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found you with thieves, you must share their fate. The same warning to take heed what company we keep, is given us by the fable of the two dogs, Tray and Snap, that went out together. Tray was peaceably disposed, and perfectly harmless, but Snap was a churlish cur, and always in a broil. As they proceeded on their way, Snap attacked every dog that he happened to meet; but on entering a town, his antagonists became too numerous, and falling furious!y upon him, they tore him to pieces. His companion also, poor Tray, merely because he was along with him, shared his fate. Much of every man's good or ill fortune depends on the choice that he makes of his friends. Our character will be known by the society we frequent; for birds of a feather are found to flock together; and, as one diseased sheep infects a whole flock, if we mix with evil company, their evil communication will corrupt our good manners. He that walketh with wise men, shall be wise; but the companion of fools shall be destroyed.

36. An old hen, meeting with a young cock which she knew was one of her own brood, counselled him earnestly not to look into a certain well which she mentioned, else he would repent it. He promised to obey her, though he thought that the advice was a very foolish one. What harm, said he to himself, can there be in looking into a well? At last, he ventured to the spot; and, stretching forth his neck with great care, he looked down to the bottom, where instantly the figure of another cock appeared to threaten him below. His anger rises at the sight-he ruffles his feathers, and the other answers him with equal rage, and seems prepared to attack him. He, therefore, hurried to meet his foe; and darting with the utmost fury into

the well, he found his mistake when it was too late. Alas, said he, as he was drowning, why did I think myself wiser than my mother? A wise son maketh a glad mother, but a foolish son is a heaviness to her heart. Young men often think the old ones fools; but old men know the young to be so; and he that will not be advised, cannot be helped. Remember, therefore, to value good advice, esteem a good education, and keep good company.

37. Education moulds the manners and forms the mind; and as the twig is bent, the tree is inclined. Children, like young colts, must be broken in-and the sooner, the better; for ill habits are more easily conquered to-day than to-morrow; and he that spareth the rod, when correction is requisite, hateth the child. It is better that boys weep than bearded men. An ape that had two young ones at a birth, was very fond of the one, but neglected the other. The young ape, on which she doated, she always carried about in her bosom, and fondled and dandled it, here and there; so that it never acquired the free use of its limbs, but continued sickly and weak, till at length, by her caresses, it was suffocated and died. The other, on the contrary, was the better for the want of her excessive care; and having soon become strong and vigorous by exercise, provided for itself, and lived in the forest for many years. Thus children that are too much indulged and doated upon, being allowed to neglect their education and the improvement of their minds when they are young, cannot afterwards fill the same station in society, nor pass through the world with the same credit and advantage, as those who have been trained all along to habits of attention, application, and useful activity. Thus, too, as the

proverb says, the younger brother is oft the better Gentleman; for his love of ease and other passions being less indulged in his youth, he finds himself put to his shifts, and, by plying his studies, instead of following his pleasures, he raises himself in the end to that honour and wealth which his birthright denied him.

38. Children are certain cares, and uncertain comforts; but, generally, good beginnings forebode good endings; and exemplary parents have dutiful children. Like father, like son, is a proverb that is frequently seen to hold good; for the good precepts and examples of a virtuous father, will do much towards the forming of a virtuous child. A boy, having stolen a little book out of school, carried it home to his mother; but, strange to tell, instead of reproving and correcting him, she, with the greatest folly as well as cruelty, commended him for it. Accordingly, as was to be expected, he proceeded to pilfer and steal things of still greater value-till, being once caught in the very act, he was condemned for his crime and led away to execution. Then, when his mother and a great crowd of people were following him and lamenting his fate, he said that he wanted to speak a few things into his mother's ear; on which, she went up to him, to know what he would say; and, when her ear was close to his mouth, he bit it off. Being asked what he meant by adding to his other crimes, that of treating his mother so barbarously, he replied" She is the cause of my ruin; for if, when I stole the book out of school, she had whipped me, as she ought, I would not have continued to go on in these crimes, nor have come to this untimely and disgraceful end." An evil inclination, by being checked at the outset, is kept from increasing; and a child that

is trained up in the way he should go, will not readily, when he is old, depart from it. In no station of life, can a child's desires be all satisfied; his foolish demands should therefore be resisted, in order to teach him to bear disappointment. If he is untaught to endure, with patience, any crosses in youth, his passions will swell by being gratified, and render him headstrong; and the crosses of his future life will render him miserable. Our nature in youth is pliant, and soft, and ready, like wax, to receive any impression. Important, then, is the task of rearing aright the tender thought, teaching the young idea how to shoot, pouring the fresh instruction o'er the mind, and fixing the good, the generous, and godlike purpose in the glowing breast. The season of youth is the seed time of life; and, according to what you sow, you shall afterwards reap. If you sow not good seed, the weeds will appear and thrive of themselves. No man is abandoned all at once; but the descent to hell, while it is gradual, is easy. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, yet do not despair. Give precept

upon precept, and line upon line, here a little and there a little. Prepare him early with instruction, and season his mind with the maxims of truth. Watch the bent of his inclination, set him right in his youth, and let no evil habit gain strength with his years. Teach thy son knowledge, and his mind shall be exaltedteach him piety, and his pleasures shall be pure. Teach him temperance, and he shall have healthteach him diligence, and his wealth shall increase. Teach him benevolence, and his life shall be usefulteach him religion, and his death shall be happy. With all, and above all, implore the divine blessing; for Paul may plant, and Apollos water; but God giveth the increase.

BOOK II.

NATURAL HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

A GENERAL VIEW OF THE WORKS OF CREATION.

SECTION 1. Natural History is the study which has for its object, a knowledge and description of the works of nature-that is to say, of the works of God, in the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral or fossil kingdoms. The air, the earth, and the sea, as well as the heavens, are filled with wonders which every one perceives to be beyond the wisdom or power of man to have produced. All the men of the world could not make a blade of grass, or an ear of corn-far less, could they give life, such as animals possess, or life and reason, as they are furnished to man. Now, since men cannot do this, and no power on earth, that we know of, could do it, we infer at once, that some infinitely greater Being exists, who has done it; and this is the Being, whom we call GoD. Nature is but another word for the energy and operation of Him who gave existence and laws to the universe, and who presides so particularly over it, that a sparrow falleth not to the ground without him, and the very hairs of our

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