About This Book
A framed miscellany of short, accessible pieces presented as evening readings for young listeners, combining fables, dialogues, and natural-history sketches to instruct and amuse. The selections progress from simpler tales to more challenging explanations, offering animal stories, botanical and geological sketches, elementary scientific demonstrations, and occasional dramatic pieces. Many entries translate observation into practical lessons about conduct, industry, and curiosity, typically concluding with a clear moral or explanation. The overall aim is to cultivate understanding, reflection, and a taste for composition through varied subjects, plain language, and a gentle, graduated difficulty suitable for different ages.
O’er Afric’s sand the tawny lion stalks:
On Phasis’ banks the graceful pheasant walks:
The lonely eagle builds on Kilda’s shore:
Germania’s forests feed the tusky boar:
From Alp to Alp the sprightly ibex bounds:
With peaceful lowings Britain’s isle resounds:
The Lapland peasant o’er the frozen meer
Is drawn in sledges by the swift raindeer:
The river-horse and scaly crocodile
Infest the reedy banks of fruitful Nile:
Dire dipsas hiss o’er Mauritania’s plain:
And seals and spouting whales sport in the northern Main.