THE FOX'S ADVICE TO THE HARE.
ONE day a fox discovered a fine chance to capture a pullet for his dinner, the only drawback being the fact that the farmer had set a trap just in the path which any depredator must travel. In this emergency the hungry Reynard hunted around until he found a hare, and after a few remarks on the state of the weather, he said:— "I was just thinking as I overtook you, what impudence some folks have." "Why, I met Miss Pullet a short time since, and she boasted of being able to outrun you." "The brassy creature!" exclaimed the hare. "Why, I can run as fast as she can fly!" "Certainly you can, but she is doing you great injury among your friends by her stories. If I were you I would see her, and warn her that this thing must stop." "I'll do it! I was built for speed, and everybody knows it, and I won't have no pullet boasting that she can outrun me. Come along and show me where she is." "Well, I'll go as a special favor to you, of course," humbly replied the fox, "and to show Miss Pullet what the foxes think of the hares, I will let you take the lead, and follow in your footsteps." As they neared the coop the hare began to arrange a little speech of greeting, but he soon had other fish to fry. He walked into the trap with eyes wide open, and ere he had recovered from the shock the fox had secured his dinner. "I am caught!" cried the hare as he struggled with the trap. "So I observe," was the reply. "And what is your advice?" "To get away as soon as you can!" Moral: Every neighborhood scandal has three lies to one truth. No person becomes a talebearer except to forward some scheme of his own. When a fox is anxious to preserve the reputation of a hare, let the hare look out.