follow her, she went off in the direction of a miry place that had been left unguarded, and stopped upon its very brink. Hurrying on as fast as he could, the man found the colt lying dead, suffocated in the mud and water. The poor mare had unfortunately been unable to procure his help—though she tried her best—in time to save her foal. This touching instance of maternal affection is a very interesting example of the way in which the "dumb" animals—as they are somewhat absurdly called—make up for the want of speech. The mare's strange cry and her extreme restlessness were as eloquent as words.
SOME BIRDS OF THE CAUCASUS. (See p. [121].)