was anything like it witnessed. Yard by yard, and fathom by fathom, day and night incessantly, splendidly hewing, they hacked that passage, bringing the coal and stone down by tons, and thinking of the mothers, wives, and children who were weeping and praying above ground in an agony of impatience.

It was Sunday afternoon, after the men had been entombed for four days and nights, that the sound was heard which. indicated that a second party was still alive. After the work of deliverance had been going on from Sunday to the evening of Wednesday, the gratifying intelligence was brought from below that one of the imprisoned men had been heard shouting to those at work, "Keep to the right; you are nearly through." A loud shout of congratulation was raised by the band of heroic workers. Four or five yards had yet to be hewed through, but coal being a good conductor of sound, the captives could make themselves understood. They were asked by a miner, shouting at the top of his voice, "How many are you?" The reply was "Five." "How have you lived?" By eating candles. Do make haste." It was as if the living hailed the dead, and got back an answer from the tomb.

But now arose great fear and perplexity among the rescuers, derived from their first experience. As one of the workmen said to a reporter, "If people knew the awful storm that followed when poor William Morgan struck through with his mandril, they would not be surprised at our hesitation: it was as if the end of the world had come." Wise heads were at work as well as strong hands; while the latter continued at their task, the former devised means for lessening the danger from the first rush of air. At about one o'clock on Thursday afternoon a hole was cautiously bored through the wall. It was a moment of terrible suspense, and it required heroic fortitude to enable the men engaged in the task of deliverance to remain crouched in a hole 6 ft. wide by 3 ft. in height, while the long-pent-up

air was rushing through the opening, and discordant noises, like claps of thunder, went rolling through the mine. It was, moreover, feared that the moment the air was liberated, the immense volume of water in the workings would advance upon the imprisoned men, and carry before it the solid pillar of coal intervening. Happily the rush, though terrific, was much less than had been anticipated.

For some time it was found impossible to speak to the poor prisoners, owing to the blast rushing through the hole made. At length a voice was heard at the other end of the bore. It was asked, "Who are you?". The reply was received, "I am George Jenkins.""How many are you?? He answered "Five; two of us are very ill.' "Have you

light?" He said, "No; have been in darkness nearly all the time." "Can you cut down any coal on your side?" "No; we are too weak: we are starving; oh, make haste!" Meanwhile, a tube was brought to be inserted in the hole, and an attempt was made to inject through it warm diluted milk; but it was afterwards found that it never reached the

men.

The work of deliverance seemed now on the eve of completion, when a rush of gas1 made it necessary to suspend operations. Meanwhile, the captives were in danger of being drowned, from the water rising in their dungeon as the air escaped through the hole; but they stopped up the hole with coal, and climbed to a ledge above the water. Means having been taken to ventilate the passage, the men resumed their task. One of that noble band, Abraham Todd, gives the following account of the rescue. "About one o'clock" (Friday afternoon), "I should think it was, when we drove the hole through. All along we could hear George Jenkins calling to us, Take plenty of time; and be careful!? Isaac Pride, one of our party, was the first who tried to go through the hole, but he was too big. And so I went in. George, George, I am coming to you! replied: 'come on, my dear; I have given you up this long

I called out, All right,' he

time.' Then I jumped through, caught him in my arms,, and he caught me round the neck and kissed me."

1

The news soon spreads that a way of escape has been opened up, and a vast crowd collects round the mouth of the shaft in eager expectation and fearful suspense. The bell rings, and in a few seconds the cage will appear. Two or three seconds of intense anxiety and pain, and then the first of the entombed colliers, the boy David Hughes, is borne past on a stretcher to the temporary hospital. A deep sigh of thankfulness escapes from thousands of anxious spectators; and then, as quickly as they can be brought to the surface, the four remaining men are carried by, and placed under the care of medical men and a staff of careful

nurses.

By a happy coincidence, when the last man was brought up, and was on his way to the hospital, a telegraphic message was received from the Queen. One of the officers of the mine mounted a waggon, and with a loud voice said, “A message from the Queen." There was a rush of people forward, and all present having uncovered, it was read as follows:

"The Queen is very anxious for the last accounts of the poor men in the mine. Are they saved? Pray telegraph."

The poor fellows were much touched at the Queen's anxiety on their account. "We little thought," said one of them, "when we were in our prison below, that the Queen of England was interesting herself in our behalf." And to a photographer who wished to take their likeness, they replied: "We don't wish to be photographed in hospital, as we want our dear Queen, who has sent to us, to have our likenesses in our colliers' dress when we are better, and no one shall have it before."

May all who read the story of the Welsh miners learn from their example to bear suffering in patient hopefulness, and be ready to risk life and limb on behalf of their brother

men,..

THERE is a land, of every land the pride,
Beloved by Heaven o'er all the world beside;
Where brighter suns dispense serener light,
And milder moons emparadise the night ;
A land of beauty, virtue, valour, truth,
Time-tutored age, and love-exalted youth :
The wandering mariner, whose eye explores
The wealthiest isles, the most enchanting shores,
Views not a realm so bountiful and fair,
Nor breathes the spirit of a purer air;
In every clime the magnet of his soul,
Touched by remembrance, trembles to that pole ;
For in this land of Heaven's peculiar grace,
The heritage of nature's noblest race,
There is a spot on earth supremely blest,
A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest,
Where man, creation's tyrant, casts aside
His sword and sceptre, pageantry and pride,
While in his softened looks benignly blend
The sire, the son, the husband, brother, friend :
Here woman reigns; the mother, daughter, wife,
Strew with fresh flowers the narrow way of life!
In the clear heaven of her delightful eye
An angel-guard of loves and graces lie;
Around her knee domestic duties meet,
And fireside pleasures gambol at her feet.

Where shall that land, that spot of earth be found?
Art thou a man?-a patriot ?-look around;
O, thou shalt find, howe'er thy footsteps roam,
That land thy country, and that spot thy Home.
JAMES MONTGOMERY..

EASY LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY.

I. THE ELEMENTS.

In olden times it was the opinion of the wise that there were four elements, earth, fire, water, and air. By an "element" is meant one of those simple substances by the union of which other more complex substances are formed. To take a few simple examples, the twenty-six letters of the alphabet may be termed the elements of literature; addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division may be called the elementary rules of arithmetic; and flour, sugar, currants, raisins, suet, eggs, milk, lemon-peel, and salt may be regarded as the elements of a plum-pudding.

But we now know that our forefathers were greatly mistaken about their four "elements." We have discovered that earth, water, and air are compound substances, that fire is an action rather than a substance, and that instead of four there are upwards of sixty elements, out of which all the substances this world contains are formed. Some of these elements are so exceeding rare as to be of higher value than diamonds; some are extremely abundant; but very few of them (and they rarely) are to be found naturally in a free state that is, free from combination with other elements.

The science which will tell you what is known about these elements and their many combinations is called Chemistry, and you may easily imagine that it is a science of very great extent. We intend to give you only a few lessons on it, and we cannot therefore pretend to give you anything like a full account of it. We shall content ourselves with taking a few substances which are met with in common life; and by talking with you a little about these, we hope to interest you in the science, and to encourage you to read further for yourselves in some other book.