Page 161 - Third Book of Reading Lessons

160 THIRD BOOK OF
which he actually measured, in order to know their speed, and the llowing was the result : the- rst deer per rmed three thousand and eighty-nine feet in two minutes, being at the rate of nearly nineteen English miles in an hour; the second did the same in three minutes; and the third in three minutes and twenty-six seconds : the gro:und chosen r the race was nearly level.
5. The rein-deer requires considerable training to prepare him for sledge travelling, and he always de­ mands an experienced driver. Sometimes, when the animal is ill broken, and the driver inexpert, the deer turns round, and rids himself of his burden by the most rious assaults; but such instances of resist­ ance are exceptions. He is ordinarily so docile, that he scarcely needs any direction, and so persevering, that he toils on, hour after hour, without any refresh­ ment, except a mouth l of snow, which he hastily snatches. To the Laplanders, this animal is a sub­
stitute for the horse, the cow, the sheep, and the goat; the milk a ords them cheese; the esh, od; the skin, clothing; the horns, glue; the bones, spoons; the tendons, bow-strings, and when split, thread. rich Laplander has sometimes more than a thousand rein-deer.
L RARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE.
LESSON III.
VIRTUES OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS.
0HAR1ITY, n., love unded on supernatural motives: "ihe greatest" of the divine virtues; it consists in the love of God above all, and the love of the neighbour, that is, of all mankind, r His sake.