[Illustration: THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS.]
In former days, when the Belly and the other parts of the body enjoyed
the faculty of speech, and had separate views and designs of their own,
each part, it seems, in particular for himself, and in the name of the
whole, took exception at the conduct of the Belly, and were resolved to
grant him supplies no longer. They said they thought it very hard that
he should lead an idle good-for-nothing life, spending and squandering
away, upon his own ungodly guts, all the fruits of their labour; and
that, in short, they were resolved for the future, to strike off his
allowance, and let him shift for himself as well as he could. The Hands
protested they would not lift up a finger to keep him from starving;
and the Mouth wished he might never speak again if he took in the least
bit of nourishment for him as long as he lived; and, say the Teeth, may
we be rotten if ever we chew a morsel for him for the future. This
solemn league and covenant was kept as long as any thing of that kind
can be kept, which was until each of the rebel members pined away to the
skin and bone, and could hold out no longer. Then they found there was
no doing without the Belly, and that, as idle and insignificant as he
seemed, he contributed as much to the maintenance and welfare of all the
other parts as they did to his.