A Husbandman having placed nets in his fields to catch the Rooks and the Geese, which came to feed upon the new-sown corn, found among his prisoners a single Stork, who happened to be in their company. The Stork pleaded hard for his life, and among other arguments, alleged that he was neither Goose nor Crow, but a poor harmless Stork, whose attachment to mankind, and his services to them in picking up noxious creatures, as well as fulfilling his duties to his aged parents, he trusted, were well known. All this may be true, says the Husbandman, for what I know; but as I have taken you in company with thieves, and in the same crime, you must also share the same fate with them.
APPLICATION.
When we become so abandoned to stupidity and a disregard of our reputation, as to keep bad company, however little we may be criminal in reality, we must expect the same censure and punishment as is due to the most notorious of our companions. The world will always form an idea of the character of every man from his associates: nor is this rule founded on wrong principles; for, generally speaking, those who are constant companions, are either drawn together by a similitude of manners and principles, or form such a similitude by daily commerce and conversation. If, therefore, we are tender of our reputation, we should be particularly delicate in the choice of our company, since some portion of their fame or infamy must unavoidably be reflected upon us. It is not enough to be virtuous ourselves, but we must be cautious not to associate with those who are devoted to vice: for, though we cannot confer any degree of our own credit upon them, we may suffer much discredit, and incur much danger, from mixing with such bad companions.
THE TRAVELLERS AND THE BEAR.
Two Men being to travel through a forest together, mutually engaged to stand by each other in any danger they might encounter on the way. They had not gone far, before a Bear rushed towards them out of a thicket; upon which, one of them, being a light nimble fellow, got up the branches of a tree, and kept out of sight. The other falling flat upon his face, and holding his breath, lay still, while the Bear came up and smelled at him, but not discovering any marks of life, he walked quietly away again to the place of his retreat, without doing the Man the least harm. When all was over, the Spark who had climbed the tree, came down to his Companion, and asked him, what the Bear said to him? for, says he, I took notice that he clapt his mouth very close to your ear. Why, said the other, he advised me, for the future never to place any confidence in such a faithless poltroon as you.
APPLICATION.
There is nothing in this world that can lighten our burdens, in passing through it, or contribute more to our happiness, than our knowing we have a true friend, who will commiserate with and help us in our misfortunes, and on whom we can rely in times of difficulty and distress. There are many, indeed, who, with fair words, pretend to that character, and are ever ready to offer their services when there is no occasion for their help. But the real friend, like gold from the furnace, shines forth in his true lustre, and with heart and hand is ever ready to succour us, in times of tribulation and peril. It is on such only we ought to place a confidence in any undertaking of importance; for the man who is wholly actuated by the selfish unsocial principle of caring only for himself, is not fit to be associated with others of a more generous character; and he who will desert them in adversity ought not to be made a partaker of the prosperity of others. It therefore behoves us diligently to examine into the fidelity of those we have to deal with, before we embark with them in any enterprise, in which our lives and fortunes may be put to hazard by their breach of faith.