CRUELTY TO INSECTS.

1. A certain youth indulged himself in the cruel entertainment of torturing and killing flies. He tore off their wings and legs, and then watched, with pleasure, their impotent efforts to escape from him.

2. Sometimes he collected a number of them together, and crushed them at once to death; glorying, like many a celebrated hero, in the devastation which he committed, and in counting over the number of the slain.

3. Alexis remonstrated with him, in vain, on this barbarous conduct. He could not persuade him to believe that flies are capable of pain, or that they have a right, as well as ourselves, to life, liberty, and enjoyment.

4. The signs of agony and distress, which they discover, when tormented, by the quick and various contortions of their bodies, he did not understand, nor would he pay any attention to them. He was so taken up with his favourite sport, that he had no time to think of any thing else.

5. Alexis had a microscope; and he desired this lad one day to look through it, and examine a most beautiful and surprising animal, which he had caught. Mark, says he, how it is studded from head to tail, with black and silver, and its body all over beset with the most curious bristles!

6. The head contains a pair of lively eyes, encircled with silver hairs; and the trunk consists of two parts, which fold over each other.

The whole body is ornamented with plumes, and decorations, which surpass all the luxuries of dress, in the courts of the greatest princes.

7. Pleased and astonished at what he saw, the youth was impatient to know the name and properties of this wonderful animal. The glass through which he looked was then removed; when this beautiful creature proved to be a poor fly, which had been the victim of his wanton cruelty.

8. After this he was never known to be guilty of depriving any creature of life, unless it was necessary; and then he always did it in that manner, which would give the least pain; and never allowed himself to take pleasure in acts of cruelty.

THE SLOTH AND THE BEAVER.

1. The Sloth is an animal of South America, and is so ill formed for motion, that a few paces are often a journey of a week; and so averse to move, that he never changes his place, but when he is impelled by the severest hunger.

2. He lives upon the leaves, fruit and flowers of trees, and often on the bark itself when nothing else remains for his subsistence. As a large quantity of food is necessary for his support, he generally strips a tree of all its verdure in less than a fortnight: and being then destitute of food, he drops down, like a lifeless mass, from the branches to the ground.

3. After remaining torpid some time, from the shock received by the fall, he prepares for a journey to some neighbouring tree, to which he crawls with so slow a motion, that it can hardly be perceived. At length arrived, he ascends the trunk, and devours with famished appetite, whatever the branches afford.

4. By consuming the bark, he soon destroys the life of the tree; and thus the source is lost, from which his sustenance is derived. Such is the miserable state of this slothful animal.

5. How different are the comforts and enjoy~ ments of the industrious Beaver! This creature is found in the northern parts of America, and is about two feet long and one foot high. The shape of it somewhat resembles that of a

rat.

6. In the months of June and July, the beavers assemble, and form a society, which generally consists of more than two hundred. They always fix their abode by the side of a lake or river; and in order to make a dead water, they erect with incredible labour, a dam or pier, perhaps fourscore hundred feet long, and ten or twelve feet thick.

7. When this dike is completed, they build their several apartments, which are divided into three stories. The first is beneath the level of the ground, and is for the most part full of water. The walls of their habitations are perpendicular, and about two feet thick.

8. If any wood projects from their houses, they cut it off with their teeth, which are more serviceable than saws; and by the help of their

tails, they plaster all their works with a kind of mortar, which they prepare of dry grass and clay, mixed together.

9. In August or September, they begin to lay up their stores of food; which consists of the wood of the birch, the plane, and of some other trees. Thus they pass the gloomy winter in ease and plenty.

10. These two American animals, contrasted with each other, afford a most striking picture of the blessings of industry; and of the want and wretchedness, which attend upon sloth and idleness.

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11. I went by the field of the slothful, says Solomon, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding and lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

12. Then I saw and considered it well; I looked upon it, and received instruction. Α slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. He saith, there is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets.

13. He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack mind: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in summer, is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest, is a son that causeth shame. Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings.

INCREDULITY CONDEMNED.

1. Sophron asserted that he could hear the scratch of a pin at the distance of ten yards. It is impossible, said Alexis; and immediately appealed to Euphronius, who was walking with them.

2. Though I do not believe, replied Euphronius, that Sophron's ears are more acute than yours, yet I disapprove of your hasty decision concerning the impossibility of what you so little understand. You are ignorant of the nature of sound, and of the various means by which it may be increased, or quickened in its progress; and modesty should lead you, in such a case, to suspend your judgment, till you have made proper inquiries on the subject.

3. An opportunity now presents itself, which will afford Sophron the satisfaction he desires. Place your ear at one end of this long stick of timber, and I will scratch the other end with a pin. Alexis did so, and distinctly heard the sound; which being conveyed through the tubes of the wood, was increased in loudness, as in a speaking trumpet, or the horn of the huntsman.

4. A disposition to believe things too easily, or to disbelieve every thing, which we cannot immediately see the reason of, are equally unfavourable to the acquisition of knowledge. They both preclude inquiry and leave the mind satisfied with ignorance or error.