kind: A treaty of peace among all animals has just been concluded.

This is great news indeed, said the cock; pray let us hear how it was.

Why, there was a general council, and some one of all animals was there: they agreed how it should be. The lion is no longer to tear the kid, nor is the wolf to touch the lamb; the fly is no longer to suck the blood of living animals, nor the spider to spread her net for the fly.

Excellent news indeed, said the cock.

Now, continued the fox, all animals may travel as safely by night as by day. There will be no more tricks upon travellers. The cat is no longer to lie in ambush to leap unawares upon her prey, nor the serpent in the grass to bite the foot of the traveller. The weakest animal that lives may wander alone without a protector. Every thing is holy-day and rejoicing. I, who am famous for fire-brands, am to make a bonfire, and the glow-worm is to conduct the illuminations. Come down, my friend, and let us shake hands in congratulation of each other on this joyful occasion before I go.

1 will come in a moment, said the cock, who scarcely knew what to make of it. The fox told the story so plausibly, that he could not well think it all a fib; but he thought it very extraordinary indeed.

Just at that moment, the cock heard a noise at a distance, and stretched out his neck to see what was the matter.

What do you see? said the fox, who is always upon the alert, and was more afraid than ever just now, when he had been telling a wilful lie

It is nothing, answered the cock, but a pair of hounds, coming this way, as fast as they can run. Í dare say, they are going to tell their friends afar off the news of the treaty you just mentioned.

The fox knew that his news was all a lie, and, as soon as he heard the word hounds, he took to his heels and ran for dear life; so that the cock, by speaking truth, saved the life of the fox, and the hounds, by accident, saved the life of the cock. There was no one killed, though the fox had done his best to kill the honest fowl, and while he was endeavouring to deceive and kill the cock, had nearly been killed himself.

HYMN.

'In all things I would be conformed to thy will.'
Great God! I would not seek to know
The number of my earthly hours,
Nor if the path that I must go

Be pav'd with thorns, or strew'd with flowers. It is enough for me to see

My life is governed by thy will, And all that I receive from thee

Has been, and will be, kindness still.

But this I would for ever pray,

And grant that I be not denied,-
That whether dark or bright the way,
Thy Spirit will my actions guide.
Then, in the lapse of prosperous years,
I shall not raise my heart too high,
Nor yield to doubts, distrust, or fears,
Though pleasures fail and comforts die.

It is covered with a very hard skin without hair. Its legs are large and clumsy. Its ears also are very large; they can be raised and moved with ease, and serve to wipe the animal's eyes, as well as to protect them from flies and dust. It hears remarkably quick, and seems delighted with music. Its eyes are very small, and its trunk very long. It has two large tusks growing from the upper jaw, which, as they are not used in chewing, are considered only as weapons of defence. When the animal grows old, these tusks sometimes become so heavy, that it is necessary to make holes in the sides of its stall, to rest them in.

сара

But it is in the sense of touching that this animal excels all others of the brute creation, and perhaps even man himself. The organ of this sense lies wholly in the trunk, which is, properly speaking, only the snout lengthened out to a great extent, hollow like a pipe, and terminating in two openings, or nostrils, like those of a hog. This fleshy tube is ble of being moved in every direction, and at the very point of it, just above the nostrils, there is an extension of the skin, in the form of a finger, and which, in fact, answers all the purposes of one; for, with the rest of the extremity of the trunk, it is capable of assuming different forms, and consequently of being adapted to the minutest objects. By means of this, the elephant can take a pin from the ground, untie the knots of a rope, unlock a door, and even write with a pen. Hence this instrument appears to be useful in most of the purposes of life; it is an organ of smelling, of touching, and of suction; and not only conduces to the animal's comforts, but also serves for its ornament and defence.

Of all the animals that have been brought under the dominion of mankind, the elephant is allowed to be the most obedient, and when treated with kindness and affection, tes tifies his gratitude, by fulfilling all his keeper's desires, and caressing him with apparent fondness and delight; it receives his commands with submission and attention, and executes them with the utmost punctuality and zeal; bends its knees when he expresses a wish to ride, and willingly exerts its utmost strength, which, in drawing burdens, is equal to that of six horses; and, without fatigue, it can support near four thousand weight upon its back.

This animal does indeed seem capable of both gratitude

and affection in the highest degree. An elephant at Adsmeer, which had often been driven through the market, regularly received, from a woman who kept a stall, a handful of greens; and being one day seized with a periodical fit of madness, broke the fetters which confined it, and ran towards the spot. All who beheld its approach were struck with dismay, and fled precipitately from its sight, and amongst the number, his friend the green-woman, who, in the alarm, forgot to remove her child. The frantic animal ran directly towards her seat, overturning whatever impeded his flight; and the moment he beheld the terrified little creature lying upon the earth overwhelmed with fright, he raised him from the ground with the utmost tenderness, and carried him to a place that was perfectly safe.