TO AN INSECT IN A FLOWER.

BLISSFUL insect! what can be,
In happiness compared to thee?
Fed with nourishment divine,
The dewy morning's sweetest wine.
Nature waits upon thee still,
And thy fragrant cup does fill
All the fields that thou dost see,
All the plants belong to thee;
All that summer hours produce,
Fertile made with ripening juice;
Man for thee does sow and plough,
Farmer he, and landlord thou.
Thee the hinds with gladness hear,
Prophet of the ripen'd year!
To thee alone, of all the earth
Life is no longer than thy mirth
Happy creature! happy thou

Dost neither age, nor winter know;

But when thou'st drank, and danced, and sung

Thy fill, the flowery leaves among,

Sated with the glorious feast

Thou retir'st to endless rest.

MODESTY.

MODESTY is a pleasing quality, and is generally attendant upon merit. It is engaging in the highest degree, and wins the hearts of all with whom we become acquainted. None are more disgusting in company, than the impudent and presuming. Nothing can atone for the want of modesty; without it beauty is ungraceful, and wit detestable.

THE CASE ALTERED.

A FARMER came to a lawyer, who was his neighbor, seeming to feel great concern for something which he said had just happened. "One of your oxen, Sir," said he, "hath been gored by a wicked bull of mine, who is always in mischief; and I should be glad to know how I am to make you amends for the loss; but I hope, Sir, you won't be too hard upon a poor man.' "Hard," replied the lawyer; "why I believe you are a very honest fellow, and as such, you cannot surely think it too much to give me one of your own oxen in return."

"This would be no more than justice, to be sure, Sir," said the farmer; "but indeed I must beg your honor's pardon, for I have made a strange mistake; it is your bull, Sir, that has killed one of my oxen." "Ay, ay!" said the lawyer, "why that alters the case, man; but I shall go," added he, turning short upon his heels, "and inquire into the affair; and if," . -“And IF!" said the farmer; "why the affair, I find would have been settled without an IF, if you had been as ready to do justice to others, as you are to exact it from them."

By this we learn that self-interest often makes people take advantage of others, which they would not be ready to give, under different circumstances.

APHORISMS.

OF all bad things with which mankind are curst,
Their own bad tempers surely are the worst.

Oh! what a tangled web we weave,

When first we practise to deceive.

DR FRANKLIN.

DR FRANKLIN, in the early part of his life, and when following the business of a printer, had occasion to travel from Philadelphia to Boston. In his journey, he stopped at one of the inns, the landlord of which possessed all the inquisitive impertinence, said to be common to his countrymen. Franklin had scarcely sat himself down to supper, when his landlord began to torment him with questions. He, well knowing the disposition of these people, and that answering one question would only pave the way to twenty more, determined to stop the landlord at once, by requesting to see his wife, children, and servants, indeed his whole household. When they were summoned, Franklin, with an arch solemnity, said, "My good friends, 1 sent for you here to give you an account of myself. My name is Benjamin Franklin ; I am a printer of nineteen years of age; reside at Philadelphia, and am now going to Boston. I sent for you all, that if you wish for any further particulars, you may ask and I will inform you; which done, I hope you will permit me to eat my supper in peace."

HAYDN THE COMPOSER.

THE poet Carpani once asked his friend Haydn, "how it happened that his church music was almost always of an animating, cheerful description." To this Haydn's answer was, "I cannot make it otherwise; I write according to the thoughts which I feel; when I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy, that the notes dance and leap as it were from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful heart, it will easily be forgiven me that I serve him with a cheerful spirit.”

PROVIDENCE.

THE Lord my pasture shall prepare,
And feed me with a shepherd's care;
His presence shall my wants supply
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noon-day walks he shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend!

Though in the paths of death I tread,
With gloomy terrors overspread,
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
For thou, O Lord, art with me still :
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadful shade.

THE FOOLISH STAG.

A FABLE.

A STAG, who chanced to come to a clear fountain to quench his thirst, saw his own image in the water. The first thing that struck his notice was the pair of large branching horns which grew on his head. Ah," said he to himself, "how sweetly those antlers become me; and what a noble effect they produce! To look at them, one would be tempted to think that I carry a whole wood upon my forehead; and besides this, they appear to be so strong and well set, that I think in my heart I could defy the fiercest monster in the forest!

"But as for those flimsy spindles, which I suppose are my legs, they are of no use but to disgrace me. What a pity it

is, that such a noble figure as mine, should owe its support to four vile broomsticks. If my legs had been anything like my horns, I would not have turned my back to any single beast on the face of the earth. '

While the foolish animal was giving himself these airs, he was startled by the yelling of a pack of hounds, who had just been laid on the scent, and were making up nimbly towards him. Away he fled on the first alarm, and bounding swiftly over the lawn, he left the dogs and huntsmen at a great distance behind him; but darting into a thick copse, his horns were so fast wedged among the branches of the trees, that he could go no farther; so that the hounds soon came up with him, and tore him down to the ground.

When he was in the pangs of death, "Ah!" said he, "the branching horns of which I was so proud, have been the only cause of my ruin; while those slender legs, which I treated with so much contempt, were the only things which could have saved my life, if I had not run into the thicket."

We learn by this fable that those things which are most pleasing to the fancy, are often found to be most hurtful to our real welfare; and what we most despise, may sometimes be of the greatest service.

CONSCIENCE.

"What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just,

And he but naked, (though locked up in steel)
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted."

THE severest punishment of an injury is the consciousness of having done it; and no man suffers more than he that is turned over to the pain of repentance.

No man ever offended his own conscience, but first or last, it was revenged upon him. If a man cannot find ease within himself, it is to little purpose to seek it anywhere else.