MISS PEGGY AND THE FROG.
(An old nursery tale told from memory.)
ONCE there lived a widow, whose only child was a pretty girl named Peggy. Peggy loved to play by the water-side with her young companions, and one day a large frog hopped out of the water and sat gazing at her with a loving smile.
"What a queer frog!" cried Peggy.
"I am a queer frog," he remarked, to her surprise. "Go back, Miss Peggy, and tell your mother that I want to marry you."
Peggy ran to fetch her mother to see the talking frog. When the mother came, the frog dived down into the water and brought up in his mouth a rich gold chain and a jewelled ring.
"This will I give the mother, and much beside," he said, laying the chain at the mother's feet; "and this ring with many like it is for my bride, if Peggy will marry me."