s animals, and would not
take advantage of an animal weaker than themselves; our dogs would not
have acted so."

"Well, perhaps the dog was not quite so much to blame in these affairs
as its master; besides, in making advances to its little friend, it
might not have calculated its own force."

"Yes, and perhaps might have been sorry afterwards for the mischief it
had done."

"Very likely; still the point was never clearly explained, and,
whether or no, the elderly lady could not put up with this sort of
thing any longer; she complained so often and so vigorously, that her
troublesome neighbor was served in due form with a notice to quit. The
young scapegrace was determined to be revenged in some way on the
party who was the cause of his being so summarily ejected from his
quarters. Now, right under his window there was a globe belonging to
the old lady, well filled with good-sized gold fish. His eye by chance
having fallen upon this, and spying at the same time his fishing-rod
in a corner, the coincidence of vision was fatal to the gold-fish;
they were very soon hooked up, rolled in flour, fried, and gently let
down again one by one into the globe."

"I should like to have seen the old lady when she first became aware
of this transformation!"

"Well, one of the fish had escaped, and was floating about, evidently
lamenting the fate of its finny companions."

"It was very cruel," observed Mary.

"Elderly ladies who have no family and live alone are very apt to
bestow upon animals the love and affection that is inherent in us
all."

"Which is very much to be deprecated."

"Why so, Master Frank?"

"Are there not always plenty of poor and helpless human beings upon
whom to bestow their love? are there not orphans and homeless
creatures whom they might adopt?"

"There are; but it requires wealth for such benevolences, and the
goddess Fortune is very capricious; whilst one must be very poor
indeed that cannot spare a few crumbs of bread once a day. Besides,
admitting that this mania is blamable when carried to excess, still it
must be respected, for it behoves us to reverence age even in its
foibles."

Frank, whose nature was so very susceptible, that a single grain of
good seed soon ripened into a complete virtue, bent his head in token
of acquiescence.

"Now the old lady loved these gold-fish as the apples of her eyes, and
her astonishment and grief, in beholding the state they were in, was
indescribable.