ree spread, and many people travelled a long way to hear it. Some
members of the Royal Family, who were staying on the coast not far off,
paid it a visit. A little book was actually written about the groaning
tree.

Some people said the noise came from the twisting of the roots, and
others that there was water or air in the wood of the tree which could
not get free. The noise seemed to come from the roots, and people
fancied it groaned least when the weather was wet, and made most noise
in dry weather. This went on for nearly two years, until at last a
meddlesome gentleman took an opportunity to bore a hole in the trunk.
The result was that the elm ceased to groan. It was then decided to take
the tree up by the roots and examine it; but nothing has ever been
discovered to account for the noise.

TIME MORE PRECIOUS THAN MONEY.

Thirteen men once agreed to meet at a fixed place and at a certain hour.
At the appointed hour they all appeared except one. He was five minutes
late. When he arrived, one of the others said, 'You have caused us to
lose an hour.'

Looking at his watch, the man who was late said: 'No, only five
minutes.'

The other replied: 'There are twelve of us waiting on you, and twelve
times five minutes make sixty minutes. So we have lost an hour.'

PEEPS INTO NATURE'S NURSERIES.

VIII.--THE STORY OF THE JELLY-FISH.

Nature is full of surprises, and the greatest of these almost always
arise out of the most commonplace looking objects. No more striking
instance of this can be found than that furnished by the story of the
Jelly-fish. Most, if not all, of my readers have met with this creature,
either in the shape of a lifeless lump of clear jelly lying on the sand
by the sea-shore, or gracefully swimming in the summer sea, a thing of
beauty indeed, yet not to be treated too familiarly. If it could but
speak, what a strange tale it would have to tell! But Nature has imposed
silence on most of her children, which is after all a good thing for us,
for this very silence makes us anxious to discover for ourselves the
wondrous lessons which she has to teach, whereby we learn that these
humbler creatures, like ourselves, find the world a stern reality, to be
faced bravely: and the sooner we realise this the better and more useful
lives we ourselves shall lead.

[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Some "Animal-Trees."

Pennaria Coraline. Lobster-horn Coraline. Eight-footed Jelly-fish.
Podded Coraline.]