Page:Short stories for little folks, or, Little tales calculated to excite juvenile minds to the love and practice of virtue.pdf/20

(20) that Sophron's ears are more acute than yours, yet I diſapprove of your haſty deciſion concerning the impoſſibility of what you to little underſtand. You are ignorant of the nature of ſound, and of the various means by which it may be encreaſed, or quickened in its progreſs; and modeſty ſhould lead you, in ſuch a caſe to ſuſpend your judgment till you have made the proper and neceſſary inquiries. An opportunity now preſents itſelſ, which will afford Sophron the ſatisfaction he deſires. Place your ear at one end of this long rafter of dale timber, and I will ſcratch the other end with a pin. Alexis obeyed, and diſtinctly heard the ſound; which being conveyed through the tubes of the wood, was augmented in loudneſs, as in a ſpeaking trumpet, or the horn of the huntſman.

and credulity are equally unfavourable to the acquiſition of knowledge. The latter anticipates, and the former precludes all enquiry. One leaves the mind ſatisfied with error, the other with ignorance.

Lying.

ENDACULUS was a youth of good parts, and of amiable, diſpoſitions; but by keeping bad company he had contracted, in an extreme degree, the odious