mere rural gossip, scandalous tittle-tattle, got up between two old, gray, mousing owls, who went prowling about and prying into their neighbors' concerns when they ought to have been in their beds at home. However that may be-though I warrant the kind creatures were too conscientious to leave the little brook in ignorance of their candid conjectures-it did not care one fig about the matter, utterly disregarding every syllable they said.

This would have been highly creditable to the little brook, if its light mode of dismissing the subject had not been partly owing to the engrossing influence of certain new-fangled notions and desires which, in an unhappy hour, had insinuated themselves into its hitherto untroubled bosom.

8. Alas! that elementary as well as human natures should be liable to moral infirmity! But that they are was strongly exemplified in the instance of our luckless little brook. You must know that, notwithstanding the leafy recess, in which it was so snugly located, was, to all inward appearance, sequestered as in the heart of a vast forest, in point of fact it only skirted the edge of an extensive plain, in one part of which lay a large pond, to which herds of kine and oxen came down to drink morning and evening, and wherein they might be seen standing motionless for hours together during the sultry summer noon; when the waveless water, glowing like a fiery mirror under the meridian blaze, reflected, with magical effect, the huge forms and varied coloring of the congre gated cattle, as well as those of a flock of stately, milk-white geese accustomed to swim upon its bosom.

9. Now, it so chanced that from the nook of which we have spoken, encircled as it was by leafy walls, there opened, precisely in the direction of the plain and the pond, a cunning little peep-hole, which must have been perforated by the demon of mischief, and which no eye would ever have spied out, save that of a lynx or an idle person. Alas! our little brook was an idle person. She had nothing in the world to do from morning to night, and that is the root of all evil. So, though she might have found useful occupation (everybody can, if they seek it in right earnest), she spent her whole time in peering and prying about, till, one unlucky day, what should she hit upon but that identical peep-hole, through which, as through a telescope, she discovered with unspeakable amazement the great pond, all glowing in the noon-day sun; the herds of cattle and the flocks of geese so brilliantly redoubled on its broad mirror.

10. "My stars!" ejaculated the little brook (little thought she at that moment of the one faithful star)" my stars! what can all this be? It looks something like me, only a thousand times as big. What can be shining so upon it? And what can those great creatures be? Not hares, surely, though they have legs and tails; but such tails! And those other white things, that float about, they cannot be birds, for they have no legs, and yet they seem to have feathers and wings. What a life of ignorance have I led, huddled up in this poor, little, dull place, visited only by a few, mean, few, mean, humdrum creatures, and never suspecting that the world contained finer things and grander company!"

had been well enough satisfied with her condition, contented with the society of the beautiful and gentle creatures which frequented her retreat, and with the tender admiration of her own "bright, unchanging star." But now there was an end to all content, and no end to garrulous discontent and endless curiosity. The latter she soon found means to satisfy, for the skylark brought her flaming accounts of the sun, at whose court he pretended to be a frequent visitor; and the water-wagtail was despatched to ascertain the precise nature of those other mysterious objects, so bewildering to the limited faculties of the curious little brook.

12. Back came the messenger, mopping, and mowing, and wagging his tail with the most fantastic airs of conceited importance. "Well, what is it?" quoth my lady brook. "Water, upon my veracity," quoth Master Wagtail, "monstrous piece of water, five hundred thousand million times as big as your ladyship." "And what makes it so bright and glowing, instead of my dull color?" quoth my lady. "The sun, that shines full upon it," rejoins the envoy. "Oh! that glorious globe the skylark talks of. How delightful it must be to enjoy his notice! But what are those fine creatures with legs, and those others with wings and no legs?"

13. "Oh! those are cows, and oxen, and geese; but you cannot possibly comprehend their natures, never having seen anything larger than a hare or wood-pigeon." "How now, Master Malapert!" quoth my lady, nettled to the quick at his impertinence. But her curiosity was not half satiated; so she was fain to gulp down her own insulted dignity, and went on questioning and cross-ques

tioning, till she was ready to bubble over with spite and envy at Master Wagtail's marvellous relations. Poor thing! she did not know what allowance to make for travellers' stories.

LESSON XII.

THE LITTLE BROOK AND THE STAR.

PART II.

1. THENCEFORWARD the little brook perfectly loathed her own peaceful, unobtrusive lot. She would have shrunk away, had it been possible, from the poor, innocent creatures who had so long enlivened her pleasant solitude. And, worst of all, most unpardonable of all, she sickened at the sight of her benignant star, which continued to look down upon her as fondly and kindly as ever, still happily unconscious of her heartless estrangement.

2. Well, she went on fretting and repining from day to day, till dame Nature, fairly tired out with her wayward humor, resolved to punish her, as she deserved, by granting her heart's desire. One summer morning came two sturdy woodmen, armed with saws and axes. To work they went, lopping, hewing, and clearing, and before nightfall there lay the little brook, exposed to the broad canopy of heaven, revealed in all its littleness, and effectually relieved from the intrusion of those insignificant creatures, which had been scared from their old familiar haunt by that day's ruthless execution.

3. "Well!" quoth the little brook, "this is something like life! What a fine world this is! A little chilly, though, and I feel, I don't know how, quite dazzled and confounded. But to-morrow, when that great, red orb comes overhead again, I shall be warm and comfortable enough, no doubt; and then, I dare say, some of those fine, great creatures will come and visit me; and who knows but I may grow as big as that great pond in time, now that I enjoy the same advantages?" Down went the sun; up rose the moon; out shone innumerable hosts of sparkling orbs, and among them that "bright, particular star" looked out, pre-eminent in lustre.

4. Doubtless its pure and radiant eye dwelt, with tender sorrow, on the altered condition of its beloved little brook. But that volatile and inconstant creature, quite intoxicated with her change of fortune, and with the fancied admiration of the twinkling myriads she beheld, danced and dimpled, in the true spirit of flirtation, with every glittering spark, till she was quite bewildered among the multitude of her adorers, and welcomed the gray hour of dawn, without having vouchsafed so much as one glance of recognition at her old, unalienated friend.

5. Down went the moon and stars; up rose the sun, and higher and higher he mounted in the cloudless heaven, and keener waxed the impatience of the ambitious little brook. Never did court. beauty so eagerly anticipate her first presentation to the eye of majesty. And at last arrived the hour of fruition. Bright overhead careered the radiant orb; down darted his fervid, fiery beams