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more pleasant for such a warm day, I confess," said Grace. "But when we consider the trouble it would have made, perhaps we are as well off with our pure water. I am sure we have nothing to complain of, at least."

36. "At all events there is no use in complaining to you,' returned William, "for you are always content, let what

will happen."

37. Is it not best to be so?" said Grace.

38. "To be sure it is," replied William. "I only wish I could follow your example. But, somehow or other, I do frequently feel disposed to grumble."

39. "I used to have the same kind of feeling very often," replied Grace. "But, fortunately for me, my father showed me the folly of it, and convinced me that I should be much happier if I would leave it off."

40. "But didn't you find it difficult to leave off grumbling?" said William.

41. "I did, I assure you," replied Grace; "and if my father had not taken a great deal of pains to confirm me in my good resolutions, I don't know that I should have succeeded. But still this difficulty arose wholly from my own heedlessness; and I have no doubt that any one might cure himself of this, or any other bad habit, if he only undertook it with a sufficiently firm resolution."

42. At this moment a scream was heard from the girls seated opposite, and, while some of them jumped upon the log, others ran off.

43. "Why, what's the matter with the girls?" cried Grace.

44. "Oh, its nothing but a striped snake which has crawled out from under the log they were sitting on," said John Darling.

45. John hastily broke off a switch from a bush near the spring, and with a few blows put a period to the object of their terror. Some of the girls, however, were so much alarmed at the occurrence, that they could not again be prevailed on to take their seats on the log, so John proposed to resume the botanizing, and returning by the way they came, to examine the ravine between the mills.

46.How came you to kill that poor, harmless creature?" said William Turner to John.

47. "Why, what a strange fellow you are!" replied he. "Who ever came across a snake without killing it?"

48. "Did you never hear the rhyme

about it?" said Julia Brown.

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such a silly, superstitious rhyme as that, for taking the life of a harmless animal that never offended you?" said William.

50. But many of the snakes are dangerous, poisonous reptiles," said Julia.

51. "I know it," said William: "and nobody would object to their being destroyed. In this neighborhood, however, and in all the old-settled countries, there has not been a poisonous snake for a great many years. They have all either been killed, or have fled from their inveterate enemy, man.'

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52. "But it was a snake that deceived Eve, and brought sin and misery into the world," said John Darling.

53. "That argument is good for nothing," said William. "Common sense, and the whole Scripture lead us to conclude, that the serpent was only the instrument, Satan the real actor in this matter; who is therefore called the serpent, the old dragon, a liar, and a murderer from the beginning!* and the serpent was chosen as the instrument of Satan, because any cunning in him might be thought to proceed from his native wit and subtlety; which, had it been observed in any other creature, would have alarmed Eve, and made her suspect some devilish thing to be acting within the snake."+

54. "And would you kill no animal that was not poisonous?" said John.

*Scott's Commentary on the Bible.

+ Newton's Notes on Milton's Paradise Lost.

55. "Cowper, the poet, has some beautiful lines on this subject," said William. "I believe I have heard you repeat them, Miss Grace. Will you have the goodness to favor us with them now?"

56. "With pleasure," replied Grace; and, without farther entreaty, she repeated the following lines:

I would not enter on my list of friends

(Though grac'd with polish'd manners, and fine sense, Yet wanting sensibility) the man

Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail
That crawls at evening in the public path;
But he that has humanity, forewarn'd,
Will tread aside, and let the reptile live.
The creeping vermin, loathsome to the sight,
And charg'd perhaps with venom, that intrudes
A visiter unwelcome into scenes

Sacred to neatness and repose, th' alcove,
The chamber, or refectory, may die :
A necessary act incurs no blame.

Not so, when, held within their proper bounds,
And guiltless of offence, they range the air,
Or take their pastime in the spacious field.
There they are privileg'd. And he that hurts
Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong;
Disturbs the economy of nature's realm,
Who, when she form'd, design'd them an abode.
The sum is this: if man's convenience, health,
Or safety, interfere, his rights and claims.
Are paramount, and must extinguish theirs.
Else they are all, the meanest things that are,-
As free to live, and to enjoy that life,

As God was free to form them at the first,
Who, in his sovereign wisdom, made them all.

Ye, therefore, who love mercy, teach your sons
To love it too. The spring-time of our years

Is soon dishonor'd and defil'd, in most,
By budding ills, that ask a prudent hand
To check them. But, alas! none sooner shoots,
If unrestrain’d, into luxuriant growth,
Than cruelty, most devilish of them all.
Mercy, to him that shows it, is the rule
And righteous limitation of its act,

By which Heaven moves in pard'ning guilty man:
And he that shows none, being ripe in years,
And conscious of the outrage he commits,
Shall seek it, and not find it in his turn.

57. "What beautiful sentiments!" cried William; "and they are as true as they are beautiful! And how reasonable and plain is the rule laid down! If an animal is troublesome, or dangerous, we have a right to remove or destroy it. But if it keeps out of our way, and troubles us not, and only claims its share in the free woods or fields, it is the height of cruelty to harm it; and he who does so out of mere wantonness, will have no claim to that mercy from the common FATHER and BENEFACTOR of all living beings, of which every one stands so much in need."

Repeat the substance of this lesson. Let the teacher examine the pupils particularly as to the meaning of every line of the poetry, as follows: What is the meaning of "enter on my list of friends?" grac'd with polish'd manners? wanting sensibility? inadvertent step? forewarn'd? &c., to the end. Who are the happiest, the contented or

the discontented? Who are the most beloved? Who made the brute animals? Do you think that he desires to see them happy, or not? Do you think he will be pleased to see us torment, or kill them, when they do not offer to harm us? If a young person is accustomed to be

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