GRATITUDE OF AN ELEPHANT. 24l 



gent animal. A troop of elephants were accustomed to 

 pass a green-stall in their way to water. The woman 

 who kept the stall took a fancy to one of these beasts, 

 and frequently regaled her favourite with refuse greens 

 and fruit, which attached him to her. It happened 

 one day that they overturned her stall, and, in her 

 haste to preserve her goods, she forgot her little son, 

 who, by this neglect, was exposed to danger. The 

 elephant perceived the child's situation, took it up 

 with his proboscis, and carefully placed it in safety on 

 a shed near at hand. 



How superior in gratitude was this elephant to 

 many of the human race ! Of all the defects of dispo- 

 sition, ingratitude seems the most hateful and de- 

 praved : it argues a heart insensible to the best pro- 

 pensities of our nature. That neither of us may ever 

 feel its sting, is the sincere wish of your 



Caroline. 



