Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

then picking it up, and tearing it slowly to pieces, he appeared
as though he sought to di.sn. ''sting seer
der each cicatrice and membrane.
The fre.jueut absence of George at length aroused the utd -n-
tion of his young friends. The most inquisitive proposed to
follow and discover the indefatigable il.--scTt.er.
This proposal -was received with general assent, and each executed
his part of the plot so cleverly, that George suddenly
and even ridiculed, just
saw himself surrounded, questioned,
at the moment when, kneeling before a rose tree, he was gat-
ing intently at a notch he had made with his knife in one of its
branches.
"Oh, George !" exclaimed a pretty little girl, "are there
any bonbons hid in these trees? If you find any, do me some."
"
Perhaps it is a magic
give
lantern you are looking at through
that large hole," said a young boy.
" Have you seen the sun, do you see the moon ?" shouted a
third.
And bursts of merry laughter resounded from the group.
George, humbled but for a moment, arose, and replying to their
raillery, in a short and contemptuous tone said:
"
I shall not tell you what I have been looking for here, nor
what I have found, because you could not understand me.
You, young ladies, eat your bonbons; and you young gentlemen,
admire your magic lantern."
"
Flowers," replied the orator of the band, " are certainly
very pretty, and smell sweetly, but their society is rather
stupid. "
George's face flushed -ith anger, and he hastily exclaimed,
thus of benevolent and indus-
"Stupid! Dare not to speak
trious nature, the admirable servant of God to whom you are
indebted for that long fair hair that shelters you from
cold, and of which you are so proud. He who has given you
" Oh ! of course, I thank God for his gifts, and admire the
wonders of his Providence, but in regard to these plants
"
Well ! is not every living, breathing thing under His con-
trol ?"
" What !" exclaimed a young girl, in the greatest astonish-
ment, " do plants breathe ;
and are they fed like us ?"
"Yes, my dear Emma, they have a food which is proper for
them, and suitable organs to receive it."
" Have you seen them eat?"
"
No; but I read in a beautiful book, that gives the history
of flowers and animals, that it was so; I doubted it, but I tried
it and found it out. "
"But," continued the incredulous girl, "how did yon find it
out that the book was true ?"
" Ah ! that cost me much thought," replied George, proudly.
"
I reflected on it for moro than a fortnight, and now I hope to
"
receive the fruit of my
Here the boy was at a loss to find a word sufficiently
sonorous, to increase his importance by brilliancy of lan-
guage.
" Meditations," suggested a poet in embryo, who had gained
the first prize in orthography.
"
Meditations yes."
"
Oh, tell us how you found it out."
" Yes ! do, do !" exclaimed the children in chorus.
"No, no," replied George, "it would not amuse you like
the magic lantern, and my experiment is not so good as a box
of bonbons."
It was very evident that George was wounded by the raillery
of his companions. Alas ! that superiority should be so often
Bullied by pride !
It is the thorn on the rose, the smoke that
obscures the brilliant flame. Bemember, my dear readers,
should you, in future years, attain an elevated rank in science,
art, or literature; remember that a modest great man is doubly
great. This may be said without casting the slightest slur on
the character displayed, later in Life, by the man of genius,
whom we have chosen for the hero of our tale. Let us now refiirn
tj- nnr vnnncr frifimlH.
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