9. I fear he took a great many liberties with his friends and their belongings. I know he even

went so far as to drink from the water-pitcher, and a very comical spectacle he presented when he scaled the handle and descended into its depths, the water being so low that nothing but his hind feet and tail were visible.

10. But one morning we did not find him in his cage, where he always slept at night, and we searched all that day and the next, but still no trace of Bob could be found. For two weeks we mourned him as one who had gone never to return, when one day, as Bridget was coming down the attic stairs, we heard her scream, rush up again and run across the floor.

11. Hurrying up, we found her crouching under the roof in a corner by the chimney, and there we beheld our pet snugly established in a new nest, where he had set up housekeeping on his own responsibility. I grieve to say that the furnishing of the new abode had not been carried out on strict principles of honesty.

12. He had been detected by Bridget, who had met him coming up out of the sitting-room with a pair of stockings out of mother's work-basket. In his possession was found a velvet and jet headdress, for whose disappearance mother had found it hard to account.

13. There was a fine lace collar that had gone into the wash, but had never come out; here was a

mitten that had caused Bert more than one tear. There was an old silk duster, greatly valued by Bridget, and under its loss she had lost her temper, and said "children are spalpeens," and only replied to our protestations of innocence by saying, "That things didn't go without hands," though at that moment she had abundant proof that they do sometimes. There were also several handkerchiefs, whose ownership could be easily established by certain black smears,, showing how useful they had been found in cleaning slates. Our delight at finding Bob knew no bounds, and we carried him down stairs in triumph, and did not let him come up again till bed-time.

14. The summer came, and he found climbing the trees inside the square very much to his taste, and sometimes he found his way out into the street, where he invariably attracted the attention of the boys, who felt compelled, as New York boys invariably do, to stone him. But the nimble little fellow kept clear of their missiles, and usually found a friend to take his part and put an end to the assault. He made many friends in the neighborhood and was a welcome play fellow in not a few homes.

15. This life of freedom developed in him all the instincts for which he had no use in the life he led in the cage, so when the fall came he set himself to find a nest for the winter. A servant in one the houses, several doors from us, had made a great

1

pet of him. She slept in a low addition, and on getting into bed one cool autumn night, her feet touched something warm and furry, which caused her to spring out again, and on examination she found between the sheets our Bob, with an air of supreme satisfaction in having done such a good thing for himself. All that winter he slept at her feet, to her great comfort as well as his

own.

16. We saw him every day, but he led a free, wild life, and was happy in it. We missed him, but so complete was our sympathy with him we could forego our own pleasure, very willingly, for his. But there was danger in this, and one day he did not come for his nuts and usual frolic, his bed-fellow slept with cold feet, and we never saw or heard of him again. Our conjectures have been many, but I doubt if they ever came anywhere near the truth.

17. But he still lives in our memories, and many a laugh we have over his old pranks to this day, though the Bert of my story is six feet high, and talks about clients, briefs, and going to court, and another little Bert tumbles on my nursery floor, on which is lying an India-rubber squirrel which he calls Bob, for the black beauty of happy memory.

Language Lesson.-Write the story in your own words. Write an original story about a squirrel or some other pet.

EXERCISE.

Substitute expressions for the following in the different paragraphs

1. Tenements, thoroughfares, noticed, dismantled, bewildered. 2. Captive, attention. 3. Procured, revolving, set at liberty, vicious, intrude. 4. Gradually. 5. Nap. 6. Scallop, handsome. 7. Affection, to apologize. 9. Belongings, spectacle, scaled. 12. Detected. 13. Abundant, established. 14. Invariably, attracted. 16. Complete, conjectures.

Memory Gems from Wordsworth.

Minds that have nothing to confer
Find little to perceive.

But how can he expect that others should

Build for him, sow for him, and at his call

Love him, who for himself will take no heed at all?

A primrose by the river's brim

A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.

Come forth into the light of things;

Let Nature be your teacher.

Every gift of noble origin

Is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual breath.

Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop
Than when we soar.

40.-The Spider Speaks for Herself. 1. I SUPPOSE you think we spiders are nobodies because we go about quietly minding our own business, neither flaunting in gay colors, like Madam

Butterfly, nor making noise enough to craze one, like Mr. Humble-Bee. But I can tell you the Arachnida family is more ancient than the Human family, who take on so many airs, prying into our secrets with that impertinent little microscope of theirs.

2. However, we're an honest and industrious family, and there's nothing about us to be ashamed of. In fact, I could show you some wonderful things, if your eyes were not too coarse to see them. There are my spinnerets, which spin out a beautiful silk rope of more than four thousand threads as fast as I want it. Wouldn't you children think it fine if you could make a rope in a minute any time you wanted it?

3. Then you've never seen my combs; you can't -they're too small. I have one on each foot, and I use them to keep myself free from dust, as well as my web. I don't like to boast, but I really think you would admire my eyes. I have eight of them

I don't see how you can get along with two, though to be sure you can turn yours' about. They are placed in a square in my forehead, for I belong to the Epeira branch of the family. Those of us who live under ground have their eyes close together on the foreheads, and those who live in the air have them more scattered, so as to see all around.

4. Then I would really like to show you my babies, but alas! they're much too small. I carry