GEORGE WASHINGTON, when young, was about to go to sea as a midshipman; everything was arranged; the vessel lay opposite his father's house; the little boat had come on shore to take him off, and his whole heart was bent on going. After his trunk had been carried down to the boat, he went to bid his mother farewell, and saw the tears bursting from her eyes. However, he said nothing to her; but he saw that his mother would be distressed if he went, and, perhaps, never be happy again. He just turned round to the servant and said: “Go and tell them to fetch my trunk. I will not go away to break my mother's heart.” His mother was struck with his decision, and she said to him: “George, God has promised to bless the children that honor their parents, and I believe that he will bless you.” The young man who thus honored his parents was afterward honored by his country-men, and will be to the end of time.

JOHN ADAMS used to relate the following anecdote: “When I was a boy, I used to study the Latin grammar; but it was dull, and I hated it. My father was anxious to send me to college; and, therefore, I studied the grammar till I could bear it no longer; and going to my father, I told him I did not like study, and asked for some other employment. It was opposing his wishes, and he was quick in his answer: ‘Well, John, if Latin grammar does not suit you, you may try ditching; perhaps that will. My meadow yonder needs a ditch, and you may put by Latin, and try that.’

“This seemed a delightful change, and to the meadow I went. But I soon found ditching harder than Latin, and the first forenoon was the longest I had ever experienced. That day I ate the bread of labor; and right glad was I when night came on. That night I made some comparison between Latin and ditching; but said not a word about it. I dug next forenoon, and wanted to return to Latin at dinner; but it was humiliating, and I could not do it. At night, toil conquered pride; and though it was one of the severest trials I ever had in my life, I told my father, that if he chose, I would go back to Latin grammar. He was glad of it; and if I have since gained any distinction, it has been owing to the two days' labor in that abominable ditch.”

Boys may learn several important lessons from this story. It shows how little they oftentimes appreciate their privileges. Those who are kept at study frequently think it a hardship needlessly imposed on them. The opportunity of pursuing a liberal course of study is what few enjoy; and they are ungrateful who drag themselves to it as to an intolerable task. Youth may also learn from this anecdote, how much better their parents are qualified to judge of these things than themselves. If John Adams had continued this ditching instead of his Latin, his name would not probably have been known to us. But, in following the path marked out by his parent, he rose to the highest honors which the country can bestow.

AN Italian bishop struggled through great difficulties without repining or betraying the least impatience. One of his intimate friends, who highly admired the virtues which he thought it impossible to imitate, one day asked the prelate if he could communicate the secret of being always easy. “Yes,” replied the old man; “I can teach you my secret with great facility; it consists in nothing more than making a right use of my eyes.” His friend begged of him to explain himself. “Most willingly,” returned the bishop. “In whatever state I am, I first of all look up to Heaven, and remember that my principal business here is to get there; I then look down upon the earth, and call to mind how small a place I shall occupy in it, when I die and am buried; I then look abroad into the world, and observe what multitudes there are who are in all respects more unhappy than myself. Thus I learn where true happiness is placed—where all our cares must end; and what little reason I have to repine or complain.”

EURIPIDES was the son of a fruiterer; Virgil of a baker; Horace of a freed slave; Anayot of a currier; Voiture of a vintner; Tamerlane of a shepherd; Rollin of a herdsman; Mollière of an upholsterer; Rousseau of a watchmaker; Ben Jonson of a mason; Shakspeare of a butcher; Beattie of a farmer; Thomas Moore of a grocer; Rembrandt of a miller; Dr. Mibner, of China, was a herd-boy in Rhynia; Joseph Hume, of the British Parliament, was a sailor-boy. Thousands of such instances prove that birth is less honorable than true merit and industry.

A LEARNED philosopher being in his study, a little girl came for some fire. The doctor said, “But you have nothing to take it in;” and as he was going to fetch something, the girl, taking some cold ashes in one hand, put the live coals on with the other. The astonished sage threw down his books, saying, “With all my learning I never should have found out that expedient.”

A BOY was once tempted by some of his companions to pluck ripe cherries from a tree which his father had forbidden him to touch. “You need not be afraid,” said one of his companions, “for if your father should find out that you had taken them, he is so kind he would not hurt you.” “That is the very reason,” replied the boy, “why I would not touch them. It is true, my father would not touch me; yet my disobedience, I know, would hurt my father; and that would be worse to me than anything else.” A boy who grows up with such principles would be a man in the best sense of the word. It betrays a regard for rectitude that would render him trustworthy under every trial.

DURING the awful massacre of St. Bartholomew, every Protestant in France that could be found was put to death. By order of the king, Admiral de Coligny was murdered in his own house, but Merlin, his chaplain, concealed himself in a hayloft. He stated, at the next synod, that he was supported during his concealment by a hen, which regularly laid her eggs near his place of refuge.

THE great Roman orator was one day sneered at by one of his opponents, a mean man of noble lineage, on account of his low parentage. “You are the first of your line,” said the railer. “And you,” replied Cicero, “are the last of yours.”

LORD TENDERDEN, who was the son of a barber, had too much good sense to feel any false shame on that account. It is related of him, that when, in an early period of his professional career, a brother barrister, with whom he happened to have a quarrel, had the bad taste to twit him on his origin, his manly and severe reply was, “Yes, sir, I am the son of a barber; if you had been the son of a barber, you would have been a barber yourself.”

A FOX having tumbled by chance into a well, had been casting about a long while, to no purpose, how he should get out again; when, at last, a goat came to the place, and wanting a drink, asked Reynard whether the water was good. “Good,” says he; “ay, so sweet that I am afraid that I have surfeited myself, I have drank so abundantly.” The goat, upon this, without any more ado, leaped in; and the fox, taking the advantage of his horns, by the assistance of them as nimbly leaped out, leaving the poor goat at the bottom of the well to shift for himself.

The doctrine taught us by this fable is no more than this: that we ought to consider who it is that advises us, before we follow the advice. For, however plausible the counsel may seem, if the person that gives it is a crafty knave, we may be assured that he intends to serve himself in it, more than us, if not to erect something to his own advantage out of our ruin.

The little, poor country attorney, ready to starve, and sunk to the lowest depth of poverty, for want of employment, by such arts as these, draws the squire his neighbor into the gulf of the law; until, laying hold on the branches of his revenue, he lifts himself out of obscurity, and leaves the other immured in the bottom of a mortgage.

PETER THE GREAT made a law, in 1722, that when any nobleman beat or ill-treated his slaves, he should be looked upon as insane, and a guardian should be appointed to take care of his person and his estate. The monarch, however, who advised clemency, kindness, and forbearance, and thus severely punished the violators of the law by which he attempted to enforce them, was very irritable, and frequently struck his inferiors, whatever might be their rank. He frequently apologized, and it was considered an honor to have a blow and an apology from the emperor. He once struck his gardener, who being very sensitive, took to his bed and died. When Peter heard of it, he said, “Alas! I have civilized my own subjects; I have conquered other nations; yet I have not been able to civilize or to conquer myself!”

CRANTZ, in his Saxon history, tells us of an Earl of Alsatia, surnamed Iron, on account of his great strength, who was a great favorite with Edward the Third of England, and much envied, as favorites are always sure to be, by the rest of the courtiers. On one occasion, when the king was absent, some nobleman maliciously instigated the queen to make trial of the noble blood of the favorite, by causing a lion to be let loose upon him, saying, according to the popular belief, that “If the earl was truly noble, the lion would not touch him.” It being customary with the earl to rise at break of day, before any other person in the palace was stirring, a lion was let loose during the night, and turned into the lower court. When the earl came down in the morning, with only a night-gown over his shirt, he was met by the lion, bristling his hair, and growling destruction between his teeth. The earl, not in the least daunted, called out, with a stout voice, “Stand, you dog!” At these words the lion couched at his feet, to the great amazement of the courtiers, who were peeping out at every window to see the issue of their ungenerous project. The earl laid hold of the lion by the mane, turned him into his cage, and placing his night-cap on the lion's back, came forth without casting a look behind him. “Now,” said the earl, calling out to the courtiers, whose presence at the windows instantly convinced him of the share they had in this trial of his courage, “let him among you all that standeth most upon his pedigree go and fetch my night-cap.”

“SEE, father,” said a lad who was walking with his father, “they are knocking away the props from under the bridge. What are they doing that for? Won't the bridge fall?”

“They are knocking them away,” said the father, “that the timbers may rest more firmly upon the stone piers which are now finished.”

Evil communications (associations) corrupt good manners.

THE waters of the Mississippi and the Missouri unite and form one river. The water of the latter is exceedingly turbid, and the former clear. When they first meet the waters refuse to mingle. The clear and muddy water flows along, forming one river; but you can clearly distinguish the one from the other. By degrees the clear, bright waters of the one become united with those of the other, and the clearness is lost forever.

A MAN possessed an excellent bow, made of ebony, with which he could shoot at a great distance, and with much precision. This bow he highly prized; but on viewing it attentively, he thought it somewhat too simple, its ornament consisting exclusively in its polish. “What a pity! I will repair to an artist, and order him to carve some figures on my bow,” said the man. He did so; and the artist represented thereon a complete chase; and what could be more suitable? The man, overjoyed, exclaimed: “You well deserve these embellishments, my excellent bow!” at the same moment placing the arrow, twang sounded the string, and the bow—broke!

A KITE had been sick a long time, and finding there were no hopes of recovery, begged of his mother to go to all the churches and religious houses in the country, to try what promises and prayers could effect in his behalf. The old Kite replied: “Indeed, dear son, I would willingly undertake anything to save your life, but I have great reason to despair of doing you any service in the way you propose; for, with what face can I ask anything of the gods in favor of one whose life has been a continued scene of rapine and injustice; and who has not scrupled, upon occasion, to rob the very altars themselves?”

DIOGENES being at Olympia, saw at that celebrated festival some young men of Rhodes, magnificently dressed. Smiling, he exclaimed, “This is pride.” Afterward meeting some Lacedæmonians, who were in a mean and sordid dress, he said, “This also is pride.” The keen observation of the philosopher enabled him to detect pride in these two opposite exhibitions of human nature.

AN eagle that had young ones, looking out for something to feed them with, happened to spy a fox's cub, that lay basking itself abroad in the sun. She made a stoop and trussed it immediately; but before she had carried it quite off, the old fox coming home, implored her, with tears in her eyes, to spare her cub, and pity the distress of a poor mother, who should think no affliction so great as that of losing her child. The eagle, whose nest was up in a very high tree, thought herself secure enough from all projects of revenge, and so bore away the cub to her young ones, without showing any regard to the supplications of the fox. But that subtile creature, highly incensed at this outrageous barbarity, ran to an altar, where some country people had been sacrificing a kid in the open fields, and catching up a firebrand in her mouth, ran toward the tree where the eagle's nest was, with a resolution of revenge. She had scarce ascended the first branches, when the eagle, terrified with the approaching ruin of herself and family, begged the fox to desist, and, with much submission, returned her the cub again safe and sound.

A DOG, crossing a little rivulet with a piece of flesh in his mouth, saw his shadow represented in the clear mirror of the limpid stream; and believing it to be another dog, who was carrying another piece of flesh, he could not forbear catching at it; but was so far from getting anything by his greedy design, that he dropped the piece he had in his mouth, which immediately sunk to the bottom, and was irrecoverably lost.

A CERTAIN man had a goose, which laid him a golden egg every day. But, not contented with this, which rather increased than abated his avarice, he was resolved to kill the goose and cut up her belly, that so he might come at the inexhaustible treasure which he fancied she had within her. He did so, and to his great sorrow and disappointment found nothing.

A CERTAIN jackdaw was so proud and ambitious, that not contented to live within his own sphere, but picking up the feathers which fell from the peacocks, he stuck them in among his own, and very confidently introduced himself into an assembly of those beautiful birds. They soon found him out, stripped him of his borrowed plumes, and falling upon him with their sharp bills, punished him as his presumption deserved. Upon this, full of grief and affliction, he returned to his old companions, and would have flocked with them again; but they, knowing his late life and conversation, industriously avoided him, and refused to admit him into their company; and one of them at the same time gave him a serious reproof. If, friend, you could have been contented with our station, and not disdained the rank in which nature had placed you, you had not been used so scurvily by those upon whom you intruded yourself, nor suffered the notorious slight which now we think ourselves obliged to put upon you.

WHEN Mohammed, exposed to the wrath of his enemies, fled from Mecca, in company with Abubekar, they took refuge in a cave three miles from the city, called the cave of Ther, where the two fugitives concealed themselves for three days. His pursuers, coming to the cave, found that a spider had woven a web across the entrance, from which circumstance they judged that no one could have recently entered it. They accordingly retired without examining the interior, and the Prophet and his companion afterward escaped in safety. But for that spider's web, Mohammed had lost his life; and his career terminated only to be dimly written on the page of history.

A YOUNG aristocrat taunted a member of the British House of Commons, who had won his way to a high position by industry and perseverance, with his humble origin, saying, “I remember when you blacked my father's boots.” “Well, sir,” was the reply, “did I not do them well?”

AN old hound, who had been an excellent good one in his time, and given his master great sport and satisfaction in many a chase, at last, worn out by age, became feeble and unserviceable. However, being in the field one day, when the stag was almost run down, he happened to be the first that came in with him, and seized him by one of his haunches; but his decayed and broken teeth not being able to keep their hold, the deer escaped, and threw him quite out. Upon which, his master, being in a great passion, and going to strike him, the honest old creature is said to have barked out this apology: “Ah! do not strike your poor, old servant; it is not my heart and inclination, but my strength and speed, that fail me. If what I now am displeases you, pray recollect what I have been.”

A FISH called a tunny, being pursued by a dolphin, and driven with great violence, not minding which way he went, was thrown by the force of the waves upon a rock, and left there. His death was now inevitable; but, casting his eye on one side, and seeing the dolphin, in the same condition, lie gasping by him, “Well,” says he, “I must die, it is true; but I die with pleasure, when I behold him who is the cause of it involved in the same fate.”

A HART, being pursued hard by the hunters, hid himself under the broad leaves of a shady, spreading vine. When the hunters were gone by, and had given him over for lost, he, thinking himself very secure, began to crop and eat the leaves of the vine. By this means the branches being put into a rustling motion, drew the eyes of the hunters that way; who, seeing the vine stir, and fancying some wild beast had taken covert there, shot their arrows at a venture, and killed the hart, who, before he expired, uttered his dying words to this purpose: “Ah! I suffer justly for my ingratitude; who could not forbear doing an injury to the vine that so kindly concealed me in time of danger.”

THE wolves and sheep had been a long time in a state of war together. At last a cessation of arms was proposed, in order to a treaty of peace, and hostages were to be delivered on both sides for security. The wolves proposed that the sheep should give up their dogs on the one side; and that they would deliver up their young ones on the other. This proposal was agreed to; but no sooner executed, than the young wolves began to howl for want of their dams. The old ones took this opportunity to cry out, “The treaty was broke;” and so, falling upon the sheep, who were destitute of their faithful guardians, the dogs, they worried and devoured them without control.

IN the winter season, a commonwealth of ants was busily employed in the management and preservation of their corn; which they exposed to the air, in heaps, round about the avenues of their little country habitation. A grasshopper, who had chanced to outlive the summer, and was ready to starve with cold and hunger, approached them with great humility, and begged that they would relieve his necessity with one grain of wheat or rye. One of the ants asked him, how he had disposed of his time in summer, that he had not taken pains, and laid in a stock, as they had done. “Alas! gentlemen,” says he, “I passed away the time merrily and pleasantly, in drinking, singing, and dancing, and never once thought of winter.” “If that be the case,” replied the ant, “all I have to say is, that they who drink, sing, and dance, in the summer, must starve in the winter.”

A TALL, straight fir tree, that stood towering up in the midst of a forest, was so proud of his dignity and high station, that he overlooked the little shrubs which grew beneath him. A bramble, being one of the inferior throng, could by no means brook this haughty carriage; and, therefore, took him to task, and desired to know what he meant by it. “Because,” says the Fir-tree, “I look upon myself as the first tree, for beauty and rank, of any of the forest. My spring-top shoots up into the clouds, and my branches display themselves with a perpetual beauty and verdure; while you lie groveling upon the ground, liable to be crushed by every fool that comes near you, and impoverished by the luxurious droppings which fall from my leaves.”

“All this may be true,” replied the Bramble; “but when the woodman has marked you out for public use, and the sounding ax comes to be applied to your root, I am mistaken if you will not be glad to change situations with the very worst of us.”

A COUNTRY fellow came one day into a wood, and looked about him with some concern; upon which the trees, with a curiosity natural to some other creatures, asked him what he wanted? He replied, that he wanted only a piece of wood to make a handle to his hatchet. Since that was all, it was voted unanimously that he should have a piece of good, sound, tough ash. But he had no sooner received and fitted it for his purpose, than he began to lay about him unmercifully, and to hack and hew without distinction, felling the noblest trees in all the forest. Then the oak is said to have spoken thus to the beech, in a low whisper, “Brother, we must take it for our pains.”

A YOUNG mole snuffed up her nose, and told her dam she smelt an odd kind of a smell. By and by, “O strange!” says she, “what a noise there is in my ears; as if ten thousand paper-mills were going.” A little after, she was at it again. “Look, look, what is that I see yonder? it is just like the flames of a fiery furnace.” To whom the dam replied, “Prythee, child, hold your idle tongue; and if you would have us allow you any sense at all, do not affect to show more than nature has given you.”

AN OX, grazing in a meadow, chanced to set his foot among a parcel of young frogs, and trod one of them to death. The rest informed their mother, when she came home, what had happened, telling her that the beast which did it was the hugest creature that ever they saw in their lives “What, was it so big?” says the old frog, swelling and blowing up her speckled belly to a great degree. “O, bigger by a vast deal,” say they. “And so big?” says she, straining herself yet more. “Indeed, mamma,” say they, “if you were to burst yourself, you would never be so big.” She strove yet again, and burst herself indeed.

THE ass observing how great a favorite the little dog was with his master, how much caressed, and fondled, and fed with good bits at every meal; and for no other reason, as he could perceive, but skipping and frisking about, wagging his tail, and leaping up into his master's lap, he was resolved to imitate the same, and see whether such a behavior would not procure him the same favors. Accordingly, the master was no sooner come home from walking about the fields and gardens, and was seated in his easy chair, than the ass, who observed him, came gamboling and braying toward him, in a very awkward manner. The master could not help laughing aloud at the odd sight. But the jest soon turned into earnest when he felt the rough salute of the ass's fore-feet, who, raising himself upon his hinder legs, pawed against his breast with a most loving air, and would fain have jumped into his lap. The good man, terrified at this outrageous behavior, and unable to endure the weight of so heavy a beast, cried out, upon which one of his servants running in with a good stick, and laying on heartily upon the bones of the poor ass, soon convinced him, that every one who desires it is not qualified to be a favorite.

A BEAR, climbing over the fence into a place where bees were kept, began to plunder the hives, and rob them of their honey. But the bees, to revenge the injury, attacked him in a whole swarm together; and though they were not able to pierce his rugged hide, yet, with their little stings, they so annoyed his nostrils, that, unable to endure the smarting pain, with impatience he tore the skin over his ears with his own claws, and suffered ample punishment for the injury he did the bees, in breaking open their waxen cells.

Two men traveling upon the road, one of them saw an ax lying upon the ground, where somebody had been hewing timber; so, taking it up, says he: “I have found an ax.” “Do not say I,” says the other, “but we have found; for as we are companions, we ought to share it between us.” But the first would not consent. However, they had not gone far before the owner of the ax, hearing what had become of it, pursued them with a warrant; which, when the fellow that had it perceived, “Alas!” says he, to his companion, “we are undone” “Nay,” says the other, “do no not say we, but I am undone; for as you would not let me share the prize, neither will I share the danger with you.”

Two cocks were fighting for the sovereignty of the dung-hill. And one of them having got the better of the other, he that was vanquished crept into a hole, and hid himself for some time; but the victor flew up to an eminent place, clapped his wings, and crowed out victory. An eagle, who was watching for his prey near the place, saw him, and making a stoop, trussed him in his talons, and carried him off. The cock that had been beaten perceived this, soon quitted his hole, and shaking off all remembrance of his late disgrace, gallanted the hens with all the intrepidity imaginable.

A HEN finding some serpent's eggs in a dung-hill, sat upon them with a design to hatch them. A swallow perceiving it, flew toward her, and said with some warmth and passion: “Are you mad, to sit hovering over a brood of such pernicious creatures as you do? Be assured, the moment you bring them to light, you are the first they will attack, and reek their venomous spite upon.”

A PORCUPINE wanting to shelter himself, desired a nest of snakes to give him admittance into their cave. They were prevailed upon, and let him in accordingly; but were so annoyed with his sharp prickly quills, that they soon repented of their easy compliance, and entreated the porcupine to withdraw, and leave them their hole to themselves. “No,” says he, “let them quit the place that do not like it; for my part, I am well enough satisfied as I am.”

A CERTAIN house was much infested with mice; but at last they got a cat, who caught and eat every day some of them. The mice finding their numbers grow thin, consulted what was best to be done for the preservation of the public from the jaws of the devouring cat. They debated, and came to this resolution: that no one should go below the upper shelf. The cat, observing the mice no longer come down as usual, hungry and disappointed of her prey, had recourse to this stratagem: she hung by her hinder legs on a peg, which stuck in the wall, and made as if she had been dead, hoping by this lure to entice the mice to come down. She had not been in this posture long, before a cunning old mouse peeped over the edge of the shelf, and spoke thus: “Aha, my good friend! are you