around the chosen spot which is my joy and rest.  Every bird loves its own nest; the owls think the old ruins the fairest spot under the moon, and the fox is of opinion that his hole in the hill is remarkably cozy.  When my master’s nag knows that his head is toward home he wants no whip, but thinks it best to put on all steam; and I am always of the same mind, for the way home, to me, is the best bit of road in the country.  I like to see the smoke out of my own chimney better than the fire on another man’s hearth; there’s something so beautiful in the way in which it curls up among the trees.  Cold potatoes on my own table taste better than roast meat at my neighbor’s, and the honeysuckle at my own door is the sweetest I ever smell.  When you are out, friends do their best, but still it is not home.  “Make yourself at home,” they say, because every body knows that to feel at home is to feel at ease.

    “East and west,
    Home is best.”

Why, at home you are at home, and what more do you want?  Nobody grudges you, whatever your appetite may be; and you don’t get put into a damp bed.

MEN WHO ARE DOWN.

No man’s lot is fully known till he is dead; change of fortune is the lot of life.  He who rides in the carriage may yet have to clean it.  Sawyers change-places, and he who is up aloft may have to take his turn in the pit.  In less than a thousand years we shall all be bald and poor too, and who knows what he may come to before that?  The thought that we may ourselves be one day under the window, should make us careful when we are throwing out our dirty water.  With what measure we mete, it shall be measured to us again, and therefore let us look well to our dealings with the unfortunate.

Nothing makes me more sick of human nature than to see the way in which men treat others when they fall down the ladder of fortune:  “Down with him,” they cry, “he always was good for nothing.”

    “Down among the dead men, down, down, down,
    Down among the dead men, there let him lie.”

Dog won’t eat dog, but men will eat each other up like cannibals, and boast of it too.  There are thousands in this world who fly like vultures to feed on a tradesman or a merchant as soon as ever he gets into trouble.  Where the carcass is thither will the eagles be gathered together.  Instead of a little help, they give the sinking man a great deal of cruelty, and cry, “Serves him right.”  All the world will beat the man whom fortune buffets.  If providence smites him, all men’s whips begin to crack.  The dog is drowning, and therefore all his friends empty their buckets over him.  The tree has fallen, and every body runs for his hatchet.  The house is on fire, and all the neighbors warm themselves.  The man has ill luck, therefore his friends give him ill usage; he has tumbled into the road, and they drive their carts over him; he is down, and selfishness cries, “Let him be kept down, then there will be the more room for those who are up.”