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The fourth is MADISON, you know,
The fifth one on the list, MONROE;
The sixth an ADAMS comes again,
And JACKSON seventh in the train;
VAN BUREN eighth upon the line,
And HARRISON counts number nine;
The tenth is TYLER in his turn,
And POLK eleventh, as we learn ;
The twelfth is TAYLOR that appears;
The thirteenth, FILLMORE fills his years;
Then PIERCE comes fourteenth into view;
BUCHANAN is the fifteenth due;

The sixteenth LINCOLN, foully slain;
The seventeenth was JOHNSON's reign;
Then GRANT was by the people sent
To be their eighteenth President.

THE DECALOGUE.

1. Have thou no Gods but me; 2. Nor graven type adore;

3. Take not my name in vain; 'twere guilt most sore:

4. Hallow the seventh day; 5. Thy parents' honor love:

6. No murder do; 7. Nor thou adulterer prove:

8. From theft be pure thy hands; 9. No witness false, thy word: 10. Covet of none his house, wife, maid, or herd.

Worship to God-but not God graven-pay;
Blaspheme not; sanctify the Sabbath day;
Be honored parents; brother's blood unshed;
And unpolluted hold the marriage bed;
From theft thy hand-thy tongue from lying-keep;
Nor covet neighbor's home, spouse, serf, ox, sheep.

Thou no God shalt have but me;
Before no idol bow the knee;

Take not the name of God in vain ;

Nor dare the Sabbath day profane;

Give both thy parents honor due;

Take heed that thou no murder do;
Abstain from words and deeds unclean;

Nor steal, though thou art poor and mean;

Nor make a willful lie, nor love it;
What is thy neighbor's, do not covet.

METRICAL GRAMMAR.

Three little words we often see
Are Articles, a, an, and the.
A Noun's the name of any thing,
As school, or garden, hoop, or swing.
Adjectives tell the kind of Noun,
As great, small, pretty, white, or brown.
Instead of Nouns the Pronouns stand-
Her fan, his face, my arm, your hand.
Verbs tell of something being done-
To read, write, count, sing, jump, or run.
How things are done the Adverbs tell,
As slowly, quickly, ill, or well.
Conjunctions join the words together,
As men and children, wind or weather.
The Preposition stands before
A Noun-as, in or through a door.
The Interjection shows surprise,

As Oh! how pretty, Ah! how wise.

The whole are called nine parts of Speech,
Which Reading, Writing, Speaking, teach.

NUMBER OF DAYS IN EACH MONTH.

One of the most useful lessons taught us in early life by arithmetical treatises, is that of Grafton's well-known lines in his Chronicles of England, 1590. Sir Walter Scott, in conversation with a friend, adverted jocularly to that ancient and respectable but unknown poet, who had given us this formula:

Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
And all the rest have thirty-one,

Excepting February alone,

Which has but twenty-eight, in fine,

Till Leap-Year gives it twenty-nine.

The form used by the Quakers runs thus:—

The fourth, eleventh, ninth and sixth

Have thirty days to each affixed;

Every other, thirty-one,

Except the second month alone.

Origin of Things Familiar.

MIND YOUR P'S AND Q'S.

It would be a curious thing, if they could be traced out, to ascertain the origin of half the quaint old sayings and maxims that have come down to the present time from unknown generations. Who, for example, was "DICK," who had the oddlooking "hat-band," and who has so long been the synonym or representative of oddly-acting people? Who knows any thing authentic of the leanness of "Job's turkey," who has so many followers in the ranks of humanity? Scores of other sayings there are, concerning which similar questions might be asked. Who ever knew, until comparatively late years, what was the origin of the cautionary saying, "Mind your P's and Q's"? A modern antiquarian, however, has put the world right in relation to that saying. In ale-houses, in the olden time, when chalk "scores" were marked upon the wall, or behind the door of the tap-room, it was customary to put the initials "P" and "Q" at the head of every man's account, to show the number of "pints" and "quarts" for which he was in arrears; and we may presume many a friendly rustic to have tapped his neighbor on the shoulder, when he was indulging too freely in his potations, and to have exclaimed, as he pointed to the chalk-score, "Mind your P's and Q's, man! mind your P's and Q's!" The writer from whom we glean this information mentions an amusing anecdote in connection with it, which had its origin in London, at the time a "Learned Pig” was attracting the attention of half the town. A theatrical wag, who attended the porcine performances, maliciously set before the four-legged actor some peas,—a temptation which the animal could not resist, and which immediately occasioned him to lose the "cue" given him by the showman. The pig-exhibitor remonstrated with the author of the mischief on the unfairness of what he had done; to which he replied, "I only wanted to ascertain whether the pig knew his 'peas' from his

cues!'"

ALL FOOLS' DAY.

April the First stands marked by custom's rules,
A day of being, and of making, fools.

The First of April, as is well known, is distinguished in the calendar by the singular appellation of "All Fools' Day." It would be a curious exception to common experience, if, on the recurrence of this memorable epoch in the division of time, multitudes were not betrayed into a due observance of its peculiarities. Many grave and unsuspecting people have been sent upon the most frivolous and nonsensical errands. Many a passer-by has been told that there was something out of his pocket, which was his hand; or something on his face, which was his nose. Many a school-boy has been sent to the shoemaker's for stirrup-oil, which he would get from a strap, across his shoulders; or to ask a schoolmistress for the biography of Eve's mother; or to an old bachelor to purchase pigeon's milk. Many a printer's "devil" has been sent to a neighboring editor for a quart of editorial, and received in return a picture of a jackass; and many a pretty girl despatched to the handsome druggist round the corner for the essence of tulips (two-lips,) which she would sometimes box the pharmaceutic ears for offering to give her. Some would be summoned, upon the most unfounded pretexts, out of their warm beds, an hour or more before the accustomed time. Others were enticed to open packages, promising ample remuneration, but full of disappointment; and others again, as they passed along the streets, were captivated by the sight of pieces of spurious coin, which, when they essayed to lift, they found securely fastened to the pavement, -together with various other whimsicalities, which under other circumstances would have been deemed highly offensive, but, happening on the First of April, were considered, if not agreeable, at least comparatively harmless. The origin of this strange custom is shrouded in mystery. It has been traced by some to the scene in the life of Jesus when he was sent from Pilate to Herod, and back from Herod to Pilate, which occurred about this period.

Brady's Clavis Calendaria, published in 1812, mentions that more than a century previous the almanacs designated the First of April as "All Fools' Day." In the northern counties of England and Scotland, the jokes on that day were practised to a great extent, and it scarcely required an apology to experiment upon the gravest and most respectable of city or country gentlemen and women. The person whose good nature or simplicity put him momentarily in the power of his facetious neighbor was called a "gowk"-and the sending upon ridiculous errands, "hunting the gowk." The term "gowk" was a common expression for a cuckoo, which was reckoned among the silliest and simplest of all the feathered tribes.

In France, the person made the butt upon these occasions was styled "un poisson d' Avril"-that is, an April fish-by implication, an April fool-"poisson d'Avril," the familiar name of the mackerel, a fish easily caught by deception, singly and in shoals, at this season of the year. The term "April fool" was therefore, probably, nothing more than an easy substitution of that opprobrious epithet for fish, and it is quite likely that our ancestors borrowed the custom from France, with this change in the phrase peculiar to the occasion. It is possible, however, that it may have been derived from poison, mischief. Among the French, ridicule is the most successful weapon for correcting folly and holding vice in terrorem. A Frenchman is more afraid of a successful bon mot at his expense than of a sword, and the First of April is a day, therefore, of which he can make a double application: he may gratify his love of pleasantry among his friends, or inflict a severe wound on his enemies, if he possess the art and wit to invent and perpetrate a worthy piece of foolery upon them. One of the best tricks that ever occurred in France was that of Rabelais, who fooled the officers of justice, when he had no money, into conveying him from Marseilles to Paris on a charge of treason got up for the purpose, and, when arrived there, showing them how they were hoaxed. For this purpose he made up some brick-dust and ashes in different packets, labelled as poisons for the royal

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