I look at him, and he at me; and then, when I exclaim,
"Oh dear, how very old you look!" my friend tells me the same.
I ask him now to take a chair, and then we sit and tell
Of days gone by, and boyish pranks, which we remember well;
And soon in serious mood we count how many since have died,
How few are left, of all who once at school we sat beside.

I know that I am getting old, for if I only go

To the old town where, when a boy, I everybody knew,

As I walk through the market place, or down each well-known street,
I scarcely know a single face of all the folks I meet.

They know not me, I know not them-men, women, girls, or boys,—
I am a stranger in the place, where once I knew the joys

Of home, and all the love and care which tender parents give-
But now, where once I lived and played, there others play and live.
Should I, when walking on the way, meet with some older man,
I look at him right earnestly to try if I can scan

Upon his wrinkled features now, some traces of that boy
Who once played with me on the green, all full of life and joy.
But "few and far between" are these; and yet if I should go
To yonder grave-yard, and read there the names of those below,
How many more I there can find who once I knew full well;
And more are gone-when, where, or how, no stone stands there to tell.
There, too, in that old resting place, my father and my mother,
With other of my kindred dear, and one beloved brother,
Now rest in peace, until that day when JESUS CHRIST shall come
To raise their sleeping dust again, and take them safely home.

This is my birthday, and my years are three beyond threescore,
And I cannot expect that they will number many more;
"Tis true I've not attained yet the years my fathers knew,
But those which yet remain to me, if longer, are but few.
Yes: I myself am getting old, and soon I must, I know,
As all my father's have before, to Death's stern mandate bow;
Well, let him come-I fear him not, nor all his dreaded power;
I know who conquer'd Death, and He will save me in that hour!
December, 12th, 1857.

SIXTY-THREE.

THE MOVING IRON ISLAND.

PERHAPS you are ready to ask what do we mean by a moving iron island? This is a proper question, and we will

try to answer it.

We mean the great iron steam-ship, called the LEVIATHAN, of which we give you a picture on the opposite page-lately built on the banks of the river Thames, below London—the largest ship that was ever built in the world; and when we have told you more about it, we think you will agree with us in calling it what we have.

This monstrous vessel has been several years in building. We saw it, one evening, when they had raised it a few yards from its keel, as we were coming up the Thames in a steamer. It was twilight, and we could not see it clearly, but it looked like a long high black wall raised above the bank of the river.

The first thing to be noticed is the size of this Great Leviathan of the deep. She measures 680 feet in length, 83 feet in breadth, and 60 feet in height. For the better understanding of this magnitude, it should be known that she is six times as large as the "Duke of Wellington" lineof-battle ship of 130 guns-that her length exceeds three times the height of the London Monument-and that one turn round her deck involves a walk of more than a quarter of a mile. Compared with all vessels of modern times, she stands alone and unapproached; she is twice as long and more than four times as large as the great American steamfrigate, the "Niagara," and exceeds that in tonnage by

nearly 18,000 tons, her burden being within a few tons of 23,000. To approach her at all in size, we must go back to the days of Noah, and compare her to the Ark in which he and his family were saved. According to the computations of Sir Isaac Newton and Bishop Wilkins, the Ark was a few feet wider in breadth than the Leviathan, but not so deep, and not so long by above 100 feet.

In steam power, the Leviathan will transcend all other vessels in a ratio proportioned to her size. She is the first vessel, so far as we know, that will be propelled both by the paddle and the screw. Her paddle-engines will be each of 1500 horse power, and her screw engines will be each of 1800, giving a total of 11,500 horse power, though she can more than double that power if occasion should demand it. She will carry ten boilers, and these are so constructed that the steam produced by each may be made available where it shall be most needed. Her paddle wheels will be fifty-six feet in diameter—that is across them—not round them. And she will have five funnels.

She will carry six or seven masts, all of which will be of hollow wrought iron, except the last, or mizen mast, on which the compass will be placed, at a height of eighty-four feet from the deck, to shield it from the influence of the immense mass of iron. On these masts, the principal one of which will be crossed with spars, as in a line-of-battle ship, she will spread 6,500 yards of canvas to the breeze. The rigging will be of wire ropes.

In accommodation for passengers, the resemble rather a floating city than a ship.

Leviathan will
Eight hundred

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first class passengers, two thousand second class, and twelve hundred third class, will find a luxurious and comfortable home on board her; and, if it be necessary for her to carry troops, it is reckoned that ten thousand men would find her as convenient a transport as any in the service. In addition to the quarter of a mile promenade on the upper deck, another covered promenade will be available for passengers when the weather above is not inviting; and again, below this will be a common saloon in each compartment, over sixty by thirty feet in area and fifteen feet high. These accommodations do not embrace those of the ship's complement and crew, who have their separate berths.

Her speed, which is expected to prove the grand element of her success, is calculated at not less than twenty miles an hour, so that she is expected to traverse the distance between the English coast and New York in five or six days, or to reach the harbours of South Australia in about thirty. If we add to this the fact, which it is confidently expected will be realized, that, owing to her vast bulk, she will cut at a uniform level through the waves without rolling or pitching, and that, consequently, there will be no such plague as seasickness on board of her, it may be that she will secure all the passengers, and return a rare profit to the shareholders.

Let us look now at the precautions that have been taken to insure her safety. In the first place we may dismiss all apprehensions from fire. The Leviathan is built wholly of iron, and her fittings up will be so far of the same material that any accidental conflagration that may occur must necessarily confine its damage to matters of cabinet-work and