As we said in our first number, we wish to obtain a personal knowledge of our young readers. Any letter they send us is sure to be carefully read, and if it is written in a familiar manner we shall like it the better. We cannot do all that we are asked, but our readers may rely that we will do all that we can. And who knows, some of our young scholars may grow up and write clever papers and famous books, whose first compositions appeared in the Young Scholar. We have a good work to do, and, in dependence upon the Divine blessing, we mean to do it with what strength and ability we can summon to our aid. Fairy Tales. THE WOLF AND THE SEVEN YOUNG GOSLINGS. N old goose had seven goslings, which she loved very dearly, as all mothers love their young ones. As she was one day going out into the forest to seek food for them, she called them together and thus addressed them:-"My children, I am obliged to go into the forest to obtain food for us. Be therefore on your guard against the wolf, for if he gets in he will eat you all up, and I shall never see you more. disguises himself, but you can easily tell him by his gruff voice and black paws." The rascal often The goslings answered that they would take great care, and that their mother might go without being afraid on their account. So the old goose took her way to the forest. After a time the goslings heard a knock at the door, and some one calling, "Open the door, my dear goslings; your mother has come back and brought food for all of you." The goslings knew, however, that their mother had not such a rough voice as that of the speaker, so they said, "We will not open the door for you, because you are the wolf. We are sure of that because you have such a rough voice." Then the wolf went to a druggist and bought a large piece of chalk, which he swallowed, that it might make his voice sweet. When he had eaten it he returned, and knocked at the door, calling, "Open the door, my darlings; your mother is here with food for all of you." The wolf had, however, laid his black paw on the window-sill, and when the goslings saw it they said, "We will not open; our mother has not black feet like you-you are the wolf." Then the wolf ran to the baker and said, "I have injured my foot; please put some dough on it." And when the baker had covered it with dough, he went to the miller and begged him to scatter some flour over it. Then the rogue came back again to the home of the goslings and said, "Open the door, my dear goslings; your mother is here, and has brought food for all of you." The little goslings cried, "Let us see your paws first, that we may be sure you are not the wolf." So he laid his paws on the window-sill, and, when the goslings saw that they were white, they thought it was all right and opened the door, and in walked the wolf. They screamed out and tried to hide themselves. One ran under the table, another in the bed, another in the oven, another in the kitchen, and another in the clock-case. But the wolf caught them all and gobbled them up, except the youngest, whom he could not find, as he never thought of looking in the clock-case. When the wolf had eaten them all, he lay down in a green meadow under a tree, and fell asleep. Soon after, the old goose came home from the forest, and found her young ones all gone. When she called their names over, none answered till she came to the youngest, when he cried, "Dear mother, I am in the clock-case." She drew him out, and he then told her the sad fate of all the others. lamented the death of her dear children. The poor goose bitterly When she had dried her tears she went out, and her youngest gosling with her. When she came to the meadow she saw the wolf under a tree, snoring very loud. She went up to him and looked at him closely, when she saw that something was moving about inside him. "Can it be," she thought, "that my poor goslings, which he has swallowed, are yet alive?" So she sent her youngest gosling home to fetch a pair of scissors, a needle, and some thread, and then began to cut open the monster's stomach. When she had done this, out came the goslings, who were not in the least hurt, as the greedy wolf had swallowed them down whole. They kissed their mother tenderly, and skipped about quite merrily over the green grass. Then the old goose said, "Now go and pick me six large stones, which we will put inside the wolf's stomach." So the goslings found the stones, which the goose put inside the wolf, and then sewed him up quickly, and went away. When at last the wolf awoke, he found himself very thirsty, and wanted to go to the spring to drink. But as soon as he began to move the stones made a rattling noise, which made him exclaim What's this rumbling and tumbling? But they've turned out only stones. When he came to the spring to drink and bent his head into the water, the stones weighed so heavy that they made him lose his balance and fall into the water. This made the goslings rejoice, and they cried- "The wolf is dead! The wolf is dead!" and they danced round the spring in ecstasy. The Shipwreck of Captain Riley. HE American brig Commerce, commanded by Captain Riley, with a crew of ten persons, was wrecked on the coast of Africa on the 28th August, 1815. With some difficulty the crew reached the shore, and secured a small quantity of provisions, and tools to repair the boat, in which they hoped to reach the Cape de Verd islands, off the West Coast of Africa. All hopes of this project were soon rendered abortive by the appearance of a party of plundering Arabs, who burned their trunks and chests, carried off their provisions, and destroyed the wine and water casks. The crew escaped to their boat, but Mr. Riley was left behind. One of the Arabs seized hold of him by the throat, and with a scimitar at his broast gave him to understand that he knew there was money on board, and it must instantly be brought to shore. When the ship was wrecked, Mr. Riley had divided the dollars among the crew. On being informed of the demands of the Arabs, he hailed the men, and told them what the savages required. A bucket was accordingly sent from the boat, with about a thousand dollars in it. An old Arab instantly laid hold of it, and forcing Mr. Riley to accompany him, they all went behind the sand hills to divide the spoil. In this situation he felt himself very uneasy; but in order to get to the beach he made signs that there was still more money remaining in the ship. The hint succeeded; and under the idea of obtaining it they allowed him again to hail his people, when, instead of money, he desired them to send on shore Antonio Michael (an old man they had taken in at New Orleans), as the only possible means left for him of effecting his escape. The Arabs finding on his reaching the shore that he had brought no money with him, struck him, pricked him with their sharp knives, and stripped him of all his clothes. Mr. Riley seized this opportunity of springing from his keepers, and plunged into the sea. On rising through the surf, he perceived the old Arab within ten feet of him, up to his chin in water, with his spear raised ready to strike him. But another wave rolling that instant over him saved his life, and he reached the wrecked ship in safety. The remorseless brutes, maddened at the captain's escape, plunged a spear in poor Antonio's body, which laid him lifeless at their feet. The wreck was by this time going rapidly to pieces. The longboat writhed like an old basket. The crew had neither provisions nor water, oars nor rudder to the boat, compass nor quadrant to direct their course; yet hopeless as their situation was, and fearing to be swallowed up by the next wave, they resolved to try their fate on the ocean, rather than encounter death from the relentless savages on shore. By great exertion they succeeded in finding a water-cask, out of which they filled four gallons into a keg, or little barrel. One of the seamen went cautiously on shore, and brought on board two oars, with a small bag of money, which they had buried, containing about 400 dollars. They also contrived to get together a few pieces of salt pork, a live pig weighing about twenty pounds, about four pounds of figs, a spar for the boat's mast, a jib, and a mainsail. Every thing being ready, the crew went to prayers; and the wind ceasing to blow, the boat was launched through the breakers. In this miserable boat they determined to stand out in the wide ocean; but after six days at sea, it was driven on the rocks and completely broken. The crew again reached the shore. On the next morning they set out from the place where they landed. They proceeded in an easterly direction, close to the water's edge, for three days, when they met with a large company of Arabs, who were watering their camels. The shipwrecked sailors bowed themselves to the ground with every mark of submission, and by signs implored their compassion, but in vain. The whole party were in an instant stripped to the skin, and the Arabs began to fight most furiously for the booty, and especially for getting possession of the prisoners. "Six or eight of them," says Captain Riley, “were about me, one hauling me one way and one another. The one who stripped us stuck to us as his lawful property, signifying, 'you may have the others—these are mine.' They cut at each other over my head and on every side of me with their bright weapons, which whizzed through the air within an inch of my naked body, and on every side of me, now hacking each other's arms, and laying their ribs bare with gashes, while their heads, hands, and eyes received a full share of cuts and wounds. I had expected to be cut to pieces in this dreadful affray, but was not injured. "The battle being over, I saw my distressed companions divided among the Arabs, and all going towards the drove of camels, though they were at some distance from me. We were delivered into the hands of two old women, who urged us on with sticks towards the camels. Naked and barefooted, we could not go very fast; and I showed the women my mouth, which was parched as white as frost, and without a sign of moisture. When we got near the well, one of the women called for another, who came to us with a wooden bowl, which held, I should think, about a gallon of water, and setting it on the ground, made |