boat had but one long room or cabin, ten or twelve feet wide. At both sides three rows of narrow beds were arranged like shelves, one above the other. There the compressed crowd, people of various callings, climes and creeds, were laid away on the shelf. Quietly they submitted to their fate. Soon naught was heard but the heavy breathing of the sleepers. A few snorers kept up an unearthly noise. My travelling on packets has afforded me an opportunity of studying the philosophy of snoring. It has its swells and cadences, its short and long sounds, like music. Many were in the habit of beginning on a low soft key, gradually they would rise. In force and expression the sounds increased. Strange, how a man asleep can keep time as accurately as the leader of an orchestra with his baton. Louder and louder grew the unconscious snore, until at length it exploded in a terrific snort, which seemed to shake the very timbers of the boat. The compressed force must find an outlet; the boiler explodes, and "nobody is hurt." While we were wrapped in gentle sleep, our boat collided. If I remember rightly, the shock butted our heads against the headboard of the berth. The noise of the collision occurring when all were asleep, sounded like the crash of doom. A short ominous hush followed. Then began the uproar. a headlong tumbling out of bed cannot be adequately described. Surely the sides of the boat must somewhere be broken through! Did we not hear the timbers crack? The large trunks on deck might fall into our berth! Hark! The water is already rushing through the saloon! All is fright and confusion. The ladies, of course, shriek! dear, oh dear what shall we do? The children cry. The contents of the shelves are emptied on the floor. Pell mell they tumble out. In the excited hurry to escape for their lives, some cannot find their boots, others try to put on the garments of their neighbor's. The captain coolly assures the terrified crew that there is no danger. Axes are brought to take up part of the floor, to ascertain whether "the ship has sprung a leak." They find water, the sight of which starts the panic afresh. Through two or three inches some made their way to the deck. For an hour or two it never seemed to occur to these panic-stricken travellers, that the boat was within ten paces from the shore, and that any or all of them could in less than five minutes be safely landed on terra firma. In short, it was In short, it was "a tempest in a tea-pot," but poduced for a short time, all the consternation of an accident

on mid-ocean.

Such

Before the Northern Central Railroad was extended from Harrisburg to Williamsport, Pa., the "Canal packet" was the means of summer travel between these places. Many of our readers have seen the scenery along this part of the Susquehanna. You

get but a faint impression of it from the Railroad train. To take in the whole, in all its varied beauty and grandeur, you must leisurely jog along on the "canal packet," with a group of a dozen or more persons around you, who are capable of enjoying such scenery. You must get up at early dawn, and see the sun peep up from behind the mountains. With the ripple of the water against the keel of the boat, and the occasional shout of the steersman to the boy-driver and the lock tender, mingle the morning melodies of innumerable birds. From the tall mountain tops down to the green meadows in the valleys, receding from the river bank, their sweet songs are heard in praise to the great Creator. About the farm-houses, in view from the canal, you see the milk-maids, with their large pails under the patient cows, busy at their work in the barn-yards. How refreshing, too, is the pure bracing morning air, after breathing the close, confined, sickly atmosphere of the quarters below deck. You attend to your toilet on deck, at the head of the narrow stairway. You take a tin ladle, with a long handle, fastened to a chain, and dip water out of the canal into a tin basin, and hurry through the performance with soap and towel that scores have used before you, while a dozen are standing at your elbow, watching and waiting impatiently for you to make room for them. As the time for break fast approached, all had to vacate their beds, to make room for the tables. The bedding was packed away under the seats or lower berths; a row of long narrow tables was improvised. Frequently there was a rude scrambling to get at the first table. Scores of the less courteous passengers stationed themselves at one end of the cabin, while the table was being spread, meanwhile venting their rude sport upon the active colored waiters. Scarcely could they wait till the ladies had been seated. Then each rushed for a chair with tumultuous violence, some of them rudely seizing and wholly appropriating a favorite dish, regardless of the wants of others. Furiously they fell to. One took possession of a plate of omelets, another of a pile of buckwheat cakes, in a grab-game style.

Frequently, when crowded, many had to sleep on the floor. With the greatest good-humor some bore their discomfort, whilst others annoyed their neighbors with their growling ill-temper. In the spring of the year the packet was usually crowded with lumber men or raftsmen. They were a set of rough, hardy mountaineers, given to drunkenness and profanity. They abounded in boisterous quarrels, and not unfrequently frightened the more timid passengers with their fights. There was no way of getting away from such annoyances. The packet was a little world in itself, where one had a chance to study human nature and the diverse dispositions of people.

How charming were the sunsets from the packet deck along the Susquehanna! The broad river, rolling calmly along the deep great furrow which it has wrought through these high mountain ranges, long ages ago; the beautiful, ever-changing landscape; the gorgeous coloring of the western sky; the peaceful hush of eventide; scores of delighted people seated on the deck, some humming familiar hymns, others merrily chatting; all gently floating along without a single unpleasant motion of the boat, giving you ample time to see and enjoy the scene through which you passed, without a sight or sound to mar the enjoyment. With joy I remember it all. You may laugh at the slow "canal packets," but with all their annoyances, they afforded enjoyments which the noisy, rushing Railroad train lacks.

After dark the people amused themselves to suit their respective tastes. Some of a more poetical turn of mind, kept on deck to enjoy the starry heavens and the night scenery. Below deck others gathered in groups for conversation; some played cards, whilst others intently pored over their books and newspapers. Sometimes the evening would be spent in a more religious way. One of these I remember with pleasure. Quite a number of Reformed and Presbyterian ministers were on board. The former on their way to attend the annual meeting of the Eastern Synod of the Reformed Church, the latter to attend the annual meeting of the Presbyterian Synod of Philadelphia. With the consent of the Captain, a religious service was held in the crowded cabin. The late Dr. Edward Yeomans delivered a touching address, all aglow with Christian love; Rev. A. G. Dole led in prayer; a hymn or two was sung. A solemn subdued feeling seemed to pervade the whole meeting, in which all on board felt a deep interest.

One incident of a night voyage I have special reason to remember. It was at the beginning of my ministry at Lewisburg, Pa. I "bunked" in one of the lower berths. Scarcely two feet above me lay a burly, rotund traveller, of over two hundred pounds; in dimensions and appearance resembling a prosperous English Squire, or Sir John Falstaff, if you please. I had often had misgivings as to the safety of these nether berths, still hoped for the best. In due time I turned in, and soon was soundly asleep, until startled with a crash overhead, attended by a stunning blow on my forehead, leaving a bleeding gash. The cord on which the fat sleeper's bed hung broke, and the wooden edge of the berth frame saw fit to fall on my face, with all his weight on top. I had barely enough of consciousness left to see the crest-fallen stranger sprawling on all-fours on the floor, like an overgrown frog. The impression of a fractured skull unfits one to relish a ludicrous. scene, which this fallen neighbor very strikingly presented, in his

awkward way of getting out of bed surveying the havoc he had made on his knees, horrified at the thought that he might have broken my skull, whilst I wiped the blood from my aching forehead. Many a curious question was provoked by the black face of the pastor, to whose people such a mark was a serious annoy

ance.

Charles Dickens gives a graphic description of his experience on one of these "packets," running between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh:

"At about six o'clock in the evening, all the small tables were put together to form one long table, and everybody sat down to tea, coffee, bread, butter, salmon, shad, liver, steak, potatoes, pickles, ham chops, black puddings and sausages. There is no doubt the meal was disposed of somewhat ravenously, and that the gentlemen thrust the broad-bladed knives and the two-pronged forks further down their throats than I ever saw the same weapons go before, except in the hands of a skillful juggler; but no man sat down until the ladies were seated, or omitted any little act of politeness which could contribute to their comfort.

"By the time the meal was over, it became feasible to go on deck. It was somewhat embarrassing at first, to have to duck nimbly every five minutes, whenever the man at the helm cried Bridge!' and sometimes, when the cry was 'Low Bridge!' to lie down nearly flat. The night was cloudy yet, but moonlight too; and when we crossed the Susquehanna river, it was wild and grand. I have mentioned my having been in some uncertainty and doubt relative to the sleeping arrangements on board this boat. I remained in the same vague state of mind until 10 o'clock, or thereabouts, when going below, I found suspended on either side of the cabin, three long tiers of hanging book-shelves, designed apparently for volumes of the small octavo size. Looking with greater attention at these contrivances, I descried on each shelf a sort of microscopic sheet or blanket; then I began dimly to comprehend that the passengers were the library, and that they were to be arranged, edge-wise, on these shelves, till morning.

"The politeness of the person in authority had secured to me a shelf in a nook near this red curtain, (which formed the partition wall between the ladies and gentlemen's apartments,) in some degree removed from the great body of sleepers. I found it, on after measurement, just the width of an ordinary sheet Bath post letterpaper; and I was at first in some uncertainty as to the best means of getting into it. I was much alarmed on looking upward, to see, by the shape of his half yard of sacking, (which his weight had bent into an exceedingly tight bag,) that there was a very heavy gentleman above me, whom the slender cords seemed quite incapable of

* * * *

holding; and I could not help reflecting upon the grief of my wife and family in the event of his coming down in the night. As to the ladies, they were already a-bed, behind the red curtain, which was carefully drawn and pinned up at the centre; though as every cough, or sneeze, or whisper, behind this curtain, was perfectly audible before it, we had still a lively consciousness of their society. *** And yet despite these oddities-and even they had, for me at least, a humor of their own-there was much in this mode of travelling which I heartily enjoyed at the time, and look back upon with great pleasure. Even the running up, bare-necked, at five o'clock in the morning, from the tainted cabin to the dirty deck; scooping up the icy water, plunging one's head into it, and drawing it out, all fresh and glowing with cold, was a good thing. The fast, brisk walk upon the towing-path, between that time and breakfast, when every vein and artery seemed to tingle with health; the exquisite beauty of the opening day, when light came gleaming off from everything; the lazy motion of the boat, when one lay idly on the deck, looking through, rather than at the deep blue sky; the gliding on at night, so noiselessly, past frowning hills, sullen with dark trees, and sometimes angry in one red burning spot high up, where unseen men lay crouching round a fire; all these were pure delights."

THE FLOWERS OF THE BIBLE.

BY KIRKLAND.

One can easily understand why Palestine has been famous for honey. There are inexhaustible ranges for bees, feasts of sweetness; and wild honey can be gathered from the rocks to-day as in David's time. Where there is no more showy growth, sweet herbs are abundant. Scarce a mountain so barren but tufts of hyssop or sage or thyme find fissures through which their searching roots suck moisture, and, with the wondrous alchemy of vegetation, transmute the life they draw from seeming barrenness to pungent flavor and perfume. Even amid desert sands, here and there a stalk of lavender and rosemary can be found; and one of the dreary mountains of stony Petra is clothed with fennel.

The southern part of Palestine is less fertile than the northern; there is no such rankness of grass, and profusion of flowers, as on the plains of Galilee and Samaria. Still the neighborhood of Hebron, which is the first entered by the way of the desert, is one