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"Don't believe him? Why, father, I should not think you ought to conclude that the man told a ie, just from his appearance."

7. "I did not say he told a lie. At least, I meant a different thing. I neither believe, nor disbelieve. I have no means of judging, and so I keep my judgnent in suspense. He tells me there is no other

wagon in the place.

8. "Now, men generally tell the truth, unless they have an interest in falsehood; and he has an interest in preventing our finding another wagon, for he wants us to hire his. So I am in doubt, whether I ought to receive his testimony or not."

9. "But, father," rejoined Rollo, not convinced, "I should think that not believing what he says, is just the same as believing he told a lie.”

10. "I suppose it is, with you. When you don't believe a thing, you positively disbelieve it. You have not learned yet to hold your judgment in suspense, for better evidence. But I have; and I presume you will, before you are as old as I am.

11. "Do you believe your mother is in the parlor now?"

"I don't know any thing about it," said Rollo, "whether she is or not."

12. "Then," replied his father, "you cannot be said to believe that she is in the parlor."

"No, sir," said Rollo.

"And do you believe that she is not in the parlor ?"

"No, sir: I don't know," said Rollo, emphatically.

13. "Well, now," rejoined his father, "the philosophy of it is just this: You have no evidence at all in respect to your mother's being in the parlor, or not being in the parlor, just at this time, and so your mind holds itself in suspense. It neither believes nor disbelieves, but waits for evidence.

14. "This is a very common condition for the mind to be in. Even the minds of boys hold themselves in suspense, when there is no evidence what

ever.

15. "But when there is a little evidence, or only a little appearance of evidence, they are very apt to iump to a decision, right or wrong, and to believe or disbelieve very confidently. But sensible men, who have had experience, and profited by it, disregard the insufficient evidence, and still hold their minds in suspense."

16. "That is the best way, I think," said Rollo. "Now, in this case," continued his father, "although appearances are against the man, there is not sufficient evidence to justify me in deciding against him, nor is there sufficient to induce me to place confidence in his testimony. So I neither believe nor disbelieve.

17. "Children generally hold their judgments in suspense as long as there is no evidence at all; but as soon as there is any evidence, or any appearance of evidence, however slight, they at once decide, and half the time are wrong. But sensible men pause and examine the evidence, and do not allow their minds to decide until it is satisfactory."

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1. ROLLO and his father soon arrived at the door of a small store, upon a corner where two roads met. They went in, and Rollo's father asked the man if he knew of any body near, who could probably let him have a horse and wagon to go four or five miles.

2. The man said he had one himself. Mr. Holi

day was very glad; and after agreeing about the price, he engaged it, and they all went out together to a little barn, pretty near, to harness the horse.

3. "I am very glad to get your wagon," said Mr. Holiday. "I was afraid that I should not get one. I understood from the tavernkeeper that there was not one in the village."

"Yes," replied the man, smiling sarcastically, "I suppose he wanted you to wait for his."

4. "Yes," said Mr. Holiday, "he said he expected it very soon."

"Very soon!" rejoined the storekeeper, in a tone of contempt; "his wagon will not be back till the middle of the afternoon. It has gone off twenty miles."

5. Rollo and his father went over to the tavern to get their baggage ready, and the wagon was to be sent after them, with a boy to drive them, and bring it back.

On their way, Rollo said,

"What a man, to tell two such lies!"

6. "What lies do you mean?" said Rollo's father.

"Why, the two lies that the tavernkeeper told us. He said there was no other wagon in the place, and that his was coming back very soon, when in fact it is twenty miles off."

"How do you know it is twenty miles off?" said his father.

7. "Why, the storekeeper told us so," said Rollo, looking up eagerly into his father's face.

"And why do you believe the storekeeper any more than the tavernkeeper?" asked his father. "We know nothing of his character, and so do not know how much confidence to place in what he says.

8. "It is clear that the tavernkeeper told us one falsehood, for we actually see that there is another

wagon; but as to the other question, whether his own horse and wagon have gone off twenty miles, or only a short distance, we have not any sufficient ground for deciding which of the contradictory assertions to believe.

9. This, you see, is another of those cases, in which we ought to keep our judgment in suspense, and wait for further evidence."

As they reached the tavern, the horse with the wagon, they had engaged, was driven up to the door. A strange boy sat on a small box in front of them, going with them to drive. They had proceeded but a short distance before they saw a wagon coming towards them.

10. There is the tavernkeeper's wagon, I suppose," said Rollo, "coming now."

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"Yes," said the strange boy, "that is his wagon.' 11. "So the tavernkeeper," began Rollo; but he checked himself, and did not finish what he began. He was going to say that the tavernkeeper told one truth, and the storekeeper one falsehood; but he did not know that it would be proper, to speak freely on the subject in the presence of the boy.

12. His father said nothing for the same reason; but he was confirmed in his suspicions, that the two men were rivals and enemies, and both of them unprincipled. He was glad to get away, and have no more to do with them.

THE FIRST SPRING FLOWER.

1. THE sun shone warm on an early spring day,
And melted the snow from a hillock away;
A small blue flower felt the genial glow,
And ventured up from the sod below

She looked around her, but far and near
Was nothing but snow, shining cold and clear
No leaf, no blossom, no bud was seen,

No waving tree, and no fields of green.

2. "Ah me!" sighed the floweret, "now what can I do,

Here, all alone, in this world of snow?

Already I shake in the wind's chilly breath:
When the sun is gone, I shall freeze to death."
While yet she spake, from the ground arose
Two broad, thick leaves, which her form enclose.
Their silken hairs, as the velvet fine,

In the light of the sun, like silver shine,

And close by her side, on either hand,

A guard from the freezing winds, they stand.

3. "Ah, sure," said the floweret, "there, somewhere, must dwell

One who knows all that happens, and does all things well.

Though he suffers the wind to blow from the

north,

He raises this screen of warm fur from the earth. In a hard-frozen world though my lot has been

cast,

He gives me a shield from its pitiless blast.
His love and protection to all must be known,
Since no earthly blossom is left here alone.”

PERSEVERANCE.

1. THIS noble attribute of the mind is the moving power of all the others, without which every mental faculty would be inert.

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