A child that was at play in a field, by chance trod on a snake which stung him to death. The nurse, in a great rage, hit the snake a blow which struck off his tail. The next day she came to the snake’s hole to coax him with some salt and meal, that she might kill him. “I pray thee come forth,” said the nurse, “and let us make it up on both sides”; but she could in no way get the snake to leave his hole. All he would do was to give a hiss, and tell her that as long as she thought of the dead child, and he thought of the tail, they could not be friends. He who does you a wrong is sure not to love you. THE LARK AND THE FINCH. A poor lark was kept in a cage that hung on a wall, in a town that was full of dust and dirt. One day, as he stood on his piece of dead turf, to trill out his sweet song, a finch, who by chance flew that way, said, “How canst thou sing so blithe a strain, shut up in that vile cage?” “Finch, finch,” rang out the lark, in his clear tones, “know you not that if I did not sing while I am shut up here, I should fail to call to mind my song, when the time came for me to mount up to the sky?” It is meet for us to sing hymns of praise while we are on earth, to fit us for our flight to realms of bliss. THE DOVE AND THE ANT. A hot day in June drove a poor ant to take a sip from a clear brook, when she fell in, and went down with the stream. A dove that sat in a tree close by saw the ant fall, so she threw a leaf down to her in the brook, which the ant clung to, and so was brought safe to land. In a few days from this time, the ant saw a man take aim with his bow to shoot the dove, and, just in the nick of time, she stung him on the heel. This made him give a start, and spoilt his aim, so that the dove flew off safe and sound. Live, and let live. THE MAID AND HER MILK PAIL. One day, as a young maid went down the road with her pail of milk on her head, she was heard to say, “This pail of milk will fetch me so much, which sum I will lay out in eggs; these eggs will bring a score of chicks, and they will be fit to sell just at the time when fowls bear a good price; so that on May day I shall have a new gown. Let me see,--yes, green will suit me best, and green it shall be. In this dress I will go to the fair, and all who are there will pay their court to me; but with a proud look I shall turn from them.” [Illustration] Wrapt in this dream of joy, she gave a toss of the head to suit the words, when down came the pail of milk, and with it the eggs, the chicks, the green gown, and all the bright thoughts of what she would do at the fair. Count not your chicks till they are out of the shell. Each “may be” hath a “may not be.” THE HARE AND HER FRIENDS.