348 FABLES. 



advised me, for the future, never to place any 

 confidence in such a faithless poltron as you. 



APPLICATION. 



THERE is nothing in this world that can lighten 

 our burdens, in passing through it, or contribute 

 more to our happiness, than our knowing we have 

 a true friend, who will commiserate with and help 

 us in our misfortunes, and on whom we can rely 

 in times of difficulty and distress. There are 

 many, indeed, who, with fair words, pretend to 

 that character, and are ever ready to offer their 

 services when there is no occasion for their help. 

 But the real friend, like gold from the furnace, 

 shines forth in his true lustre, and with heart and 

 hand is ever ready to succour us, in times of tribu- 

 lation and peril. It is on such only we ought to 

 place a confidence in any undertaking of import- 

 ance; for the man who is wholly actuated by the 

 selfish unsocial principle of caring only for himself, 

 is not fit to be associated with others of a more 

 generous character; and he who will desert them 

 in adversity ought not to be made a partaker of 

 the prosperity of others. It therefore behoves us 

 diligently to examine into the fidelity of those we 

 have to deal with, before we embark with them in 

 any enterprise, in which our lives and fortunes 

 may be put to hazard by their breach of faith. 



