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old Wind was behind them, and the Trees, and the foremost of them,—a deep-red oak-leaf,—and the Birds, and the very Air, shouted: "He 's mad! he 's mad!!"

Little Ted Williams sat on a flower-pot, making a jolly mud-pie, when he chanced to look up, and lo! in the distance he saw a great heap of Leaves blown by the Wind. As they passed him he caught

put it in his hat. His mother said the color of it was maroon, the fashionable shade this winter; but nobody heard the Birds and the Flowers say to a little gray squirrel, who was sitting on the rail fence:

"Old Oak's daughter won the race, after all. Just let your cousin know, will you?"

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"A PERSON OF CONSEQUENCE, CAREFULLY FED AND ATTENDED TO." THE PIG AND THE RAT.

A PIG, so fat that it could hardly move, once lolling indolently in its sty, saw a poor, half-starved rat, that, with much timid alertness, stole from its hiding-place, and after seizing one of the many grains of corn that lay scattered around, quickly escaped with his prize, and with very much the air of a beggar who had asked for something to eat, and had then run away, ashamed to be seen.

"You poor creature," grunted the pig, "what a life you lead; half starved and half frozen! Behold me now! Here I am, a person of consequence, carefully fed and attended to, with every morning fresh, sweet straw thrown to me to make my bed soft and warm. As for you, poor creat

ure, it is only at the risk of your life, by constant labor and struggles with your fellow-creatures, and even by beggary, to speak of nothing worse, that you can contrive to live at all."

"Please to recollect," said the rat, as he paused for a moment at the mouth of his hole, "when you heap your pity upon me, that you receive favors and benefits not on account of the love your master bears you, nor on account of your own worthiness, but because of the use which he intends making of you, when he has fattened you up to his liking. As for me, I do not live in constant fear of the butcher's knife, and I think it is likely that I shall keep my place in the world, poor as it is, much longer than you will keep yours."

THE LAZY CHIMNEY.

A CHIMNEY, feeling proud of the important position it held, refused to perform its duty.

"Here am I," it said, proudly, "an important and indispensable portion of this house to which I belong. Shall I, then, important as I am, continue to carry off the foul smoke, that even the very logs in the fire-place refuse to retain? Never!" Accordingly, the following day, instead of carrying off the smoke as usual, it sent it disdainfully into the house, nearly strangling the family within.

The master of the house soon perceiving where the fault lay, thus addressed the chimney:

"Since you refuse to fulfill the office that is required of you, and as you are neither an object of beauty nor an adornment to the house, you will soon discover that a useless object has no place in this world." Then calling his servants together, they soon demolished the chimney, and in its stead erected one that was more willing to perform a chimney's duty.

THE SAPLING AND THE SYCAMORE. A TENDER sapling, to protect itself from the various perils attendant upon its existence, had

grown closely to the trunk of a large and powerful sycamore, finding there security from danger.

One day, however, a terrible storm arose, and the sycamore, in spite of its struggles, was hurled prostrate upon the earth. In its fall it not only crushed the sapling beneath its huge bulk, but tore its very roots from the earth where it grew.

"Alas!" said the dying sapling, "how foolish it is to place utter dependence upon the strength of another!"

THE WIND AND THE MAN.

THE wind observed with amusement the vast labor with which a man built himself a house. "Ho! ho!" waved the wind, as it dashed down upon the laborer, do you expect that puny edifice to protect you from the elements? Behold! I with a breath can destroy it."

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THE CHILDISH VOICE SANG LOUD AND CLEAR, THE VAULTED HALLS ALONG."

"But if the holy Christmas hour Brings no kind thought to thee,

My little life is in thy power,

Set but my lady free,

And I will bless thee e'en for death,
Nor ask for liberty;

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