PETER PARLEY'S GIFT.

OF TIME.

THERE are some insects who live but a single day. In the morning they are born; at noon they are in full life; at evening they die. The life of man is similar to that of these insects. It is true, he lives for a number of years, but the period is so short, that every moment is of some value. Our existence may be compared to a journey; as every step of the traveller brings him nearer to the end of his journey, so every tick of the clock makes the limited number of seconds allotted to us still less.

Our life may be divided, like the day of the insect, into three parts; youth, or morning; noon, or middle age, and evening, or old age. In youth, we get our education, and lay up those stores of knowledge, which are to guide us in the journey before us. As this journey is of importance, we should be busy as the bee, that improves each shining hour. I do not mean that we should never amuse ourselves; on the contrary, amusement is.absolutely necessary to all, and particularly to the young. But what I mean is, that none of the time allotted to study, or business, or dut,, should be allowed to pass in idleness. Every moment should be improved, for we have a journey before us, and if we linger by the way, the time in which it is to be performed will pass, and while we are yet unhoused, or

16

THE LILY AND THE ROSE.

unsheltered in the wilderness, the sun will set, and the shadows of night will fall upon us.

Middle age is a time of action, and it is important to lay up knowledge and wisdom in youth, that we may act well and wisely in these after days. Old age is the evening, or the winter of life. It is dimmed with the shadows of coming night, or chilled by the frost of coming death. Yet it is not a period from which we should shrink, unless, indeed, we have wasted our time, and made no preparation against the season that is to follow.

THE following fable was written by Cowper, and the moral, or meaning of it, is this; let no person be envi ous or jealous of another. We know, indeed, that flowers never speak or quarrel, as they are represented