{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_28351/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_28351","id":"gutenberg_28351","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28351","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories"],"text":"Produced by R. Cedron, Diane Monico, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nANIMAL LIFE READERS\n\nEDITED BY\nEDITH CARRINGTON AND ERNEST BELL\n\nWITH PICTURES BY\nHARRISON WEIR\nAND OTHERS\n\n\n\n\nDICK AND HIS CAT\nAND OTHER TALES\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nDICK AND HIS CAT\nAND OTHER TALES\n\nADAPTED BY\nEDITH CARRINGTON\n\nAUTHOR OF \"WORKERS WITHOUT WAGE,\" \"A NARROW, NARROW WORLD,\"\n\"A STORY OF WINGS,\" ETC., ETC.\n\n_WITH PICTURES BY F. M. COOPER_\n\nLONDON\nGEORGE BELL AND SONS\nYORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN\n1895\n\n\n\n\n_This Series is published by Messrs. Bell for the Humanitarian League._\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                   PAGE\n\nDICK AND HIS CAT                                     1\n\nTRUSTY. By Roger Quiddam                            29\n\nOUT IN THE COLD. By Roger Quiddam                   50\n\nTHE STORY OF A FLY. By Maria Jacob                  67\n\nBETTY AND SNOWDROP                                 106\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIn the Section of the Code for 1894-5, dealing with Reading Books,\noccur the words \"Passages impressing on the children the duty of\ngentleness and consideration for others, and that of the humane\ntreatment of animals may also be widely introduced.\"\n\nIt is in the hope of encouraging that humane treatment of animals,\nwhich in the hands of a sympathetic teacher may so easily and naturally\nbe made the first step towards the \"gentleness and consideration for\nothers,\" that this series has been prepared. It is hoped now that the\nteaching of humanity has received official recognition, that those who\nhave charge of the young will recognize its importance, and will\nrealise that unless the cultivation of the heart runs _pari passu_ with\nthat of the head, the spread of education may become a curse instead of\na blessing.\n\nThe Editors are much indebted to the R.S.P.C.C. for permission to\nreprint \"Trusty\" and \"Out in the Cold.\"\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDICK AND HIS CAT.\n\n\n1. UP TO LONDON.\n\n1. In the reign of the famous king Edward the Third, there was a little\nboy named Dick Whitt-ing-ton, whose father and mother died when he was\nvery young.\n\n2. He knew nothing about them, and he was left, a poor little ragged,\ndirty fellow, to run about the streets of a small country village.\n\n3. As poor Dick was not old enough to work, he was in a sad state; he\ngot but little for his dinner, and often had nothing at all for his\nsupper. For all the people in the village were very poor.\n\n4. They could often spare him nothing more than an old crust of bread,\nor some scraps that even a dog would not have liked. One day a man who\nwas driving a waggon came through the village.\n\n5. He had eight fine large horses to pull it, and, as he walked by\ntheir side, he spoke kindly to them, and never whipped them. This made\nDick think that he must be a good man.\n\n6. \"If he is kind to the horses,\" said Dick to himself, \"perhaps he\nwill be kind to a poor lad like me.\" So Dick went up to speak to the\ncarter and asked him to let him walk along by the side of his waggon.\n\n7. The two began to talk, and the man, hearing from poor Dick that he\nhad no parents, and seeing how ragged his clothes were, took pity on\nhim. He told Dick that he was going with the waggon to London town.\n\"And,\" added the man, \"you may come with me if you like.\n\n8. \"I do not think that you can be much worse off there than you are\nhere; and perhaps you may be better off in the great city. You may ride\nin the waggon if you please.\"\n\n9. Dick was glad enough to do this, and the good driver took care to\nshare his food with him on the way. He took as much care of the horses\nand of Dick as he did of himself. Dick got safe to London.\n\n[Illustration: SETTING OFF.]\n\n10. Now before he had seen the streets of London, Dick had thought that\nthey were made of gold, for an old man in the village at home had told\nhim so. But the old man had only been in joke. He meant that folks\noften became rich there.\n\n11. So Dick ran away from the waggon in a great hurry, to find the\ngolden pavements. But he saw nothing except mud and dirt, and a crowd\nof people all looking very busy, who took no heed of him.\n\n12. Instead of being able to pick up little bits of gold from the\nstreets when he wanted money, Dick now found that he could not find\neven a penny to buy a loaf for himself, and no one gave him one either.\n\n13. He stayed all night in the streets, and, next morning, he got up\nand walked about, asking those whom he met to give him something to\nkeep him from starving.\n\n14. Hardly any man or boy whom he asked gave him a copper. But at last,\na woman, seeing his pale face, drew out two pence and put them into\nDick's thin hand.\n\n15. Being almost too tired and weak to buy food, Dick laid himself down\non the doorstep of a big house. He almost wished to die, for he felt so\nlonely and forlorn in that great town, where no one had time to think\nabout a poor little ragged boy.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Dick went to London with a man. When he was there, he could\nget no food. A kind woman gave him two pence.\n\n     Questions: 1. In what king's reign did Dick Whittington\n     live? 2. In what kind of place was he born? 3. Whom did he\n     meet going through the village? 4. How did Dick know that\n     the driver was a good man? 5. What did he do when he first\n     reached London? 6. What did the kind woman give to Dick?\n\n\n2. THE STRAY CAT.\n\n1. As Dick was hiding his face in his hands and thinking these sad\nthings, he felt something very soft rubbing gently against his neck,\nwhich was close to the hard cold stone step, and he heard a pleasant\nsound at his ear.\n\n2. It was the purring of a poor little stray cat, which was trying to\nmake friends with him. Dick sat up, and stroked puss. \"Why, you are\njust like me!\" said Dick. \"I believe that you have no home and no\nfriends either, you poor little thing.\"\n\n3. When the cat heard Dick speak so kindly to her, she crept into his\nlap, looking into his face as if to say, \"Are you going to let me\ncome, or will you drive me away, as all the rest of the world does?\"\n\n4. Finding that Dick put one arm round her she curled herself up,\npurring loudly, and seemed to think that she had found a home with him\non the doorstep.\n\n5. \"Poor pussy!\" said Dick, \"how thin you are, and how rough your coat\nis! Come, I will go and get something for us both to eat.\" Dick ran\nalong the street with the cat in his arms.\n\n6. She could not do enough to thank him for taking care of her. For she\nhad been hunted through the streets for many days. The people with whom\nshe had lived were gone away and left poor puss behind to starve in an\nempty house.\n\n7. They went to a shop and bought milk and bread. It was a fine feast\nfor them both, and I do not know which of them liked it best.\n\n8. The rude boys in the street laughed at Dick for running along with a\ncat in his arms. But he was too brave a boy to care for that. He only\nhugged his cat the tighter, and laughed at them in return. So they\nsoon left off.\n\n[Illustration: BOTH IN NEED.]\n\n9. That night, Dick had again no place to sleep in but the doorway of a\nbig house. He made himself and his cat as snug as he could, and had\njust fallen asleep when he heard a cross voice say, \"What are you doing\nhere, you lazy scamp?\"\n\n10. This was a cook, who was just coming out. And at the same moment\nher master came out behind her. He, too, saw Dick, and said: \"Why do\nyou lie there, my lad? You seem big enough to work. I fear that you\nmust be idle.\"\n\n11. \"No, indeed, sir,\" said Dick. \"I would work with all my heart, but\nI know no one to give me work, and I think that I am ill from want of\nfood and a dry, warm bed.\"\n\n12. \"Poor fellow!\" said the rich merchant, who was master of the house.\n\"Come here to me. Let us see what is the matter with you.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ A poor little stray cat came to Dick. He spoke kindly to her\nand went to buy bread and milk for both. They liked the food very much.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Dick feel as he lay on the doorstep?\n     2. What did he say to the stray cat? 3. What did he buy for\n     them both? 4. Who came out of the door as Dick was sleeping\n     on the step? 5. Who came out after the maid? 6. What did the\n     master of the house say to Dick?\n\n\n3. THE CROSS COOK.\n\n1. As Dick came up to the merchant, his knees trembled under him, and\nhe looked very ill and weak. He had put the little cat under his\njacket, so that the merchant did not notice her.\n\n2. \"You seem half starved,\" said the merchant. And he told the cook to\ngive Dick a good meal at once, make him up a bed in the garret, and let\nhim stay with them.\n\n3. He might do what dirty work in the kitchen he could for the cook.\nLittle Dick would have been very happy now, but for the cross cook, who\nwas finding fault and scolding all the day long.\n\n4. She would rush at poor Dick with her broom, and hit him hard on the\nhead. And what was worse, she chased his poor little cat right out of\nthe house, and said she would have no cats there.\n\n5. Dick found his pussy again, and took her up into his own bare and\nempty garret, where she was safe, for the cook never went there. And\npussy was his only friend at that time.\n\n6. Dick was careful to carry food to his cat, of which there was always\nplenty to be had in that house. But things became worse and worse in\nthe kitchen.\n\n7. The temper of the cross cook was tried more and more by the little\nmice, which ran over all her nice pies and puddings, and spoilt them as\nfast as she made them.\n\n8. She flew into a passion with Dick twenty times a day, but it was of\nno use to do this. She set traps for the mice, but they soon found out\nthe trick, and would not go near them.\n\n9. The cunning little things laughed at cook and her clumsy traps, and\nmade merry all night long over the floor of her room, running races,\nand keeping her awake.\n\n10. So she grew crosser and crosser, till at last Dick felt as if he\ncould not stand it much longer. But his master was always kind, and he\nthought that he would never leave him if he could help it.\n\n11. He thought that things might mend and he tried to be patient. And\nhis cat was always ready with a loving greeting for Dick when he came\nto his room.\n\n12. At last one day Dick's master called all his servants upstairs into\nhis room. He said that a ship of his was going to sail for a foreign\nland in a few days.\n\n13. He asked them if any of them would like to send some things out in\nthe ship to be sold. In those days much money was to be made by selling\nEnglish goods in other lands.\n\n14. All said that they would like to send something. But poor little\nDick said not a word. He had nothing in the world but the clothes he\nhad on, and his cat.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Dick was told that he might do work for the cook. But she was\nvery cross to him and to his cat. He kept puss in his own room and took\ncare to feed her.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did the merchant say about Dick? 2. What\n     did the cook say about the cat? 3. Where did Dick keep her?\n     4. What was he careful to carry up for his cat? 5. What did\n     the merchant ask his servants? 6. Why did Dick say nothing\n     when all the rest spoke?\n\n\n4. WHAT THE BELLS SAID.\n\n1. Now the merchant had a little daughter, called Alice. And she was a\nkind little girl. She looked at the sad face of poor Dick, and she said\nin a whisper to her father, \"Why does not that little boy speak like\nthe rest?\"\n\n2. \"You had better ask him,\" said the father, giving his little girl a\nkiss before he went out of the room.\n\n3. So Alice went up to Dick and asked him why he had not sent some\nsmall thing that could be sold for much money in the foreign land,\nthough it cost only a little here.\n\n4. \"All the rest are going to send,\" said little Alice, \"and when the\nship comes back they will get the money. Why do you not send something\nin the ship too?\"\n\n5. \"I have nothing to send,\" said poor Dick, looking very sad. \"I am a\npoor boy. The cook is unkind to me, and I have nothing of my own but a\ncat.\"\n\n6. \"I have got some money in my purse, I will give it to you,\" said\nlittle Alice. But Dick said that he should not like to take money from\nthe little girl.\n\n[Illustration: ALL DICK HAD.]\n\n7. Just then the merchant came back into the room. He had heard what\nDick said about having nothing but a cat.\n\n8. \"Fetch your cat, boy, and let her go,\" said he. \"I heard the\ncaptain of the ship say that he wanted a cat to clear the ship of mice.\nHe will give you money for her.\"\n\n9. \"Oh no, sir,\" cried Dick, \"I could not give up my poor cat. She\nloves me, and I love her. She has grown such a beauty, sir, and she can\nalmost talk. I could not get on without her, please, sir.\"\n\n10. \"Well, if you cannot be parted, why not go too?\" \"So I could, sir,\"\nsaid Dick. \"Well, you are a smart boy, and we will see. The captain\nlives near. You had better run and ask him what he thinks.\"\n\n11. Dick was not long in fetching his cap. He almost flew along the\nstreets, and as he did so he heard Bow bells begin to ring.\n\n12. He felt so full of high spirits at the thought of ending his hard\nlife in the kitchen, with the cross cook, that the bells seemed to be\nsinging a merry tune to him.\n\n13. Dick stopped for a moment to listen, and as he did so, their chime\ncame to his ears like the sound of his own name. They seemed to say:\n\n    \"Turn again, Whittington,\n    Lord Mayor of London.\"\n\n14. \"This must be my fancy,\" said Dick, as he ran on to the house of\nthe captain. \"But it is very pleasant to be spoken to kindly, even by\nthe bells. And I wonder whether good fortune is in store for me at\nlast?\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Dick could not part with his cat. So his master said that he\nmight go with her in the ship. He went to ask the captain.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Alice ask Dick? 2. What did Dick\n     answer? 3. What did his master say when he came into the\n     room? 4. What was Dick's reply? 5. Where did he run? 6. What\n     did he hear the bells say?\n\n\n5. THE KING'S DINNER.\n\n1. The ship, with Dick and his cat on board, was soon at sea. But Dick\nbegan to think that worse luck than ever was going to befall him.\n\n2. For there was a heavy storm, and the ship was nearly wrecked on the\ncoast of a land then unknown to the English. This land was filled with\nblack people called Moors.\n\n3. When the captain and his men, with Dick and the cat, landed on this\nshore, the natives came in great numbers to gaze at them. They had\nnever seen people with white faces before.\n\n4. As they came to know the captain and his sailors better, these black\nmen would go on board the ship. The English sailors showed them all the\ngoods which they had brought from England.\n\n5. The black men wished to buy them. As they had gold in great lumps\nand heaps, they were willing to give a high price for what the servants\nhad sent out from the merchant's house.\n\n6. The captain, seeing how much pleasure the things gave, sent some of\nthe goods to the king of the country. He was so much pleased with them\nthat he sent for the captain and his friends to the palace.\n\n7. As Dick and his cat had been very useful on the voyage, the captain\ntook them with him, and they soon reached the palace.\n\n[Illustration: THE DINNER TABLE.]\n\n8. Here they sat on cushions and carpets made of rich silk and worked\nin gold and silver. And the king and queen being seated at the upper\nend of the table, the dinner was brought in.\n\n9. But no sooner were the dishes set in front of them, in plates of\ngold and silver, than a rushing sound was heard. In an instant a whole\narmy of mice and rats came running in.\n\n10. They were so bold that they leaped on the table and began to devour\nthe food from the king's own plate. In a few minutes nothing would have\nbeen left.\n\n11. The guests had to drive them away, and snatch a few hasty morsels\nbefore they came back again. But the creatures seemed to care for\nnothing, for they ran back as fast as they were made to go.\n\n12. The captain was full of surprise. \"Are not these mice and rats a\ngreat trouble to you?\" he asked the king. \"Oh yes, they are indeed!\"\nsaid he.\n\n13. \"They not only eat up almost all we have, but they disturb us even\nin our own bedrooms. We are sadly afraid that there will be a famine\nnext year, for they are eating up all the seed and corn in the land.\"\n\n14. The captain was ready to jump for joy when he heard this, for he\ncalled to mind the cat, which Dick had left in the ship.\n\n15. As it was not far off, he bade Dick run and fetch her at once. \"I\nthink we can help you,\" he said to the king; but he only shook his\nhead, for he had tried all ways to get rid of the rats and mice,\nwithout success.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The captain sold the goods for a good price. He went to see\nthe king of that land. He found that there were many rats and mice at\nthe palace.\n\n     Questions: 1. What misfortune happened to the ship? 2. What\n     sort of people did the captain find on the coast where he\n     landed? 3. What did they give instead of the goods? 4. Where\n     did the captain go with his friends next? 5. What went on at\n     the king's dinner-table? 6. What did the captain tell Dick\n     to fetch?\n\n\n6. THE QUEEN AND THE KITTENS.\n\n1. Taking puss in his arms, Dick was surprised to find that she tried\nto get away from him again, and to run down to the cabin below. This\nwas the first time that she had done so, and he could not make it out.\n\n2. She struggled to get away each time that Dick tried to carry her out\nof the ship, making an odd sort of \"miew,\" and trying to coax him to\ncome where she led him.\n\n3. At last he ran after puss, down the cabin steps, and at the bottom,\nin a dark corner, he found that puss had hidden five pretty little\nkittens!\n\n4. She was purring with all her might over them, and she tried to say,\n\"Did you ever see five such sweet little things? How could you ask me\nto leave them? They would die if I did. Though I love you dearly I\ncannot go away.\"\n\n5. So Dick found a warm piece of flannel, and wrapping the baby pussies\nup in it, he took the whole lot with him. Puss was ready enough to come\nwhen she saw this.\n\n6. He made as much haste as he could. Soon he came into the palace with\nthe kittens under one arm and their proud mother purring under the\nother.\n\n7. No sooner did Dick enter than the cat began to sniff the air. Then\nshe caught a glimpse of the rats and mice, which were still feasting on\nthe table. The cloth was black with them.\n\n8. In one instant she sprang from his arms. She laid a dozen rats and\nmice dead at the king's feet in half a minute, and all the rest were\nscared out of their wits, and ran away.\n\n[Illustration: SWEET LITTLE THINGS.]\n\n9. They had never seen a cat before, for there were none in that land.\nThe king had never seen one either; and his queen did not know what\nsort of beast puss was at all. But she thought her very pretty.\n\n10. \"What is this strange, useful creature; what is it called?\" said\nthe king, \"and where did you get it? I will give all I have to buy it\nfrom you, rather than be left without one.\"\n\n11. But though the king sent for a great sack of gold, so heavy that it\ntook three men to bring it into the room, Dick would not hear of\nselling his friend.\n\n12. \"What is that bundle under your arm?\" said the captain to Dick. And\nthen the boy showed him the kittens.\n\n13. \"Why these are even more pretty than the beast itself,\" said the\nqueen, and she wished to have all the kittens in her lap. Poor woman!\nshe had never before nursed a kitten in her life!\n\n14. \"You had better sell these to the king,\" the captain said in a\nwhisper to Dick. \"Tell him that some day they will grow up to be cats\nlike yours, and in due time will have little ones of their own.\"\n\n15. \"But it would be cruel to take them all away from their mother,\"\nsaid Dick, for he had seen how quickly his cat had run to the queen to\nbeg for her little ones.\n\n[Illustration: THE KING AND THE QUEEN.]\n\n16. The cat was not afraid to stare even into the face of a king, and\nask him bravely to put down the little kit which he had taken into his\nroyal hands.\n\n17. Puss had at last taken all her treasures to a mat near the door,\nwhere she was busy washing their faces. She did not care to have so\nmany folks pulling them about.\n\n18. \"You must leave one for the mother, and sell the rest,\" said the\ncaptain. \"She will not fret long if you leave her one child. And we\ncannot take them all five back on the ship. There would be too many.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Dick found that his cat had five little kits. He took them\nwith him to the house of the king. The queen was pleased; she had never\nseen a kitten before.\n\n     Questions: 1. What was Dick surprised to find when he took\n     up his cat? 2. Where did she try to lead him? 3. What had\n     puss got in a corner? 4. How did Dick manage to bring the\n     kittens to the palace? 5. What did his cat do when she got\n     there? 6. What did the queen wish?\n\n\n7. THE END OF PUSSY.\n\n1. \"But I should like them to stay little always,\" said the queen,\nafter she had been told that the kittens would soon grow big enough to\ncatch mice.\n\n2. \"That is a foolish remark, my love,\" said the king. \"They are here\nto kill mice, and the sooner they get big, the better.\n\n[Illustration: PUSSY'S GRAVE.]\n\n3. \"And you forget that they will have kittens by-and-by,\" added the\nking. \"In time we shall have,--what is their name? oh, cats.\n\n4. \"Well, we shall have cats enough to keep the whole land free from\nmice and rats.\" And he was ready to dance and clap his hands. Only\nthat would not have been proper for a king.\n\n5. The end of it was that Dick and the captain set sail for England\nwith a shipload of gold, and puss went with them, with her one baby.\nShe did not miss the rest much after a time.\n\n6. When Dick reached London again, he was very rich indeed. But as he\ngrew older he learned that money cannot make people happy, unless they\ndo good to others with it.\n\n7. He gave his friend the captain a handsome present of gold, and he\ndid not forget one of his old friends at home. To each one he gave what\nthey most needed.\n\n8. Even the cross cook was not passed over, for Dick thought that her\nbad temper might be made better by a gift, and so it was.\n\n9. But there was one above all to whom he showed the greatest care.\nThis was his cat. Of course she did not live so long as Dick did, for\nthe lives of cats do not often last more than about sixteen years.\n\n10. By the time that Dick was the father of some dear little children,\nhis faithful old puss was very very old and weak. Alice was now his\nwife.\n\n11. Pussy spent all her time by the warm fire, and she had all she\nwanted. No one was ever unkind to her, and though she was not able to\ncatch mice any more, she was treated with great honour.\n\n12. One day, as Dick, now a fine rich man in good clothes and in a\ngrand house, was sitting in his arm-chair, his old puss dragged herself\nslowly up to his feet.\n\n13. She begged to get on his lap once more. Dick, who knew well what\nshe meant, though she could not speak, stooped and lifted her up.\n\n14. Pussy purred, as she lifted her dim eyes to his face, gave one\nsigh, and lay quite still. She was dead, and Dick buried her himself,\nunder a laurel tree in his garden.\n\n15. \"If it had not been for her I might have died in the streets\nmyself,\" said he. \"It was puss who made my fortune, and I am certain\nof this one thing: those who show mercy and love, will have the same\nshown to them.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Dick sold his kittens for gold. But he let the mother-cat keep\none. At last his cat died of old age. Dick was kind to her to the end\nof her life.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did the Queen want the kittens to do? 2.\n     What did Dick find out about money as he grew older? 3. To\n     whom did he show the greatest care? 4. What about the cross\n     cook? 5. What did the old cat do one day? 6. What did Dick\n     say that he was quite certain of?\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTRUSTY.\n\n\n1. HUNGRY.\n\n1. \"I think that we shall have a heavy fall of snow before long,\" said\nthe landlord of the little wayside inn, at which I had called to get a\nmorsel of bread and cheese.\n\n2. \"Very likely it will snow,\" said I, giving a glance at the dark\nheavy clouds, and stopping to listen for a moment to the moaning wind.\n\n3. \"And in that case the sooner I start the better, for I have a long\ndistance to go, and the light will fail early, in such weather as\nthis.\"\n\n4. The landlord turned and looked at me, as I began putting on my\ngreat-coat. \"Do you think that it is wise of you to venture across the\nmoor, when it is likely to be so stormy?\" said he.\n\n5. \"It is a rough road at the best of times, but on a bleak night with\nsnow there is real danger. The trap will take you over in no time when\nit comes in, or as soon as it is light in the morning.\"\n\n6. \"My friend,\" said I, \"do not think of such a thing. I would not be\naway from home to-morrow for all the world. It is the birthday of my\nonly little girl, and she would think the day quite spoilt if her\nfather were not there.\n\n7. \"I shall step out briskly, and be at home long before dark. It is\nnot three o'clock yet,\" I added, pulling out my watch.\n\n\"Well, I wish you a safe journey, sir,\" said the landlord. \"And also,\nmany happy returns of to-morrow.\"\n\n8. \"Thank you, landlord,\" replied I, in the same hearty tone. I shook\nhands with him, for his face was a beaming and kindly one, and I had\nknown him since I was a boy.\n\n9. As I went towards the outer door, the landlord just behind me, his\nman darted forward from a dark corner, and began to bustle out in front\nof me.\n\n10. \"Get out, you brute!\" he said, in an angry voice, as he made a\nsavage kick at something which was crouching in the shadow of the\ndoorstep.\n\n[Illustration: POOR DOGGIE.]\n\n11. An instant after, with a dismal yelp of despair, a forlorn dog\nslunk away from the door, and ran to hide under an empty waggon which\nstood in the middle of the road.\n\n12. \"Get out! Be off!\" again shouted the man, and he made a pretence of\nstooping with great fury to pick up a stone. The wretched dog, wild\nwith terror, left his hiding-place.\n\n13. With his drooping tail between his legs, he crept to the gate of\nthe yard, where he again lay down and blinked his great sad eyes at us,\nlicking his hungry mouth as if to beg for food.\n\n14. I was deeply touched at the sight of this poor creature's distress,\nand I could not help thinking how warm and well fed I was myself, as\nwell as the other two men, while this wretched dog, for no fault of his\nown, was starving.\n\n15. \"Poor thing!\" I said, and turning to the landlord, added, \"Do pray\nlet some one bring him a few scraps and bones from the kitchen. I will\ngladly pay for one good meal for him.\"\n\n16. \"Oh no, oh dear no!\" cried the landlord and the man, both in a\nvoice of horror. \"If we gave him food in this yard we should never get\nrid of him.\n\n17. \"We should have a bother with starving dogs here, all the year\nround, sir. Pray do not give him food here, I beg.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ A man saw a hungry dog at an inn. He wished to feed him, but\nthe landlord said that he should never get rid of the dog if he had\nfood there.\n\n     Questions: 1. What sort of weather was it when the man was\n     at the inn? 2. What did the landlord advise him to do? 3.\n     What did the man answer? 4. What did the traveller see\n     outside the inn door? 5. What did he wish to do for the\n     starving dog? 6. What did the landlord and his man say?\n\n\n2. A KIND MAN.\n\n1. I now felt that this landlord was not a truly good and kind man, or\nhe would have taken pity on the outcast dog. As I passed through the\ngate, the poor creature huddled close against the wall.\n\n2. He had been taught to expect a kick or a blow from each person who\npassed. I stopped for a moment to look at him, and said, \"Poor fellow!\"\nin a gentle tone.\n\n3. In an instant all the love and grief in his doggish heart welled\nover, and with a sharp cry of pain, which was like a prayer to me, he\ndrew himself along the ground to my feet, yelping and wagging his tail\nat the same time.\n\n4. He began to lick and fondle my feet, and made the shining polish on\nthem quite dim with his muddy paws.\n\n\"Poor old fellow!\" I said again. \"Come, you shall have one good meal if\nmoney can buy it.\"\n\n5. I walked out into the street, and called him to follow. He thought\nit was too good news to be true, and only came for a few steps, then\nstopped to look with a timid gaze into my face as if to question me.\n\n6. \"Come along, doggie,\" I replied, \"do not be afraid. I shall not hurt\nyou. I mean to be good to you, though you can hardly believe it. Come\nand get some dinner.\"\n\n7. Made bold by my tone and manner, the dog stuck close to me, and we\nwent along the High Street. All the shops were gay and smart, but at\nfirst I could not see one which the dog would have thought a good shop.\n\n8. At last I found one where food of all kinds was sold, and I walked\nin, my humble friend at my heels giving a joyful sniff at the pleasant\nsmells.\n\n[Illustration: TRUSTY'S MEAL.]\n\n9. Whole crowds of men and women were eating at the little tables of\nwhich the shop was full. I pushed my way up to a counter, and said to\nthe master of the shop,\n\n10. \"Just look at this poor dog. I want him to have a good meal of\nmeat. Give him plenty of scraps, and I will pay you for them.\"\n\n11. The man looked at me as if he doubted what I meant, and he seemed\nto think that I must be crazy to wish to buy a dinner for a dog.\n\n12. But when he saw that I was in earnest, he quickly fetched a great\nheap of scraps and bones, which he put down outside the door.\n\n13. Upon these my dog friend fell, as if he had been a starving wolf,\nbut he did not forget to glance up at me before he began with such a\ngrateful look, and to give his tail one quick wag of thanks.\n\n14. I could not wait to see him eat as much as he liked. \"I must be\noff,\" said I to the man.\n\n15. \"Here Johnny,\" called the master of the shop, when I was going\naway, \"just come here, and keep your eye on this stray dog; see that he\nis not driven away till he has eaten all he wants, and fetch him a drop\nof water.\"\n\n16. I thanked the man for his kindness and paid for the meat, and I did\nnot forget to leave a penny for the little boy who was keeping guard\nover the poor dog.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The poor dog was taken to a shop and well fed. The kind man\nwho bought him a meal took care that he was not driven away till he had\neaten it.\n\n     Questions: 1. How did the landlord show that he was not a\n     truly kind and good man? 2. What did the poor dog do when\n     the traveller passed out at the gate? 3. Where did the kind\n     man take the dog? 4. What did he give the dog in the shop?\n     5. Why could not he wait to see the dog eat? 6. Who watched\n     while the dog ate his meal?\n\n\n3. LOST ON THE MOOR.\n\n1. As I went along, more than one person who passed me on the way said,\n\"We shall have a wild night, sir, I advise you to hurry into shelter.\"\n\n2. As I set foot upon the first part of the wide, open moor, where the\nnarrow path could hardly be seen in the twilight, a few flakes of snow\nbegan to fall.\n\n3. For a moment I began to wonder whether it would not be better, even\nnow, to turn back and stay in the town for that night.\n\n4. But thinking that my wife and dear little girl would be both sorry\nand anxious when I did not appear, I put a stout heart into the matter,\nand strode boldly forward.\n\n5. The snowflakes came down thicker and faster, my beard and the front\nof my coat were quite white, the great brown moor changed first to a\ngrey, and then to pure dazzling white too.\n\n6. The whirling flakes blinded me, I felt giddy from the cold. The\nstorm was now upon me with full fury, the wind almost lifted me from my\nfeet.\n\n7. I trusted that the sudden gale would soon pass over, and folding my\narms close to my body, tried to struggle forward still. But so far from\ngetting better, the weather grew worse each moment.\n\n8. With a dreadful feeling of despair, I found that I could no longer\nfind my way. I did not know where my home lay, nor how I must turn my\nface in order to reach it. I cried to God for mercy.\n\n9. I now felt that I had been very foolish in trying to get across the\nmoor on such a night. Perhaps I might never see my wife and dear child\nagain.\n\n10. The bitter wind seemed to pierce through my clothes, I was fast\ngetting drowsy and ready to fall down. Then the snow would soon have\nburied me, and no one would have seen me alive again.\n\n11. A groan broke from my lips as I looked around at the waste of snow,\nbut I was at the same instant startled to hear a low, plaintive whine\nclose at hand.\n\n12. I turned and saw a large, thin, starved-looking dog sitting close\nbehind. He gazed in a troubled way into my face, when I turned round.\nIt was my poor fellow of the inn door!\n\n13. As he crept along over the snow to my feet, he seemed with the same\nhumble love to say, \"Do not send me away, let me come with you. You are\nthe only person who has shown me mercy.\"\n\n14. I stooped and patted him on the head. \"Good dog!\" I said, \"have you\nfound me out? Come now, I wish you could show me the way home, or else\nI am afraid we shall both be frozen to death.\"\n\n15. He seemed to know what I meant in some strange way, and just then I\nheard far off a church clock strike, which I knew must be in the town I\nhad left behind.\n\n16. This was a help, for I now knew that if I turned my back on the\nplace from which the sound came, I should be right in keeping straight\non.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The storm grew worse. When the man had lost his way on the\nmoor, he saw the dog which he had fed at the inn sitting behind him.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did more than one person say as the man\n     began his walk? 2. As he began to cross the moor, what did\n     he see? 3. Did the weather grow any better? 4. What did he\n     see sitting close to him when he turned round? 5. What did\n     the dog seem to say? 6. What did the traveller hear far off?\n\n\n4. TRUSTY FINDS THE WAY.\n\n1. I pointed out to the dog the way I wished to go, and with a wag of\nhis tail, the wise creature trotted on slowly in front. He seemed to\nfeel that he had the charge of me and had been trusted.\n\n[Illustration: A BITTER NIGHT.]\n\n2. We had not gone far before he gave a whine, and coming quite close\nto me, stared in my face, and changed his course. He seemed to beg me\nto turn aside to the right.\n\n3. I went as he asked me, and as I was going, I tried with my stick to\npoke the ground from which the dog had wished to turn. I wanted to know\nwhy he was not willing to let me tread just there.\n\n4. I found that a deep pond, over which a slight cover of ice and snow\nwere spread, was close beside us. It was an old pit in which water had\nfrozen.\n\n5. Had I set my foot on it I must have sunk down and I never could have\nrisen. \"A few inches closer to the edge and I must have been drowned!\"\ncried I aloud, and did not forget to thank God for the escape.\n\n6. The dog now stopped a few feet off as if to watch whether I was\ncoming, and again trotted forward as I praised him and began to follow.\n\n7. Soon he gave a second whine, and again seemed to wish me to turn\naside. I trod in his footprints, and again was safe. I was now nearly\nready to faint from cold.\n\n8. \"Go on, good dog,\" said I to my faithful guide, \"lead me home\nquickly, or I shall die.\" He gave a hoarse bark in reply, as if to bid\nme keep a good heart.\n\n9. I was just falling down, for I could walk no further, when he gave a\nshort, eager bark of joy; at least it seemed like joy, I thought, but\nmy ears were deaf, and my eyes dim.\n\n10. I gave one last hopeless glance around, and saw something large and\ndark in front. It was a wooden shed, the black inside of which showed\nplainly against the whiteness all around.\n\n11. I knew that it must be one of the huts which the men used who were\ndigging peat on the moor, and the thought filled me with terror, for I\nknew that these huts were very far away from my home.\n\n12. But all other feelings went from me now; I had a strong wish to\nrest, and that was all. I crept into the hut and lay down, thinking\nthat I would wait there till the storm was over.\n\n13. The dog came in after me, and laid himself down close to my side. I\nfelt more sleepy than I had ever done in my life before, my eyes ached,\nand bright lights seemed to be flashing in front of them.\n\n14. I thought of my home, wife, and child, and then sleep stole upon\nme. Once I woke with the hoarse bark of the dog ringing in my ears. He\nwas doing his best to wake me from the sleep which must end in death\nout there on the bitter moor.\n\n15. A second time he roused me, and I felt that he had now crept very\nclose to my breast, and with his fore paws resting on my shoulders, was\nlicking my face with his warm tongue.\n\n16. In the act of stroking him and speaking a kindly word, I again sank\nto sleep, and after that I forgot all about the dog, the shed, and the\ncold moor. I dreamt of home, my little girl, and my dear wife.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The dog led the man to a hut. On the way there he saved him\nfrom falling into a deep pit. The dog did his best to keep the man from\nfalling asleep.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did the man point out to the dog? 2. What\n     did he do to take care of the man on the way? 3. Where did\n     he lead the man? 4. What did the man feel before he was in\n     the hut? 5. How did the dog try to keep him awake? 6. If he\n     had been allowed to sleep in the snow what would have\n     happened to the man?\n\n\n5. SAVED BY TRUSTY.\n\n1. I knew nothing more about myself until I slowly waked in a warm\nroom, and saw many strange faces round me.\n\n[Illustration: CALLING FOR HELP.]\n\n\"Oh, thank God!\" cried a voice near me, \"the poor man is getting\nbetter.\"\n\n2. \"What is the matter?\" said I, for I seemed not to know what all the\nfuss was about.\n\n\"Here, my dear sir, drink this,\" said a voice, and a cup of steaming\nhot coffee was placed at my lips.\n\n3. I drank it slowly, and then all that I had gone through rushed into\nmy mind. \"What is the time?\" I asked of the person who had given me the\nhot coffee. He held my pulse, and I thought that he was a doctor.\n\n4. \"Within ten minutes of midnight,\" was the answer. \"And it has taken\nhours to bring you round. I was almost giving you up for dead.\"\n\n\"You found me on the moor?\"\n\n5. \"Yes, half buried in the snow. You may thank your dog for your\nlife.\"\n\n\"My dog? I have no dog,\" said I, for I did not think of my poor friend\nat the moment.\n\n6. \"Yes; if it had not been for his faithful barking and howling, we\nshould not have set out to seek you. My wife heard him, and she said\nthat some one must be lost on the moor.\n\n7. \"The dog guided us to the shed. He had kept your face clear of snow\nby licking it, and had kept a little warmth in your body by lying on\nit; if he had not, you would now have been dead. We dug you out, and\nbrought you here.\"\n\n8. I thanked the doctor for his goodness, but my mind was chiefly fixed\non that other friend, who was not dumb, for he had spoken for me after\nhis own plan.\n\n9. How great a reward he had given me for a few bones and a friendly\nword!\n\n\"Where is he now?\" I asked in an eager tone.\n\n\"Who?--the dog? Oh, he is tied up in the stable.\n\n10. \"He was so much in the way, and did so much to hinder us by his\nattempts to show his fondness for you, that we had to shut him up.\nHark! Do you hear him?\"\n\n11. As the doctor spoke, a long, doleful howl was borne past the\nwindows of the room. It seemed to speak of pain, longing, reproach: all\nfeelings that a dog who had been ill repaid for his love could put into\nthe sound.\n\n12. \"Oh, let him out, please! let him out, do!\" cried I. \"I cannot bear\nto hear him howl like that.\"\n\nI then told them the story of the dog. And in the midst of the surprise\nwhich all felt at hearing it, he came in.\n\n13. At a word from me, he jumped up by the side of the bed, and barked\nout all his joy at seeing me again. You may be sure that the dog was\nnot left behind when I started that next day for home.\n\n[Illustration: GRATEFUL FRIENDS.]\n\n14. And you may guess what my wife and little girl thought of him. They\ngave him the name of Trusty, which he had well earned.\n\n15. He had a share of the birthday feast, which took place a day later\nthan the right one. No one at the table enjoyed a taste of each dish\nmore than Trusty.\n\n16. The fruit was the only thing which he did not care for. His looks\nimproved day after day. He is my friend and the dearly loved playmate\nof my little girl.\n\n17. I often look back with a most thankful heart to the day that I met\nhim at the inn-door, and my wife has always a pat, a loving word, and a\ntreat in the shape of some nice bone, for our Trusty.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ When the poor man waked from his sleep he found himself in a\nroom. The dog had been tied up in a stable, but was soon let loose.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where did the poor man find himself when he\n     woke? 2. Where had the dog been tied up? 3. What did the man\n     say when he heard the dog howling? 4. What did the doctor\n     tell him about the dog? 5. When was the birthday feast held,\n     and who enjoyed a taste of each dish? 6. What did the dog\n     become, and what was he named?\n\n\n\n\nOUT IN THE COLD.\n\n\n1. POOR OLD BROWNIE.\n\n1. \"What a sharp night it is, Peter, to be sure!\" said a pale woman to\nher husband, as she sat rocking her baby in its cradle by the fire.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n2. She had been but poorly, and had felt the cold very much. \"Very\nsharp, indeed!\" said her husband. \"I feel pains in all my poor old\nbones.\"\n\n3. \"If you and I feel cold here,\" said he, \"by the warm fire, after our\ngood supper, what must it be outside, for those poor souls that have\nnothing to eat, and no fire?\"\n\n4. \"Ah, bad indeed!\" said his wife. \"And for the poor dumb beasts, too.\nHow glad I am that we had that nice dry house made for the cow this\nsummer, and the new place for the cocks and hens!\n\n5. \"They would have been half frozen under that broken roof as it used\nto be when we first came here.\"\n\n6. Her eldest child, a little-girl, looked up from her knitting. \"The\nhens are all quite snug, mother, Fluffy and Biddy and the rest. I\npeeped in just now, after they were gone to roost.\"\n\n7. \"You are always a kind little one to the dumb things,\" said her\nfather, stroking the soft brown head of Mercy, who had just spoken.\n\"And so is my little Nelly, too,\" he added, looking fondly at the\nsecond child, who sat on his knee.\n\n8. \"It is getting late for the children, Peter,\" said his wife. \"Shall\nMercy read a bit, before we go to bed?\" So Mercy, who was a good\nscholar, took the Bible from the shelf and read aloud a few verses\nwhich her father found for her.\n\n9. They told of the manger, and of how the ox and the ass stood by one\nbitter night like this, when the infant Christ was laid in it long ago.\n\"Thank you, dear,\" said her mother, when Mercy had done. \"Now run up to\nyour warm bed.\"\n\n10. \"Oh look, Mercy, how nice!\" cried little Nelly, \"we have got a new\nblanket!\" \"That is because the squire sent it to mother; a big new\nthick one,\" said her sister. \"How warm we shall be!\"\n\n11. Nelly began to make great haste, while Mercy went to the window and\nlooked out.\n\n\"How thick the snow is!\" she said. \"And how white it looks in the\nmoonshine!\n\n12. \"But what is that dark thing standing by the old shed?\" Nelly ran\nup and pressed her little face against the window to peep out too.\n\"Why, it is a donkey!\" she cried. \"How did it get there?\"\n\n13. \"I tell you what,\" said Mercy, \"it is our poor old Brownie, that\nfather sold last week to Mr. Smith, that he might pay the doctor's bill\nwith the money.\n\n14. \"He had spent all we had in getting things for mother when she was\nill, you know, and in bread for us. So poor Brownie had to go.\"\n\n15. \"Why does he not go into the shed? How stupid of him to stand\nthere! And why did he not stay with Mr. Smith, I wonder?\"\n\n\"I suppose he could not help thinking about us, and that is why he came\nback,\" said Mercy. \"Perhaps Mr. Smith has no little girls to pet him,\nand maybe he is not so good to him as father was.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Two little girls went to their warm beds. As they looked out\nat the window they saw a donkey. It stood out in the cold.\n\n     Questions: 1. What sort of night did Peter think it was? 2.\n     What was his wife so glad to think of? 3. What did Mercy say\n     about the hens' house? 4. What did the children see when\n     they looked out at the window? 5. What did Mercy think was\n     the reason why the donkey had come back?\n\n\n2. A KIND ACT.\n\n1. Mercy and her little sister watched at the window for a minute or\ntwo more, but the creature did not move.\n\n2. And Mercy cried out, \"Oh, I quite forgot! Of course, the shed door\nis shut! Father has put his tools there, his spade and rake.\n\n3. \"When Brownie was sold the straw which was his bed was taken out,\nand some sacks of corn and barley were kept there instead.\n\n4. \"Poor Brownie! I dare say he wonders why his nice old house is shut\nup so that he cannot get in!\"\n\n5. \"I will give him some bread from my breakfast in the morning,\nbecause it is Christmas Day,\" said little Nelly. \"He will like that,\nwon't he?\"\n\n6. Her sister made no answer, but, moving from the window, she took\ndown from a peg her hat and thick jacket. She put them on.\n\n7. \"Why, Mercy!\" said Nelly, who looked with much surprise at what her\nsister was doing; \"what are you doing? You cannot be going out now in\nthe snow?\"\n\n8. \"Do not make a noise,\" said Mercy. \"You know that mother is not\nwell, and perhaps she is just dropping off to sleep. I cannot bear to\nleave him freezing out there all night,--Christmas Eve and all!\n\n[Illustration: OUT IN THE COLD.]\n\n9. \"I could not creep under the warm blanket and forget him. No one\nwill see him but us, for only our window looks this way. So I am just\ngoing to run out and get the shed open for him.\"\n\n10. \"Oh, sister, you will be so cold! Cannot you ask father to go?\"\n\n\"Oh, you heard him say that he had pains in all his bones. Now be a\ngood child, Nelly, and get quick into bed. I shall soon be back.\"\n\n11. With these words Mercy tied on a great scarf which was once her\nfather's round her neck, crept down stairs without making the least\nnoise, and out at the back door.\n\n12. Once out of shelter of the house, it was, as she thought with a\nshiver, \"a bitter night.\" The snow was no longer falling, but a keen\nwind swept over the white face of the earth and stirred up the snow.\n\n13. It piled heaps of it up into strange shapes. The frost was so hard\nthat the feet of the child did not sink into it as she ran along.\n\n14. Very soon she reached the shed, outside of which the donkey stood,\na picture of patient despair. She plunged through a great heap of\ndrifted snow and reached its side. She patted his rough coat.\n\n15. \"Oh, Brownie,\" she cried, \"how cold you are! I must get this door\nopen for you somehow.\" She pulled it, she jerked it, she kicked it, she\nshook down showers of snow on herself, and that was all.\n\n16. It was in vain to try. It was frozen hard, and do what she would,\nshe could not stir it an inch. It was hopeless. \"Oh, what can I do for\nyou, Brownie?\" she thought, ready to cry with grief.\n\n17. \"I do so wish you were not so big, and I could take you up the\nstairs into our bed-room!\" And Mercy half laughed at the idea of taking\nthe donkey to bed with her.\n\n18. She gave one last, hard hit and a rattle at the unkind door. \"I\ncannot get it open, Brownie, and I must go home again. It will not do\nyou any good if I stay out here with you.\"\n\n19. Slowly the child moved away. If it had seemed cold when she first\ncame out, it seemed ten times colder now. And she saw the sad look\nwhich the poor beast cast after her when she left him. Mercy could not\nforget it.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Mercy went out into the cold that she might open the shed\ndoor. She wished to let the donkey in. But she could not open it.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Mercy remember about the shed? 2.\n     What did she put on? 3. Where did she go? 4. What was the\n     weather like outside the house? 5. What did she find on\n     trying to open the shed door? 6. What was it that Mercy\n     could not forget?\n\n\n3. THE OLD SHED.\n\n1. All of a sudden, as Mercy had quite made up her mind to leave\nBrownie, and was half way across the yard to her own door, a thought\nstruck her.\n\n2. There was an old shed which had once been the stable of a donkey,\nquite at the far end of the garden.\n\n3. Her father had turned it into a pigsty; but he had left off keeping\npigs for some time. It was a clean place, for Peter did not let his\npigs live in a dirty sty as some people do.\n\n4. Some dry straw was in it, and some roots stored for the winter. It\nwould be just the place if only she could get Brownie there.\n\n5. In a moment she turned back to hurry again over the heap of snow to\nthe place where the donkey still stood. He could do nothing for himself\nto make things better.\n\n6. All that he could do was to bear them without any complaint. Poor\nthing! He was stiff with cold, and seemed not to wish to move. But\nMercy knew what was for his good.\n\n7. She meant to do what was best for poor Brownie, whether he knew it\nor not. So she talked to him, patted him, and coaxed him till at last\nhe let her lead him down to the old shed at the bottom of the garden.\n\n8. \"This is lucky for you, Brownie,\" cried she, feeling very proud at\nher success. There was a bundle of hay in one corner, of which she\nshook down a nice soft armful.\n\n9. And then she gave Brownie one good brisk rubbing with some of the\nstraw, to warm them both. She made him a bed of straw too.\n\n10. Brownie was glad to nibble a mouthful while this was being done.\nThen she took some fine carrots from a shelf, and put them in front of\nhim. Oh, how Brownie did munch those fresh juicy roots!\n\n11. Lastly, she found a bucket of clean water which had not long been\ndrawn from the well, and which had only a thin coating of ice on the\ntop.\n\n12. It had been set in the shed ready for making some mortar, with\nwhich father was going to plaster up the cracks in the wall.\n\n13. Brownie seemed almost more glad of the water than of the food. He\ntook a long drink, and turned to thank Mercy with his great deep dark\neyes.\n\n14. \"Now, poor old fellow, I think you will do,\" said the child. \"I\ncould not bear to leave you out this bitter night, and now I must be\ngetting home, for the snow has soaked through my boots.\"\n\n15. She stopped fondling and stroking the donkey, but he would follow\nher, rubbing his soft nose against her hand. \"Oh, go back again, do,\ndear Brownie!\" she said.\n\n[Illustration: THE OLD SHED.]\n\n16. \"You really must not come out with me!\" Shutting the little gate,\nwhich had once been the front door of the pigsty, she ran back to the\ncottage.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ At last the little girl thought of a shed. It was at the end\nof the garden, and it was a clean place. She put the donkey there and\nfed him well.\n\n     Questions: 1. What thought struck Mercy as she was going\n     back? 2. What sort of shed was it? 3. What did she do for\n     Brownie first? 4. What did she give him to lie on? 5. What\n     did she find for him to eat? 6. What did she give him\n     besides food?\n\n\n4. A HAPPY CHRISTMAS.\n\n1. But when she came to the back door at which she had come out, Mercy\nfound a great trouble. She lifted the latch, but the door did not open.\n\n2. She gave a pull, a second pull, and then a tug with all her might;\nbut it still held fast. \"Why,\" she thought, \"I am as badly off as the\ndonkey. I shall have to go into the pigsty with him!\"\n\n3. She had been out much longer than she thought. And while she had\nbeen taking care of Brownie her father had turned the big key in the\ndoor and gone to bed.\n\n4. What was to be done? It would never do to wake up poor tired\nfather, and bring him out in the cold too. So she stood there trying to\npuzzle out some plan for getting in.\n\n5. The bright moonlight showed her a way to do it. The cottage was a\nlow one, and just under the window of the room where she and Nelly\nslept, was a bench.\n\n6. Standing on tiptoe upon this, Mercy found that she could reach the\nbranches of an old vine tree, which grew over the walls of the little\nhouse.\n\n7. She could climb up into this, and so get near the bedroom window. It\nwas easy enough to scramble up in summer time, but not so easy now.\n\n8. The boughs were a sheet of ice, and her fingers so cold that they\ncould hardly take hold of them. At last, after many slips and frights,\nshe was safely up.\n\n9. But what would little Nelly think of seeing her sister outside the\nwindow, asking to be let in, as their pussy cat often did?\n\n10. She was sound asleep too, and had to be wakened by many hard taps\nat the glass. First, Nelly felt fear at seeing a face looking in at\nher.\n\n11. But she soon knew who it was. \"Oh Mercy,\" cried Nelly, \"how long\nyou have been! What have you been at? And why did you come back this\nway?\"\n\n12. \"Get into bed again, there's a dear,\" said Mercy, \"and I will tell\nyou all about it.\" Nelly kept awake to listen, as Mercy told her the\nstory.\n\n13. And she could not help clapping her hands to think of how snug poor\nold Brownie was now. Mercy knelt down to say her prayers before she got\ninto bed.\n\n14. She felt very thankful that she had been able to do one kindness to\na creature like that ass which once stood in the stall beside the\n\"new-born King.\"\n\n15. Next morning, as soon as the house was tidy, Mercy ran out to see\nthe donkey. More snow had fallen in the night, and had filled up all\nher footmarks, so that she might have thought it all a dream.\n\n16. But just as she reached the pigsty she heard a loud bray, which was\nBrownie's way of saying \"A Merry Christmas\" to his friends.\n\n17. \"You did quite right, my child,\" said her father, when Mercy told\nhim of her work the last night. \"I think that Smith does not treat him\nwell.\n\n18. \"And I will tell you what, children, I am going to-morrow to see\nMr. Smith and buy our Brownie back again. I cannot get on without him,\nI find.\n\n19. \"Now that your mother is well again we shall do better, and last\nweek I put by the money for Brownie. So you need never say good-bye to\nhim again.\"\n\n20. You may be sure that there was a happy Christmas at the cottage for\nPeter and his wife, and for the children, as well as for poor Brownie.\n\n21. \"How very glad I am that I went out to him that night!\" said Mercy\nto her father. \"It was not much to do, only it was Christmas Eve, and I\nthought--\"\n\n22. \"You thought what?\" said her father.\n\n\"Only,\" she said, in a low voice, \"I could not forget that Christ let\nthe ox and the ass be with Him in the stable. And I thought that He\nwould not be pleased if we left poor Brownie out in the cold.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Mercy was forced to get in at the window. She got up by the\nvine tree. Her little sister let her in. Peter said he should buy the\ndonkey back.\n\n     Questions: 1. What trouble did Mercy find at her door? 2.\n     How did she get up to the window? 3. What was Nelly doing?\n     4. What did Peter say when his child told him what she had\n     done for the donkey? 5. What did he say about Mr. Smith? 6.\n     What did he mean to do for Brownie?\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE STORY OF A FLY.\n\n\n1. ROSE.\n\n1. The first time that I ever used my wings was in flying from behind a\nred curtain. It was in a warm nice breakfast-room. The master of it was\ncalled Mr. Sutton.\n\n2. I settled on a pretty white cap on the head of his wife. She was\njust making the tea, and her husband was sitting on the other side of\nthe table.\n\n3. \"Well,\" said Mr. Sutton, \"when I talk of lazy folks, of course I do\nnot suppose that any person thinks himself idle.\n\n4. \"Some people think that so long as they are doing something or\nother they are busy. I suppose that I am an idle old fellow myself, for\nspending time in reading the paper.\n\n5. \"The right thing to think is, have I been doing what is of any use,\neh?\" said the old man, pushing up his glasses and looking at his little\ngrandchild.\n\n6. \"Have you done a single thing that is of any use this morning,\nRose?\" Rose hung her head for a moment. Then she lifted her face\nbrightly, and said, \"Only one little thing, grandpa.\"\n\n7. \"What was it, dear?\"\n\n\"I am not quite sure that it was a real good thing,\" Rose went on, \"but\nI found a poor little butterfly that had fallen into a pool in the\ngarden, where the rain had come.\n\n8. \"Its wings were wet, and it could not fly up. So I took it up and\nput it in the sun on the wall, and soon it was well.\"\n\n9. Mrs. Sutton looked at Rose in a loving way. \"I am quite sure that it\nwas a 'real good thing' if you are not,\" said the old lady. \"And so\nthat was partly why you were late?\"\n\n10. \"Yes, granny.\"\n\n\"Well, the little butterfly is all the better, though you were the\nworse for having cold toast. But that is not much to bear for the sake\nof saving a little life, is it?\"\n\n11. And all this time I had been feasting on the sweet white lumps of\nsugar. No one took any notice of me, and so I went on, till one lump\nbegan to grow quite small.\n\n12. \"Look, here is a little house-fly!\" said Rose. \"He is standing\nquite still on a lump of sugar. What is he doing, granny?\"\n\n\"He is eating it, dear.\"\n\n\"Can he bite it up?\"\n\n13. \"Bite it up! No,\" said Mr. Sutton, putting down his paper and\ncoming up to us. \"The fly has no teeth, he has a trunk. He sends down\nsome juice through his trunk on to the sugar.\n\n14 \"This juice melts it, and then he sucks it up again.\"\n\n\"How clever!\" said Rose. \"I wish he would let me touch him.\" And she\nput out one finger very softly towards me.\n\n15. Now though I am a brave fly now, I could not bear at that time to\nsee the hand of any person come near me. Though I would perch on the\ntop of it, I did not like to be touched by it.\n\n16. So I flew up in a great hurry, and pitched on some dark stuff which\nsmelt like new hay, and which stood on the side table in a box. Rose\ndid not see where I went. \"Oh, how fast he went off!\" she said.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Rose saved the life of a butterfly. She found it in a little\npool. She set it in the sun to dry its wings. It was a useful thing to\ndo.\n\n     Questions: 1. What had Rose found in the garden? 2. What did\n     she do for the little butterfly? 3. How did the fly eat\n     sugar without any teeth? 4. What did Rose wish to do? 5.\n     What did the fly think about being touched? 6. What did he\n     do when he saw the hand of Rose near him?\n\n\n2. IN THE TEA-CADDY.\n\n1. \"Now, granny,\" said Rose, when the breakfast was done, \"I will not\nforget, to-day at least, to lock up the tea-caddy.\"\n\n2. So she took up the sugar-basin, fitted it into a little place made\nfor it inside the box where I sat, and, before I had any idea of what\nshe was doing, she shut down the lid.\n\n3. I was now, for the first time, left in the dark. And I began to\nthink what a pleasant thing the sunshine was, and to wonder when I\nshould be let out again.\n\n4. But I must say that I found the sugar a great comfort. I went on\neating it as long as I could. If I was to be locked up at all, I could\nnot have been locked into a better place.\n\n5. The sugar-basin was full and there were enough lumps in it to last a\nfly of my size all his life. But of course one might get tired of it,\nin time.\n\n6. But I was not tired yet. So I ate and ate, until I began to feel my\nlegs ache and my wings very heavy. Just then I heard a loud noise, and\na light broke into my prison.\n\n7. It was Rose turning the key in the lock and lifting the lid of the\ntea-caddy. \"Oh, granny!\" cried she, \"here is a poor fly that can hardly\nmove.\"\n\n8. \"I am afraid, dear, that the poor fly must thank himself for that,\"\nsaid Mrs. Sutton, looking closely at me. \"He has been a little glutton,\nI fear, and has eaten so much sugar that he can hardly move.\"\n\n9. \"Poor little fellow,\" said Rose, \"I will not hurt him. He shall go\nout of doors on to the cool grass and get well again.\n\n10. \"I dare say that, though he is not quite so pretty as a butterfly,\nhe likes to be alive.\" So Rose took me up between her finger and thumb\nas gently as she could, but oh, what great big hands they seemed to me!\n\n11. And my poor sides were pinched black and blue. That is the reason\nwhy I cannot bear one of the great hands which belong to men and women\nto catch hold of me.\n\n12. You see we tiny flies are made so lightly, and we are so small. A\nmere touch will crush our dainty wings, or break our slender legs, or\nhurt our eyes.\n\n13. How thankful I am that we have eyes that can see behind and all\nround us as well as in front!\n\n14. We are able to get away, thanks to these eyes, when we see a great\nhand coming to catch us. Even a baby's hand seems like that of a giant\nto us.\n\n[Illustration: ROSE DID HER BEST FOR ME.]\n\n15. But dear Rose did her best for me, and put me in a spoon to carry.\nAt the same time I did wish that the sugar had not been quite so nice,\nand that I had not taken so much of it.\n\n16. The fresh air of the garden, the sunshine, and the flowers did me a\ngreat deal of good, after being shut up in the tea-caddy. At night I\nslept in a lily bell.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The fly was shut into a tea-caddy by mistake. He ate so much\nsugar that he could hardly fly. Rose put him out of doors to get well.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Rose do after breakfast? 2. What did\n     the fly do inside the tea-caddy? 3. What did Rose say when\n     she opened it again? 4. What did her grandmother say? 5.\n     What did Rose do for the fly? 6. Why does not the fly like\n     to be touched?\n\n\n3. I FALL INTO THE CREAM.\n\n1. The next morning I flew in at the window. Rose had soon done her\nbreakfast, and she locked up the caddy again, with me outside this\ntime.\n\n2. Though I did not fancy any sweets on that morning, I saw something\nin a small jug on the table which I thought looked even nicer. It was\nyellow and rather thick.\n\n3. I went down to see what sort of stuff it was. It could not hurt me,\nat any rate, to dip one of my feet in, or the tip of my trunk, and see\nwhether cream was better and more wholesome than sugar.\n\n[Illustration: SOMETHING IN A SMALL JUG.]\n\n4. I slid with care down the sides of the jug, holding firmly on with\nthe little soles of my feet, which, I am thankful to say, have suckers\non them which make it easy for me to run where I like without falling.\n\n5. I tasted cream for the first time In my life. What a happy moment it\nwas! I tasted it a second time, a third, and a fourth time, and after\nthat I became so greedy for more that I lost my balance and in I went\nplump!\n\n6. At first I kicked about as hard as I could, and tried to keep my\nwings clear. But they soon got cold, and stuck to my sides.\n\n7. And then I could only go round and round the place, looking with\ndespair at the steep sides of the cream-jug, which seemed far larger\nand steeper than they had done before my sad mishap.\n\n8. I was growing tired of the struggle, my body began to sink in the\ncream, and even my eyes were dimmed by it, so that I could hardly see\nwhere I was going.\n\n9. Thomas the servant came in to take away the breakfast things, and\nthe jolt he gave the cream-jug in moving it closer to the tea-pot\nnearly drowned me. I was half dead.\n\n10. But Rose was again my friend, though she did not mean to do what\nshe then did. Rushing into the room to fetch a book which she had left\non the window seat, she ran against Thomas, and pushed his elbow.\n\n11. This jerked the cream-jug so that it upset and I was upset with it.\nI felt myself crawling along in a great white flood over the\ntable-cloth, but still I had land under my feet.\n\n12. \"My dear Rose,\" said Mrs. Sutton, \"how often I have begged you not\nto rush into the room in that rough way. You nearly knocked down\nThomas, and see how his sleeve is messed with greasy cream!\"\n\n13. \"I am very sorry, granny,\" said Rose, \"but I forgot this book, and\nMiss Bush is waiting.\"\n\n\"I am sorry too,\" said Mrs. Sutton, \"and so is Thomas, I dare say.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The fly wished to taste cream. He fell into the jug and was\nnearly drowned. Rose pushed the servant, the jug upset, and the fly\ncrawled out.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did the fly wish to taste next? 2. What\n     had he on his feet which helped him to walk? 3. What became\n     of him after the fourth sip of cream? 4. Who came into the\n     room to fetch the breakfast things? 5. Who came in next? 6.\n     What happened to the cream-jug and to the fly?\n\n\n4. SWEET AS HONEY.\n\n1. Rose had to go away, to finish her lessons, and Thomas also went out\nof the room to get a cloth to wipe up the spilt cream.\n\n2. I was in danger of being swept away by this, but, just as Rose was\ngoing out at the door, she saw me still in the midst of the cream.\n\n3. In an instant I found myself nearly drowned again in a spoonful of\nit, and the next moment I was again placed on the grass of the lawn.\n\n4. Rose had scooped me up in the spoon and carried me there. I really\nthink that she had a liking for me. How thankful I felt to be in the\ngrass!\n\n5. I hid myself under a daisy flower and took a good rest, for I felt\nvery tired after my struggles. A good shower of rain came on, and I\nwas quite glad to hear it patter on the leaves.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n6. For I still felt a trifle sticky, and was glad to get my legs moist,\nso that I might wash myself all the better. At this time the sun was so\nwarm, that I lived out of doors for some days.\n\n7. I think that three days passed before I sat again on the white cap\nof Mrs. Sutton. But one morning, when she sat at the open window, I\nthought I should like to pay my old friend a visit.\n\n8. It was breakfast time again. Mr. Sutton was reading the paper\nthrough his new glasses, and Rose was busy eating her breakfast.\n\n9. As I had had nothing but a few tastes of dew, and such small meals\nas were to be had from the flowers, for three days, I was rather\nhungry.\n\n10. I thought that Rose would spare me a bit of what was on her plate.\nBut, as I was on the way to it, I had to pass a pot of something which\nhad a better smell than what she was then eating.\n\n11. It was honey. It made me forget all about Rose, and her bread and\nbutter. I pitched on the honey-pot, and began to feast as hard as I\ncould.\n\n12. But before I had eaten much, I saw Rose take some and spread it on\na piece of bread. At the same moment Mrs. Sutton rose and put the honey\ninto a cupboard.\n\n13. \"The flies will get at this, if it is left without a cover,\" she\nsaid. \"I cannot think why Thomas has brought it in to table without\none.\"\n\n14. Now I thought this a most unkind speech. They were all eating\ntwenty times as much as I could do in a week at each mouthful. Yet the\nhoney was put into a dark cupboard out of my reach!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The fly was glad to clean his wings and legs. He came back to\nthe room and sat on the cap of the old lady. He was pleased to get some\nhoney.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Rose do for the fly in the cream? 2.\n     What did the fly do in the garden? 3. What did the fly find\n     on the breakfast-table? 4. Where did he pitch next? 5. What\n     did the old lady do with the honey-pot? 6. What did the fly\n     think of what she said?\n\n\n5. A NEW MISHAP.\n\n1. This vexed me, I must say, so I went and buzzed against the window\npanes for a little while, to see if that would do me any good.\n\n2. At the end of that time I heard Rose say, \"Granny, I do not want\nthis bread and honey now. May I keep it for my lunch?\"\n\n3. \"Yes, dear,\" said her granny. It seemed a wonder to me that Rose\nshould wish to leave her bread and honey till some hours later, when\nshe might have had it at once.\n\n4. Mr. Sutton got up and went away to his study. His wife rose too, and\nshe told Rose to put the plate of bread and honey on the sideboard,\nthat Thomas might take it away till lunch time.\n\n5. But Rose forgot to tell Thomas, and he did not seem to see the\nplate, so there the tempting dish was left all the morning. The sun\nbegan to shine upon it, and I sniffed and sniffed many times.\n\n6. At last I left the white cap where I was sitting, and went towards\nit. I settled upon something far nicer now than either sugar or cream.\nI sipped and sucked away for some time.\n\n7. At last I thought that I had eaten enough and had better tear myself\naway before I had taken more than was good for me. But, to my horror, I\nfound that when I tried to lift up my legs I could not stir them!\n\n8. In my other troubles I had at least been able to move a little. I\ncould climb up and down the mountains of sugar, and I could swim about\nin the ocean of cream.\n\n9. But now I was fixed fast, either to be eaten by Rose without her\nknowing it, or to die a wretched death in the kitchen if she did not\nchoose to finish me off.\n\n10. I had never thought very much of my out-door cousins, the bees. It\nseemed to me that they made a great fuss and took a lot of trouble for\nnothing, in making honey for men and women to take away.\n\n11. How much better to eat it straight from the flowers! And now I\nthought worse of the bees than ever, because I was sticking fast in\ntheir stuff.\n\n12. I tried in vain to drag out one front leg after the other, and next\nmy middle and back legs. It was just as a man would feel if he were\nstuck in a bog.\n\n13. The sound of the lunch bell went to my heart. The sight of the nice\nbread and honey, which Rose had left at breakfast, would be sure to\nmake her feel hungry. She very soon saw me!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The fly stood on a plate of bread and honey. He stuck fast and\nfelt as a man might do in a bog. Rose took him out and set him free.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Rose do with her bread and honey? 2.\n     What did the fly do when he smelt it? 3. What happened to\n     him when he settled on the honey? 4. What did he try to do\n     in vain? 5. What did he soon hear? 6. What did Rose very\n     soon see when she came to lunch?\n\n\n6. THE FLY'S EYE.\n\n1. I feel sure that she did not know me, for she cried out, \"Oh,\ngranny! here is a nasty fly on my bread and honey. I dare say that the\nhorrid thing has been crawling all over it!\n\n2. \"I wish a spider would come and catch it!\" went on Rose, quite\ncrossly, \"for I do not like to kill it myself!\" And here she gave me a\nlittle poke with a fork. But not hard enough to hurt me.\n\n3. \"Why, Rose, what is the matter?\" said her granny. \"I thought that\nyou were fond of the little, busy, useful flies that come to dance and\nplay in the house?\"\n\n4. \"Well, I cannot see what good they do,\" said Rose, \"getting into the\ncream and sticking on to the bread and honey.\" Something had put little\nRose out of temper. But I felt sure it would not last long.\n\n5. \"I wish he would not get on to my plate,\" said she, bending down her\nface to hide it, for she began to feel ashamed. \"But I will not hurt\nhim.\"\n\n6. And she took one of her granny's knitting needles in her hand. I\nshook with fear when I saw this great spear coming; but Rose used it in\na most gentle and kind way.\n\n7. She lifted my body out after setting my legs free, and though I felt\nstrained and tired after it, I left nothing behind me, no, not even any\nof the brushes and combs on my feet.\n\n8. \"I will put him out into the garden,\" said she. But, as my wings had\ngot no honey on them, I saved her the trouble, by flying away.\n\n9. If Rose had only known half the trouble I had in washing my feet\nafter the honey, she would have been ready to forgive me for tasting\nher lunch.\n\n10. \"I am glad you did not go on feeling cross with the poor little\nfly, Rose,\" said Mrs. Sutton. \"We should miss them much if we had none,\nfor they help to keep our houses sweet and clean.\n\n11. \"No maid with her broom could get at all the tiny cracks and\ncorners where the flies go. The eyes of no woman in the world could see\nwhat the fly can.\n\n12. \"Do you know that his round ball of eye is made up of many hundreds\nof bits, and that each bit can see a new way?\"\n\n13. Rose clapped her hands. \"Then can the fly see a hundred ways at\nonce?\" said she. \"Oh, how I wish I could do that!\"\n\n14. \"You can move your eyes about,\" said her granny, \"which does just\nas well. The fly cannot move his. And you would not like to be born in\nthe kitchen sink, would you?\"\n\n15. \"Is that where flies are born?\" said Rose, drawing near to her\ngranny and looking into her face.\n\n16. \"Yes,\" said Mrs. Button, \"the fly is born in a sink, or in any\nplace where dirty stuff is found. The young flies eat the dirty stuff\nand get rid of it. I will tell you some day how the little things come\ninto the world.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ After being set free from the honey the fly went off. He\ncleaned his legs and went back to the old lady. She told Rose that\nflies were of great use.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Rose use to lift the fly up? 2. In\n     what way did she use the knitting-needle? 3. What did the\n     fly feel when he saw the knitting-needle coming? 4. What can\n     the fly do to keep a house clean? 5. What sort of eye has\n     the fly? 6. Tell me where flies are born?\n\n\n7. BABY FLIES.\n\n1. \"Could you not tell me now?\" said Rose, for she wanted to hear about\nthe little flies. And I too felt very glad to hear more about my\nchildhood. So I sat still to listen.\n\n2. \"Perhaps you think that the child of a fly looks just like itself;\nonly smaller,\" said Mrs. Sutton. \"But the house-fly lays a great many\nlittle eggs.\n\n3. \"She finds some old dirty rubbish, like rotten cabbage or stuff that\nis left by careless cooks lying about. In this she puts her eggs, and\nthen she dies. Little grubs are born from them.\n\n4. \"They begin to eat as soon as they are born, and very soon they turn\ninto flies, after going to sleep for a while first in a kind of little\nhard skin or shell. They change into flies while they are inside this\nshell.\"\n\n5. \"What do the flies do when they cannot find any dirty rubbish?\" said\nRose.\n\n\"Then they go to look for it in other places,\" said her granny. \"So you\nsee, if we do not wish to have flies in our houses we must have no\nrubbish.\"\n\n6. \"Then the flies are little servants to us, granny?\"\n\n\"Yes, to be sure.\"\n\n\"I wish I could see a baby-fly,\" said Rose.\n\n7. \"You would not think it at all pretty,\" said Mrs. Sutton. \"It is a\nwhitish maggot. But some ugly looking things are very useful to us.\"\n\n\"I like pretty things best,\" said Rose.\n\n8. \"Well, the fly is pretty enough when he is grown up. He has to wait,\nyou see.\" I was pleased to hear the kind old lady say this, and I\nnodded my head and washed my face with my feet.\n\n9. \"And so it is your birthday on Monday, Rose,\" went on her granny.\n\"And I suppose it is time to be thinking about the party and the fun we\nare to have?\"\n\n10. Rose looked up, beaming with delight at these words. Though she had\nnot been born as a grub in a sink, I thought that she looked pretty\ntoo.\n\n11. \"We must get Miss Bush to write the letters for us, Rose, and ask\nthe little girls, and boys to come and spend the day with you. Run now\nand see if she will be so good as to do it now.\"\n\n\"Oh, very well,\" said Rose. And she went out with a skip.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ A house-fly is born in the sink. The egg from which it comes\nis laid in dirt and rubbish. The grub which creeps out eats up the\ndirty stuff.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where does the house-fly lay its eggs? 2. What\n     are the young flies like at first? 3. What do they do as\n     soon as they are born? 4. What do they eat? 6. If we do not\n     wish to have many flies, what must we do? 6. What treat was\n     Rose going to have?\n\n\n8. SAVED AGAIN.\n\n1. I heard a little girl say, \"Oh, Rose, there is a fly in your glass\nof wine.\"\n\n\"Poor thing!\" said the little girl next her, \"take it out!\"\n\n\"No, no!\" said her brother; \"let it alone. Let us see how he swims.\"\n\n2. All this time I felt very bad. I was drowning, yet this boy could\nlook on and talk like that.\n\n3. Something seemed to take away all my breath and strength. I heard\nthe boy say, \"If I fell into a pond I could not swim so well.\"\n\n4. \"Why, no,\" said Rose, \"the fly has not a coat and trousers, as you\nhave. But I do not think it is fun to see him drowning, so I will take\nhim out.\" And she pushed the handle of a spoon with care under me.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n5. I could hardly crawl when I got on to the table-cloth. She saw it\nand placed me on a green laurel leaf outside. I sat there half dead,\nand yet I heard what they were all saying inside the summer-house.\n\n6. \"Lucy,\" said Rose to the little girl, \"you would have been glad if\nyou could have been lifted out like that poor fly, when you fell into\nthe pond at home, would you not?\n\n7. \"You went to the bottom before any person came to help you. Were you\nin a great fright? How did you feel?\"\n\n8. \"Why,\" said Lucy, \"I was in a great fright when I first fell in, but\nafter that I think that I must have been asleep, for I forgot it all. I\nknew nothing after my tumble down the bank, till I heard my mother near\nme.\n\n9. \"She was saying, 'God bless you, darling,' and then I found myself\nlying in bed.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said her brother Tom, \"Neptune, our dog, had a famous supper that\nnight.\"\n\n10. \"Why?\" asked a little boy, from the other end of the table.\n\n\"Oh, did you not know that it was Neptune who pulled my sister out of\nthe water?\" said Tom.\n\n11. \"He saw her go in, and without being told, he got her out. She\nwould have been drowned without him. She had been told not to go near\nthe pond, but she ran down to it, without leave, when no one was\nlooking.\"\n\n12. The other little girl here grew very red. \"You need not have said\nthat, Tom,\" said she. But Tom was a bit of a tease. He only laughed and\nsaid that his sister was always doing what she was told not.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Rose took the fly out of her glass. She put him on a leaf to\nget dry. Tom told them about his big dog. It saved the life of Lucy.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Rose do for the fly in her glass? 2.\n     What did the dog do for Lucy? 3. What did Tom say that his\n     dog could do? 4. What else would he bring out from the\n     bottom? 5. What did Neptune have on the night when he saved\n     Lucy's life?\n\n\n9. GRANNY'S CAP ON FIRE.\n\n1. I did not feel much desire to taste any food next morning. The long\nswim on the day before had taken away my wish for eating and drinking.\n\n2. I nearly flew down to the flower which Rose had put in water, but I\nchanged my mind. On the whole I prefer the smell of jam to that of\nroses.\n\n3. I felt that a little walk would do me good, so I went round the tray\nonce or twice, and then I tried to do the same thing on the tea-urn,\nbut it was too hot for my feet.\n\n4. I left that quickly enough, and after running across the toast on\nMr. Sutton's plate, and crawling up his paper, only to be driven away,\nI went to the window.\n\n5. Here I was so lucky as to meet a few of my friends, and we had a\nlittle dance in the sunshine, which quite brought back my health and\nspirits.\n\n6. The day thus passed by, and it was very warm indeed later on. After\ntea Mr. and Mrs. Sutton were seated in the drawing-room, one on each\nside of a little table, with a candle between them.\n\n7. The old lady was knitting, and her husband was reading aloud the\npaper to her. I think he was reading to amuse himself more than his\nwife.\n\n8. I could feel, as I sat on her cap, that her head was nodding now and\nthen, as if she were dozing. Mr. Sutton at last saw this. And laying\ndown the paper he said, two or three times, \"You are sleepy, my dear.\"\n\n9. Each time that he said this, granny woke up, sat very upright, and\nsaid, \"Oh no, not at all, my love.\" But she went off again to sleep as\nsoon as the reading began.\n\n10. At length she was in so sound a nap that she did not notice when\nMr. Sutton put down the paper, after reading a long, dull account of\nsomething or other.\n\n11. He took off his glasses, laid them on the folded paper, and saying\nsomething to himself about resting his eyes, fell fast asleep too.\n\n12. Granny's head now nodded lower and lower. First she gave a nod, and\nthen her husband gave a bow, just as if they were being most polite to\neach other in their sleep.\n\n13. Her cap was very near the wax candle once or twice, and there was a\nsmell of burning. She now began to nod sideways, and each time that she\ndid so there was a great smoke and a frizzling noise.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Rose went to spend the day with Lucy. The fly sat on the cap\nof the old lady. She fell asleep and the cap caught on fire.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where did Rose go? 2. Where did the fly stay?\n     3. What were Mr. and Mrs. Sutton doing that evening? 4. What\n     did Mr. Sutton say when his wife's head nodded? 5. What did\n     he do himself? 6. What happened to the old lady's cap?\n\n\n10. A NARROW ESCAPE.\n\n1. I was afraid of losing my perch, her nice white cap, on which I had\nnow grown to feel quite at home. It seemed as if it were turning into\nashes like those in the grate, and it felt too hot.\n\n2. I flew up, for I could sit there no longer. And then I pitched on\nthe top of Mr. Sutton's head, just in the bald place, and stamped with\none foot as hard as I could.\n\n3. I also ran about and tickled him a good deal. He woke up in a great\nhurry, for he raised his hand to drive me away, and in doing so, gave\nhimself a smart tap.\n\n4. This roused him. And he awoke just in time to save the cap and the\nhair of his wife from being in a blaze of fire.\n\n5. \"Dear, dear, dear!\" said he. \"Why, my love, what an escape you have\nhad!\"\n\n\"Nonsense, my dear,\" said the old lady, \"I have not been asleep, I\nassure you.\" But it was of no use for her to say and think this.\n\n6. There was the burnt cap on her head. \"I was not quite asleep,\" said\nshe. \"Oh no, neither was I,\" said her husband, laughing.\n\n7. And then, looking grave, he said, \"You were in great danger though,\nmy dear. I read only a day or two ago, of an old lady who had been\nburnt to death from setting her cap on fire.\"\n\n8. I had been in great danger too, though no one seemed to think of\nthat. What between the flames, and the knock that Mr. Sutton aimed at\nme, I might have been killed.\n\n9. Thomas was now heard coming up the gravel walk. He had been sent to\nfetch Rose home. She was full of news to tell, about all the things she\nhad seen and heard that day.\n\n10. \"It is a great mercy, my dear, that you have a bit of your granny\nleft,\" said Mr. Sutton. \"If it had not been for a fly, which tickled\nthe top of my head, your granny's cap would have been on fire.\"\n\n11. \"Well, well, Mr. Sutton,\" said the old lady, who, somehow or other,\ndid not seem to like hearing about the cap being on fire.\n\n12. \"You see here I am, without even being singed. And I was not half\nso sound asleep as you were, my dear. Depend upon it I am too old and\ntoo wise to let my cap catch fire.\"\n\n13. Mr. Sutton did not say any more about the cap, since it seemed to\nvex his wife.\n\n\"Ah,\" said Rose, \"if I had been at home you would not both have fallen\nasleep.\"\n\n14. \"That is very likely,\" said granny, smiling. \"Well, and how did\nyou enjoy yourself?\" Rose said that she had been very happy.\n\n15. She had seen Neptune dive, and she had been drenched by the shaking\nwhich the big doggie gave himself when he came out of the water.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The fly pitched on the head of the old man. He gave a stamp\nwith his foot to wake him up. The old man put out the fire.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where did the fly pitch on leaving the cap? 2.\n     What did he do to the old man's head? 3. What did Mr. Sutton\n     do when he woke up? 4. What did he say to his wife? 5. Who\n     came home with Thomas? 6. What sort of day had Rose spent?\n\n\n11. A GLASS TO MAKE THINGS BIG.\n\n1. \"What shall I look at next?\" said Rose, who had a glass thing in her\nhand, next day. \"Oh, this fly!\"\n\n2. The lunch was on the table, and I was just making a hearty meal on a\npat of butter. I knew that Rose would not hurt me. So I stood quite\nstill.\n\n3. \"How very strange!\" said the little girl. \"He looks as big as a\nhorse. His wings are like shining lace, and he has hairy brushes on his\nfeet.\n\n4. \"Now he is cleaning his head with one of them. I am glad that flies\nare not really so big as he seems now.\n\n5. \"What a buzzing we should have, and what should we do when such huge\nthings flew about the room or walked on the ceiling!\n\n6. \"There would be no room for us to move, and the house would be too\nsmall. Fancy having such a creature as this fly looks now jumping and\nprancing over one's bread and jam!\"\n\n7. I was not pleased with this speech; I knew that my colour was rather\ndingy, but I had always thought my shape to be light and graceful, and\nthis Rose had taken no notice of.\n\n8. Neither had she so much as looked at my trunk, of which I am truly\nproud. So I flew away in a pet from under the glass, and settled on the\nloaf in the middle of the table, out of her reach.\n\n9. \"But for you, dear grand-father, I should never have thought such\ntiny creatures worth taking any notice of. Why, they are made just as\nwell as big ones, or better.\"\n\n[Illustration: WHAT SHALL I LOOK AT NEXT?]\n\n10. \"Not better, dear, but quite as well. They are all the work of\nGod's hand, and so all must be alike good. Do you know that you owe the\npretty crimson sash that you have on to a very little creature?\"\n\n11. \"Oh yes, the silkworm,\" said Rose.\n\n\"Yes, and the red colour was made from the dead body of an insect too.\nThere is a sort of blight which gives this red colour after it is dead.\n\n12. \"Merchants bring them from abroad, after they have been taken from\nthe plants on which they live. As they kill the coffee plants they must\nbe swept off, and they are made into dye.\"\n\n13. Grand-father would have said much more, but just then Rose saw Tom\nand Lucy walking up the lawn to the open window.\n\n14. Behind them walked gravely Neptune the dog, with his master's stick\nin his mouth, which he thought it a great honour to carry.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Rose saw the fly through her glass. She felt glad that the fly\nwas not so big as he looked then. He was as well made as if he were\nlarge.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Rose look at through her glass? 2.\n     What did she think about the fly? 3. What did Mr. Sutton say\n     about great and little creatures? 4. Whom did Rose see in\n     the garden? 5. Who walked behind carrying his master's\n     stick?\n\n\n12. A LONG SLEEP.\n\n1. About this time I began to feel a chill in the air. I did not like\nthis, for it made me feel drowsy. So I kept in the warmth of the\ndrawing-room all day.\n\n2. But I was shocked to see that many of my friends began to get quite\nunfit to run or fly about. Their wings seemed heavy, and some of them\ncrept into holes where they went to sleep.\n\n3. One day I went down to the table and found one of the gayest flies I\nhad ever known, lying on his back upon the cloth.\n\n4. He was cold and stiff. Nearly all the friends I had made that summer\nwere dying or dead around me, or else they had crept into corners out\nof sight.\n\n5. I knew that something must be done, or I too should one day be found\nlying on my back with my legs in the air, and Thomas would sweep me\naway, as he did the other flies.\n\n6. I made up my mind to choose the best place I could, and there seemed\nnone better than the old red curtain from which I had first come out\ninto that pleasant room.\n\n7. I therefore ran about on the wall behind it for some time, looking\nfor a proper hole. I found just the nook I wanted, where a bit of the\nwall paper was peeling off.\n\n8. I had hardly crept into it when I was fast asleep. To my good sense\nand quickness I owe my life. If I had not been a clever fly, I should\nhave died, I dare say, like the rest.\n\n9. As it is, here I am, alive and merry. When I woke the next warm\nspring day, there was little Rose and Mr. and Mrs. Sutton sitting at\nbreakfast just as they had done when first I saw them.\n\n10. Rose was perhaps a little taller, and the bald place on her\ngrand-father's head may have been a wee bit wider.\n\n11. But the jam was just as good, the honey and sugar as sweet, and the\nwhite cap just as clean and nice to sit on. The flowers in the garden,\ntoo, smell as fresh as ever--still I prefer the jam.\n\n12. If I might say one word at parting, it would be this. Do not forget\nthat there is room in this big wide world for a poor little fly as well\nas for boys and girls.\n\n13. And if you enjoy life and like a good game at play,--why, so do we!\nSo let us have our harmless games and do our tiny bit of work for you\nin peace.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ As soon as it felt cold the fly went to sleep. He did not wake\nup till the next spring. There is room in the world for flies as well\nas for boys and girls.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did the fly now begin to feel? 2. What\n     did he see on the table? 3. Where did he hide himself? 4.\n     When did he wake from his sleep? 5. What change did he see\n     in Rose? 6. What does the fly say as a parting word?\n\n\n\n\nBETTY AND SNOWDROP.\n\n\n1. PEEP! PEEP!\n\n1. There was once a young hen. She had led a very quiet life in a\nvillage until she was nearly one year old. Then, all at once, she found\nthat people began to make a great fuss about her.\n\n2. You will never guess why, and so, as I think you may like to hear\nall about her, I will begin at once and tell you. Betty,--that was the\nname of this hen,--was one of ten fluffy little yellow chicks.\n\n3. She was dressed in soft bright down when she first crept out of her\negg-shell. She had a sharp beak and bright clever black eyes.\n\n4. One morning, as her mother was strutting about the yard with all her\nchildren behind her, crying \"cluck, cluck!\" as she scratched up bits\nfor them among the straw, Gip, the little pet dog, ran up.\n\n5. He was only a puppy, and he meant nothing but play. Perhaps he\nmistook the small round chicks for a lot of little balls rolling about.\nAt any rate he snatched up Betty, who was the finest of them, in his\nmouth.\n\n[Illustration: THE FARMYARD.]\n\n6. With a roguish look at their fat old mother, he began to scamper off\nwith her. \"Cackle, cackle!\" screamed the old hen. \"Put the baby down\nthis moment, sir!\" And the mother flew at Gip before he had gone six\nyards.\n\n7. She jumped upon his back, and began to flap his head with her wings\nas hard as she could, while she made digs at his back with her beak.\n\n8. The pretty dog, finding himself treated in this way, soon dropped\nthe chicken out of his mouth. Little Betty rolled out from between his\nwhite teeth and fell flop! to the ground.\n\n9. She was not a bit hurt, for she toddled back to join her brothers\nand sisters, who were all crying \"peep! peep!\" in a great fright. They\nwere afraid of seeing her eaten up alive.\n\n10. But though her child was none the worse, the mother-hen began to\nbatter and beat poor Gip as if he had maimed it for life. And she never\nforgave the little dog after that day.\n\n11. When she saw him coming, even at a distance, she pushed out her\nhead, stuck all her feathers on end, and spread out her tail like a\nbush.\n\n12. Perhaps it was the dreadful fright which Betty felt while she was\nin the jaws of Gip, which made her so grave and thoughtful a chicken\nas she soon became. She walked better than the rest.\n\n13. She held herself upright, and her mother was never heard to say,\n\"heads up!\" as she did to the other chickens. Her mistress said one\nmorning that Betty was \"the pride of the brood.\"\n\n14. Her two brothers were very greedy chickens, I am sorry to say. And\nas they grew older, they began to fight sadly for each worm or grain of\ncorn which they found.\n\n15. Though Betty and the rest of the chickens grew up white as snow,\none of these young cocks had a speckled breast, and the other had two\nblack feathers in his tail. This spoilt their look.\n\n16. They were both taken away one day by a strange man, in spite of all\nthat their mother could say. She bustled up and tried to rescue her\nsons. Although they were both in the habit of eating too much, she\nloved them in spite of all.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ A little chick was picked up by a puppy. He did not kill it,\nbut put it down when the hen came after him. The chicken was not hurt.\n\n     Questions: 1. How many brothers and sisters had Betty? 2.\n     What did the puppy do one day? 3. What did the old hen do?\n     4. What did Betty's mistress call her? 5. What sort of\n     chickens were the two brothers? 6. What became of them?\n\n\n2. BETTY IS SPOILT.\n\n1. Time passed on, and Betty grew fast in size and beauty. Her mistress\nmade up her mind to send her to the Poultry Show at the Crystal Palace.\n\n2. The cook and all who saw her said that Betty ought to go, her beauty\nwas so great. She was quite a perfect pattern of what a white hen of\nher sort ought to be.\n\n3. She would be certain to win a first prize of the first class, they\nall thought. Poor Betty! From the day that it was settled for her to go\nto the Poultry Show her troubles began.\n\n4. When first it was made known in the yard she became rather vain, in\nspite of all that her mother could say. The fact was that the old hen\nfelt proud of it herself, and Betty knew it.\n\n5. She would be always pluming the feathers of her daughter, cackling\nloudly, and calling to strange chickens to come and admire the lovely\nback and smooth wings of her child.\n\n[Illustration: COCK-A-DOODLE-DO!]\n\n6. The young cocks from next door sat on the railings to chatter, and\neven forgot to quarrel. They stared at Miss Betty as she walked with\nher beak in the air, and they made rude remarks.\n\n7. \"Why don't you grow a pair of spurs and learn to crow?\" they called\nout. When Mrs. Dorking, Betty's mother, heard these speeches from the\nyoung cocks she flew into a great passion.\n\n8. \"I will set the dog at you, you young scamps, if you do not be off\nthis moment,\" cried she. So they dropped off one by one, for they did\nnot know that the old hen was not able to carry out her threat.\n\n9. As Betty became vain she became idle too. Instead of making her\nmother and sisters happy with her pretty playful ways, and making\nherself useful and pleasant at home, she grew pettish.\n\n10. And instead of working to help earn her own living, by catching\nflies, scratching up worms, and watching under the old oak tree for\ncock-chafers, she would lose patience, and call loudly to the cook to\nbring her food.\n\n11. And, strange to say, the cook would come too, and, not content with\nwaiting on Betty, would drive away each fowl and chick that came up to\nshare what she had brought.\n\n12. She let none of them have a bit till Betty had eaten all that she\npleased. Was not this enough to spoil any young hen? Betty was fast\ngetting pert. All this was because of her good looks and her five toes.\n\n13. You will see after a while that she would have been more happy if\nshe had been born ugly, or with four toes, like her sisters.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Betty was to go to a show. She grew vain when she heard this.\nAnd as she became vain she grew idle too. She was spoilt.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where did Betty's mistress think of sending\n     her? 2. What did they all think that she would get at the\n     show? 3. What made her grow proud? 4. What did she do\n     instead of earning her living? 5. What did the young cocks\n     say? 6. What answer did the old hen make to them?\n\n\n3. SOAP AND WATER.\n\n1. After a little more time had passed, Betty was taken out of the\nyard. They did not let her stay with her sisters and the other fowls\nany longer, but she was placed in a large room by herself.\n\n2. Here she was fed on all sorts of dainties. She had chestnuts, minced\nliver, new milk, and fresh lettuce. Life was now a feast to Betty, but\nshe found it rather dull.\n\n3. \"I would rather have one worm or a spider,\" said she, with a sigh.\nHow she longed for a good scamper with her sisters! \"I am sure that we\nshould never squabble now,\" said the poor, lonely little thing.\n\n4. But this time alone did not last long. One morning a worse thing was\ndone to her. She was taken by the cook and plunged into a warm bath. It\nwas not of the least use for her to kick and scream.\n\n5. The cook did not care. She rubbed Betty gently with a soaped\nflannel, talking to her in a soothing way all the time, and then set\nher down before the fire to dry.\n\n6. But Betty's fright was soon over, and she was not at all hurt, of\ncourse. Yet she might have caught her death of cold, and all this\nbecause of the show! that her feathers might look fine.\n\n[Illustration: A WARM BATH.]\n\n7. If the cook had let Betty alone to clean them, she would have done\nit better. The soap was bad for them, so was the water.\n\n8. Betty felt very pleased when the cook went to call all the other\nservants. She wished them to admire the snowy whiteness of her\nfeathers. \"If she does not win a first prize I will eat my head!\" said\nthe cook.\n\n9. \"You will have a fine big meal, then,\" said the housemaid, \"and I\nshould not wonder if you have not spoilt her feathers for ever by\nwashing them. You never ought to have done it, and the poor thing may\nget ill.\"\n\n10. But thanks to the care taken of her, Betty did not get ill, though\nthe nasty soap made her feel sick; and the cook saw that she had made a\nmistake in washing Betty.\n\n11. \"All creatures can clean themselves,\" said the housemaid,\n\"leastways all birds can, at any rate, and we do harm by meddling.\"\n\n12. \"I think we ought to keep her under a wash-tub or in a basket until\nthe day for the show,\" said the cook. \"She will be sure to get dirty\nagain in that barn.\"\n\n13. When a nice new hen-coop was turned over her, Betty began to think\nabout her mother. \"What a horrid time she must have spent when we were\nlittle, and she had to stay in a coop!\" said the young hen to herself.\n\n14. \"And yet I think that I am even worse off than she was, for I have\nto stay here without any little chickens to amuse me, or to run under\nmy wings.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The young hen was washed. It was bad for her and made her\nfeathers rough. She grew tired of being shut up though she was well\nfed.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where was Betty placed alone? 2. What did she\n     say to herself about her food? 3. What did the cook do to\n     her? 4. What did the housemaid tell her? 5. Where was Betty\n     put next? 6. What did she think about in the coop?\n\n\n4. AT THE SHOW.\n\n1. \"No, I have nothing to amuse me,\" said Betty, \"but the thought of\nhow handsome I am. It is nice to think of that, and yet I am almost\ntired of hearing it.\"\n\n2. Betty would have given one of the best feathers in her tail for a\ngood race after a beetle, or for a good scratch for grubs down by the\nmanure heap, which was the best place.\n\n3. But she had hardly yet begun her trials. On the next day, the\ncoachman took her in a hamper to the show. Betty screamed as she was\nput into it, for she did not like it at all.\n\n4. \"I will behave well, no matter what happens,\" said poor Betty. But\nshe felt afraid of the noise, the pushing, and the crowd of people and\npoultry at the Palace.\n\n5. There were Spanish cocks and hens, who were lofty and silent. There\nwere little silver bantams who chuckled. Some hens were tiny dwarfs\nlike the bantams, others were giants like the Cochin China fowls.\n\n6. There were gamecocks, too, looking like fierce soldiers. Among all\nthe smart poultry Betty found herself passed over and called \"only a\npullet.\"\n\n7. All the other fowls were called \"loves\" and \"dears,\" while hardly\nany people took notice of her plain white dress and rosy head-dress.\nBut one gentle lady came by, who stopped near Betty.\n\n8. She pointed Betty out to a child who was with her, saying that she\nwas one of the best hens of her kind which she had ever seen.\n\n9. The lady added, \"No fowls lay better eggs than these pretty\nDorkings.\n\n\"They make the best mothers, they are English in their habits, and\ntherefore stronger than birds from foreign lands.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE PRETTY DORKING.]\n\n10. The air at the Crystal Palace was hot and close. Betty began to\nwish herself at home again. She could not eat, though food was there.\n\n11. And though her feathers were all ruffled and in a mess, she did\nnot feel able to put them to rights. Yet she knew that she ought to\ntidy herself.\n\n12. One of the hens near began to mock at her. She said with a pretence\nof being polite: \"May I put your tail tidy for you, madam, since it\nseems too much trouble for you to do it yourself?\"\n\n13. And then the sly thing gave a tweak and pulled out Betty's longest\nfeather.\n\n14. A hen near gave a dab with her beak at Betty's pink comb, and made\nit bleed. And though she said after that she did not mean to hurt her,\nthat did not heal the sore place.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ At the show Betty found it hot and close. She did not care to\neat. The other hens played tricks with her. She wished herself at home.\n\n     Questions: 1. When Betty was in the coop what did she long\n     for? 2. When she got to the show what did she see? 3. How\n     did she feel? 4. How did the other hens behave to Betty? 5.\n     What did the lady say about her? 6. What happened to her\n     comb?\n\n\n5. A SAD MISHAP.\n\n1. After a time Betty felt better. The other fowls left off teasing\nher. They had only been in rough play, and did not mean to worry her\ntoo much.\n\n2. She dipped her bill into a dish of water which was there, picked a\nbit of lettuce, and said to herself that she would make the best of a\nbad job.\n\n3. Betty was still as vain of having five toes on each foot as any fine\nyoung lady could be of wearing new shoes. She was always holding up one\nfoot or else the other. No doubt she meant to show off.\n\n4. There was a great cackling and noise in some of the pens after a\nwhile, and Betty heard that the judges were coming. These were the\npeople who were to give the prizes, and she felt now more vain than\never.\n\n5. She made up her mind to present her foot to the judges, and even to\npush it out between the wires of her pen, as far as she could. \"They\ncannot help giving me a prize when they see my five toes!\" she said to\nherself.\n\n6. But just as she had thrust her toe right out between the wires,\nafter much trouble, she heard an odd voice from the next pen say,\n\"Hullo, what's that? Is it a grub?\"\n\n7. A queer big bird with a long neck had caught sight of the foot, and\nhe gave a great snap at it as he saw it move. Betty tried to pull her\ntoes back, but the big bird would not let go.\n\n8. At last it ended by his pecking off the nail and first joint of poor\nBetty's middle claw. She was in much pain and screamed loudly.\n\n9. Up rushed a man, the keeper, who took Betty out in a great hurry.\n\"We must have no wounded or sick birds here for the judges to see,\" he\nsaid.\n\n10. And he put poor Betty quickly away into one of the pens which had\nbeen used for bringing fowls to the show. It was empty but for two or\nthree poor hens who were either dead or dying.\n\n11. These were fowls which had been hurt on the way, by being shaken or\nroughly used. They had been put into baskets too small for them, or had\nbeen badly used in some other way. It is bad for birds to travel.\n\n12. Here Betty sank down on the ground. At first she could do nothing\nbut think of her poor toe; she pushed it into some soft stuff which lay\non the floor, and this stopped the bleeding.\n\n13. How sad she felt! All her fine hopes of a prize were gone. She was\na cripple now for life, and no one would care for her fine looks any\nmore.\n\n14. \"I wonder what is the use of shows?\" thought Betty. \"Why do people\nwant other people to tell them that their cocks and hens are pretty?\"\n\n15. After the bustle and fuss of the day were over, one of the keepers\ncame with a boy to look after the dead and dying.\n\n16. \"She was as great a beauty as ever I did see,\" said the man. \"A\nperfect pullet!--that she was. But, dear me! she is not perfect now\nthat her toe is gone.\n\n17. \"She is good for nothing now but to lay eggs and bring up chicks.\nShe was worth a couple of pounds; now she would only fetch a couple of\nshillings.\n\n18. \"Here, Jack, tie a bit of rag round the stump, and give her food\nand water in that spare box. I cannot bear to wring her neck, as we are\nforced to do with many, to put them out of pain.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Poor Betty had her toe bitten off. She was put into a place\nout of sight. Here she was in great pain, and had lost all hopes of a\nprize.\n\n     Questions: 1. After a time how did Betty feel? 2. What did\n     she do with her foot? 3. What happened to one of her toes?\n     4. Where was she put after her toe was bitten off? 5. What\n     was the boy told to do for Betty? 6. What did the man say\n     that she was fit for now?\n\n\n6. A NEW HOME.\n\n1. Poor Betty had plenty of time to think over all her troubles. But\nafter two or three days she heard a sound which made her feel very\nhappy.\n\n2. It was the voice of her old friend the coachman, who had come to\nfetch her away. She cackled to him in a most loving way; but, alas! the\ncoachman had nothing to say to her.\n\n[Illustration: THE NEW HOME.]\n\n3. He was cross and sulky because Betty had not won a prize.\n\n\"Poor thing!\" said the cook when Betty got home, \"what an object she\nlooks to be sure! She is as light as a feather.\n\n4. \"The mother that hatched her won't know her again. I declare that I\ndon't believe this is our Betty at all, but some old rubbish of a bird\nthey have sent us instead!\"\n\n5. \"Oh yes,\" said her mistress, coming up to look, \"it is our Betty.\nBut I beg of you to get rid of her at once. I cannot bear the sight of\nher after thinking she would get a prize.\"\n\n6. \"Shall I step out and do it at once?\" said the cook, calmly.\n\n\"No, no!\" said the mistress. \"Do not kill her. Give her away. She will\nbe a useful hen to some one else, and is sure to lay plenty of eggs.\"\n\n\"Very good, ma'am,\" replied the cook.\n\n7. There was no washing this time before Betty was sent away. That was\none comfort. She was huddled, just as she was, into a hamper, and sent\nas a present to a friend of the cook.\n\n8. This friend was the wife of a farmer, and she was such a kind, good,\nrosy, happy, pleasant woman, that it was quite a treat to look at her.\nShe lived about five miles from Betty's old home.\n\n9. The large farm-yard into which Betty now stepped from her hamper,\nwas like a new world to her. She began at once to dig with those of her\nsharp claws which were left.\n\n10. And finding chalk like that which had been under the soil at home,\nshe nodded her head and chuckled, for she was pleased. No hen can be\nhappy without chalk, after she is old enough to lay eggs.\n\n11. She knew that the yard in which she now was, would be a fine place\nfor her young brood. They would not be likely to get the cramp or catch\ncolds.\n\n12. The fowl-house was built on a gentle slope, and below, at some\nlittle distance, was a pond with two or three green islands in the\nmiddle of it. Here some water birds, such as Betty had never seen\nbefore, were paddling about.\n\n13. She could not think how they did it. The yard had good shelter from\nrough, cold winds, for a fir wood was at the back of it. And the\nhouses for cattle and horses stood with their backs to it on two sides.\n\n14. The houses where the hens were to sit on their eggs, were sprinkled\nwith chalk laid over dry coal ashes. This was to keep the floor clean\nand wholesome.\n\nThey were swept out often. The perches for roosting were not thin\nsticks, but nice stout boughs of trees, so that the feet could clasp\nthem without slipping.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The new home to which Betty was sent pleased her. She thought\nthat she should soon forget her sorrows. The fowl-house was nice and\nclean.\n\n     Questions: 1. To whom was Betty sent? 2. What sort of woman\n     was the farmer's wife? 3. When Betty stepped out of her\n     hamper what did she begin to do? 4. What did she find? 5.\n     What was the hen-house like?\n\n\n7. TWELVE LITTLE CHICKS.\n\n1. Her friends at the old home had all walked on dry land. But here she\nfound many ducks and drakes, besides odd-looking fowls with feathers\ndown their legs.\n\n2. Spring came, and Betty paced the yard with twelve fine chickens\nbehind her. All of them had five toes on each little foot, as their\nmother had when she was born. So they were all right.\n\n3. Down the velvet back of each chick were stripes of dark brown, which\nwas the proper pattern for their first short coats. After a time they\nwould put off baby-clothes, and be dressed in pure white like their\nmother.\n\n4. As her chicks slept under her wings, or chirped with their merry\nlittle voices, she forgot all else but her darlings. What did it matter\nhaving one claw too few, now that she had her dear babies?\n\n5. Betty took care to keep her children neat, and to teach them good\nmanners. \"You may gobble up a worm, children, as fast as you like, when\nyou find it, so that no one else may get it,\" said she.\n\n6. \"But don't let me see two of you having a fight, or both tugging at\nthe same worm. You must not ruffle up your feathers at each other, or\nfight, though you may do so if you meet a rat.\"\n\n7. As Betty was such an anxious and watchful mother herself, she could\nnot help feeling quite vexed at the way in which Snowdrop, one of the\nducks, went on.\n\n8. This big white duck did not seem to mind a bit whether her children\nwere a credit to her or not. \"See!\" said this good hen, pointing to her\ntwelve clean little chicks. \"Where will you find such children as mine?\n\n9. \"I spend all my time in teaching them how to behave themselves. I\nshow them how to walk nicely, and how to pick up their meals in a\nproper way.\n\n10. \"I show them how to keep their feathers combed and brushed. But\nyou, bad mother that you are, allow your poor little yellow ducklings\nto shuffle in the mud up to their wings.\n\n11. \"And twice I have seen them at the very edge of the pond. It made\nme shudder! It will be a wonder if they do not get drowned, or catch\ntheir death of cold. How thin and pale they look!\"\n\n12. As Betty said these words to Snowdrop, the old duck shook her bill,\nand after a few more quacks turned her back and waddled off.\n\n[Illustration: BETTY'S CHICKS.]\n\n13. Soon after this, a magpie came down to tell all the fowls in the\nyard that one of Snowdrop's ducklings had been eaten by a rat, and that\na second had been stolen by a hawk.\n\n14. Two more of them had run away under the gate and had strayed\ntowards a tent where some gipsies lived. As they never came back, it\nwas thought that the gipsies had taken them off.\n\n15. A fifth of the brood, which had been weakly from birth, had caught\ncold in a bitter wind and died. And the last had pined away from\nfeeling lonely after losing all its brothers and sisters.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The hen had now twelve chicks. She took more care of her\nchildren than the duck did of hers. Betty thought Snowdrop a bad\nmother.\n\n     Questions: 1. What other creatures did Betty see in the\n     yard? 2. How many chickens had she? 3. What did she teach\n     them? 4. What was the name of the duck? 5. What sort of\n     mother was she? 6. What did Betty say to her?\n\n\n8. A VISIT TO SNOWDROP.\n\n1. As Betty's brood was now grown old enough to go into the world, she\nhad plenty of time to pay Snowdrop a visit. So she went off one fine\nmorning and found her near the brink of the pond.\n\n2. Snowdrop was using her orange bill as a shovel to catch leeches in\nthe mud. Betty told her that she had come to have a chat with her. She\nwished to speak about the way in which she had brought up her children.\n\n3. \"I am sure, my dear Snowdrop,\" said Betty, \"that cold water was the\ndeath of all your lost ducklings, no matter what you or any other bird\nmay say.\n\n4. \"You are a strong duck, and so it has not hurt you yet. But you see\nthat your frail little ones are all gone. It is all through your\ncareless habit of letting them dabble in the mud all day and get their\nfeet wet.\"\n\n5. \"Nonsense!\" said Snowdrop, as, with an eye dark and bright as that\nof Betty, she glanced at her own orange legs and webbed feet.\n\n6. \"Nonsense! It is all nature, and runs in the blood,\" she said. \"My\nmother before me, and her mother before that, knew that water never\nhurts a duck. It hurts us to be kept dry!\n\n7. \"And as for catching cold or getting fits, or cramp, or the pip--can\nyou do this?\" And as she spoke, Snowdrop waddled down the steepest\npart of the bank.\n\n8. She set her breast for a moment against the tiny ripples of the pond\nuntil she was in water deep enough to swim in. Then, all of a sudden,\nshe turned herself upside down.\n\n9. Her head went below, and nothing of her could be seen above but a\ntail, and two yellow legs. She stayed so long like this, grubbing for\nwater-snails, that Betty began to fear she should never see her head\nagain.\n\n10. But she popped it out again in a few minutes, and came sailing with\na saucy quack back again to the bank. \"Do I look any the worse?\" said\nshe.\n\n11. Betty held her tongue. She still thought, as she had done before,\nthat no matter what Snowdrop did, cold water was bad for ducklings.\n\n12. A young Bantam hen, who was standing by, said to Betty, \"Where can\nyou have come from, and what sort of egg did you creep out of, not to\nhave seen a duck swim before?\" said the Bantam.\n\n13. \"All the yard knows that they are the best sailors in the world!\nBut for you and me, our ruffles are too well starched for such a way of\nlife.\"\n\n[Illustration: UPSIDE DOWN.]\n\n14. Here was a new wonder to Betty. Though a shower of rain soaked all\nher fine feathers through, and made them limp as old rags, Snowdrop\ncame out of the pond dry and warm, her plumes crisp and neat.\n\n15. Not a trace of water was to be seen on her. Well, to be sure! Betty\ncould not make it out. After all there must be a thing or two which\neven the wisest hen does not know.\n\n16. \"I advise you to carry oil in your feathers when you learn to\nswim,\" said Snowdrop, as she skimmed off again over the pond. \"That is\nmy plan, but ducks are too wise to boast about it.\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ Betty went to see the duck. She felt much surprise at seeing\nher swim and dive. But she still thought that water was not good for\nducklings.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where did Betty find Snowdrop? 2. What did\n     Betty say to her? 3. What did the Bantam hen say? 4. What\n     did Snowdrop do to show Betty? 5. What did Betty still think\n     about ducklings? 6. How was it that the duck's feathers were\n     not wet?\n\n\n9. SNOWDROP'S NEST.\n\n1. Weeks went by. Snowdrop thought that it was time for her to bring\nsome more little ducklings into the world, instead of those which she\nhad lost.\n\n2. So, down among the green rushes at the very brink of the pond, she\nmade a nest. It was not much more than a bundle of straws which the\nwind had swept into that place but it did very well.\n\n3. Snowdrop had poked the straws into a heap with her beak. She trod\nthem down with her feet, made a round hole with her breast in the\nmiddle, and put a few feathers inside.\n\n4. In this rough nest she laid seven pale green eggs, and very pretty\nthey looked. Betty no sooner heard of this, than she ran as fast as she\ncould to the spot. She had a kind thought in her head.\n\n5. She had now no little ones of her own; and somehow, though she laid\nan egg each day in the wicker nest, it was always gone before night. So\nshe had nothing to sit on.\n\n6. And so it had come into her good heart that she would offer to sit\non Snowdrop's eggs for her. \"I promise you to do it well,\" said she to\nthe duck.\n\n7. \"If you trust me with your eggs I will treat them just as if they\nwere my own. And when the young are hatched I will nurse the dear\nlittle things, teach them, and bring them up better than you could do\nyourself.\"\n\n8. The duck, who just then saw her drake bowing his head to her as he\nswam along, thought that she would like to join him on the pond.\n\n9. Snowdrop loved pleasure. Why should she sit cooped up on a nest for\nfour weeks, when she might be having fun on the pond? Betty was willing\nto do it for her.\n\n10. She liked hunting for slugs and worms, or swimming races with her\ndrake, better than sitting still. So she said \"yes\" to Betty's offer\nand marched off.\n\n11. The good little hen climbed as well as she could on to the nest;\nbut she did not half like the look of it. Why, the eggs were ready to\nroll out at the sides! And her body was not so big as that of Snowdrop,\nneither were her wings so wide.\n\n12. It was a great job for her to keep the large eggs under cover at\nall, but she shook out her feathers and spread out her wings as far as\nthey would go, though it made them ache.\n\n13. Then she felt nervous because the pond was so near. \"It is bad for\neggs to get damp!\" she said to herself. \"What could make that foolish\nSnowdrop choose such a place? And I dare say that I shall get the cramp\ntoo.\"\n\n14. But she sat on bravely for all that. Betty never left the eggs of\nwhich she was taking care, except for a few moments when she was forced\nby hunger to run to the yard.\n\n15. The good farmer's wife saw her racing there one day. She watched\nher pick up some corn in a great hurry and then rush off. She went\nafter Betty and saw her get into the nest of the duck, to sit there\nafter her hasty meal.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The hen wished to sit on the eggs of the duck. She did not\nleave them except to get food when she was hungry. The wife of the\nfarmer found the eggs.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did Snowdrop make among the rushes? 2.\n     How many eggs did she lay? 3. What did the hen offer to do?\n     4. What did Snowdrop say? 5. How did Betty get food? 6. Who\n     saw her running back to the eggs?\n\n\n10. THE WEE DUCKS.\n\n1. \"Pretty dear!\" said the farmer's wife to Betty, as she saw her climb\ngently on to the eggs and spread out her small wings as far as she\ncould.\n\n2. \"This will never do,\" she went on. \"If you want to hatch them, my\npretty, you had better do it in your own nest.\"\n\n3. So she stooped down, stroked Betty's white back softly, and then,\nwith a firm, gentle hand, pushed her aside while she took all the seven\neggs into her apron.\n\n4. At first Betty did not like it. She did not know what Snowdrop would\nsay, and besides, she had a longing inside her to finish the job. She\nwanted to see the dear little things come from the shells.\n\n5. \"I shall love them as my own,\" said she, \"unless the farmer's wife\ntakes them from me.\" But she was quite happy when she saw the eggs\nplaced safely in her own snug dry nest.\n\n6. Betty sat on the eggs for three long weeks. She knew that was the\nproper time to wait for her own broods. But still no sign of the young\nones was to be seen.\n\n[Illustration: HER OWN SNUG NEST.]\n\n7. \"I do believe that cold water has killed them before they are born!\"\nsaid poor Betty, \"for they never ought to have been laid so near a\npond.\"\n\n8. She sat on and on, for a fourth week. And, at the end of that time,\nshe had her reward. There was a little faint tapping sound inside the\nshells.\n\n9. The baby ducks were trying to get out of prison. She helped them by\npicking away bits of the shell as it broke, to let the light in at\ntheir tiny windows.\n\n10. At last seven little yellow things as soft as satin cried, \"peep,\npeep!\" in a pretty whisper round her feet. Their bills and their feet\nwere rather flat, it is true, but what of that? Betty loved them as if\nthey were her own chicks.\n\n11. \"Of course I do not expect that they will be quite so handsome, so\nclever, or so good as if born from my own eggs,\" said she.\n\n12. \"They will be poor weak little things. I can see that they are\nrather stupid, even now, from their staying in the shells a week longer\nthan they ought.\n\n13. \"But I must take a little extra care with them!\" Very proud was\nMother Betty, but in spite of all her fondness, the young ducks gave\nher much trouble.\n\n14. They would not come when they were called. And they would play in\nthe gutter. They dabbled with their little yellow feet in the black\nmud, as often as ever they could.\n\n15. They liked digging in a dirty ditch for worms better than feeding\nfrom a nice clean plate. And they will gobble snails, shells and all,\nno matter what Betty said.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ It was four weeks before the eggs were hatched. Betty found\nthat the young ducks did not like to feed as chicks did. They loved to\ndabble in the mud.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did the farmer's wife say when she saw\n     Betty climb into the nest? 2. Where did she put the eggs? 3.\n     How long did Betty sit on them? 4. Where did the young ducks\n     want to play? 5. What did they wish to eat? 6. Why did Betty\n     think them stupid?\n\n\n11. AN AWKWARD LOT.\n\n1. But Betty was a hopeful hen. She did not give up trying to teach the\nyoung ducklings and bring them up well. She kept them with great care\nfrom speaking to any of their own kind.\n\n2. She would not let them play with other ducklings. They had never\nseen that dreadful pond yet. She would not let them waddle within sight\nof it.\n\n3. As to their bad manners, their love of dirt and snails and wet, she\ncould only think that it came from their having once laid as eggs in\nthat old straw cradle of theirs, among the green rushes.\n\n4. \"Or else it is because their feet are the wrong shape,\" said Betty,\nas she looked down at the yellow boots of her foster-sons and\ndaughters. On the whole they did not behave so very badly, she thought.\n\n5. They came up with the chickens at meal times, even if they did go\nstraight back to that vile gutter the moment they had gobbled all they\ncould get.\n\n6. \"What a clever hen is Betty Dorking!\" the others said. \"She has\nbrought up the duck's brood and will make chickens of them!\" It is true\nthat the wise old gander laughed at this notion.\n\n7. He said, \"You never see a silk purse made out of any other thing but\nsilk,\" and all his wives nodded their heads and cackled. They said it\nwas witty, though they had no idea what the speech meant.\n\n8. As the golden ears were taken by heaps into the rick-yard, the birds\nfelt as glad as the farmer and his wife did. The great sheaves were\nstacked and the fowls gleaned after them.\n\n9. Betty, as well as the rest, picked up plenty of loose grains. There\nwas a little squabbling once, and the turkey-cock trod on one of\nBetty's ducklings.\n\n10. The great bird said nothing but \"gobble gobble!\" and did not even\nshow that he was sorry. The peacock was not too proud to come walking\nin among the rest, in a dainty way, holding up his train.\n\n11. He liked wheat as much as any of them. But he could not bear\nsoiling his dress. Betty now thought it was time to take her\nfoster-children into the world, before winter came.\n\n12. They were grown to a fair size, and as yet no cold water had ever\ncome near them, except a few splashes, which their nurse could not\nprevent.\n\n13. After a good deal of driving and shrieking to them, she got her\nbrood into a small crowd, to see if they were neat. She smoothed their\ndowny heads, she plumed their soft wings with loving care.\n\n14. Then she said, \"My dears, you are all as tidy as you can be made. I\nam now going to take you on a visit to your own mother, whom you have\nnever yet seen.\n\n15. \"Behave well, and give me no cause to feel shame when she sees how\nI have brought you up. Now, Forward! March!\"\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The young ducks had never seen a pond. Their foster-mother\nmade them tidy. She wished to take them into the world and show them\ntheir mother.\n\n     Questions: 1. What did the other hens say of Betty and her\n     brood? 2. What did the gander say? 3. What bird came to pick\n     up wheat with the fowls? 4. What did the turkey-cock do? 5.\n     What did Betty say to her ducklings before taking them into\n     the world? 6. To whom did she wish to show them?\n\n\n12. THEIR OWN MOTHER.\n\n1. And where was Snowdrop to be found? At the pond, of course, swimming\nround and round with half-a-dozen other ducks and drakes as happy and\ncareless as herself.\n\n2. She swam towards the brink when she saw Betty coming. The ducklings\nwaddled as fast as they could lay their flat feet to the ground, as\nsoon as they caught sight of the pond.\n\n[Illustration: THE FIRST SWIM.]\n\n3. Betty could not keep up with them, for she had never quite lost a\nlimp, after having her toe bitten off. \"See,\" she said to Snowdrop, as\nshe hobbled up, \"here are your children.\n\n4. \"Look at them well! How unlike they are to any ducklings you ever\nbrought up yourself! There are no ducks in the whole yard that can\ncompare with them. Just watch how well they behave.\"\n\n5. \"Quack!\" said Snowdrop. \"It is all because of the pains I have\ntaken,\" said Betty.\n\n\"Quack, quack!\" said Snowdrop again.\n\n6. \"They have never been tempted to go into horrid cold water. They\nhave never even seen a pond till now. What do you say to that?\"\n\n7. \"Quack, quack, quack!\" replied the snowy sailor, glancing her bright\neye upon her little ones. The next moment the merry little ducks were\nsailing after her round the pond!\n\n8. They dived head foremost, they grubbed for leeches, they paddled\nwith their flat feet as if they had done nothing else since they were\nout of the shell.\n\n9. Poor Betty with outspread wings danced round the pond crying at the\ntop of her shrill voice, \"Come back! come back! You will all be\ndrowned.\"\n\n10. But it was useless. The little ducks would obey her no longer. They\nwent on swimming about after their own lily-white mother.\n\n11. Snowdrop swam to the edge at last, and spoke thus to Betty. \"I\nthank you for the good you meant to me and mine. But dry land will not\ngive us your sharp toes to scratch with, any sooner than water will\ngive you web-feet to swim with.\n\n12. \"All that you have taught my children on dry land, I shall be\npleased to repay by teaching the next brood you have to swim and dive.\"\nAt this the gander stretched out his throat and laughed.\n\n13. \"You should allow yourself more time to think,\" said old Dame\nTurkey, the wife of the turkey-cock, as she stood on one leg to listen.\n\n14. \"You are always in a hurry and a bustle. Don't mind so much about\nthe affairs of other people, and take things calmly, as I do. If you\nhad been more like me, you would not have made this mistake about the\nduck.\"\n\n15. \"We have not all the same habits,--the same nature,\" said Mistress\nBetty, softly. \"And I see that it is of no use trying to make other\nfolks' children like our own.\" Dame Turkey nodded her head in a very\nwise manner.\n\n16. She must have been a very clever old dame, for she knew when to\nkeep silent. As for Betty, she grew to be a very modest, useful hen,\nwith no pride or conceit about her.\n\n17. At the present time, though she is getting old, she is still a\nworthy fowl. She lives at the same farm, and would divide her last worm\nwith a chicken or a friend. But she has never tried to turn ducklings\ninto chicks again.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n_Write:_ The little ducks saw the pond. They ran to it and went in. It\nwas of no use for the hen to call them back. They went after their own\nmother-duck.\n\n     Questions: 1. Where was Snowdrop to be found? 2. What did\n     the ducklings do when they saw the pond? 3. What did the\n     guinea-hen call out? 4. What did Betty do? 5. What did Dame\n     Turkey say? 6. What sort of hen did Betty become?\n\n\n\n\nWORDS FOR SPELLING.\n\n\nDICK AND HIS CAT.\n\n1.\n\nfa'-mous\nWhit'-ting-ton\nwalk'-ed\npave'-ments\nin-stead'\ndoor'-step\nfor-lorn'\n\n2.\n\nhid'-ing\npleas'-ant\nei'-ther\n\n3.\n\nemp'-ty\npas'-sion\nlaugh'-ed\npa'-ti-ent\ngreet'-ing\nfor'-eign\n\n4.\n\ndaugh'-ter\nwhis'-per\nbeau'-ty\nfetch'-ing\nmay'-or\n\n5.\n\nwreck'-ed\nreach'-ed\npal'-ace\ncush'-i-on\nleap'-ed\nmor'-sel\nfam'-ine\n\n6.\n\nsur-pris'-ed\nstrug'-gled\ncoax\nflan'-nel\nwrap'-ping\ncaught\nglimpse\nfeast'-ing\nin'-stant\nscar'-ed\nroy'-al\ntrea'-sure\n\n7.\n\nEng'-land\nlearn'-ed\nhand'-some\nfriends\nneed'-ed\ngreat'-est\nfaith'-ful\ntreat'-ed\npurr'-ed\nlaur'-el\n\n\nTRUSTY.\n\n1.\n\nland'-lord\nbread\ncheese\nven'-ture\nbeam'-ing\nbus'-tle\ncrouch'-ing\nshad'-ow\ndis'-mal\nblink'-ed\nvoice\n\n2.\n\nhud'-dled\ncra'-zy\nguard\n\n3.\n\nad-vise'\ntwi'-light\nanx'-i-ous\ndaz'-zling\nwhirl-'ing\nstrug'-gle\npierce\nstarv'-ed-looking\n\n4.\n\nwhine\ntread\nprais'-ed\nfoot'-prints\nfaith'-ful\nguide\nhoarse\nea'-ger\nwood'-en\nwhite'-ness\nfeel'-ings\nflash'-ing\nrous'-ed\nshoul'-ders\ntongue\n\n5.\n\nsteam'-ing\npulse\nbur'-i-ed\nhowl'-ing\nguid'-ed\ndumb\nfriend'-ly\ndole'-ful\nre-proach'\nbirth'-day\nen-joy'-ed\n\n\nOUT IN THE COLD.\n\n1.\n\nfroz'-en\nroost\nmoon'-shine\nstu'-pid\n\n2.\n\nwatch'-ed\nfreez'-ing\nChrist'-mas\nstirr'-ed\n\n3.\n\npig'-sty\ncom-plaint'\ncoax'-ed\ncar'-rots\njui'-cy\nmor'-tar\nsoak'-ed\n\n4.\n\npuz'-zle\ntip'-toe\nscram'-ble\nsheet\nice\nwak'-en-ed\nfoot'-marks\n\n\nTHE STORY OF A FLY.\n\n1.\n\ncur'-tain\nbreak'-fast-room\npret'-ty\nmak'-ing\nla'-zy\ngrand'-child\ngrand'-pa\nhouse'-fly\ntouch'-ed\npitch'-ed\n\n2.\n\ntea'-cad-dy\nsug'-ar-ba-sin\ncom'-fort\nache\nglut'-ton\nseem'-ed\ndain'-ty\n\n3.\n\nyel'-low\nwhole'-some\ngree'-dy\nbal'-ance\ndes-pair'\ncream'-jug\nmis'-hap\njerk'-ed\ncrawl'-ing\ngrea'-sy\n\n4.\n\nhon'-ey\nlawn\nscoop'-ed\ndai'-sy\ntri'-fle\n\n5.\n\nbuzz'-ed\nside'-board\ntempt'-ing\no'-cean\nwretch'-ed\n\n6.\n\nspi'-der\na-sham'-ed\nknitt'-ing\nneed'-les\nspear\nstrain'-ed\n\n7.\n\nchild'-hood\nlist'-en\nser'-vants\nmag'-got\n\n8.\n\ndrown'-ing\nstrength\ntrow'-sers\na-sleep'\nNep'-tune\ntease\n\n9.\n\ngran'-ny\nseat'-ed\ndoz'-ing\npo-lite'\nfrizz'-ing\n\n10.\n\nrous'-ed\nblaze\nnei'-ther\nknock\ndrench'-ed\ndog'-gie\n\n11.\n\nceil'-ing\npranc'-ing\nspeech\ncof'-fee\n\n12.\n\ngay'-est\nThom'-as\nen-joy'\npeace\n\n\nBETTY AND SNOWDROP.\n\n1.\n\nqui'-et\nguess\nscratch'-ed\nrogu'-ish\nscream'-ed\ntodd'-led\nmaim'-ed\njaws\nbust'-led\nres'-cue\n\n2.\n\nspoilt\nbeau'-ty\ncrys'-tal\ncer'-tain\nplum'-ing\nad-mire'\nrail'-ings\nquar'-rel\npas'-sion\ncatch'-ing\ncock'-chafers\n\n3.\n\ndain'-ties\nchest'-nuts\nminc'-ed\nsquab'-ble\nplung'-ed\nsoap'-ed\nflan'-nel\nsooth'-ing\nwhite'-ness\nhouse'-maid\nmed'-dling\n\n4.\n\nbee'-tle\nma-nure'\npoul'-try\nchuck'-led\nDork'-ing\nfor'-eign\ncomb\n\n5.\n\nteas'-ing\nlet'-tuce\nwear'-ing\nprize\nwound'-ed\nrough'-ly\nbleed'-ing\ncou'-ple\n\n6.\n\ncack'-led\nhatch'-ed\nhud'-dled\nchalk\npad'-dling\nsprink'-led\nwhole'-some\nboughs\nslip'-ping\n\n7.\n\npat'-tern\nba'-bies\nfeath'-ers\nwad'-dled\nmag'-pie\nstray'-ed\ngip'-sies\n\n8.\n\nshov'-el\nleech'-es\nor'-ange\nwa'-ter-snails\ntongue\nsoak'-ed\nskimm'-ed\n\n9.\n\npok'-ed\nhatch'-ed\nner'-vous\n\n10.\n\nre-ward'\npris'-on\nex'-tra\nditch\n\n11.\n\nawk'-ward\nspeak'-ing\ndaugh'-ters\nlaugh'-ed\nno'-tion\nrick'-yard\nsheaves\nglean'-ed\nsquab'-bling\npea'-cock\ndaint'-ty\nshriek'-ing\nplum'-ed\n\n12.\n\ncaught\nhob'-bled\nout'-spread\ncalm'-ly\nmis'-tress\nsi'-lent\ncon-ceit'\n\n\nCHISWICK PRESS:--CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.\nTOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Notes\n\nCorrected minor punctuation errors.\n\nMoved some illustrations to avoid breaking up paragraphs of text.","title":"Dick and His Cat, and Other Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":25921}