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THE DOG AND THE SHADOW.

A Dog was crossing a river, with a piece of meat in his mouth, when he saw his own shadow reflected in the stream below. Thinking that it was another dog, with a piece of meat, he resolved to make himself master of that also; but in snapping at the supposed treasure he dropped the bit he was carrying, and so lost all.

Grasp at the shadow, and lose the substance;—the common fate of those who hazard a real blessing for a visionary good.

THE DOG AND THE RAT.

A great Dog caught a small but thievish Rat. “O, sir!” said the Rat, “pray let me go. Next year I shall have grown bigger, and then you can kill me.”—“No, no,” said the Dog; “I have got you now, but next year I am not sure of getting you again.”

Check a small fault at once.

THE BEAVER AND THE FLY.

A busy little Beaver had been working for months, arranging his house, by the river side. “Why do you take all that trouble?—said a lazy bluebottle Fly; “I never work.”—“That is the reason,” answered the Beaver, “why so many of you die of cold and hunger, in winter.”

Idleness comes to ruin, at last.

THE PEACHES.

A Farmer went to town, on a market day, and bought five peaches. He gave one to his wife, and one to each of his four sons.

The next day he said to his sons, “Well, what have you done with your peaches?”

“I ate mine,” said the eldest, “and kept the stone. I will plant it in the ground, that I may have a peach-tree, in time.”

“I sold mine,” said the second son, “and got so much money for it that I can buy six peaches when I go to town.”

“I ate mine up directly I got it,” said the youngest, “and threw the stone away; and mother gave me half of hers.”

“I took mine to poor George, our neighbor, who is ill,” said the third son. “He cannot eat much, and I thought he would like it. He would not take it at first, so I laid it upon his bed, and came away.”

Which of all these children made the best use of his peach?

THE CANARY-BIRD AND THE WASP.

“Why do people not use me as they use you?” said a Wasp to a Canary. “They make you a cage to live in, and give you seed and water every day; and often I see them bring you sugar, and fresh pieces of green groundsel and chickweed. But when I come, they all try to drive me