“I did,” said Tommy, not a bit frightened, but feeling very excited and proud. “I did, back there in a tree.”
“In a tree?” cried Mrs. Drew’s brother, stopping in his quick run for the woods.
“Yes,” said Tommy, “it was a bear, but it looked,—it LOOKED just like my picture of a wiggle-tail.”
“Oh,” cried Mrs. Drew, as she sank on the door-step, “the child has seen a gray squirrel!”
MYSELF.
One little head so smooth and round,
With soft hair covered, golden or brown,
One little forehead smooth and white,
Two little eye-brows dark or light.
Two little eyes that we see through.
See us looking, now, at you?
Two little cheeks so plump and round,
Where the red rose of health is found.
Two little ears where sound comes in;
One little nose and mouth and chin.
Rows of little teeth all in white;
Ready for use when lunch is in sight.
One little tongue kind words to say—
Bright little smiles which round them play.
One little head where all are seen.
One little neck which stands between
Head and shoulders to hold them fast.
Now are we ready to find, at last,
One little body with arms and hands
Two legs and two feet on which it stands.
TWO STRANGE SIGHTS.
“Oh come into the dining-room!”
Cries Fred, “come, grandma, dear.
For something very strange indeed
Is going on in here!”
And sure enough, when grandma comes,
Perhaps at first with fright,
She stands quite still, astonished at
An unexpected sight.
For there upon the woollen rug,
A jug between her feet,
Sits Freddy’s little sister Bess
Absorbed in pleasures sweet.
Her finger in the syrup now
Behold she slyly dips,
And carries it with great delight
To her own rosy lips.
“You little witch!” cries grandmama,
“You’re like the naughty rat
I found within the cellar once,
Who on a barrel sat,
Filled with molasses, which he reached
By dipping in the hole
His great long tail from which he licked
The sweets he thus had stole.
“The rat was shot, but grandma’s babe,
Well, till she’s learned to know
Such tricks are wrong, why we of course
Must naught but patience show.”
Then grandma took her little pet,
And washed her sticky face,
Then put that tempting syrup-jug
Up in a safer place.