60 THE VALUE OF CHARACTERs

assuming the air of a magistrate, delivered’
his sentence as follows:

“My friends and neighbours,—I have
heard your case, and examined it attentively ;
and my judgment is, that you both be made
to pay a fine; for you are both of bad cha-
racter, and if you do not deserve to be pu-
nished now, it is likely you will eoprve to
be so very soon.

“That I have good grounds for this decree,
is sufficiently evident by the fact, that Mr.
Wolf’s jaws are even now stained with blood,
and I can see a dead chicken sticking out of
Sir Fox’s pocket, notwithstanding the air
of injured innocence which he wears. And
beside, one who gets an evil reputation should
think it no hardship if he is occasionally
made to suffer fur a crime he did not commit.”

This fable teaches us to beware of an evil
reputation; for it may cause us to be pu-
nished for the misdemeanors of others, Thus,
if a person gets the character of a liar, he
will not be believed when he tells the truth;
and when a theft is known, it is of course
laid to some one who has been caught in

stealing before.