Page:Storys of the three beggars (1).pdf/24

 were stuck fast in bogs and quagmires, and the rest were thrown from their saddles to the great danger of their necks. Jack Easy, meanwhile, jogged on merrily; hot or cold, wet or dry, he never complained; he now preferred getting off, and opening a gate, to leaping over it; and smiled at an obstacle as at a turnpike, where he must necessarily pay toll.

The man who is contented either to walk, trot, or canter through life, has by much the advantage of his fellow travellers. He suits himself to all paces, and seldom quarrels with the tricks which the jade Fortune is sometimes disposed to play him. You might now see Jack Easy walking his hobby along the road, enjoying the scene around him, with contentment sparkling in his eyes. If the way happened to be crowded with horsemen and carriages, you might observe him very readily taking his own side of the road, and letting them pass. If it began to rain or blow, Jack only pulled up the collar of his great-coat, flapped his hat, and retreated to the best shelter he could find till the storm was over.

Thus my friend Jack Easy came in with a jog-trot to the end of his journey, leaving his example behind him as a kind of fingerpost for the good of other travellers

FINIS.