One day the Oak said to the Reed: "Nature has been indeed unkind to you. She has made you so weak that even the tiniest bird that flies bends you to earth beneath her little weight. The gentlest breeze that scarcely moves the surface of the lake has power to bend your head. "My head, which rises like a mountain, is not content to stop the blazing rays of sunshine, but braves even the tempest; the wind that to you seems to be a hurricane, to me is but a gentle sigh of wind at eventide. "If you had grown beneath the shelter of my leafy crown, with which I cover all the ground around, I would have saved you from the storms which make you suffer. Alas, you are most often found along the marshy borders of the kingdom of the winds. Nature, it seems to me, has been to you unjust." "Your pity," said the Reed, "comes from good nature, but have no care for me. The winds for me hold far less danger than they hold for you. I bend but do not break. You have till now resisted all their powerful blows and never bent your back. But wait the end." Just as the gentle little Reed ended these words, a great north wind rushed down from the horizon and flung itself on them with fury. The Reed bent low before it, but the tree defied the anger of the blast and held its head upright. But the strong wind drew back, doubled its force, and with a furious rush tore up the oak tree by its mighty roots. The blast passed on and in the quiet that it left behind, the Reed raised up her head, and looking sadly at the giant tree whose stately head lay in the waters of the stream, she sadly said: "_It is often well to bend before the storms that threaten us._" THE ADVANTAGE OF KNOWLEDGE ADAPTED FROM THE FRENCH OF LA FONTAINE Two citizens lived beside each other in a town in France. The one was rich and had a fine house, and a garden, horses, and carriages, and servants to wait on him. But he was stupid, for when he was a boy at school he learned nothing. The other man was poor in gold and silver, but he was rich in knowledge, and full of wisdom, and he knew all the beauty and the glory of the world. These two held constant arguments. The rich man said that nothing in the world should be held in honor but riches, and that the wise and learned should bow to him because of all his wealth. "My friend," he often said, "what use is it to read so many books? They do not bring you money! You have a small house, you wear the same coat in the winter that you do in summer." The wise man could not always answer back, he had too much to say, and often kept silence.