never knows anything beyond her near neighbourhood, quite looked down on me."

"Well, and are you going to listen to all the idle tales you hear? Are you going to long for the fins of the fish, or the wings of the sea-gull? Why can't you be contented with the talents and powers you possess? If you can only walk in the same manner as all the rest of your race, still your speed is as great, and will carry you out of danger as quickly as those who rush headlong straight forward. Besides, there is a fact which you have overlooked, which would not have been the case had you set yourself to find out and enjoy the powers that really were given you to make use of, instead of idly coveting and copying the performance of others. Have you never noticed that although you can only run sidelong, yet that you can do so both ways, and are, therefore, better off than those creatures who can only run quite straight, and whose backward and sideways movements are as awkward as your attempts at their gifts and graces ?"

"Well, I never saw that before," said the Crab; "to be sure, after all, I can run on one side quite as easily as I can on another, and, at any rate, I am not obliged to crawl along like those stupid

Limpets and Periwinkles, or to tumble over and over as I have seen some of those grand Anemones do."

"You need not be spiteful to your old enemies," retorted the Hermit; "but you can take home the lesson, and be more contented without aping the ways of different people. After all, perhaps, it was a lucky thing you fell into this pool, and had a little of the conceit taken out of you."

"I am very much indebted to you for your good advice at any rate," said the Crab, humbly; "I daresay the lesson has been a useful one, though I cannot candidly say it has been pleasant. At any rate, good bye, and many thanks for your kindness."

"You need make no acknowledgments," said the Hermit, gruffly, "you ought to know I am a distant connexion of your family, and I spoke because I hated to see one of my relations making such an object of himself as you were doing."

Our

So saying, he abruptly drew into his shell, and utterly declined any further conversation. hero, after thinking over his adventures and resting after his fatigues, began to think it must be nearly time for the return of the tide. At this moment a great wave came dashing roughly over the hitherto quiet surface of the pool, lashing its water on all sides, and sending the spray up in all

directions. Our Crab scrambled hastily up a friendly length of green weed, and the next wave bore him far off from the scenes of his trouble, and landed him not far from his native home-a shallow flat hollow, close to the sand of the beach. Whether the spruce Prawn lost his way, or whether he was too fine a gentleman to wish to partake of our friend's humble fare, I cannot say. All that I can tell is, that he did not come to supper with the Crab that night, and our friend, not very greatly disappointed, found the contents of his larder not too much for his own hearty appetite." The last time Master Crabby was seen he had grown very large; his eyes were brighter and blacker than ever, and a perfect colony of young barnacles had established themselves on his back, throwing out their fairy threads in great activity. He has never been known to attempt walking any way than sidelong ever since, and is considered by his family resident in the vicinity as a distinguished

member of the crab tribe.

THE DEPLORABLE DEATH

AND

DOLEFUL DIRGE OF DOWNYPLUME.

UNDER a large dock-leaf, that formed a most pleasant green pavilion, an old Moth was giving counsel to her son, in the calm, cool evening. It was a very charming spot, for a tall green hedge formed the boundary on one side, and a cool, broad brook, peopled with flags and bulrushes, lay on the other. The turf was green and smooth, though undulating in pretty hillocks, which were covered profusely with the purple fragrant thyme, that sent up a grateful incense on the twilight air. In the hedge a fine honeysuckle grew, and lavishly opened her delicious, yellow, trumpet-like blossoms to bird or bee. By day this lovely place, favoured alike by the warm kisses of the sun, and the softest of southern zephyrs, was the haunt of myriads of bees. Here, under this shady hedge, in the mild, earliest days of spring, the sweet white and purple violets opened their cups to load the air with their

sweet breath. Their cousins, the primroses and cowslips, first unfolded here their delicate golden chalices; and, still later, summer brought the frail but fair dog-rose and woodbine to scent the breeze. What more could a young Moth desire? But youth is wilful, and slow to profit by the grave experience of its elders.

"Look round you, my son," said Mrs. Downyplume to her wayward child. "Look round you, and tell me what more you can desire? Do not the pale sweet blushes of the rose delight you? Does not the strong essence of the May blossom perfume the air for you, and the honeysuckle reserve for you her sweetest tubes, closing them till the miserly bees are at rest?"

"I only wish I was a bee," replied the graceless young Moth. "There they go, at the first break of day, flitting hither and thither, and breathing the earliest and most delicious odours from the awakening flowers and fruits. And here am I, quite as good-looking as they are, and indeed more. so, not able to stir out till sunset. I am sure my scarlet and black velvet is far more elegant than their dusty, dingy yellow. By the time I am able to enjoy myself thoroughly, the freshness and beauty of everything is gone, and I have only the