BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Judge not by outward form alone-
Now this, I think, at least,
May as a moral well be learned
From "Beauty and the Beast."

Trust not in wealth and worldly pomp,
The merchant well might say,
To whom such sad reverses came
On one unhappy day.

'Tis better far to work than grieve;
This, I am sure, might we
From the two foolish sisters learn,

Who wept so sullenly.

Of your position make the best,

Do cheerfully your duty;

A moral that will suit us all;

And this we learn from "Beauty."

honest hearts and open countenances, and the daughters were all handsome, dark-eyed ladies. But, as it frequently happens, the chief gifts of loveliness and grace had been bestowed upon the youngest of them all; and so bright and happy was her face, and so winning were all her ways, that, as a child, she had been the pet of the family; and, indeed, I have noticed that where there is a large family of children, the youngest generally occupies the position of pet, and keeps that enviable appointment until a new baby comes and gradually takes away the rights of the former one. Such a pretty child was this daughter, that even in

infancy she

had been called the "Little Beauty;" and the name still remained when she was a tall grown-up girl.

Happily indeed was it for the merchant that he loved his sons and daughters better than his wealth; for he little thought, as he sat at the head of his plentiful table, with his smiling guests around him, that a terrible misfortune had happened, and that he was, in fact, no better than a ruined man. One of his largest ships, with a very costly cargo, was miserably wrecked on the high seas, and only two of the sailors were saved, after clinging for days to the fragment of a mast; another equally valuable vessel was taken by pirates; and a third fell into the hands of the enemy's fleet. By land he was equally unfortunate: his largest warehouse was burned, and the Bedouins attacked and plundered a caravan conveying his goods across the desert. So, within a few months, he sank from the height of wealth and honour to the depth of poverty and want.

Very different from the splendid mansion they inhabited in the days of their prosperity, was the little quiet country house to which the merchant and his family removed when the misfortunes he had met with by sea and land left him a ruined and broken man. All the accessories of wealth had disappeared: there were no extensive pleasure-grounds, no fountains, groves of trees, or ornamental waters. The once wealthy merchant, whose capital had furnished the means of employing hundreds of servants, was now reduced to labour with his sons in the endeavour to gain the bare necessaries of life; and they had to toil early and late to procure even these. But to young people work is not in itself a hardship; and the Eastern proverb says that the sleep of him who toileth is sweet. The work the merchant and his sons had now to engage in consisted chiefly in the constant and diligent

cultivation of their little garden, for on its produce they mainly depended for their means of subsistence. Hard as their lot appeared, the three sons manfully met the reverse of fortune which had befallen them, and both by word and deed did all in their power to reconcile all the members of the family to their sudden change of position.

But with the daughters it was far different; and here was seen the benefit and advantage derived from habits of industry. The two elder sisters were always fretting about their losses, and their discontent rendered every privation doubly hard for themselves, and embittered the lot of the merchant and his sons. They could not enjoy the plain fare which the others ate with so much relish. They rose late, and spent the day in idleness, too proud and lazy

to devote themselves to any useful employment, and rather despising their brothers for working so hard. As there is nothing like work to drive away sorrow, so there is no means of increasing grief than persevering in a course of idleness. The two sisters were always vainly