Whose soul in usury disdains The man who by this steady course Has happiness insured, When carth's foundation shakes, shall stand, mmm CONSCIENTIOUSNESS-IN THE AVOIDANCE OF WANTON MISCHIEF. SOME persons, from a light or wanton disposition, do things which a little thought would show to be very mischievous. If they see a neat paling, they will not hesitate to break off a piece. If they see a sign newly painted, and within reach, they will spoil it with their fingers. If admitted into a gentleman's park, they will break or carve the trees and seats; if into a house where fine paintings or other curiosities are to be seen, they will not care although they dirty the floor and derange the furniture. In visiting a fine garden, they will not scruple, if not closely watched, to tread upon the delved grounds, and pluck the flowers and fruit. It is very mean and very wicked thus to injure what is the property of, and is daily giving pleasure to, others. It is also very common, when taking refreshment at inns, to pocket one part, and spoil another, of the provisions. Both such acts, however lightly any one may speak of them, are a kind of robbery; for the keeper of the inn only undertakes to furnish what is to satisfy the reasonable appetite of his guests for the time. Whatever is spoilt, whether of our own or a neighbour's, the public is so much the poorer, because the thing that is spoilt might have given pleasure to some one. The world is not so full of enjoyments as to allow of any being wantonly thrown away. THE BEE AND THE WASP: A FABLE. 133 There is another kind of wanton mischief, which consists in playing off cruel jokes upon one another, or upon harmless animals. Some boys, for instance, will conspire to give one of their companions a fright in a dark place: this they consider fun; but it is very wicked fun, because it is sure to be very painful and distressing to the boy who is the subject of the joke. Boys thus frightened have in some instances been deprived of their reason. Sometimes, too, it is considered good fun to deceive a simple boy, by telling him gross falsehoods; but this is also a bad kind of amusement. If we would not like to be so frightened or deceived ourselves, it cannot be right to frighten or deceive others. To tie tin canisters to the tails of dogs, or to cause dogs to worry cats, or to throw stones at birds, are all of them bad kinds of fun, for they give pain to harmless creatures, and do no real good to ourselves. There is still a worse kind of wanton mischief, but very few are so wicked as to practise it. It generally happens when one man has conceived a great spite at another: he goes by night to woods belonging to that person, and cuts down his young trees; or to his fields, and maims his cattle or horses, or turns up his pasture land. All good people loathe and hate the wretches who commit such malignant acts. THE BEE AND THE WASP: A FABLE. A wasp met a bee, and said to him, "Pray, can you tell me the reason that men are so ill-natured to me, while they are so fond of you? We are both very much alike, only that the broad golden rings about my body make me much handsomer than you are: we are both winged insects, we both love honey, and we both sting people when we are angry; yet men always hate me, and try to kill me, though I am much more familiar with them than you are, and pay them visits in their houses, and at their tea-table, and at all their meals: while you are very shy, and hardly ever come near them: yet they build you curious houses, thatched with straw, and take care of and feed you very often in the winter:-I wonder what is the reason!" The bee said, "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 spend less time in paying unwelcome visits, and more in endeavouring to make yourself useful." THE ELEPHANT AND THE TAILOR. An East Indian tailor, who carried on his business in a small booth having an open window to the street, was one day busy making some very fine clothes. An elephant, passing along to the water, put in his trunk at the tailor's window, not meaning to do any harm. The tailor, from mere wantonness, pricked the trunk with his needle, whereupon the elephant hastily withdrew, and jogged on its way to the water-side. The act of the tailor was cruel and unprovoked, and you will see how it was punished. The elephant, taking up a great quantity of water into its trunk and mouth, soon after reappeared at the tailor's window, and discharging the whole at him, wet him all over, spoilt the fine clothes he was making, and made him a laughingstock to all his neighbours. THE INCHCAPE BELL. No stir in the air, no stir in the sca, Without either sign or sound of their shock, (The worthy abbot of Aberbrothock Had floated that bell on the Inchcape rock; When the rock was hid by the tempest's swell, ༣---༥ ག་ང་༧ མ་ཁྱད་ཉི་ཅ་ THE INCHCAPE BELL. The float of the Inchcape bell was seen, The boat is lowered, the boatmen row, Down sank the bell with a gurgling sound, The bubbles arose, and burst around; 135 Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to this rock, Will not bless the priest of Aberbrothock." Sir Ralph the Rover sailed away, He scoured the scas for many a day; And now grown rich with plundered store, He steers his course to Scotland's shore. So thick a haze o'erspreads the sky, "Canst hear," said one, "the breakers roar? But I wish we could hear the Inchcape bell !" They hear no sound, the swell is strong, Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair, He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.-Psalm, vii. 15, 16: It is as sport to a fool to do mischief; but a man of understanding hath wisdom.-Proverbs, x. 23. He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.-Proverbs, xi. 27. TRUTH. It is of great importance that the truth should be observed and adhered to on all occasions and on all subjects. If a man, walking along a road, weary with his day's journey, were to meet a boy in a village, and to ask him how far it was to the next town; and if the boy were to say it was two miles, when it was six; and if the man, encouraged by the intelligence, were to walk on, when otherwise he would have stopped and lodged in the village; it is evident that a great injury would be done to him by the boy. Perhaps the poor traveller might be like to sink with fatigue before he could reach the town; perhaps the great additional exertion might throw him into a sickness from which he would with difficulty recover. The boy, by saying what was false, would be the sole cause of this mischief. Suppose two boys, John and James, had two balls like each other, but John's a little better than James's. Suppose that James were to pretend that John's ball was his, and were to appeal for the truth of what he said to a lesser boy Henry, whom he sometimes beat. If Henry, knowing well the ball to be John's, were, from dread of a beating, to say it was James's, he would be doing what was grievously injurious to John, the real owner of the ball. It is very likely that John, in such circumstances, would endeavour to retain his ball, and that James would try to take it |