. But what was still more pleasing, this season
produced for Tommy and his companions a delicious feast of cherries,
strawberries, and a variety of other fruits. So pleasant a day afforded
them the summit of delight, and their little hearts danced in their
bosoms with joy.

"Do you not think, Tommy," said his father to him, "that summer has its
delights as well as winter and spring?" Tommy replied, he wished it
might be summer all the year; when his father desired him to enter that
wish in his pocket-book also.

The autumn at length arrived, and all the family went into the country
to view the harvest. It happened to be one of those days that are free
from clouds, and yet a gentle westerly wind kept the air cool and
refreshing. The gardens and orchards were loaded with fruits, and the
fine plums, pears, and apples, which hung on the trees almost to the
ground, furnished the little visitors with no small amusement and
delight. There were also plenty of grapes, apricots, and peaches, which
were the sweeter, as they had the pleasure of gathering them. "This
season of rich abundance, Tommy," said his father to him, "will soon
pass away, and stern and cold winter will succeed it." Tommy again
wished that the present happy season would always continue, and that the
winter would not be too hasty in its approaches, but leave him in
possession of autumn.

Tommy's father desired him to write this in his book also, and, ordering
him to read what he had written, soon convinced him how contradictory
his wishes had been. In the winter, he wished it to be always winter; in
the spring, he wished for a continuance of that season; in the summer,
he wished it never to depart; and when autumn came, it afforded him too
many delicious fruits to permit him to have a single wish for the
approach of winter.

"My dear Tommy," said his father to him, "I am not displeased with you
for enjoying the present moment, and thinking it the best that can
happen to you; but you see how necessary it is that our wishes should
not always be complied with. God knows how to govern this world much
better than any human being can pretend to. Had you last winter been
indulged in your wish, we should have had neither spring, summer, nor
autumn; the earth would have been perpetually covered with snow. The
beasts of the field, and the fowls of the air, would either have been
starved or frozen to death; and even the pleasures of sliding, or
making images of snow,