So in the flourish of its outwardness
Wasting the sap and strength
That should have given forth fruit;
But when I pruned the tree,
Then it grew temperate in its vain expanse
Of useless leaves, and knotted, as thou seest,
Into these full, clear clusters, to repay
The hand that wisely wounded it.
Repine not, O my son!
In wisdom and in mercy heaven indicts,
Like a wise leech, its painful remedies.

SOUTHEY.


WEATHERCOCKS.


Weathercocks do not always show the real direction of a very gentle wind.
The strange figures of them, usually the productions of capricious fancy,
is one cause of their imperfection as vanes to indicate the wind. Griffins,
half-moons, foxes, or figures of St. Margaret and the dragon, are not good
shapes for weathercocks, which ought to be plain fans, the large surface of
one side being counterbalanced against the weight of the other.


THE VALUE OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS.


A general, though superficial acquaintance with such subjects as