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man who knew so well how to get rich, yet in private every one blamed his cruel and unnatural conduct, while they praised the noble affection of his poorer brother. We may be sure that George did not act thus without being reproved by his own conscience; he knew that he was doing wrong, and was angry with any one who spoke to him about his parents, which shewed that he was aware of his fault. One day his mother came to see him; she thought it hard that the poor son should have all the burden of supporting his parents, and wished to get some aid from his wealthy brother. She was kept waiting for a long time before he was at leisure to speak to her; and when he heard the errand on which she came, he rose up in a great passion, blamed her for extravagance, in not laying past money when she had any, although he knew that every penny was spent on his own education; and after grumbling about his poverty he promised to

give his parents the large sum of half-a-crown a week. Having sent his mother away, he concluded a bargain for a new carriage, which cost £200, and in which the hard-hearted man many a time drove past the humble cottage where his aged parents found a shelter under the roof of his more dutiful brother. His pride would have been sadly mortified, had he heard what the clergyman said one evening in the Sunday school. "Dear children," said he, "never forget your duty to support your parents; you may ride in a carriage and be the richest people in the town, but if you are ungrateful to your parents, all your wealth will only make your ingratitude the more disgraceful; and if any misfortune should overtake you, few will pity you, none will help you, and every one will be ready to tell you that it is just what you deserve!"

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DUTY TO PARENTS.

No one likes to be thought or called ungrateful. We ourselves despise any child who shews no gratitude for kindnesses which he receives, and we feel that every one ought to despise us if we should ever prove ungrateful. But we do not always remember to whom we owe the most gratitude. We think it base not to feel grateful to a stranger who may have given us a small present, or have protected us from danger; but we sometimes forget that it is much more base for us not to feel grateful to our parents who have given us all that we have, and have been shewing us kindness every day of our lives. Nobody can do us nearly so much good as our parents have done; and yet while we would be willing to do much to please a stranger who has once or twice been kind to us, we are sometimes not so willing to do everything to

please those parents who have so long been kind to us. No gratitude that we can shew can ever repay them for the care and anxiety which we have caused them. When we see how tenderly a mother watches over her child, how careful she is to protect it from all harm, how anxiously she tries every plan to give it pleasure, how willingly she denies herself any comfort, and endures any labour, if she may by that means increase her child's happiness; and when sickness happens, how gently she smooths the pillow, and how affectionately she tends the sick-bed--when we see all this, and we see it every day, we feel that nothing which that child can do can be too great a return for such kindness as this. And then how cheerfully does the father go, day after day, to his labour, and how willingly does he expose himself to many hardships and much fatigue, which he might otherwise avoid, that he may be able to provide his family with food and clothes, and

everything that is necessary for their comfort.

If we thought oftener how much our parents have done for us, and how many anxious thoughts and weary hours they must have had on our account, we should feel more deeply how grateful we ought to be to them, and should be more ready to do what little lies in our power to serve them. Some parents are unkind to their children; they give them little food; sometimes beat them; and turn them into the streets to steal, or beg, or starve; and never think of sending them to school, or teaching them any trade by which they may get their living. We sometimes see these unhappy children in the streets, and while we should feel sorry for them as they shiver along in the cold with their red frost-bitten feet, their sharp hungry faces, and their tattered clothes, we should resolve that we will do cheerfully anything that may please parents who have dealt so

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