But that, on this account, 'tis known I bear resemblance to a stone: Would I could rid me of my case, And find a tenant for the place! I'll make it known to all my kin ;This house to let-inquire within! "Good!" says the worm, "the bargain's struck; I take it, and admire my luck!
That shell, from which you'd fain be free,
Is just the very thing for me.
Oft have I wished, when danger calls,
For such impervious castle walls,
Both for defence and shelter made,
From greedy crow, and murderous spade :
Yes, neighbour snail, I'll hire the room,
And pay the rent when strawberries come."
Do," says
the snail, "and I'll declare
You'll find the place in good repair;
With winding ways, that will not fail
To accommodate your length of tail.”
(This fact the wily rogue concealing-
The fall had broken in his ceiling.)
"Oh," says the sanguine worm, "I knew
That I might safely deal with you;
Thus was the tenement transferred,
And that without another word.
Off went the snail in houseless plight;
Alas! it proved a frosty night,
And ere a peep of morning light,
One wish supreme he found prevail;
In all the world this foolish snail
1 Impervious that cannot be passed through.
Saw nothing he should like so well-
Which was- -that he had got a shell.
But soon for this he ceased to sigh;
A little duck came waddling by,
Who, having but a youthful bill,
Had ventured not so large a pill,
(E'en at imperious hunger's call)
As this poor reptile, house and all;
But finding such a dainty bite
All ready to his appetite,
Down went the snail, whose last lament
Mourned his deserted tenement.
Meantime the worm had spent his strength
In vain attempts to curl his length
His small apartment's space about,
For head or tail must needs stick out.
Now, if this last was left, 'twas more
Exposed to danger than before,
And "twould be vastly strange," he said,
"To sit in-doors without one's head."-
Alas! he now completely bears
The unknown weight of household cares,
And wishes much some kind beholder
Would take the burden off his shoulder.
Now broke the dawn; and soon with fear,
Feeling the shock of footsteps near,
He tried to reach that wished-for goal,
The shelter of a neighbouring hole,
Which proved, when danger threatened sore,
A certain refuge heretofore.
But failed him now this last resort;
His new appendage stopped him short;
For all his efforts would not do
To force it in, or drag it through.
Oh then, poor worm! what words can say
How much he wished his shell away!
But wishes all were vain, for oh !
The garden roller, dreaded foe,
Came growling by, and did not fail
To crush our hero head and tail,
-Just when the duck devoured the snail.
Thus says the fable :---“Learn from hence,
It argues want of common sense
To think our trials and our labours
Harder and heavier than our neighbours';
Or that 'twould lighten toils and cares,
To give them ours in change for theirs:
For whether man's appointed lot
Be really equalized or not,
(A point we need not now discuss,)
Habit makes ours the best to us."
FROM THE LATIN OF VINCENT BOURNE.
NOT a flower can be found in the fields,
Or the spot that we till for our pleasure,
From the largest to least, but it yields
The bee, never wearied, a treasure.
Scarce any she quits unexplored,
With a diligence truly exact;
Yet steal what she may for her hoard,
Leaves evidence none of the fact.
Her lucrative task she pursues,
And pilfers with so much address,
That none of their odour they lose,
Nor charm by their beauty the less.
Not thus inoffensively preys
The canker-worm, indwelling foe!
His voracity not thus allays
The sparrow, the finch, or the crow.
The worm, more expensively fed,
The pride of the garden devours:
And birds peck the seed from the bed,
Still less to be spared than the flowers.
But she, with such delicate skill,
Her pillage so fits for her use,
That a chemist in vain with his still1
Would labour the like to produce.
Then grudge not her temperate meals,
Nor a benefit blame as a theft,
Since, stole she not 2 all that she steals,
Neither honey nor wax would be left.
GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING.
A FAIR little girl sat under a tree,
Sewing as long as her eyes could see;
Then smoothed her work, and folded it right,
And said, “Dear work! Good night! Good night! "
1 Still a vessel used in distillation, or the process of extracting the spirit from liquids.
2 Stole she not-if she did not steal.
Such a number of rooks came over her head,
Crying" Caw! caw!" on their way to bed;
She said, as she watched their curious flight,
"Little black things! Good night! Good night!"
The horses neighed and the oxen lowed;
The sheeps' "Bleat! bleat!" came over the road; All seeming to say, with a quiet delight,
"Good little girl! Good night! Good night! "
She did not say to the sun
"Good night!
Though she saw him there, like a ball of light;
For she knew that he had God's time to keep
All over the world, and never could sleep.
The tall pink foxglove bowed his head;
'The violets curtsied, and went to bed;
And good little Lucy tied up her hair,
And said, on her knees, her favourite prayer.
And while on her pillow she softly lay,
She knew nothing more till again it was day;
And all things said to the beautiful sun,
"Good morning! Good morning; our work is begun!"
QUESTIONS TO BIRDS AND THEIR ANSWERS.
WHY art thou always welcome, lonely bird?
"The heart grows young again when I am heard; Not in my double note the magic lies,
But in the fields, the woods, the streams and skies."
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