ht of the brush,
which was a very great inconvenience. One of them interrupting him said,
"If you had not yourself lost your tail, my friend, you would not thus
counsel us."

The Boy and the Nettles

A BOY was stung by a Nettle. He ran home and told his Mother, saying,
"Although it hurts me very much, I only touched it gently." "That was
just why it stung you," said his Mother. "The next time you touch a
Nettle, grasp it boldly, and it will be soft as silk to your hand, and
not in the least hurt you."

Whatever you do, do with all your might.

The Man and His Two Sweethearts

A MIDDLE-AGED MAN, whose hair had begun to turn gray, courted two women
at the same time. One of them was young, and the other well advanced
in years. The elder woman, ashamed to be courted by a man younger than
herself, made a point, whenever her admirer visited her, to pull out
some portion of his black hairs. The younger, on the contrary, not
wishing to become the wife of an old man, was equally zealous in
removing every gray hair she could find. Thus it came to pass that
between them both he very soon found that he had not a hair left on his
head.

Those who seek to please everybody please nobody.

The Astronomer

AN ASTRONOMER used to go out at night to observe the stars. One evening,
as he wandered through the suburbs with his whole attention fixed on
the sky, he fell accidentally into a deep well. While he lamented and
bewailed his sores and bruises, and cried loudly for help, a neighbor
ran to the well, and learning what had happened said: "Hark ye, old
fellow, why, in striving to pry into what is in heaven, do you not
manage to see what is on earth?"

The Wolves and the Sheep

"WHY SHOULD there always be this fear and slaughter between us?" said
the Wolves to the Sheep. "Those evil-disposed Dogs have much to answer
for. They always bark whenever we approach you and attack us before
we have done any harm. If you would only dismiss them from your heels,
there might soon be treaties of peace and reconciliation between us."
The Sheep, poor silly creatures, were easily beguiled and dismissed the
Dogs, whereupon the Wolves destroyed the unguarded flock at their own
pleasure.

The Old Woman and the Physician

AN OLD WOMAN having lost the use of her eyes, called in a Physician to
heal them, and made this bargain with him in the presence of witnesses:
that if he should cure her blindness, he should rec