52

FLORA'S PARTY.

And said "Guido's rich tints made dame Nature turn

pale."

The Snow-Ball assented, and ventured to add

His opinion, that "all Nature's coloring was bad;"

He had thought so, e'er since a few days he had spent

To study the paintings of Rome, as he went

To visit his uncle Gentiana, who chose

His abode on the Alps, 'mid a palace of snows.
But he took on Mount Blanc such a terrible chill,
That ever since that, he'd been pallid and ill.”
Half withered Miss Hackmetack bought a new glass,
And thought with her nieces, the Spruces, to pass;
But bachelor Holly, who spied her out late,

Destroyed all her plans by a hint at her date.

So she pursed up her mouth, and said tartly, with scorn,
"She could not remember before she was born."

Old Jonquil, the crooked-backed beau, had been told
That a tax would be laid upon bachelor's gold;
So he bought a new coat, and determined to try
The long disused armor of Cupid so sly;
Sought for half opened buds, in their infantine years,
And ogled them all, till they blushed to their ears.
Philosopher Sage on a sofa was prosing,
With dull Dr. Camomile quietly dosing;

Though the Laurel descanted with eloquent breath,
Of heroes and battles, of victory and death,

Of the conquest of Greece, and Bozzaris the brave,
"He had trod in his steps, and had sighed o'er his

grave."

Farmer Sun-Flower was near, and decidedly spake
Of" the poultry he fed, and the oil he might make;"
For the true-hearted soul deemed a weather-stained face,
And a toil-hardened hand were no marks of disgrace.
Then he beckoned his nieces to rise from their seat,

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

The plump Dandelion, and Cowslip so neat,

And bade them to "pack up their duds and away,

53

For the cocks crowed so loud 't was the break o' the day." -'T was indeed very late, and the coaches were

brought,

For the grave matron flowers of their nurseries thought; The lustre was dimmed of each drapery rare,

And the lucid young brows looked beclouded with care; All save the bright Cereus, that belle so divine,

Who joyed through the curtains of midnight to shine. Now they courtsied and bowed as they moved to the

door,

But the Poppy snored loud ere the parting was o'er,
For Night her last candle was snuffing away,
And Flora grew tired though she begged them to stay;
Exclaimed "all the watches and clocks were too fast,
And old Time ran in spite, lest her pleasures should
last."

But when the last guest went, with daughter and wife,
She vowed she "was never so glad in her life;"
Called out to her maids, who with weariness wept,
To"wash all the glasses and cups ere they slept!"
For "Aurora," she said, "with her broad, staring eye,
Would be pleased, in the house, some disorder to spy;"
Then sipped some pure honey-dew, fresh from the lawn,
And with Zephyrus hasted to sleep until dawn.

CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.

EVEN the meanest insect receives an existence from the Author of Being, and why should we idly abridge their span? They have their little sphere of bliss allot. ted them; they have purposes which they are designed to fulfil; and when these are accomplished, they die.

54

THE RAT AND THE OYSTER.

Every thing that has life is doomed to suffer and to feel; though its expression of pain may not be capable of being conveyed to our senses.

To torture is unmanly; to tyrannize,,where there can be no resistance, is the extreme of baseness. He who delights in misery, or sports with life, must have a disposition and a heart, neither qualified to make himself nor others happy.

A RAT possessed of little brains,
Accustomed but to field and plains,
Forsook the plenteous stores of corn,
And his first trip since he was born-
Scorning a parent's kind control,
Rashly forsook his native hole.

The very moment he was out,
He looked above, and round about;

THE RAT AND THE OYSTER.

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"Oh! how extensive is the land!"

He cried; "the world how vast and grand!"
The mole-hills, to his untaught eyes,
Assumed the mountain's height and size.
"Amazing!"—he proceeded thus :—
"I see the Alps and Caucasus !
And that (a stream he saw in motion)
Is surely the Atlantic ocean!"
At length, proceeding to the shore,
Where fishermen had been before,
Some scattered Oysters there remained,
Of the large portion they had gained;
Among them (one as oft we view)
With shell upraised an inch or two
Lay as in quiet, soft delight,
Exposing skin of healthy white;
So plump and tempting did it lie,
It caught the Rat's exploring eye.

"What do I see?" he cried: "a treat!
This must be most delightful meat;
At any rate, this day I dine

Better than any friend of mine :

I have been looking for good cheer;
Lucky am I to find it here."

Then, full of hope, lured by the smell,
He thrust his head within the shell.

The Oyster, who had never met
With so much unpoliteness yet,—
And, surely, nothing could be ruder,—
Caught, crushed and killed the bold intruder.

MORAL.

See the result of roaming wide

Without companion, friend or guide :

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HONOR.-A VISION OF THE ALPS.

Who scorn advice can ne'er succeed;
Presumption must to ruin lead:

My youthful friends, remember that,
Nor imitate the foolish rat.

HONOR.

TRUE honor, though it be a different principle from religion, is not contrary to it. Religion embraces virtue, as it is enjoined by the law of God; honor, as it is graceful and ornamental to human nature.

The religious man fears, the man of honor scorns, to do an ill action. The latter considers vice as something that is beneath him; the other as something that is offensive to the Divine Being; the one, as what is unbecoming, the other, as what is forbidden.

A VISION OF THE ALPS.

ITALIA'S vales in verdure slept

While Spring her humid odors wept,
With wreaths the breathing statue bound,
The fallen dome with ivy crowned,
And bade old Tiber's yellow wave
With fuller flow its margin lave.
Low at the base of Alps sublime,
Where the columbar cypress grows,
And falling streams with tuneful chime
To slumber lull the ear of time,

His cell a hermit chose.

Once at his peaceful door reclined,

While lonely musings soothed his mind,
Soft mists involved his favorite tree,