The Lioness, perceiving that this reflection pointed at herself, was fired with resentment, and replied: "What you have observed may be true, and that not without reason. You produce a great many at a litter, and often; but what are they?-Foxes. I indeed have but one at a time; but should remember that this one is a Lion."

you

MORAL. Noble birth implies noble deeds.

APPLICATION. The crow thinks her own bird fairest. The partiality of natural affection causes all parents to feel a preference for, and to maintain the superiority of, their own children.

Where yet was ever found the mother
Who'd give her booby for another?

It is

The fable is not intended to reprove this parental failing; it carries with it a deeper meaning. designed to show that noble parentage imposes most serious obligations, and that high birth, if it be not accompanied with noble deeds and honourable conduct, becomes a reproach rather than a glory. The French proverb well says, "Noblesse oblige."

For if beneath, no real virtue reign,
On the gay coat the star is but a stain.

A great and fatal weight on him doth lie—
The greatness of his own nobility.

AN Oak, which hung over the bank of a river, was blown down by a violent storm of wind; and as it was carried along by the stream, some of its boughs brushed against a Reed which grew near the shore. This struck the Oak with a thought of admiration; and he could not forbear asking the Reed how he came to stand so secure and unhurt in a tempest which had been furious enough to tear an Oak up by the roots. "Why," says the Reed, "I secure myself by putting on a behaviour quite contrary to what you do: instead of being stub

born and stiff, and confiding in my strength, I yield and bend to the blast, and let it go over me; knowing how vain and fruitless it would be to resist."

MORAL. Stoop to conquer.

APPLICATION. No truth is more consistent with human experience than that inculcated by this fable. A greater gain more often accrues from concession than from resistance. In domestic life, the wife who yields most, rules most:

Charms by accepting; by submitting, sways;
Yet has her humour most when she obeys.

This spirit of conciliation, however amiable, must never, either in man or woman, amount to a sacrifice of principle, or to a dereliction of duty. But within certain bounds we may use all honest exertions to agree with an adversary. He who concedes at the right moment may, by stooping, conquer. "Cede repugnanti, cedendo victor abibis."

The sweetest bird builds near the ground,}

The loveliest flower springs low;

And we must stoop for happiness,

If we its worth would know.

This same spirit implies a reverent submission to the

decrees of Divine Providence, and a cheerful acquiescence in events which are unavoidable.

A DISPUTE once arose betwixt the North Wind and the Sun about the superiority of their power; and they agreed to try their strength upon a traveller, which should be able to get his cloak off first. The North Wind began, and blew a very cold blast, accompanied with a sharp, driving shower. But this, and whatever else he could do, instead of making the man quit his cloak, obliged him to gird it about his body as close as possible. Next came the Sun; who, breaking out from a thick watery cloud, drove away the cold vapours from the sky, and darted his warm, sultry beams upon the head of the poor weatherbeaten traveller. The man growing faint with the