“’While Mr. Stephens (the author of several delightful books) was standing in a corridor of his friend’s house, a man passed with a child in his arms.  He was its father, and with a smile on his face was carrying it to its grave.  He was followed by two boys playing on violins, and others were laughing around.  The child was dressed in white, with a wreath of roses around its head; and as it lay in its father’s arms, it did not seem dead but sleeping.  The grave was not quite ready, and the boys sat on the heap of dirt thrown out, and played their violins until it was finished.  The father then laid the child carefully in its final resting-place, with its head to the rising sun, folded its little hands across its breast, and closed its fingers around a small wooden crucifix; and it seemed, as they thought it was, happy at escaping the troubles of an uncertain world.  There were no tears shed; on the contrary, all were cheerful; and though it appeared heartless, it was not because the father did not love his child, but because he and all his friends had been taught to believe, and were firm in the conviction, that, taken away so young, it was transferred immediately to a better world.  The father sprinkled a handful of dirt over its face; the grave-digger took his shovel; in a few moments the little grave was filled up, and, preceded by the boys playing on their violins, they departed.’”

MRS. WILTON.  “There is a spirit of thankfulness evinced in that father’s conduct which requires great faith.  I fear none of us would be found to possess as much under such a trial, for the spirit is, unhappily, at most times under the dominion of the flesh.”

GEORGE.  “Is not Papagayo Bay close to the Lake of Nicaragua?”

EMMA.  “It is only divided from the Ocean by a portion of the district of Nicaragua.  It is a great lake, ninety five miles long, and thirty broad, and is navigable for ships of the largest class.”

DORA.  “It is covered with beautiful and populous islands, and two of them—­viz.  Isola and Madeira—­contain burning mountains.  The largest volcano—­Omotepeque—­always continues burning, and reminds one of Mount Etna rising from the water’s edge, a smooth unbroken cone to the height of nearly 1000 feet.  The waters of this lake descend by the river St. John towards the Atlantic; but there is no outlet into the Pacific Ocean.”

GEORGE.  “I should like to know why the Pacific is so called?”

[Illustration:  THE EARTHQUAKE]

CHARLES.  “I can tell you, George.  In the year 1520, when Magellan was on his way to the Spice Islands (the Moluccas, you know), he and the crew suffered dreadful privations:  they were nearly four months at sea without discovering land.  Their stock of provisions was almost exhausted, the water became putrid, and in consequence the poor men were attacked with that horrible disease the scurvy.  The only source of consolation, under these troubles, was the uninterrupted fair weather they enjoyed, and the favorable winds which wafted them gently onward; so that Magellan was induced to call the Ocean Pacific:  hence the origin of its name.”