REAS'NING at every step he treads,

Man yet mistakes his way,

While meaner things, whom instinct leads,

Are rarely known to stray.

II.

One silent eve I wander'd late,

And heard the voice of love;

The turtle thus address'd her mate,
And sooth'd the list'ning dove-

III.

Our mutual bond of faith and truth,

No time shall disengage

Those blessings of our early youth,

Shall cheer our latest age:

The affection of Birds is often a lesson to Mankind.

IV.

While innocence without disguise,

And constancy sincere,

Shall fill the circles of those eyes,

And mine can read them there;

'Tis then I feel myself a wife,

And press thy wedded side,

Resolv'd an union form'd for life

The affection of birds is often a lesson to mankind.

VIII.

But, oh! if, fickle and unchaste,

(Forgive a transient thought)

Thou could become unkind at last,
And scorn thy present lot.

IX.

No need of light'nings from on high,
Or kites with cruel beak;

Denied th' endearments of thine eye,
This widow'd heart would break.

X.

Thus sang the sweet sequester'd bird,
Soft as the passing wind,

And I recorded what I heard

A lesson for mankind.

Not secure in any

situation unless Providence interferes.

A FABLE.

A RAVEN, while with glossy breast,
Her new-laid eggs she fondly press'd,
And on her wicker-work high mounted
Her chickens prematurely counted,
(A fault philosophers might blame
If quite exempted from the same)
Enjoy'd at ease the genial day;
"Twas April as the bumpkins say,
The legislature call'd it May.
But suddenly a wind as high
As ever swept a winter sky

Shook the young leaves about her ears,
And fill'd her with a thousand fears,

Lest the rude blast should snap the bough,
And spread her golden hopes below.
But just at eve the blowing weather,
And all her fears were hush'd together:
And now, quoth poor unthinking Ralph,
"Tis over, and the brood is safe;

Not secure in any situation unless Providence interferes.

(For Ravens, though, as birds of omen,

They teach both conj'rers and old women
To tell us what is to befall,

Can't prophesy themselves at all.)

The morning come when neighbour Hodge,
Who long had mark'd her airy lodge,

And destin'd all the treasure there

A gift to his expecting fair,

Clim'd like a squirrel to his dray,

And bore the worthless prize away.

MORAL.

"Tis Providence alone secures,

In every change, both mine and your's:
Safety consists not in escape

From dangers of a frightful shape;
An earthquake may be bid to spare
The man that's strangled by a hair.
Fate steals along with silent tread
Found oft'nest in what least we dread,
Frowns in the storm with angry brow,
But in the sunshine strikes the blow.