aimed, "Be off, vile fly--
Mean, pitiful, base thing!"
After the fly had ended his repast,
Fully exhausted feels the beast at last,
And roared so that he shook the earth,
While the victorious fly
Met in the spider's web his destiny.

MORAL.

Two morals draw I from this tale:
First, We should fear the smallest enemy;
And second, We may escape great perils,
And from a trifling cause may die.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE TWO MULES.

Two mules went travelling on their way,
One with a sack of corn;
The other with gold and bells so gay,
Most gaily tripped along.
Proud of so rich a load,
He kept the bells a ringing--
And was so proud, had he known how
He would have commenced singing.
Soon some robbers rude appeared,
Who stopped this mule upon his road,
And very soon they had him cleared
Of all his weight of precious gold.
Falling beneath their blows, "I die,"
The expiring trotter cried,
"Had you been," said the other,
"Low as I, you would not thus have died."

Be moderate when you are high,
Nor glory o'er the passers by.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

JUPITER AND THE FARMER.

Jupiter had a farm to let,
Mercury advertised it, and people came,
Made offers, listened, all the same,
Made some objection.
One declared the land
Was rough and dry,
And full of sand.
One had this reason, one had that,
Until at last a man appeared,
Who said he'd try to farm it, agreed that
He might have any weather that he chose.

Behold! as soon as he but yawns, it blows
Or rains, or is quite clear.
His neighbors, even the most near,
Are not affected by these changes.
In usual route, their weather ranges;
They have good crops,
But he had none.
At last when tired, he began
Complaining unto Jupiter.
The next year the same thing,
Changes of weather he can bring--
And the neighbors no more
Than the Americans,
Are troubled by the farming
Of his lands.
At last tired out, with all his strife in vain,
He yields his power to the God of rain;
Acknowledging, that all along
The god did right,
And he did wrong.

MORAL.

Let us conclude that Providence
For man ordains much better than we can.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

THE COCK, THE CAT, AND THE
LITTLE MOUSE.

A young mouse, who had nothing seen,
Was nearly caught; You shall hear how
He told his mother the adventure--
He said, "Pray, listen, now:
I started out to frolic at a venture,
When two fin