with a fable which they
will hardly have the opportunity of reading in the present condition of
the postal service, but the state of the case may be put with a certain
degree of truth in this of

THE FRONT-TEETH AND THE GRINDERS.

Once on a time a mutiny arose among the teeth of a worthy man, in good
health and blessed with a sound constitution, commonly known as Uncle
Samuel. The cutting-teeth, or _incisors_, and the eye-teeth, or
_canines_, though not nearly so many, all counted, nor so large, nor so
strong as the grinders, and by no means so white, but, on the contrary,
very much discolored, began to find fault with the grinders as not good
enough company for them. The eye-teeth, being very sharp and fitted for
seizing and tearing, and standing out taller than the rest, claimed to
lead them. Presently, one of them complained that it ached very badly,
and then another and another. Very soon the cutting-teeth, which
pretended they were supplied by the same nerve, and were proud of
it, began to ache also. They all agreed that it was the fault of the
grinders.

About this time, Uncle Samuel, having used his old tooth-brush (which
was never a good one, having no stiffness in the bristles) for four
years, took a new one, recommended to him by a great number of people as
a homely, but useful article. Thereupon all the front-teeth, one after
another, declared that Uncle Samuel meant to scour them white, which was
a thing they would never submit to, though the whole civilized world was
calling on them to do so. So they all insisted on getting out of the
sockets in which they had grown and stood for so many years. But the
wisdom-teeth spoke up for the others and said,--

"Nay, there be but twelve of you front-teeth, and there be twenty of us
grinders. We are the strongest, and a good deal nearest the muscles
and the joint, but we cannot spare you. We have put up with your black
stains, your jumping aches, and your snappish looks, and now we are not
going to let you go, under the pretence that you are to be scrubbed
white, if you stay. You don't work half so hard as we do, but you can
bite the food well enough, which we can grind so much better than you.
We belong to each other. You must stay."

Thereupon the front-teeth, first the canines or dog-teeth, next the
incisors or cutting-teeth, proceeded to declare themselves out of their
sockets, and no longer belonging to the jaws of Uncle Samuel.

Then Uncle Samuel arose in