THE trees were making each his boast The Cedar, of its firmness proud, The Palm thus claimed from all, the meed Of homage and of duty: "In two great points I all exceed, Utility and beauty." The Fir, the Maple, and the Pine, By strength of form protected, Looked down with scorn upon the Vine, "Alas! I own my feebleness; No friend," she cried, "is near me; Oh! who will pity my distress? Ah! naught have I to cheer me. "No branch, no blossom, fruit or stem, I sigh when I compare with them,— "But hold! I will not make complaint; "On cheering hope my trust relies ; The Farmer saw the drooping vine, A clust'ring store, delicious wealth! For the rich treasure of the vine Enlivens every station, With its rich fruit and cheering wine; 44 DISCONTENT.-THE PASSIONS. And now the farmer daily sees The vine's reward for patient hope I have above recorded. MORAL. Patience and resignation are sure to meet their reward! DISCONTENT. THESE are, says Archbishop Tillotson, beyond comparison, the two greatest evils in this world; a diseased body, and a discontented mind. The discontented man is ever restless and uneasy, dissatisfied with his station in life, his connections, and almost every circumstance that happens to him. He is continually peevish and fretful, impatient of every injury he receives, and unduly impressed with every disappointment he suffers. He considers others as happier than himself, and enjoys hardly any of the blessings of providence with a calm and grateful mind. He forms to himself a thousand distressing fears concerning futurity, and makes his condition unhappy, by anticipating the misery he may endure, years to come. PASSIONS are strong emotions of the mind, occasioned by the view of approaching good or evil. These emotions are planted in man by Providence, in order to give him activity, and fit him for society. The directing of our passions to improper objects, or suffering them to hurry us away with them, is the great danger in human life. THE FOX AND THE GRAPES. 45 History is nothing but a catalogue of the miseries brought upon mankind by an improper indulgence of their passions. How ought it to be the constant business of rational creatures to regulate and chastise these internal tyrants! How carefully ought we to guard against yielding to the first impulses! And how ought all our education to be directed to a proper government of them. Nothing will so effectually contribute to this as a proper sense of religion. Christianity, by a sort of divine alchemy, makes those passions, which have been working for sin, become active in the cause of piety. WE sometimes see people strive to attain what is beyond their reach. After many vain attempts, they give up the pursuit and then pretend that the object they sought so ardently is worthless, and that they would not have it if they could. Such people are alluded to in the following Fable. A Fox, who having failed to pick, Though prowling all around the village, Saw, from a trellis, hanging high, Some grapes, with purple bloom inviting: The luscious fruit would fain be biting. His carcass, than a weasel's thinner, He thought, though fortune brought no dinner, A tantalizing branch to gain, With many a spring, and many a bound, With this remark he quits the ground: "Let those who like such trash, devour ;- HAPPINESS. VARIOUS, sincere, and constant are the efforts of men to procure that happiness which the nature of the mind requires; but most seem to be ignorant both of the source and means of genuine felicity. Religion alone can afford true joy and permanent peace. It is this that inspires fortitude, supports pa |