Page:Short stories for little folks, or, Little tales calculated to excite juvenile minds to the love and practice of virtue.pdf/10

(10) Selfish Sorrow reproved.

T was a holiday in the month of June, and Alexis had prepared himself to set out, with a party of his companions, upon a little journey of pleasure. But the ſky lowered, the clouds gathered, and he remained for some time in anxious suspense about his expedition; which at laſt was prevented by heavy and continued rain. The disappointment overpowered his fortitude; he burſt into tears; lamented the untimely change of weather; and sullenly refused all consolation.

In the evening the clouds were dispersed; the sun ſhone with unusual brightness; and the face of nature seemed to be renewed in vernal beauty. Euphronius carried Alexis into the fields. The ſtorm of paſſion in his breaſt was now ſlilled; and the serenity of the air, the muſic of the feathered songſters, the verdure of the meadows, and the sweet perfumes which breathed around, regaled every sense, and filled his mind with peace and joy.

Don't you remark, said Euphronius, the delightful change which has suddenly taken place in the whole creation. Recollect the appearance of the scene before us yeſterday. The ground was then parched with a long