"Well," replied the clover, "let it be so _now_; but look at our _final
end_. You will be placed in a glass, plucked from your native stem,
where you will wither and die as a worthless thing; while I shall be
felled by the scythe, after I have reached my maturity, and then a
thousand tiny seeds will I strow around me; so that, another reason, I
shall bloom all about the hedges, and my usefulness will be appreciated.
And pray where will you then be?" The dahlia blushed, and hung its head
for shame.

Here, children, is a fable designed to illustrate pride and humility.
Which appears the most beautiful, because the most useful? I know you
will prefer humility to pride. If so, you must remember that the
peculiar traits you now cultivate are forming within you the one or the
other. By a thousand little kind acts, you can diffuse happiness in your
homes; and all the while you are disseminating these virtues, you are
acquiring these lasting graces, in _yourselves_, which will spring up,
like the violet and sweet clover, leaving a fragrancy and beauty
wherever you have trodden.




A TALK WITH THE CHILDREN.


Dear children,--although I am _almost_ a stranger among you, yet I feel
a true interest in your welfare. It gives me great pleasure when I enter
the Sabbath school to meet your happy countenances and smiling faces.
Children, you do not assemble together for the purpose of passing an
hour that perhaps might pass unpleasantly elsewhere. It is for a higher