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her the best cheese and bacon the cottage afforded. If the repast was homely, the welcome was hearty: they chatted away the evening agreeably, and then retired to rest. next morning, the city mouse, instead of taking leave, kindly pressed her country friend to accompany her, setting forth, in pompous terms, the elegance and plenty in which they lived at court. They set out together; and though it was late in the evening when they arrived at the palace, they found the remains of a sumptuous entertainmentplenty of cream, jellies, and sweetmeats: the cheese was Parmesan, and they soaked their whiskers in exquisite champagne. But they were not far advanced in their repast, when they were alarmed with the barking and scratching of a lapdog. Beginning again, the mewing of a cat frightened them almost to death. This was scarce over, when a train of servants, bursting into the room, swept away all in an instant. "Ah, my dear friend," said the country mouse, as soon as she had courage to speak, "if your fine living be thus interrupted with fears and dangers, let me return to my plain food and my peaceful cottage; for what is elegance without ease, or plenty with an aching heart?”

CONTENTMENT IN AN ALMSHOUSE.

In a late visit to the almshouse at we found a remarkable example of contentment and resignation in one of the inmates. Mrs Bett had been brought up in comfort by an uncle and aunt, who were in good circumstances, but lived in a moderate and rational style. This gentleman encouraged lively conversation amongst his children, but forbade all remarks about persons, families, dress, and engagements: he used to say, parents were not aware how such topics frittered away the minds of young persons, and what improper importance they learned to attach to them when they heard them constantly talked about.

Reared under the care of this worthy man, the niece at length married. In the course of fifteen years she lost her uncle, her aunt, and her husband. She was left destitute, but supported herself comfortably by her own exertions, and retained the esteem of her numerous friends. Thus she passed her life in cheerfulness for ten years. At the

THE FROGS WHO DESIRED A KING: A FABLE.

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end of that time, her humble lodging took fire from an adjoining house in the night-time, and she escaped by leaping from the chamber-window. In consequence of the injury sustained from this leap, her right arm was amputated, and her right leg became entirely useless.

Her friends were very kind and attentive, and for a short time she consented to live on their bounty; but aware that the claims on private charity are very numerous, she, with the independence of a strong mind, resolved to avail herself of the public provision for the helpless poor. The name of going to the almshouse had nothing terrifying or disgraceful to her; for she had been taught that conduct is properly the only thing which makes a human being respectable, or the reverse. She is there, with a heart full of thankfulness to the Giver of all things; she is patient, pious, and uniformly cheerful. She instructs the young, sympathiscs with the old, and makes herself delightful to all by her various knowledge and entertaining conversation. Her character reflects dignity on her situation; and those who visit the establishment come away with sentiments of respect and admiration for this voluntary resident of the almshouse.

THE FROGS WHO DESIRED A KING: A FABLE.

The commonwealth of frogs, a discontented, variable race, weary of liberty, and fond of change, petitioned Jupiter to grant them a king.

The good-natured deity, in order to indulge their request with as little mischief to the petitioners as possible, threw them down a log. At first they regarded their new monarch with great reverence, and kept from him at the most respectful distance; but perceiving his tame and peaceful disposition, they by degrees ventured to approach him with more familiarity, till at length they conceived for him the utmost contempt. In this disposition they renewed their request to Jupiter, and intreated him to bestow upon them another king. The thunderer, in his wrath, sent them a crane; who no sooner took possession of his new dominions, than he began to devour his subjects, one after another, in a most capricious and tyrannical manner.

They were now far more dissatisfied than before; when, applying to Jupiter a third time, they were dismissed with this reproof: that the evil they complained of they had imprudently brought upon themselves; and that they had no other remedy now but to submit to it with patience.

SONG OF THE CONTENTED LABOURER.

Let none but those who live in vain,
The useful arts of life disdain ;
While we an honest living gain,
Of labour we will not complain.
Though some for riches daily mourn,
As if their lot could not be borne,
With honest pride from them we turn—
No bread's so sweet as that we earn.
With food by our own hands supplied,
We'll be content, whatc'er's denied.
The world would not improve the store
Of him who feels he wants no more;
Among the rich, among the great,
For all their wealth and all their state,
There's many a heart not half so free
From care as humble honesty.

Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food · convenient for me; lest I be full and deny thee, and say, who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.-Proverbs, xxx. 8, 9.

The honest country gentleman, and the thriving tradesman, or country farmer, have all the real benefits of nature, and the blessings of plenty, that the highest and richest grandees can pretend to; and (what is more) all these without the tormenting fears and jealousies of being rivalled in their prince's favour, or supplanted at court, or tumbled down from their high and beloved stations. All these storms fly over their heads, and break upon the towering mountains and lofty cedars; they have no ill-got places to lose; they are neither libelled nor undermined, but, without invading any man's right, sit safe and warm in a moderate

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fortune of their own, free from all that grandeur and magnificence of misery which is sure to attend an invidious greatness. And he who is not contented with such a condition, must seck his happiness (if ever he have any) in another world; for Providence itself can provide no better for him in this.-BISHOP SOUTH.

I content myself in having sufficient for my present and ordinary expense, for, as to extraordinary occasions, all the laying up in the world would never suffice; and 'tis the greatest folly imaginable to expect that fortune should ever sufficiently arm us against herself.-MONTAIGNE.

Content is a pearl of great price, and whoever procures it at the expense of ten thousand desires, makes a wise and a happy purchase.-BALGUY.

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FRUGALITY.

Ir is not only necessary that we should be industrious to acquire means, but that we should make a careful and judicious use of those means when acquired. If we work hard, and at the same time spend fast, we are nothing the better, except as it is better to be employed than to be idle. If we do not work very hard, or from any other cause gain but a small income, and if we spend freely nevertheless, the case is worse still, for then we must soon exhaust our means, run in debt, and become miserable. The true plan is to spend in proportion to what we gain, but never to spend all that we gain. We should always reserve and lay up something, so that, in the event of our being unable to work from sickness or old age, or any accident, we may not be in want. Every man, however little he may carn, should, if at all possible, save a little, to be a relief to him in the day of trouble.

However rich we may be, we should always take care to spend our money on proper objects. To spend it in wicked or foolish amusements, is the same as throwing it away, or as if we had never exerted the industry by which it was gained. That industry and that money are lost to us and

to the world. We should also be on our guard against wasting any food, or spoiling any furniture, or other property, that can be of use. How much better to give anything we can spare to the deserving poor, than either to misspend it on frivolities, or waste the good things we buy with it!

THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER: A FABLE.

In the winter season, a commonwealth of ants was busily employed in the management and preservation of their corn, which they exposed to the air, in heaps, round about the avenues of their little country habitation. 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 ryc. 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 the time merrily and pleasantly, in drinking, singing, and dancing, and never once 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."

FRUGALITY OF SOME GREAT MEN.

Some of the greatest men in station that have ever lived have been remarkable for their frugality. Alexander the Great dressed himself almost as plainly as any of his inferior officers. Cato the elder, one of the consuls of Rome, never wore a coat which cost him above a hundred pence, and used to say that he counted that dear at any price of which he had no need. The Emperor Augustus, who was master of nearly all the known world, wore clothes made by his wife and daughter, and lay in a bed no costlier than that of a private person. Rodolph, emperor of Germany, the founder of the house of Austria, dressed so plainly, that once entering a baker's shop to warm himself, the baker's wife scolded him away from her fire as a worthless-looking person. His descendant, Charles V., emperor of Germany

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