On the neat little cottage, the grove and the thorn,
And felt that the riches and tinsels of life,
Were dross, to contentment, with Bob and his wife.
[From Dickens's Household Words.]
CLASS OPINIONS.
A FABLE.
A lamb strayed for the first time into the woods, and excited much discussion among the other animals. In a mixed company, one day, when he became the subject of a friendly gossip, the goat praised him.
"Pooh!" said the lion, "this is too absurd. The beast is a pretty beast enough, but did you hear him roar? I heard him roar, and, by the manes of my fathers, when he roars he does nothing but cry ba-a-a!" And the lion bleated his best in mockery, but bleated far from well.
"Nay," said the deer, "I do not think so badly of his voice. I liked him well enough until I saw him leap. He kicks with his hind legs in running and, with all his skipping, gets over very little ground."