MY THOUGHT LIKE?--QUESTIONS.--THE ORPHAN'S
TALE, OR THE VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE.

Saturday morning was so bright and cold--such a frosty, finger-pinching
winter day, that, at breakfast, George proposed the riddle, "What two
fishes would you tie together on a day like this?" As none were able to
guess it, he pronounced the assembled company intolerably stupid, and
gave as the solution, _skates_ and _soles_. He declared the weather was
made on purpose for skating; and although his uncle expressed some
doubts as to the thickness of the ice, George's eloquence and
earnestness carried the point, especially as, from his own account, his
experience was so great that you would have concluded he was at least
sixty years old. So the boys set off for a large pond, at the distance
of about a mile, accompanied by the girls, well wrapt up in cloaks,
furs, and mufflers, of every description, all in the highest spirits,
and quite ready for fun and frolic; and the quick walk through the
frosty air, broken by many a hop, skip, and jump, certainly did not tend
to repress the exuberance of their laughter and excitement. Is any one
too grave and too wise to approve of such conduct? allow me to ask,
reverend sir, or venerable madam, as the case may be, how many centuries
are pressing their weight upon your silver locks? Methuselah himself
might remember that he once was young, and sympathize with the innocent
light-heartedness of youth: and surely you cannot have arrived at quite
his length of years. 'Tis a great mistake to suppose that dullness and
moping gravity have any thing in common with either goodness or wisdom:
they are but the base imitations, the spurious counterfeits, which can
pass only with the undiscerning. Welcome, joyous laugh, and youthful
glee! the world has quite enough of care and sorrow, without repressing
the merry heart of childhood. Wiser would it be for you, oh sad and
weary spirit, sick of the buffetings of the cold and selfish crowd, for
a little time to come out of your unhappy self, and by sympathy with
others, again to become a little child. Your soul would be refreshed and
strengthened by bathing in the morning dews of youth; here would you
find a balm for the wounds inflicted by the careless world; many a
mourner has been drawn away from that sorrow which feeds upon the very
springs of life, by the innocent caresses and gay converse of a child.
Cleave then to your liveliness, young people! and throw away fr