FANNY. And there is that little figure, Martha Jones, come down now: do look, as broad as she is long: what a little fright that child is, to be sure! MOTHER. Pray, Fanny, was that remark—useful or necessary?

FANNY. O but, mamma, I assure you, my tongue is quite well now.

MOTHER. I am sorry for it, my dear. Do you know, I should think it well worth while to bite my tongue every day, if there were no other means of keeping it in order.

At this the girls laughed; but their mother resuming her gravity, thus continued :—

66

My dear girls, I should before now have put a stop to this idle gossiping, if I had not hoped to convince you of the folly of it. It is no wonder, I confess, that at your age you should learn to imitate a style of remark which is but too prevalent in society. Nothing indeed is more contagious: but let me also tell you, that girls of your age, and of your advantages, are capable of seeing the meanness of it: and ought to despise it. It is the chief end of education to raise the minds of women above such trifling as this. But if a young person who has been taught to think, whose taste has been cultivated, and who might therefore possess internal resources, has as much idle curiosity about the affairs of her neighbours, and is as fond of retailing petty scandal concerning them, as an uneducated woman, it proves that her mind is incurably mean and vulgar, and that cultivation is lost upon her.

"This sort of gossiping, my dear girls, is the

disgrace of our sex. The pursuits of women lying necessarily within a narrow sphere, they naturally sink, unless raised by refinement, or by strong principle, into that littleness of character for which even their own husbands and fathers (if they are men of sense) are tempted to despise them. The minds of men, from their engagements in business, necessarily take a larger range; and they are, in general, too much occupied with concerns comparatively important, to enter into the minute details which But women of education have no such plea to urge. When your father and I direct you to this or that pursuit, it is not so much for the sake of your possessing that particular branch of knowledge; but that by knowledge in general, you may become intelligent and superior; and that you may be furnished with resources which will save you from the miserable necessity of seeking amusement from intercourse with your neighbours, and an acquaintance with their affairs.

amuse women.

"Let us suppose, now, that this morning you had been all more industriously inclined; and had been engaged in any of your employments with that ardour which some happy young people manifest in the acquisition of knowledge; would you, in that case, have felt any desire to know the date of Mrs. W.'s pelisse; or any curiosity in the proceedings of our neighbours the Jones's? No: you would then have thought it a most impertinent interruption, if any one had attempted to entertain you with such particulars but when the mind is indolent and empty, then it can receive amusement from the most

contemptible sources. Learn then to check this mean propensity. Despise such thoughts whenever you are tempted to indulge them: recollect that this low curiosity is the combined result of idleness, ignorance, emptiness, and ill-nature; and fly to useful occupation as the most successful antidote against the evil. Nor let it be forgotten, that such impertinent remarks as these come directly under the description of those "idle words," of which an account must be given in the day of judgment. Yes, this vulgar trifling is as inconsistent with the spirit of christian benevolence, and with the grand rule of 'doing to others as we would that they should do to us,' as it is with refinement of taste and dignity of character."

“Who would have thought," said little Fanny, "that my happening to bite my tongue this morning would have led to all this ?"

"It would be a fortunate bite for you, Fanny, said her mother, "and for your neighbours, if it should make you more careful in the use of it. It we were liable to such a misfortune whenever we use our tongues improperly, some persons would be in a constant agony :-now, if our consciences were but half as sensible as our nerves, they would answer the purpose much better.-Foolish talking pains a good conscience, just as continual speaking hurts a sore tongue; and if we did but regard one smart as much as the other, it would act as a constant check upon the unruly member.

XXI.

THE DISCONTENTED PENDULUM.

AN old clock that had stood for fifty years in a farmer's kitchen without giving its owner any cause of complaint, early one summer's morning, before the family was stirring, suddenly stopped.

Upon this, the dial-plate (if we may credit the fable) changed countenance with alarm: the hands made an ineffectual effort to continue their course; the wheels remained motionless with surprise; the weights hung speechless; each member felt disposed to lay the blame on the others. At length the dial instituted a formal inquiry as to the cause of the stagnation; when hands, wheels, weights, with one voice, protested their innocence. But now a faint tick was heard below, from the pendulum, who thus spoke :

"I confess myself to be the sole cause of the present stoppage; and am willing, for the general satisfaction, to assign my reasons. The truth is, that I am tired of ticking." Upon hearing this, the old clock became so enraged that it was on the point of striking.

Lazy wire!" exclaimed the dial-plate, holding up its hands.

"Very good!" replied the pendulum, "it is vastly easy for you, Mistress Dial, who have always, as every body knows, set yourself up above me-it is

D D

in

vastly easy for you, I say, to accuse other people of laziness! You, who have had.nothing to do all the days of your life but to stare people in the face, and to amuse yourself with watching all that goes on in the kitchen! Think, I beseech you, how you would like to be shut up for life in this dark closet, and wag backwards and forwards, year after year, as I do." "As to that," said the dial, " is there not a window your house on purpose for you to look through ?” "For all that," resumed the pendulum, "it is very dark here: and although there is a window, I dare not stop, even for an instant, to look out. Besides, I am really weary of my way of life; and if you please, I'll tell you how I took this disgust at my employment. This morning I happened to be calculating how many times I should have to tick in the course only of the next twenty-four hours: perhaps some of you, above there, can give me the exact sum."

The minute hand, being quick at figures, instantly replied, "Eighty-six thousand, four hundred times."

"Exactly so," replied the pendulum: "well, I appeal to you all, if the thought of this was not enough to fatigue one? and when I began to multiply the strokes of one day by those of months and years, really it is no wonder if I felt discouraged at the prospect: so after a great deal of reasoning and hesitation, thinks I to myself-I'll stop."

The dial could scarcely keep its countenance during this harangue; but, resuming its gravity, thus replied: