She looked around, and could see nothing but the ragged outline of the hills against the sky. She listened, and seemed to feel that the voice heard in her dream was a reality, and that she should hear it again. But she now heard only the solitary chirp of a cricket, and the mournful shivering of the forest leaves.
She sat some time, almost afraid to make the slightest noise, yet feeling such a sense of desolation that she thought she must wake up her brother.
She was stretching out her hand for the purpose of waking him, when she seemed to hear the call of her father, as she had heard it in her dream. She listened intently, her little heart beating with the utmost anxiety.
She waited for several minutes, when, full and clear, at no great distance, she heard her father call, “James?” The little girl sprang to her feet, and screamed, with all her might, “Here, here we are, father!” James was soon awakened, and, with some difficulty, the father came down the cliff, and clasped his children in his arms.
I need not say that this painful adventure was remembered by James and Fanny long after they had ceased to be children; and they were both accustomed to say, that it was of importance to them through life, in impressing upon them the necessity of obedience to parents, and the wickedness of all attempts to deceive them.
Let me remark to my youthful readers, that if pleasure ever tempts them to forsake the path of duty, I hope they will remember, that, like the blue lake, which seemed so beautiful and near to the eyes of our little wanderers, and which was yet inaccessible to them, it will probably disappoint their efforts to obtain it.—Parley’s Gift.
Varieties.
Juniper. The ancients consecrated this shrub to their gods. The smoke of its branches was the incense which in preference they chose to offer to their gods, and burnt its berries on funeral occasions to drive away evil spirits. The simple villagers of England superstitiously believe that the perfume of its berries purifies the air, and protects them from the malevolence of evil spirits.
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.