Page:Short stories for little folks, or, Little tales calculated to excite juvenile minds to the love and practice of virtue.pdf/11

(11) drought; the flowers hid their drooping heads; no fragrant odours were perceived; and vegetation seemed to cease. To what cause muſt we impute the revival of nature?—To the rain which fell this morning, replied Alexis, with a modeſt confuſion. He was ſtruck with the selfiſhness and folly of his conduct; and his own bitter reflections anticipated the reproofs of Euphronius.

The Fallacy of External Appearance.

S there any hidden beauty, said Alexis to Euphronius, in that duſky, ill ſhaped ſtone, which you examine with so much attention? I am admiring the wonderful properties, not the beauty, replied Euphronius, which it poſſeſſes. It is by means of this ſtone that the mariner ſteers his trackless course through the vaſt ocean; and without it the spices of the Eaſt, the mines of Peru, and all the luxuries which commerce pours into Europe, would for ever have remained unknown.—The curioſity of Alexis was excited, and he was impatient to learn in what wonderful manner such advantages could be derived from a subſtance, apparently of so little value.---This magnet or loadſtone, for it is known by both names, said Euphronius, imparts to iron the property of settling itself, when nicely balanced,