air. The water which rises from the sea is turned Have you ever noticed the cloud

into vapour. of steam which comes from the mouth of a teakettle? Now, look quite close to the spout, and you will scarcely be able to see anything; the thickest part of the cloud is a little off the mouth. Perfect vapour, or steam, cannot be seen at all; but when it is partly cooled it looks like mist, and when it becomes still colder it falls in drops. The reason of this is rather difficult to understand, and perhaps you cannot make it out perfectly, but I will try to make it as plain as I can.

The air is supposed to hold water in a state of vapour, somewhat in the same manner in which a sponge holds water. The air will hold a certain quantity, and no more. But this quantity is greater or less, as the air is hotter or colder. Very hot air will hold a great deal of water in the form of vapour; but cold air very little. This property of the air must be borne in mind when we think of the rain. Some of the water in the sea, and the moisture of the earth, are turned into steam by the heat of the sun. This steam is sucked up by the air; but the air next the earth is the warmest as well as the thickest. Warm air is lighter than cold, and so it always goes up. Well, this air with the steam rises, till it becomes so cold and thin that it cannot hold so much vapour, and then the vapour is formed into mist, and floats about in the air. It is then called a cloud.

The clouds we see in the sky are large masses of mist. If you were in a cloud, as people often are on the tops of mountains, you would just

see and feel a thick damp fog. If a fog or cloud becomes very cold, it is changed into drops, which fall down as rain. This change is called condensation. Steam or mist is condensed into water. If a cold plate is held near the spout of a kettle, it will soon be covered with drops. There is another way in which clouds are turned into rain. If the air is very damp, and has more moisture than it can hold, the clouds cannot float in it, but fall towards the earth, and are condensed, or turned into drops. Now you see, I hope, how we have rain. First, water is turned into vapour by heat; then sucked up by the air; then, by cold, turned into mist; and by more cold, on account of the dampness of the air, condensed into rain.

But how is it that we sometimes see hail fall instead of rain? Hail is frozen rain. As the drops of rain are falling, extreme cold turns them into ice; and the shower is called hail. Sometimes hail falls in summer, particularly after a thunder-storm. This is because the rain falls through a current of cold air, and such currents are often caused by lightning.

Now we must think a little about snow. When a cloud is frozen before it has formed into drops, it makes snow. Snow, then, is frozen vapour. It has many curious properties. One is, that each little particle of snow is most beautifully formed. If you were to look at it through a magnifying glass, you would see every particle was exactly alike, and had six equal sides. Another property of snow is, that it keeps things warm. In a hard frost, the roots of trees and plants would often be killed, were it not that the

snow keeps them warm. When the weather becomes warmer, the snow melts into water, and like the rain, makes the earth soft and moist, and fit for plants to grow in. If it were quite dry, nothing could grow.

The rain, also, in part, supplies all the little streams. Water is always running down to the lowest place it can reach. So the rain which falls on high ground, on a hill for instance, runs down to the bottom, and forms a little brook : this brook, and many others, run down into lower ground, till they meet together, and thus make a river. The river runs on, always getting rather lower, and becoming larger by the streams which fall into it, till it reaches the sea. Thus the water which comes from the sea to form the rain, returns to the sea again.

Consider what a great deal of good it has done in its course. No one can quite understand the value of rain, except those who live in very hot countries, where there is very little. The earth is there quite parched, and sometimes men and animals die of thirst. You have, I dare say, read how God punished his people, in the days of Elijah, by sending no rain for three years and a half. Judea is a country where rain is of great value. If we remember this, it will help us to understand several passages of the Bible. God's holy word is often compared to

rain. "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers the upon grass," Deut. xxxii. 2. "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that

it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth," Isa. lv. 10, 11. The word of God is to our souls, what a soft and gentle shower is to a dry and parched field. Do you love God's word? If not, pray that you may do so. Remember, also, to thank God, who gives us "rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness,” Acts xiv. 17.

WHAT should we learn from God's works?
Where does the water of rain come from?
What is evaporation?

Can you see perfect steam?

What makes it visible?

Can the air hold any quantity of vapour?
When there is too much, what happens?
What does condensation mean?
What does cold do to vapour?

What is hail?
What is snow?

How does water always move?
What do the brooks form?

Where do the rivers run?

What good does rain do?

What is compared to rain, in the Bible?
What should we remember to understand this?

Where was rain very precious?

What ought to be as precious to us?

APRIL.

APRIL, the fourth month in our year, is a sweet month. If we have now and then a cold stormy day, the next is generally warm and bright:

then comes a shower of rain, to moisten the ground, and make sap for the trees and plants; and again a gleam of sunshine, to dry the opening buds and flowers. There are greater changes of weather in April than in any other month of the year. Shall I tell you why this is the case? It is because the God of nature knows that these short and gentle showers of rain are just what is best for the earth at this season of the year. Much seed is sown in April: heavy and long-continued rain might wash the seed away, or bury it too deep in the ground; and if there were no rain at all, the seed would become dried up.

The word April is taken from a Latin word, which means to open: and this is, indeed, the opening month for our buds and flowers. It is, also, a busy month for the birds. Such chirping, and twittering, and singing, and hopping from branch to branch.

The swallow, a small bird whom God has taught to find its way to a warm climate in winter, comes back to us in April. Swallows have been known to return to the same nest they had made the past year. A few of them come first, as if to prepare the way for the large flock, which follow in a day or two. They love to build in the corners of windows, and near the chimneys of houses. Their nests are chiefly built of mud; they make them rough outside, but smooth them within with their little beaks. When the plaster is dry, they put in a lining of feathers and hair, to make the nest soft and

warm.

The thrushes, too, are busy, as well as the

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