coat, I went away, resolved to wear my old one a little longer. Reader, if thou wilt do the same, thy profit will be as great as mine. I am, as ever, thine to serve thee, THE PUBLISHERS TO THE READER. IN our Prospectus we gave you reason to expect that we would take an early opportunity of enabling you to turn the little expense you would be put to, in becoming a Subscriber to the CHEAP MAGAZINE, to advantage; as well as to follow it up, by the many useful Hints, important Discoveries, economical Receipts, &c. which should, from time to time, be communicated through the medium of our pages. In the preceding Story of FATHER ABRAHAM, we have presented you with a Budget, which the Author says, is "the gleanings" he had made "of the sense of all ages and nations.” This abundantly proves that we have not been unmindful of our promise, and which, if carefully attended to, we have no doubt will yield to many of our Readers a plentiful harvest, in return for the small sacrifice they have made. But this is not all. In this Number will be found, under the head of Economical Receipts, &c the beginning of a chain, or course of information, which before the completion of the present volume, we trust, will give the most penurious no reason to complain that their mite has been mispent, and will induce them to continue their encouragement, even ôn saving and economical principles. There is one description of our Readers, whose interests we never, in any instance, wish to overlook, we mean the young; and as the wise and important Precepts and Maxims of RICHARD SAUNDERS, although communicated in the pleasing Vol. I K garb garb of a Story, may have appeared tedious, and not suffi❤ ciently attractive to some of them, before we proceed farther, we shall gratify the juvenile part of our friends with something to the same purpose, but more suitable to their years, in THE WHISTLE. A True Story. BY DR. B. FRANKLIN. WHEN I was a child at seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children; and being charmed with the sound of a whistle that I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered him all my money for one. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle, but disturbing all the family. My brothers, and sisters, and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me I had given four times as much for it as it was worth. This put me in mind what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money; and they laughed at me so much for my folly that I cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure. This, however, was afterwards of use to me, the impression continuing on my mind; so that often when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, 1 said to myself, Don't give too much for the whistle; and so I saved my money. As I grew up, came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many, who gave too much for the whistle. When When I saw any one too ambitious of court favours, sacrificing his time in attendance on levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends, to attain it, I have said to myself, This man gives too much for his whistle. When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly. employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect: He pays, indeed, says I, too much for his whistle. If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfort, able living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow-citizens, and the joys of bene volent friendship, for the sake of accumulating wealth; Poor man, says I, you do indeed pay too much for your whistle. When I meet a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind, or of his fortune to mere corporeal sensations: Mistaken man, says I, you are providing pain for yourself instead of pleasure; you give too much for your whistle. If I see one fond of fine clothes, fine furniture, fine equipages, all above his fortune, for which he contractsdebts, and ends his career in prison: Alas! says I, he has paid dear, very dear for his whistle. When I see a beautiful sweet-tempered girl married! to an ill-natured husband: What a pity it is, says I, that she has paid so much for a whistle! In short, I conceived that great part of the miseries of mankind were brought upon them by the false eștimates they had made of the value of things, and their giving too much, for their whistles. THE Natural Appearances in March. "As yet the trembling year is unconfirm❜d, great operations of nature during this month seem to be, to dry up the superabundant moisture of February, thereby preventing the roots and seeds from rotting in the earth, and gradually to bring forward the process of evolution in the swelling buds; while, at the same time, by the wholesome severity of chilling blasts, they are kept from a premature disclosure, which would expose their tender contents to injury from the yet unsettled season. The winds of March, boisterous and vehement to a proverb, are to be regarded, however, as particularly useful to vegetation; for those years generally prove most fruitful, in which the pleasing appearances of spring are the most retarded. The importance of a dry season for getting the seed early and favourably into the ground is expressed in the old proverb, A bushel of March dust is worth a king's ransom. The mellow note of the thrush, singing perched on the naked bough of some lofty tree, and the cooing of the ring-dove in the woods, are heard from the beginning of the month of March. The rooks also are now in motion, building and repairing their nests; and it is highly amusing to observe the tricks and artifices of this thievish tribe, some to defend, and others to plunder, the mate rials of their new habitations. These birds are accused of doing much injury to the farmer, by plucking up the young corn, and other springing vegetables; but some are are of opinion, that this mischief is fully repaid by their diligence in devouring the grubs of various insects, which, if suffered to come to maturity, would occasion much greater damage. For this purpose they are frequently seen following the plough, or settling in flocks on newly turned up lands. In the month of March, those birds which took refuge in our temperate climate from the rigour of the northern winters begin to leave us, and return to the countries' where they were bred. The redwing fieldfare, and woodcock are of this kind, and retire to spend their summer in Norway, Sweden, and other parts of the north of Europe. Frogs, which during winter lie in a torpid state at the bottom of ponds or ditches, now enlivened by thewarmth of spring, rise in vast numbers to the surface of the water, and make themselves heard to a surprising distance by their croakings. Those small but beautiful fish called smelts, or sparlings, proceed up the rivers in this month in order to spawn; but they are of so tender. a nature, that the least mixture of snow-water in the river drives them back to the sea.. One of the most agreeable tokens of our approach of spring is, that about the middle of the month of March bees venture out of their hives. These admirable and: useful insects appear to be possessed of uncommon foresight of the weather; so that their appearance in the morning may be reckoned a sure token of a fair day. As their food is the sweet juice to be found in the nectaries of flowers, their coming abroad is a certain sign that: Bowers are now to be met with. The gardens are adorned with the yellow and purple crocus; and, toward the end of the month, primroses peep out beneath the hedges, while the most fragrant of all flowers, the violet, discovers |