patience, honor, sweet humanity and calm fortitude, take root and strongly flourish.

THE OLD KNIGHT AND HIS GRAY

PERUKE.

A CERTAIN knight growing old, his hair fell off so fast that he soon became bald; so he was forced to buy a wig to cover his bare head. But one day, as he was riding out a hunting with some of his friends, they met with a sudden blast of wind, and off fell his hat on one side, and his large gray wig on the other. Those who were with him could not help laughing at the odd figure he made; and for his part, being a hearty old knight, he laughed as loud as the rest of them. "Ha ha! ha!" said he to them; "how could I expect to keep other people's hair upon my head, when I could not persuade my own to stay there."

The surest way to turn off the edge of a joke, is to join in the laugh yourself; whereas, if you resent it, your ill-humor will only serve to heighten the jest, and feed the mirth of the bystanders.

ADMONITIONS.

WHEN you wish to have advice, have recourse to such as have had the most experience. The mariner who hath long traversed the dangerous ocean, is surely the most fit to direct the unskilful over the rocks that are therein concealed.

Mind the concerns of the soul above all earthly things. See that you get acquainted with your Maker while young. "Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth." Shun every appearance of evil.

Never let your tongue go before your thoughts. Meditate frequently upon the future.

For every action in which you engage, see that you have not only a reason, but that the reason be sufficient.

ENVY.

ENVY is almost the only vice which is practicable at all times and in every place; the only passion that can never lie quiet for want of irritation. The effects, therefore, are every way discoverable, and its influence always to be dreaded. It is, above all vices, inconsistent with the character of a social being, because it sacrifices truth and kindness to every weak temptation.

Almost every other crime is practised by the help of some quality, which might have produced esteem and love, if it had been well employed; but envy is a more unmixed and genuine evil; it pursues a hateful end, by despicable means, and desires not so much its own happiness, as another's misery.

TREACHERY.

Of all the vices to which human nature is subject, treachery is the most infamous and detestable, being compounded of fraud, cowardice and revenge. The greatest wrongs will not justify it, as it destroys those principles of mutual confidence and security, by which society can alone exist.

The Romans, a brave and generous people, disdained to practise it towards their declared enemies. Christianity teaches us to forgive injuries; but to resent them under the disguise of friendship and benevolence,

THE SHEPHERD'S DOG AND THE WOLF. 131

argues a degeneracy, which common humanity and justice must blush at.

"A truce," replies the wolf "'t is done."
The dog the parley thus begun :-

"How can that strong, intrepid mind,
Attack a weak defenceless kind?
Those jaws should prey on nobler food,
And drink the boar's and lion's blood;
Great souls with gen'rous pity melt,
Which coward tyrants never felt.
How harmless is our fleecy care!
Be brave, and let thy mercy spare."

"Friend," says the wolf, "the matter weigh,
Nature designed us beasts of prey;
As such, when hunger finds a treat
'Tis necessary wolves should eat.
If, mindful of the bleating weal,
Thy bosom burn with real zeal,
Hence, and thy tyrant lord beseech;
To him repeat thy moving speech.
A wolf eats sheep but now and then ;
Ten thousands are devoured by men."

MORAL.

An open foe may prove a curse,
But a pretended friend is worse.

CONDUCT TO YOUR OWN FAMILY.

NEVER quarrel with your brothers and sisters; live in peace and unity.

but

Use kind and courteous language towards all the domestics. Never be domineering nor insulting, for it is the mark of an ignorant and ill-natured child.

DEATH OF AN INFANT.-PROVERBS. 133

DEATH OF AN INFANT.

DEATH found strange beauty on that cherub brow, And dashed it out. There was a tint of rose, On cheek and lip; he touched the veins with ice, And the rose faded. Forth from those blue eyes There spoke a wishful tenderness—a doubt Whether to grieve or sleep, which Innocence Alone can wear. With ruthless haste he bound The silken fringes of their curtaining lids Forever. There had been a murmuring sound With which the babe would claim its mother's ear, Charming her even to tears. The spoiler set His seal of silence. But there beamed a smile So fixed and holy from that marble brow,Death gazed and left it there; he dared not steal The signet-ring of heaven.

PROVERBS.

"Much falls between the cup and the lip." This proverb warns us from placing too sanguine a dependence upon future expectations, though very promising; intimating, that the fairest hopes are often dashed in pieces by the intervention of some unforeseen and unexpected accident.

"A rolling stone gathers no moss." This proverb is indicative of the ill consequences of fickleness and inconstancy. Persons of unsettled and restless tempers are never happy; they are always busily beginning to live, but, by reason of love of change and impatience, never arrive at a way of living.

"'Tis too late to spare, when all is spent." This pro