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IN the winter season, a commonwealth of ants was busily employed in the management and preservation of their corn; which they expose to the air, in heaps, round about the avenues of their little country habitations. A grasshopper, who had chanced to outlive the summer, and was ready to starve with cold and hunger, approached them with great humility, and begged that they would relieve his necessity, with one grain of wheat or rye. One of the ants asked him, how he had disposed of his time in summer, that

he had not taken pains and laid in a stock, as they had

done.

"Alas! gentlemen," says he, "I passed away my time merrily and pleasantly, in drinking, singing, and dancing, and never thought of winter." "If that be the case," replied the ant, "all I have to say is, that they who drink, sing, and dance, in the summer, must starve in the winter."

MORAL.

Who pleasures love
Shall beggars prove.

VIRTUE INDISPENSABLE.

Ir good we plant not, vice will fill the mind,
And weeds take up the space for flowers design'd,
The human heart ne'er knows a state of rest,
Bad tends to worse, and better leads to best.
We either gain or lose; we sink or rise,
Nor rests our struggling nature till it dies ;
Those very passions that our peace invade,
If rightly pointed, blessings may be made.

EPITAPH ON AN INFANT.
ERE sin could blight, or sorrow fade,
Death came with friendly care,
The opening bud to heaven convey'd,
And bade it blossom there.

Said the oak, looking big,

"I think, Mr Pig,

You might thank me for sending you fruit from my twig.

But, you ill behaved hog!

You devour the prog,

And have no better manners I think than a dog."

He replied, looking up,

Though not ceasing to sup,

Till the acorns were eaten, ay, every cup,

"I acknowledge to you

My thanks would be due,

If from feelings of kindness my supper you threw.
Tomorrow, good dame,

Give my children the same

And then you with justice may gratitude claim."

He merits no praise

MORAL.

To the end of his days

Who to those who surround him no service conveys.

"HE NEVER TOLD A LIE."

MR PARK, in his travels through Africa, relates that a party of armed Moors having made a predatory attack on the flocks of a village at which he was stopping, a youth of the place was mortally wounded in the affray. The natives placed him on horseback and conducted him home, while his mother preceded the mournful group, proclaiming all the excellent qualities of her boy, and by her clasped hands and streaming eyes, discovered the inward bitterness of her soul. The quality for which she chiefly praised her boy, formed of itself an epitaph so noble, that even civilized life could not aspire to a higher. "He never," said she with pathetic energy, "never, never, told a lie.”

THE HEIFER, GOAT, SHEEP AND LION.

A FABLE.

A HEIFER, a goat, and a harmless sheep, once went partners with a young lion in a hunting match. When they had caught a stag of uncommon size, the lion, having first divided it into four parts, addressed his fellow sportsmen in the following terms; "I now take up the first part, my good friends," said he, "because I am a lion; and you will certainly allow me to make free with the second, as a compliment to my valor; the third also will very fairly come to my share because I am the strongest; and as to the fourth, wo be to him who dares to meddle with it." In this manner, he was unjust enough to assign the booty to himself, because none of his partners were able to dispute his claim."

This teaches us never to enter into partnership with a person who is too much above us.

EQUIVOCATION.

AN equivocation is nearly related to a lie. It is an intention to deceive, under words of a double meaning, or words which, literally speaking, are true; this is equally criminal with the most downright breach of truth. A nod or sign may convey a lie, as effectually as the most deceitful language. Whether we deceive by actions or words, we are equally culpable.

Every engagement, though of the lightest kind, should be punctually observed, and he who does not think himself bound by such an obligation, has little pretension to the character of an honest man.

GENERAL NASH.

GENERAL NASH, in the battle of Germantown, October 4th, 1777, was severely wounded in the thigh, the bone of which was shattered by a grape shot. While they were carrying him off the field, a friend coming up, began to condole with him on his situation, and asked him how he felt; "It is unmanly," said the dying hero, " to complain, but it is more than human nature can bear."

BAD EXAMPLE.

A WICKED example tends to corrupt, in some degree, every one that lives within its baleful influence, more particularly if it be found in men of high rank, great wealth, splendid talents, profound erudition, or popular character. The mischief done by any notorious vice in men of this description is inconceivable. It spreads like a pestilence, and destroys thousands in secresy and silence, of whom the offender himself knows nothing, and whom probably he never intended to injure. And wherever the heart is corrupted, the principle of faith is proportionably weakened; for no man that gives a loose to his passions will choose to have so troublesome a monitor near him as the gospel. When he has learned to disregard the moral precepts of that divine volume, it requires but a slight effort to reject its doctrines, and then to disbelieve the truth of the whole.

SPEAKING.

THINK before you speak; think before whom you speak; think why you speak; think what you speak.

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