FABLE IX.

The Young Mouse.

A YOUNG mouse lived in a cupboard, where sweetmeats were kept: she dined every day on cakes, marmalade, and fine sugar. Never any little mouse had fed so well.

She often ventured to peep at the family while they sat at supper; nay, she had sometimes stolen down on the carpet to pick up the crumbs, and nobody had ever hurt her.

She would have been quite happy, but that she was sometimes frightened by the cat, and then she ran trembling to her hole. One day she came running to her mother in great joy; "mother!" said she, "the good people of this family have built me a house to live in; it is in the cupboard.

"I am sure it is for me; it is just big enough: the bottom is of wood, and it is covered all over with wires; I dare say they have made it on purpose to screen me from that terrible cat, which runs after me so often.

"There is an entrance just big enough for me, but puss cannot follow; and they have been so good as to put in some toasted cheese, which smells so deliciously, that I should have run in directly, but I thought I would tell you first, that we might go in together, and both lodge there to-night, for it will hold us both."

"My dear child," said the old mouse, "it is most happy that you did not go in, for this house is called a trap, and you would never

have come out again, except to have been devoured, or put to death in some way or other. Though man does not look so fierce as a cat, he is as much the enemy of mice."

FABLE X.

The Wasp and Bee,

A wasp met a bee, and said to him, "tell me, what is the reason men are so fond of you, while they are so ill-natured to me? We are both very much alike, only the broad yellow rings round my body, make me much handsomer than you are.

We have both wings; we both sting when we are angry, and we both love honey; yet men always hate me, and try to kill me, though I am more familiar with them than

you are.

"I pay them visits in their houses, at the tea table, and at all their meals, while you are very shy, and hardly ever come near them, yet they build you curious houses, sometimes of wood and sometimes of straw, and take care of you. I wonder what is the

The bee answered, "because you never do them any good, but on the contrary, are very troublesome and mischievous; therefore they do not like to see you; but they know that I am busy all day long in making them honey. You had better pay them fewer visits, and try to be useful.”

1.

What animals are made for.

"PRAY, papa," said Sophia, after she had been a long while teased with the flies which buzzed about her ears, and settled on her nose and forehead as she sat at work-"Pray, what were flies made for?" "For some good, I dare say," said her father.

S. But I think they do a great deal more harm than good, for I am sure they plague me sadly; and in the kitchen they are so troublesome, that the maids can hardly do the work for them.

F. Flies eat up many things which would become very disagreeable, if they were not used, and carried off in some way or another. Flies themselves are eaten up by spiders, and many other animals. Did you never see the little kitten catch flies?

S. No. We could clean away every thing without the help of the flies, and the animals which eat flies, do not want them all, for I have seen heaps of dead flies lying in the window, which did not seem to do good to any thing.

F. Suppose a fly should think, might he not say "What is this great two legged animal, called man, made for? He eats up every thing he can find; he kills a great many animals, that he may have their flesh to eat; he beats and hurts a great many animals, which he cannot eat." What would you tell this fly?

S. I would tell him, he was very saucy, for talking so of his betters.-I should tell him that he, and all other creatures, were made for man-that man was not made for them."

F. But would you tell him true? Wel build barns and stables for the use of horses, cattle, and sheep. We feed them and take care of them. We also feed the hogs and the chickens, the geese and the turkies, and many other animals.

Now might not these animals say that man was made for their use? One animal was not made for another; but they were all made to be happy

S. Then we ought not to kill them.

F. Only a very few of them. Only such as are necessary for us to eat; and such as would kill, or poison us. We should be careful never to hurt animals, when we can help it.

Some good-natured people will allow animals to be troublesome rather than to kill them. I remember reading of an old gentleman, who had been plagued all the time he was eating his dinner, by a great fly, buzzing in his face. Instead of crushing it to death, he took it carefully in his hand, and opening the window, said "Go, poor creature; won't hurt thee; the world is wide enough for thee and me."

S. I should have loved that man: It is wicked and cruel to beat, wound and abuse

animals for sport; or when we are in a passion. I have seen many boys, for mere sport make the dogs bite and worry the hogs and other animals, and beat and wound them with clubs and stones.

And I am sorry to say that I have seen grown men, beat and abuse their horses and cattle, when the poor dumb and obedient creatures, were doing all they could, and as well as they knew how to do. This is very cruel and very wicked! But papa, do not some animals kill and eat others?

F. They do, indeed; but they should not on that account be called cruel. God has made some animals so, that they require the flesh of others to keep them alive; they are forced to kill them.

Man is forced to kill the ox, that he may have beef he is also forced to kill the sheep, that he may have mutton; he is obliged to kill many other animals for his food.

The animals which we see, are only a small part of those which are alive. Some animals are so very small, that we cannot see them without the assistance of glasses.

S. How can glass assist our sight?

F. Look through a pair of spectacles. The things which you see look larger than they appear without the spectacles. There are some glasses which make things look much larger than they seem, when seen through spectacles.