IX
AMPHIBIOUS LIFE
To the parents who desire to lead the child's mind through a long sequence of thought from the lower to the higher life, the amphibian affords an easy step in this ascending scale. And among amphibians that familiar and picturesque harbinger of spring, the frog, and his cousin the friendly toad, are the best adapted.
Children are always interested in frogs because they jump so well. This suggests a starting-point for making their closer acquaintance. Why do they jump so well? It is because of their long hind legs. A little watching of either frog or toad will show exactly how the legs are used and wherein they differ from, and also resemble, the child's own legs. The little hands of the frog and toad, their way of sitting, leaning on their short arms, their eagerness to snap up a tempting fly, the queer tongue fastened the other way round from ours, and its lightning-like speed which is a result of this same position in the mouth,—a hundred interesting things can be learned about the toads and frogs.
Toads are very easily tamed, and make most amusing as well as useful pets if there is a garden to be protected from marauding insects. They generally have a hole or corner to which they come home regularly at night, and with a little patience can be so tamed that they will take food, of living insect or even of scraps of meat, from the child's hand. Their power to gormandize seems unlimited, and the number of insects they can swallow without protest is almost incredible. They will keep a small garden quite free from slugs and other pests. They have no bad habits, do not bark at night, or chase cats, or bite, or steal, or insist upon coming into the house, or scratch up the flower-beds. Some accuse them of causing warts, but this is not true. When handled, they sometimes give forth an acrid liquid from the skin, which stings the mouths of tormenting dogs and smears meddling fingers. But this, though unpleasant, does no harm. Many people have handled toads freely and never had a wart; many others who have never touched a toad have had many warts.
The toad may be ugly to look at, but that is not his fault. To many, he is more comical than ugly, and no creature has more beautiful eyes than this same homely toad. He is one of the most useful of animals, and should never be killed or ill treated.
The frog is less familiar to us than the toad, living as he does in the water or in wet places. Boys often take delight in killing him, having theories of the terrible influence he exercises in the affairs of man. He is as harmless as the toad and of value in keeping down insect pests, since these are also his food.
In the spring of the year, the frogs and toads will be heard chirping, the frog in particular sometimes filling the night with his din. The earliest of these voices comes from the smaller green frogs, or "peepers," as they are often called because of the peeping noise they make. The deep bass croak comes from the large bull-frog, so named from his size and not from his sex, for there are female bull-frogs. When the frogs begin to peep, the children will enjoy making an excursion in quest of frogs' eggs. These will be found in any pond where the voice of the frog is heard, and can be taken with a long-handled dipper or by wading,—the latter practice to be cautiously indulged in northern latitudes at this time of year, as the water may yet be very cold.
The eggs are gray, spherical, about as large as sweet-pea seeds, and have a black spot on one side. They are found embedded many together in a colorless jelly-like substance. The egg-mass should be handled carefully and put whole into a jar or pail of water and thus carried home. It should not stand with the sun shining directly on it, and when the water is changed, every other day, that which is used should be of about the same temperature as that removed. Water drawn cold from the pipes will sometimes kill the eggs.