The little horse has lost his shoe,
Here a nail, and there a nail,
Here a nail, and there a nail,
Tic, tac, too!”
When the other children returned to the nursery, they heard peals of merry baby laughter; and this was the fashion in which a little boy won his name.
“HOW MAMA USED TO PLAY.”
X.—THE PASTURE FENCE.
We used to play a great deal about the pasture fence. It was a high rail fence and we used to take a little pole in both hands as a balancing pole, and run along on the top. Carefully we balanced ourselves as we ran! But finally we would tip first one way and then the other, and then, with a little laughing scream, off we’d topple!
Sometimes we would put a board through the fence and have a fine time at “seesaw.” Up one of us would go, high in the air, and down would go the other with a thud!
We used to play that the pasture fence was a huge cupboard. Each rail was a shelf. Many of those rail-shelves were loaded down with bits of broken dishes, shining pebbles, bits of green moss that we called “pincushions,” and white clam-shells full of strawberries, or raspberries, or little dark juicy choke-cherries. The contents of the clam-shells were for the birds. If we found a clam-shell lying on the ground, we believed with all our little hearts that a little winged creature had been fed from our cupboard.