The Moral of the War.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume IV, Issue 214, 10 June 1902, Page 3

The Moral of the War.

THE CONFIDING PECCARY,

(From Loudon " Truth.")

When fch-. Ltiun had a Difference of Opinion. with the Peccary, the laUer before he dared his Opponent to mortal combat, sent first to his friends the Benr, the Eagle, and the Fox, soliciting their aid. And these answers were returned by them : .By the Bear :«< Bight 0 ! I'm with you ! " Hy the Eagle : " Back you ? Bather! Won't I just! " By the Fox : " You're the Pachy-derm-of my money. Get your snout in and win ! "

Deceived by these assurances, 1 the simple, though pugnacious. Pecc.uy went foe the lion, and a deadly" conib.it ensued. But the Pcceiry's: three friends did not in,o.fO t ' i;ia cnn3 aa ' l° :) k 011 at a sat j distance, encouraging the little Porker with frequent shouts of " Go it," l< Bravo," " Well done ! " while they called the Liou every bad name tbey could lay tongu&s to. At length, during a pause in the combat, the Peccary, who lay on the ground gasping and half-dead, exclaimed, reproachfully, to his f tiends:

'•You pro.nised m'. youc ni V Bi\b you have merely looked on and watched the Lion settle me. A Nose-Ring for such friendship ! I would I had never relied on it."

" Oh, my dear! " replied the Bear, raising his paws in unctuous remonstrance. K I have given ycu my vocal support. What more, »s a reasonable Peccary, could you, want ? Surely you never expected me to put my head within reach of that rampageous oreature's claws! " •'* Or me, to run the gauntlet of his fury with my best tail feathers ! " expostulated the tiagle. " Or me, to expos© my beautiful sleek skin to his savage te6th ! " added the Fox.

•« But be sure you have our deep- | est sympathy in your trouble," they all chorused together, blubbering and sniffing, Turning away from them in indignant scorn, the Peccary said 1 to the Lion, '"' Lion, I chuck. Do what yon will with me. It is better to throw one's self on the mercy of a declaied foe like yourself than to rely on the fair words of such friends as those.

Then, addressing himself onoe more to the sobbing trio, he added : "Awfully ohli§«3_ But your sympathy is quite useless to me. Pray take it, and yourselves also, to—ahem ! the Regent's Park, with my compliments." . MQral— ** Put not your trust in the Great Powers.—Psalms cxlvi., 2. (revised version).