THE DEW-DROPS.

66

THERE was once a little boy very much beloved by his parents on account of his readiness to learn, and the excellence of his disposition. He was generally cheerful and happy; but one morning he complained to his father because the dew-drops were not permitted to live longer on the flowers. He wanted them to glitter and sparkle all through the day, just as they did in the morning. The sun, ," said the child, "has chased them away with his heat, and swallowed them up in his wrath." Soon afterwards there came rain and a rainbow, to which the father pointed upward-"See !" said he, "there stand the dew-drops, gloriously reset, a glittering jewelry in the heavens. Thus learn, my child, that which withers on earth, often lives and shines more brightly on high." So spake the father, and in so speaking he uttered prophetic language; for in a few days after this, his little boy, with all his loveliness and intelligence, was summoned away from earth-exhaled like bright dew-drops from beneath the eye of the fond father; only, however, to shine with increased lustre in a clearer sky.

YES: and brick after brick, and the house is reared-stone after stone, and the palace is erected-timber after timber, and the ship is built-barrowful after barrowful, and the railroad is made!

Just so is it in something else. Letters joined to letters, make words-words joined to words, make sentences-sentences joined to sentences, make chapters-chapters joined to chapters, make books.

Showers fall in single drops, which mingle and run into little brooks, and the brooks run into

rivulets, and the rivulets into the rivers, and the rivers into the sea.

Begin with letters, which are the single drops, mingle them into words, swell them into sentences, expand them into volumes, and they will carry you on to the great ocean of universal knowledge. Even Sir Isaac Newton had first to learn his A B C.

PICKING UP A PIN!

M. LAFITTE, the rich French banker, was a native of Switzerland. He went to Paris in 1778 to seek for a situation, and applied to a celebrated Swiss banker, M. Perregaux, who replied "It is impossible for me to admit you into my establishment-at least, for the present, all my offices have their full complement. If I require one at a future time, I will see what can be done; but in the meantime I advise you to seek elsewhere, for I do not expect to have a vacancy for some time."

With a disappointed heart, the young aspirant for employment left the office, and while with a downcast look he traversed the court yard, he stooped to pick up a pin which lay in his path, and which he carefully stuck in the lappel of his coat. Little did he think that this trivial action was to decide his future fortune, but so it was.

From the window of his cabinet, M. Perregaux had observed the action of the young man. The Swiss banker was one of those keen observers of human actions who estimate the value of circumstances apparently trifling in themselves, and, which would pass unnoticed by the majority of mankind. He was delighted with the conduct of the young stranger. In this simple action, he saw the revelation of a character; it was a guarantee of a love of order and economy, a certain pledge of all the qualities which should be possessed by a good financier. A young man who would pick up a pin could not fail to make a good clerk, merit the confidence of his employer, and attain a high degree of prosperity.

In the evening of the same day, M.Laffitte received the following note from M. Perregaux:

"A place is made for you in my office, which you may take possession of to-morrow morning."

The anticipations of the banker were not deceived. The young Laffitte possessed every desirable quality, and even more than was at first expected. From simple clerk, he soon rose to be cashier, then partner, then head of the bankinghouse in Paris, and afterwards, in rapid succession, a deputy and president of the Council of Ministers, the highest point to which a citizen can aspire. On what a trifle does the fortune of a man sometimes

depend? But for the simple incident of the pin, M. Laffitte would, perhaps, never have entered into the house of M. Perregaux; another employer might not have opened to him so wide a field of action, and his talents and intelligence would not have led to such great results.

OLD JOHNNY-THE TOAD.

THE Toad is distinguished from the frog, by its clumsier appearance, and sluggish crawling movements; its body is covered with small pimples, from which, when alarmed, a humour flows, capable, in the instance of the Surinam toad, of blistering the skin when applied to it; but which has improperly been considered poisonous. The most probable use of this liquid is to moisten the body of the animal when exposed to the heat of the sun, the warmth of whose rays would other