A CAT HATCHING CHICKENS. >) WISH to tell you a little anecdote ~"o about the doings of a bantam hen and cat that I had in the summer of 1876. I put seven eggs under the hen for her to sit upon, and this she did with the help ofthe cat. When the hen came off to eat and drink in the day-time the cat would go on the eggs and keep them warm until the hen came in; then the cat would leave for the hen to go on the nest, while she would sit upon the nest-box and watch for the rats and mice that came to disturb the hen. When the chicks were hatched puss would sit and watch them, so that no harm came to them when they strayed from the hen; and I think, if it had not been for the cat, they would have been taken by the rats. I am happy to say, all the chicks which were brought up by the watchfulness of the cat and the hen are now living, and the cat visits the hen-cote up to the present time. ALEXANDER MURRAY. BOUT a hundred years ago an old man of seventy might have been seen teaching his little boy his alphabet, which was printed then in Scotland with the Catechism. It was thought too valuable a book for the little Alexander Murray to handle, and therefore it was kept locked up for use on special occasions; but the old shepherd father would draw the figures on a wool- card with the blackened end of some bits of wood which fell out of the fire, and thus the child became a writer as well as a reader. As all the old man’s sons were shepherds, he wished the child of his old age to be trained to the same calling; and so, when Alexander was seven years old, he began to go out upon the hills to tend the sheep. But he was a bad shepherd, and was often scolded for his carelessness ; besides, all his thoughts were with the alphabet-book and the board on which he did his writing. One great wish was in his heart—the wish that he could go to school; but his father was too poor to send him, and, besides, their cottage was some six miles distant from the village. However, good- fortune awaited Alexander, for a relative who was better off heard of. the boy’s talent, and offered to bear the expense of his boarding at New Galloway for a time, and attending a school there. Great fun was made of the young shepherd when first he went among the boys who studied there: his pronunciation was bad, and he knew little, yet he soon advanced to the head of his class. About three months of school injured his health so much that Alexander was sent home, and for nearly five years he was thus left to himself, earning his living again as a shepherd-boy; but the desire after knowledge remained, and he learned by heart all the old ballads he met with, and practised his reading and the printing of words. At twelve years old his parents began to grow anxious as to how he was to maintain himself, and this made him engage to teach the children of some neighboring farmers, for which he received sixteen shillings as remuneration for his services during the entire winter. In 1790 Alexander had another few months? schooling during the summer, which was the time that his pupils were out on the hills with their herds and flocks. During that short interval he learned to the end of the rudiments in his Latin grammar, and made progress enough in French to read it with ease. The next summer brought the chance of more attendance at school, and our young student now attempted the Greek and Hebrew janguages, working at them when he again returned home. For his labour during the winter months of that year Murray received forty shillings, and every moment not given to teaching was spent in studying Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and French. Altogether his attendance at school was not more than thirteen months, scattered over the space of less than eight years, and yet by ardour and perseverance Murray became an accomplished scholar. When he was in his nineteenth year a man who lived in that part, and who knew his history, spoke of him to a journeyman printer in the King’s Printing- office in Edinburgh. ‘This person asked that Murray should write a story of his life and its difficulties, which he would undertake to lay before some literary men. The plan was adopted, and after being examined by the Professors the young man was admitted into the University. It seemed to him then that his difficulties were over, and for the next twelve years he resided chiefly at Edinburgh, acquiring one language after another with wonderful ease. There was scarcely an Oriental or Northern tongue which Murray had not studied. He mastered the dialects of the Abyssinian or Ethiopic language, and thus took his place as the first scholar of that day. In 1812 he was made Professor of the Oriental Languages in the Edinburgh University, but his excessive study had so reduced his strength that in the following April he died at the age of thirty- seven years. M. 58. AUSTRALIAN WOMEN. MPHE savage tribes of Australia looked upon their women as simply slaves, or beasts of burden—to work for, and wait on, their better halves. As a curious proof of this it is stated, that when the natives first saw white men on horseback they thought the horses were their visitors’ mothers, because they carried them on their backs! Another tribe is like- wise said to have held that the first pack-bullocks which they saw were the white fellows’ wives, because they carried the luggage! Civilisation, however, has changed the ideas of these wild men, and, we hope, | has also bettered the condition of their unhappy wives. H. A. FB.