SQUINTY LEARNS A TRICK
Squinty, the comical pig, tried to look out through the slats of the box, in which he was being taken away, to see in which direction he was going. He also wanted to watch the different sights along the road. But the sides of the farm wagon were so high that the little pig could see nothing. He stretched his fat neck as far as it would go, but that did no good either. Squinty wished he were as big as his papa or his mamma.
"Then I could see what is going on," he thought.
But just wishing never made anyone larger or taller, not even a pig, and Squinty stayed the same size.
He could hear the farmer and the children talking. Now and then the boy who had bought Squinty, and who was taking him home, would look around at his pet in the slatted box.
"Is he all right?" one of the girls would ask.
"He seems to be," the boy would say. "I am glad I got him."
"Well, he acts real cute," said another girl, who was called Sallie, "but I never heard of having a pig for a pet before."
"You just wait until I teach him some tricks," said the boy, whose name was Bob. "Then you'll think he's fine!"
"Ha! So I am to learn tricks," thought Squinty in his box. "I wonder what tricks are, anyhow? Does it mean I am to have good things to eat? I hope so."