omes up.' My very blood runs
cold within me at the recollection of seeing Softdown's as it spurted
from beneath the monster's foot; whilst the crunch of his bones
almost petrified me with horror. At length, however, recollecting the
impossibility of restoring my beloved brother to life, and the danger
of my own situation, I, with trembling feet and palpitating heart, crept
softly back to my remaining two brothers, who were impatiently expecting
me behind the closet. There I related to them the horrid scene which
had passed before my eyes, whilst the anguish it caused in their gentle
bosoms far exceeds my power to describe.

After having mingled our lamentations for some time, I thus addressed
them: 'We have this night, my brothers, tasted the severest affliction
in the cruel death of our dear brother, companion, and friend; let
us not, however, only mourn his loss, but also gather wisdom from our
misfortune, and return to that duty which we have hitherto neglected.
Recollect, my dear friends, what were the last words which our good
mother spoke to us at parting. She charged us, upon no account, for no
temptation whatever, to return frequently to the same place: if we did,
she forewarned us that death and ruin would certainly await us. But in
what manner have we obeyed this her kind advice? We have not even so
much as once recollected it since she left us; or, if we thought of it
for a moment, we foolishly despised it as unnecessary. Now, therefore,
we sincerely feel the consequence of our disobedience; and, though
our sufferings are most distressing, yet we must confess that we amply
deserve them. Let us therefore, my brothers, instantly fly from a place
which has already cost us the life of our beloved Softdown, lest we
should all likewise fall a sacrifice to our disobedience.'--And here the
writer cannot help observing how just were the reflections of the mouse
on the crime which they had been guilty of; and begs every reader
will be careful to remember the fatal consequences that attended their
disobedience of their mother's advice, since they may be assured that
equal if not the same misfortune will always attend those who refuse
to pay attention to the advice of their parents. But, to return to the
history.

To this proposal (continued the mouse) my brothers readily agreed; and
we directly descended to the place we were in when we discovered the
crack that led us to the room in which we feasted on bird-seed. Here