A TRUMPETER, being taken prisoner in a battle, begged hard for quarter, declaring his innocence, and protesting, that he neither had, nor could kill any man, bearing no arms but only his trumpet, which he was obliged to sound at the word of command. "For that reason," replied his enemies, "we are determined not to spare you; for though you yourself never fight, yet with that wicked instrument of your's, you blow up animosity between other people, and so become the occasion of much bloodshed." REFLECTION. A man may be guilty of murder, who has never handled a sword, or pulled a trigger, or lifted up his arm with any mischievous weapon. There is a little incendiary called the tongue, which is more venomous than a poisoned arrow, and more killing than a twoedged sword. The moral of the fable therefore is this, that if in any civil insurrection, the persons taken in arms against the government deserve to die, much more do they, whose devilish tongues gave birth to the sedition, and excited the tumult. When wicked priests, instead of preaching peace and charity, employ that engine of scandal, their tongue, to foment rebellions, whether they succeed in their designs or no, they ought to be severely punished; for they have done what in them lay, to set folks together by the ears; they have blown the trumpet and sounded the alarm; and if thousands are not destroyed by the sword, it is none of their fault. A BEAR happened to be stung by a Bee, and the pain was so acute, that in the madness of revenge he ran into the garden and overturned the Hive. This outrage provoked their anger to a high degree, and brought the fury of the whole swarm upon him. They attacked him with such violence, that his life was in danger, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he made his escape, wounded from head to tail. In this desperate condition, lamenting his misfortunes and licking his sores, he could not forbear reflecting how much more advisable it had been to have patiently acquiesced under one injury, than thus by an unprofitable resentment to have provoked a thousand. REFLECTION. It is more prudent to acquiesce under an injury from a single person, than by an act of vengeance to bring upon us the resentment of a whole community. A Fox, hard pressed by the hounds, was getting over a hedge, but tore his foot upon a Bramble which grew just in the midst of it; upon which he reproached the Bramble for his inhospitable cruelty, in using a stranger, which had fled to him for protection, after such a barbarous manner. "Yes," says the Bramble, "you intended to have made me serve your turn, I know; but take this piece of advice with you for the future, never lay hold of a Bramble again, as you tender your sweet person; for laying hold, is a privilege that belongs to us Brambles, and we do not care to let it go out of the family." REFLECTION. Impertinent people, who are most apt to take liberties with others, are generally the most surprised, if they are |