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and gathereth her food in the harvest."

summer, Proverbs.

a EM-PLOY ́ED, engaged; occupied.

COL-LECT'-ING, gathering.

CHU-MIL'-I-TY, meekness of manner.
d HOARD, store; supply.

LESSON XXVI.

THE ANT AND THE CRICKET.-A Fable, in Verse.

[graphic]

1. A silly young cricket, accustomed to sing

Through the warm sunny months of gay summer and spring,

Began to complain, when he found that, at home,
His cupboard was empty, and winter was come:
Not a crumb to be found

On the snow-covered ground;

Not a flower could he see,

Not a leaf on a tree:

"Oh! what will become," says the cricket, "of me?"

2. At last, by starvation and famine made bold,

All dripping with wet, and all trembling with cold,

Away he set off to a miserly ant,

To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant
Him shelter from rain,
And a mouthful of grain.
He wished only to borrow;
He'd repay it to-morrow;

If not, he must die of starvation and sorrow'.

3. Says the ant to the cricket', "I'm your servant' and fri
But we ants never borrow'; we ants never lend'.
But tell me, dear cricket', did you lay nothing by
When the weather was warm' ?"

"Not I'!

My heart was so light

That I sang day and night',

Quoth the cri

For all nature looked gay'."

"You sang, sir, you say'?

Go, then," says the ant, "and dance winter away."

4. Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket,d

And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.
Folks call this a fable: I'll warrant it true:

Some crickets have four legs', and some have but two'

CUP'-BOARD, pronounced küb′-bŭrd.
RE-PAY', return; pay back.

• QUOTн, said; replied.
d WICKET, a small gate.

[LESSONS XXV. and XXVI. The cricket shown in the picture is Field-Cricket. The moral of the story is told in LESSON XXV. though the conduct of the miserly ant is not to be commended, yet treatment which the improvident cricket received was very natural. Th who will not labor for themselves, should not expect others to labor them.]

A GRAIN OFf Corn.

1. A grain of corn an infant's hand
May plant upon an inch of land,

Whence twenty stalks may spring, and yield
Enough to stock a little field.

2. The harvest of that field might then

Be multiplied to ten times ten,

Which, sown thrice more, would furnish bread
Wherewith an army might be fed.

LESSON XXVII.

JACK FROST AND THE SOUTH WIND.

1. Jack Frost was a famous king, who had come a great way from the North. A long time he had ruled over the earth and over the streams; and every thing on which he laid his cold hands, he bound in icy chains.

2. Jack Frost was a stern old tyrant. His locks were whitened with snow, so that he seemed to be very aged; and his beard was hung with icicles. His voice was as harsh as the December blast that came howling over the mountains: he never smiled; and it was said of him that he never had any mercy on the poor. They might starve, or freeze, but little did Jack Frost care for their sufferings.

3. At length there arose up against him a great but very mild and gentle king from the South, called the South Wind. Unlike Jack Frost, this king had a smiling face, a laughing eye, and a voice soft and gentle. He had flowing auburne locks, and his smooth beardless face was like that of a boy in the very spring-time of life.

4. When these two kings met, "It is my time now to rule," gently whispered' the South Wind. "Pity you are not more of a man," blustered Jack Frost, as he looked at the beardless face of his rival.

5. "Ah, well, to do as much good as I can, is to do something," answered the South Wind. And in spite of a chilling look of scorn from Jack Frost, he went about his work.

6. First he unchained the streams, and they ran off in a bound, rejoicing in their freedom. The miller hastened to his mill, and the fisher went for his rod.

7. Next he breathed upon the snow-banks, and they melted away: he loosened the earth, and said to the grasses "Take courage."

He swept through the forests, and he brushed over the orchards, starting the sap in the trees, and calling to leaf, bud, and blossom, "Make ready.”

8. Wherever he went, the birds followed him with their songs, and he både them have a thought for their nests.

Then what a waking up was there in the farmyard! The cows were heard to low, the lambs to bleat, and the hens to cluck: the farmer began to bustle about, and the housewife was all astir.

9. How kind, how cheerful is the South Wind! Though he has a large realm to rule over, and so much to do that he sometimes can not help puffing and blowing, he does not think it beneath him to step aside from his great out-door work, and do little things to comfort and to bless.

10. So he breathes gently into the chamber of sickness, and whispers to the poor sufferer, "Be of good cheer; I bring you the promise of better things." Busy, busy, busy is the South Wind. "Every thing in its season," he says.

11. Already Jack Frost seemed to melt a little, especially when he looked around and saw what new life every thing had. "Talents differ," wheezed he: "but it is hard to give up the rule."

12. "Remember," said the South Wind kindly, "that of ourselves we are nothing. We only do the bidding of one Mightier than we, and we can serve him as much in yielding', as in doing-as much in being set aside, as in being set up."

"Well," sighed Jack Frost, "perhaps it is so." Tears ran down his cheeks, and he shrunk away.

a STERN, harsh; severe. A'-GED, old.

I'-CI-CLES, pronounced i'-si-kelz.

d SUF'-FER-INGS, distress; sorrows. e Au'-BURN, reddish brown.

WHIS'-PERED, spoke with a low hissing
voice.

8 BLUS'-TERED, talked in a loud and swag-
gering manner.
h UN-CHAINED', loosed.

[LESSON XXVII. The harshness, the cold, and the severity of winter, are here pictured under the unrelenting character of Jack Frost; and the mild influences of spring, under the genial character of the South Wind. Jack Frost is tyrannical, and unmerciful. The South Wind is a mild and gentle monarch, who does all the good he can. The former is compelled to yield; and in the twelfth verse the moral of the lesson is set forth. We are all instruments in the hands of a Mightier than we.]

LESSON XXVIII.

WHY SHOULD WE FEAR?

1. Why should we children ever fear' ?3
There is in heaven an Eye

That looks with tender fondness down
On all the paths we try.

2. Who guides the sparrow's tiny wing,
And guards her little brood' ?3

Who hears the ravens when they cry,
And fills them all with food' ?3

3. 'Tis He who clothes the field with flowers,
And pours the light abroad';

"Tis He who numbers all the hours--
Our Father, and our God.

4. We are the chosen of his love',
His most peculiar care';

And will He guide the fluttering dove,
And not regard our prayer' ?1

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