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With beating heart, and weary limbs,

And drooping spirit sad,

I sank down at my master's door :
It might have driven me mad.
And none can tell my misery

Till from that torment freed.
Whoe'er they were that tortur'd me,
It was a CRUEL deed.

R. Now, father, I will tell you all

about it, as far as I know.

(Bell growls louder than before, and looks furiously at Robert.)

Mr. F. The dog seems to be displeased at something behind you, children suppose we lead him round the table; he will then let us know what offends him.

R. Please not, father, to let him come a bit nearer. John, hold the chain as fast as ever you can. I'll tell you, father. (Bell goes towards Robert, growling. as far as the chain will allow.)

R. I was walking near farmer Jefferson's, when I saw four or five boys, some of whom I knew, doing something to a dog. I went to them; and they told me they were going to have some fun, and asked me to join in it. This I foolishly did; but, when I helped them to pick up pebble stones, and tie the canister to the

dog's tail, I had not a thought of hurting poor Bell. I never saw a dog served so before, and could not have believed it would frighten him so dreadfully. Indeed I am telling the truth, father.

Mr. F. I have no reason to believe the contrary. But how came you to join in pelting the poor animal? this you must have known was cruel.

R. I did not throw a single stone nor any thing else at him, father; for, when I saw him run away, and heard him howl a- so dreadfully, it frightened me to think of what I had done, and I made the best of my way home. I did help to tie the canister on his tail; but I did not pelt nor see him after he ran away till now. Mr. F. And what do you now think of tying a canister to a dog's tail?

F. Please, father, to send the dog way; he will frighten us to death. R. Yes, do, father; for I want to tell you. Mr. F. Well, John, suppose you take Bell into the kitchen; and Robert will go to him presently, and give him a bone: it may put him in a better temper.

(John leads out the dog. C. I never saw poor Bell out of temper before he will always let me do what I will with him.

R. I think it very cruel, and very wicked'; and I never will, while I live, do such a thing again.

Mr. F. Be not too sure of that, Robert,

R. Now, father, I am afraid you will for how frequently are the best resolutions

think worse of me than I deserve.

Mr. F. Perhaps not, Robert : let us hear what you have to say. I am not usually severe with my children, except when they try to deceive me; and that

is

very seldom the case.

broken! I can readily believe that you knew not the extent of the injury you were doing to the dog; for once, when you were all younger, I thoughtlessly slipped the string of a little wooden dog, bought at the fair, over the neck of a rab

bit; when the poor rabbit ran away frightened, at his utmost speed, pulling the little dog after him; and would, no doubt, have run himself almost to death, had not the string caught in a fence, and stopped both of them.

E. I recollect it very well, father, tho' I was then a very little girl. But why should animals be frightened at what cannot hurt them?

Mr. F. Because animals have not reason to tell them, in their fears, what will, or what will not, hurt them. When a dog runs, with a canister close at his heels, he no doubt supposes something is pursuing him; and, in his anxiety to get away, has no time nor inclination to stop and examine his supposed enemy. Human beings act much in the same manner when under the dominion of fear not having presence of mind enough to enable them to ascertain the extent of their danger, they magnify it by imagining it to be greater than it really is. Thus,

'In the night, imagining some fear,
A bush is easily supposed a bear."

And there are people in the world who have imagined a bear near them, even in the day-time; are there not, Robert ?

R. I really did think it was a bear scratching in the closet.

Mrs. F. Would it not be well for you all to learn the Complaints of the poor creatures who were injured? You would then think upon the past; and it might have a good effect upon the future.

C. Indeed, mother, I intended to do so; and will begin this very day.

all.

R.

And I am sure I will learn them But, father, what shall I do about poor Bell? I am afraid, the first time he meets me, he will lay hold of me by the leg; and I did not intend to do him harm.

Mr. F. We will manage that somehow or other; for I believe you did not mean to be cruel to him. You shall accompany me to the kitchen by and by ; and we will see what effect will be produced by your giving him a bone or two, and behaving kindly to him. And now, my dear children, let not this day be forgotten.

I have endeavored to reprove

you in a way somewhat playful, but most likely to be remembered. You have been rather thoughtless than cruel, and will not, I think, again fall into the same errors. I shall never advert to the past with severity, unless you again offend and I trust you will not reproach each other.

Mrs. F. Some of you have scarcely offended at all; but that must not induce you to neglect your father's advice not to reproach each other.

Mr. F. Be not led astray by the delusion that a thing must be right because others do it, or that it is less cruel to torment a little animal than a great one. If a deed be evil, though practised by the world, it is an evil still; and cruelty is not changed in its nature, whether exercised in tormenting an ant or an elephant.

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Esop's fables, as was remarked in our last number, were satires on vice, and, till vice has been weeded from the world, will continue as new and applicable to morals and manners as when they were originally written. I shall now give the fable of

THE WOLF AND THE LAMB.

NEW TRANSLATION, FROM ESOP.

A WOLF and Lamb once chanc'd to meet
Beside a stream, whose waters sweet
Brought various kinds of beasts together,
When dry and sultry was the weather;
Now, though the Wolf came there to DRINK,
Of EATING he began to think,

As soon as he espied the Sheep,

And soon resolv'd on him to leap;

Yet thought it better to begin

With threat'ning words and angry mien.

'And so,' said he to him below, How dare you stir the water so? Making the cool, refreshing flood

As brown as beer, and thick as mud.'

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I REMEMBER once having loaned my wellworn Robinson Crusoe to an old farmer in my native town, and, so faithful a transcript of nature did he find this tale,* and with so much interest did he enter into its imaginary incidents, that he believed every word of the book to be true, and was with difficulty persuaded to a contrary opinion. The circumstance was brought to recollection by seeing the following paragraph in a London newspaper :—

'ON Monday, the 2d instant, (March 1840) three little boys, sons of respectable parents residing in Louth, the eldest only twelve years of age,—who had been reading the romance of Robinson Crusoe, left their homes in *The tale is founded on the history of Alexander Selkirk.

company in search of an uninhabited island, where they might enjoy the sweets described by the author of that work. The young Cru soes were armed with a blunderbuss, pistols, swords, &c. and provided with sundry neces saries, such as needles, threads, twine, &c. They wended their way to the sea-shore of Saltfleet in search of a ship to bear them to an island whereon they might build a hut, dig a cave, breed goats, and feast on grapes; there they were overtaken by a brother, and depri ved of their arms. They then changed their route, and were finally overtaken by Mr.Heath, who had been sent in search of them by their unhappy parents, near Horncastle, and were conducted safely to their homes.'

A FLEMISH PULPIT.

THE pulpit of St. Gudule's church, at Brussels, is the curious production of Henry Verbruggen, and is placed in the

middle of the nave. At the base are Adam and Eve, big as life, the expelling angel, and death in the rear.

Our first

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PERHAPS my young readers have called, are various. They assume a new heard of bottle conjurors. I am go- name and shape with every fresh imposing to tell them the origin of the name. ture. It was formerly the habit to hoax The methods of hoaxing, as it is vulgarly or decieve illiterate and ignorant grown

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