CHARLES.

“And the angel of the

Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.'

Does this mean that the ass saw the angel, and that Balaam and his servants did not ?

MAMMA. Certainly, by what follows soon after.

CHARLES. Then it was no wonder he beat her to make her go right.

MAMMA. We must suppose from the reproof he afterwards received, that he did it passionately. It is most likely that he was in a very ill-humour,

as people always are when they know they are doing wrong; besides, his avarice, which appears to have been his ruling passion, must have kept him in a state of irritable excitement, from the uncertainty whether he should obtain the reward of which he was so desirous; and he made his unoffending helpless beast suffer for his faults.

CHARLES. “But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyard, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall: and he smote her again. And the angel of the Lord went farther, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand, or to the left. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under

G

Balaam; and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff."

MAMMA. This plainly proves that Balaam, from being checked in his career, was in such a passion of anger as to be deprived of all good sense and feeling, or he would not have treated the poor animal with such brutal violence.

CHARLES.

"And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times ?"

We are come now, Mamma, to one of the things that I cannot understand at all. If I had read it any where but in the Bible, I should have thought it was like one of Æsop's fables, where he pretends that the animals can talk like men, in order to give us, as Papa

But you

says, some moral lesson. have always told me that every thing in the Bible is true, and how can it be true that Balaam's ass spoke words such as we use? I know that parrots can be taught to speak many short sentences; my aunt's favorite little bird chirps something very like "Pretty Bully;" and I have seen in the cottage gardens tame magpies and jackdaws that the poor people have taught to say a word or two; but no beast makes a sound the least like a man's voice. How then could it be possible for the ass to speak to Balaam?

MAMMA. It would be quite vain to attempt to account for miracles from natural causes; if we could, they would cease to be miracles. The more impossible any such wonderful event that is recorded in Holy Writ appears to us, the more does it show

forth the unbounded power of God; and after all, it is not more surprising, perhaps less so, that the Almighty should, in some few instances, alter the laws He appears to have laid down for the general course of things in nature, than that He should, in the first instance, have bestowed on man the power of speech and faculty of reasoning.

CHARLES. I see that I was very foolish in wanting to have it explained how this extraordinary circumstance could take place, since all things are equally possible to God.

МАММА. Not foolish, my little boy; but you did not give yourself time to consider, which at your age is very natural and excusable.

CHARLES.

I think Balaam must

have been much surprised at hearing

the ass speak.