The Meteor and the North Pole Star.
A FIERY meteor was once upon a time so puffed up by a sense of his own importance, and so anxious to display himself to the inhabitants of the earth in his full glory, dressed in his ever-changing robes of colored light, that he challenged the Pole Star, as the best known of all the stars, to appear upon a certain night, at a certain time, that the people of the world might decide which of them was the brightest and best. The Pole Star, that had always kept his proper place since the world began, replied by saying that he was the star of peace, that he disliked strife and rivalry, that he had his work to do, that he knew the seamen on the deep would be lost if he left his post, but at the same time he declared that the meteor knew where to find him, and that he (the Pole Star), would give him welcome if he made his appearance. Upon receiving this message, the meteor became still further elated, inasmuch as he could not appreciate or believe in the motives of the Pole Star; he ascribed the answer which he had received to cowardice, and determined more obstinately than before that the trial should take place. At the time of night appointed, he sallied out in a gorgeous display of dazzling color. He came from the direction of the sea, in order that he might arrive in full force by the time he reached the destined spot above the land. As he hurried over the waters, he received very small encouragement from the captains and sailors of the vessels which he passed, because they knew that the Pole Star was their friend, and that the meteor was apt to be a mischief-maker and a dangerous enemy. The meteor, however, cared little for that, but hurried on swift as a cannon ball, and his mind filled with the vision of the commotion that his presence would create among the inhabitants of the towns of the country over which he was now to pass. At length he reached the destined spot, but, alas for his exalted and ambitious hopes! a dense mass of clouds obscured the sky, and after spending his radiance in the atmosphere without an inhabitant of the earth to witness it, he exploded with a loud crack, and was extinguished forevermore, without even a grave or a resting-place. In another hour the clouds parted, and when the Pole Star looked out once more, the seamen and the landsmen blessed his face. He still shines, as useful as in former years. Strive to be great, rather than to appear great, and to be useful in your day and generation, rather than to dazzle for the moment, and excite a fleeting wonder and admiration. So will you be happy and be blessed.—Little Corporal.