Page:Original stories from real life 1796.pdf/88

Rh tried to gobble it up from one another. Caroline bluſhed, ſhe ſaw this ſight was meant for her, and ſhe felt aſhamed of her gluttony. But Mrs. Maſon, willing to impreſs her ſtill more ſtrongly, thus addreſſed her.

Providence, my child, has given us paſſions and appetites for various purpoſes—two are generally obvious, I will point them out to you. First to render our preſent life more comfortable, and then to prepare us for another, by making us ſociable beings; as in ſociety virtue is acquired, and ſelf-denial practiſed. A moderate quantity of proper food recruits our exhauſted ſpirits, and invigorates the animal functions; but, if we exceed moderation, the mind will be oppreſſed, and ſoon become the ſlave of the body, or both grow liſtleſs and inactive. Employed various ways, families meet at meals, and there giving up to each other, learn in the moſt eaſy, pleaſant way to govern their appetites. Pigs, you ſee, devour what they can get; but men, if they have any Rh