THE YOUTHS CABINET.

 

The White Mouse.

 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF BOUILLY, BY THE EDITOR.

 

AuRA Metvat, aged ten years, was
somewhat noted for a good many
ih interesting and lovely traits of
character. She had been educated
with care, and possessed a kind and happy
disposition. Besides, she had an unbound-
ed attachment for her mother. No ill
humor ever appeared to throw a shadow
over her pleasant countenance ; or if such
a shadow was ever seen, it was quickly
dispelled, as a thin cloud flits, for a mo-
ment, across a clear sky.

With all her excellent qualities, how-
ever, Laura had one failing, of such a
nature, that it sometimes made her appear
absolutely ridiculous. It was a childish
fear of animals, small as well as great—
insects, even, which, by their nature, no
less than by their size, had not the power
to do her any harm. Did she perceive a
butterfly in the parlor, flitting around the
lighted lamp, she screamed, and imagined
that this timid insect, merely deceived by
the glare of the light, had come to devour
her. More than this: when, as it hap-
pened once in a while, a bat found his
way into the house—though the poor
fellow, of a hideous form, it is true, sought
only how he might find his way out of
the room—the foolish girl was convinced
that he had come to seize her in his claws,
and to carry her off. It was in vain that
Madame Melval told her that this bat,
hardly as large as half of her hand, could
not lift a weight two hundred times as
heavy as himself. Laura, pale and trem-
bling, insisted that this monster would at
least carry off her eyes or her ears; and
then, covering her face with both her

hands, she took refuge in her mother’s
lap, not daring to move till she was as-
sured that the bat had flown out of the
window. Scarcely a day passed, without
some such ludicrous scene.as this.

One beautiful evening in summer, when
Laura was going to bed, she happened to
lift up the pillow. She saw a mouse es-
cape from under it. The little, fellow
jumped upon her shoulder, passed up her
neck, ran down one of her arms, and fled
with a fear which was nothing in com-
parison with that of Laura, She uttered
the most frightful cries. “ Help !—mur-
der!—I’m lost! I’m dead!’ Hearing
these words, the whole family ran to Lau-
ra’s room. The girl was found sitting on
the foot of the bed, with her whole body
wrapped up in sheets and coverlids, al-
most suffocating for want of breath.

“Where is the assassin who tried to
take away your life?” asked Madame
Melval, anxiously looking all around the
room.

“Ah, mamma! don’t ask me !—that
frightful animal—that terrible monster”—

“ Well, what was it ?”

“A mouse, Mamma—yes, @ mouse,
with flaming eyes—his tail was—a yard

‘long—he has torn my neck, my ears, my

arms !”

Madame Melval could not help bursting
into a fit of laughter, when she heard
such language from her daughter. This
had the effect to.make the girl look up a
little. At first, she felt of her ears, to sec
if the mouse had not left her at least one.
Then she put her hand upon her neck,
which she imagined to be so badly wound-