of one of the villagers, and thither they now went. A neat little garden before the door was smelling sweetly with some carefully-cultivated plants, and everything about the place bore an air of great neatness. But what struck Ellen the most were three or four children who were playing among the flowers, the youngest of which was nursed by a girl about seven years old

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Oh, what a dear little baby," said she, going up to it, and at the moment it stretched out its arms, and laughing in her own smiling face, put its little flaxen head against her bosom. Indeed, indeed, mamma," said she, "it is a live doll;" and she gave her own painted one to the young nurse, and took the infant, all joy and innocence, in her arms.

Ellen had now found something which was as beautiful as the spring-flowers, as gentle and happy as the free birds, as gay as the sportive little lambs, and, which was better still, endowed with a mind and reason like her own to rejoice in all that is bright, and beautiful, and good upon the earth. The thoughts with which she returned home, led her ever afterwards to employ her summer days and winter evenings in more profitable occupations than formerly; and there was many a live doll in the neighbourhood, whose little lips soon began to lisp its thanks for the pretty presents or the warm clothing with which her industry furnished it.

THE HOG, AND OTHER ANIMALS.

A DEBATE once arose among the animals in a farmyard, which of them was most valued by their common master. After the horse, the ox, the cow, the sheep, and the dog, had stated their several pretensions, the hog took up the discourse.

"It is plain," said he, "that the greatest value must be set upon that animal which is kept most for his own sake, without expecting from him any return of

use and service. Now which of you can boast so much in that respect as I can ?

"As for you, Horse, though you are very well fed and lodged, and have servants to attend upon you and make you sleek and clean, yet all this is for the sake of your labour. Do not I see you taken out early every morning, put in chains, or fastened to the shafts of a heavy cart, and not brought back till noon; when, after a short respite, you are taken to work again till late in the evening? I may say just the same to the Ox, except that he works for poorer fare.

"For you, Mrs. Cow, who are so dainty over your chopped straw and grains, you are thought worth keeping only for your milk, which is drained from you twice a day, to the last drop, while your poor young ones are taken from you, and sent I know not whither.

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You, poor innocent Sheep, who are turned out to shift for yourselves upon the bare hills, or penned upon the fallows, with now and then a withered turnip or some musty hay, you pay dearly enough for your keep, by resigning your warm coat every year, for want of which you are liable to be starved to death on some of the cold nights, before summer.

"As for the Dog, who prides himself so much on being admitted to our master's table, and made his companion, that he will scarcely condescend to reckon himself one of us, he is obliged to do all the offices of a domestic servant by day, and to keep watch during the night, while we are quietly asleep.

"In short, you are all of you creatures maintained for use-poor subservient things, made to be enslaved or pillaged. I, on the contrary, have a warm stye and plenty of provisions all at free cost. I have nothing to do but to grow fat and follow my amusement; and my master is best pleased when he sees me lying at ease in the sun, or gratifying my appetite for food."

Thus argued the Hog, and put the rest to silence

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by so much logic and rhetoric. This was not long before winter set in. It proved a very scarce season for fodder of all kinds; so that the farmer began to consider how he was to maintain all his live stock till spring. "It will be impossible for me," thought he, to keep them all; I must therefore part with those I can best spare. As for my horses and working oxen, I shall have business enough to employ them; they must be kept, cost what it will. My cows will not give me much milk in the winter, but they will calve in the spring, and be ready for the new grass. I must not lose the profit of my dairy. The sheep, poor things, will take care of themselves as long as there is a bite upon the hills; and should deep snow come, we must do with them as well as we can, by the help of a few turnips and some hay; for I must have their wool at shearing-time, to make out my rent with. But my hogs will eat me out of house and home, without doing me any good. They must go to pot, that's certain; and the sooner I get rid of the fat ones, the better."

So saying, he singled out the orator, as one of the prime among them, and sent him to the butcher the very next day.

FOURTH EVENING.

THE BULLIES.

As young Francis was walking through a village with his tutor, they were annoyed by two or three cur dogs that come running after them with looks of the utmost fury, snarling and barking as though they would tear their throats, and seeming every moment ready to fly upon them. Francis every now and then stopped, and shook his stick at them, or stooped down to pick up a stone, upon which the curs retreated as fast as they came; but as soon as he turned about, they were after his heels again. This lasted till they

came to a farm-yard, through which their road lay. A large mastiff was lying down in it, at his ease in the Francis was almost afraid to pass him, and kept as close to his tutor as possible. However, the dog took not the least notice of them.

sun.

Presently they came upon a common, where, going near a flock of geese, they were assailed with hissings, and pursued some way by these foolish birds, which, stretching out their long necks, made a very ridiculous figure. Francis only laughed at them, though he was tempted to give the foremost a switch across his neck. A little further, was a herd of cows, with a bull among them, upon which Francis looked with some degree of apprehension; but they kept quietly grazing, and did not take their heads from the ground as he passed.

"It is a lucky thing," said Francis to his tutor, "that mastiffs and bulls are not so quarrelsome as curs and geese; but what can be the reason of it ?"

"The reason," replied his tutor, "is, that paltry and contemptible animals, possessing no confidence in their own strength and courage, and knowing themselves liable to injury from most of those that come in their way, think it safest to act the part of bullies, and to make a show of attacking those of whom in reality they are afraid. Whereas animals which are conscious of force sufficient for their own protection, suspecting no evil designs from others, entertain none themselves, but maintain a dignified composure.

"Thus you will find it among mankind. Weak, mean, petty characters are suspicious, snarling, and petulant. They raise an outcry against their superiors in talents and reputation, of whom they stand in awe, and put on airs of defiance and insolence through mere cowardice. But the truly great are calm and inoffensive. They fear no injury, and offer none. They even suffer slight attacks to go unnoticed, conscious of their power to right themselves whenever the occasion shall seem to require it."

THE TRAVELLED ANT.

THERE was a garden enclosed with high brick walls, and laid out somewhat in the old fashion. Under the walls were wide beds, planted with flowers, garden-stuff, and fruit-trees. Next to them, was a broad gravel walk running round the garden, and the middle was laid out in grass-plots, and beds of flowers and shrubs, with a fishpond in the centre.

Near the root of one of the wall-fruit-trees, a numerous colony of ants was established, which had extended its subterraneous works over great part of the bed in its neighbourhood. One day, two of the inhabitants, meeting in a gallery under-ground, fell into the following conversation:

"Ha! my friend," said the first, "is it you? I am glad to see you. Where have you been this long time? All your acquaintance have been in pain about you, lest you should have met with some accident."

"Why," replied the other, "I am, indeed, a sort of stranger; for you must know I am but just returned from a long journey."

"A journey! whither, pray, and on what account ?" "A tour of mere curiosity. I had long felt dissatisfied with knowing so little about this world of ours, so at length I took a resolution to explore it. And I may now boast that I have gone round its utmost extremities, and that no considerable part of it has escaped my researches."

"Wonderful! What a traveller you have been, and what sights you must have seen!"

"Why, yes, I have seen more than most ants, to be sure; but it has been at the expense of so much toil and danger, that I know not whether it were worth the pains."