While the companions were thus conversing, and as they were passing near the gateway, the youth saw on the other side the friend who had resolved to follow the inscription, but who had given over the trial. Upon this, the companion of the youth said, “Behold the young man who could not conquer himself! How miserable is he in comparison with yourself! What is it makes the difference? You are in the Garden of Peace; he is excluded from it. This tall gateway is a barrier that he cannot pass; this is the barrier, interposed by human vices and human passions, which separates mankind from that peace, of which we are all capable. Whoever can conquer himself, and has resolved, firmly, that he will do it, has found the key of that gate, and he may freely enter here. If he cannot do that, he must continue to be an outcast from the Garden of Peace!”
The Banana.
The banana tree is a kind of palm, found in hot climates. It is common in South America, and we frequently see the fruit in our markets. When this is cut in slices, dried in the sun, and pounded, it produces a mealy substance that answers the purpose of bread. The banana is also eaten without cooking, when ripe, and is esteemed very delicious. The Spaniards always cut the fruit lengthwise, for they have a superstitious dread of cutting it across, because the pieces then have a resemblance to the cross on which Christ was crucified.
The fruit of the banana tree is almost as large as a cucumber; the leaves are five or six feet long and a foot wide.
Economy.—As a proof of domestic economy in France, it may be stated that a short time back, in the commune of Bugey, in the Saone-et-Loire, a man buried his wife in an old clock-case to save the expense of a coffin, in defiance of the remonstrances of the neighbors and a clergyman.
Comparative Size of Animals.
This engraving represents several well-known animals, and exhibits them in just proportion to one another. The elephant is the largest, and the rat is the smallest, in the picture. The camelopard, or giraffe, is the tallest—for while the elephant is only about nine or ten feet high, the giraffe is seventeen.