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diff --git a/34943-8.txt b/34943-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..53b4eda --- /dev/null +++ b/34943-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3556 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Among the Meadow People, by Clara Dillingham Pierson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Among the Meadow People + +Author: Clara Dillingham Pierson + +Illustrator: F. C. Gordon + +Release Date: January 13, 2011 [EBook #34943] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMONG THE MEADOW PEOPLE *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + AMONG THE MEADOW PEOPLE + + BY + CLARA DILLINGHAM PIERSON + + + Illustrated by F. C. GORDON + + NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION + + [Illustration] + + + NEW YORK + E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY + 31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET + + + + + [Illustration: HAYING IN THE MEADOW] + + + + + COPYRIGHT + E. P. DUTTON & CO. + 1899 + + COPYRIGHT + CLARA DILLINGHAM PIERSON + 1901 + + + The Knickerbocker Press, New York + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + INTRODUCTION 5 + THE BUTTERFLY THAT WENT CALLING 7 + THE ROBINS BUILD A NEST 14 + THE SELFISH TENT-CATERPILLAR 22 + THE LAZY SNAIL 31 + AN ANT THAT WORE WINGS 37 + THE CHEERFUL HARVESTMEN 42 + THE LITTLE SPIDER'S FIRST WEB 50 + THE BEETLE WHO DID NOT LIKE CATERPILLARS 56 + THE YOUNG ROBIN WHO WAS AFRAID TO FLY 61 + THE CRICKETS' SCHOOL 71 + THE CONTENTED EARTHWORMS 76 + THE MEASURING WORM'S JOKE 81 + A PUZZLED CICADA 87 + THE TREE FROG'S STORY 93 + THE DAY WHEN THE GRASS WAS CUT 101 + THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE MEASURING WORM RUN A RACE 109 + MR. GREEN FROG AND HIS VISITORS 114 + THE DIGNIFIED WALKING-STICKS 120 + THE DAY OF THE GREAT STORM 128 + THE STORY OF LILY-PAD ISLAND 134 + THE GRASSHOPPER WHO WOULDN'T BE SCARED 142 + THE EARTHWORM HALF-BROTHERS 151 + A GOSSIPING FLY 156 + THE FROG-HOPPERS GO OUT INTO THE WORLD 161 + THE MOSQUITO TRIES TO TEACH HIS NEIGHBORS 171 + THE FROG WHO THOUGHT HERSELF SICK 177 + THE KATYDID'S QUARREL 183 + THE LAST PARTY OF THE SEASON 188 + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Many of these stories of field life were written for the little ones of +my kindergarten, and they gave so much pleasure, and aroused such a new +interest in "the meadow people," that it has seemed wise to collect and +add to the original number and send them out to a larger circle of boys +and girls. + +All mothers and teachers hear the cry for "just one more," and find that +there are times when the bewitching tales of animals, fairies, and +"really truly" children are all exhausted, and tired imagination will +not supply another. In selecting the tiny creatures of field and garden +for the characters in this book, I have remembered with pleasure the way +in which my loyal pupils befriended stray crickets and grasshoppers, +their intense appreciation of the new realm of fancy and observation, +and the eagerness and attention with which they sought Mother Nature, +the most wonderful and tireless of all story-tellers. + + CLARA DILLINGHAM PIERSON. + + Stanton, Michigan, + April 8th, 1897. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE BUTTERFLY THAT WENT CALLING + + +As the warm August days came, Mr. Yellow Butterfly wriggled and pushed +in his snug little green chrysalis and wished he could get out to see +the world. He remembered the days when he was a hairy little +Caterpillar, crawling slowly over grass and leaves, and he remembered +how beautiful the sky and all the flowers were. Then he thought of the +new wings which had been growing from his back, and he tried to move +them, just to see how it would feel. He had only six legs since his +wings grew, and he missed all the sticky feet which he had to give up +when he began to change into a Butterfly. + +The more he thought about it the more he squirmed, until suddenly he +heard a faint little sound, too faint for larger people to hear, and +found a tiny slit in the wall of his chrysalis. It was such a dainty +green chrysalis with white wrinkles, that it seemed almost a pity to +have it break. Still it had held him for eight days already and that was +as long as any of his family ever hung in the chrysalis, so it was quite +time for it to be torn open and left empty. Mr. Yellow Butterfly +belonged to the second brood that had hatched that year and he wanted to +be out while the days were still fine and hot. Now he crawled out of the +newly-opened doorway to take his first flight. + +Poor Mr. Butterfly! He found his wings so wet and crinkled that they +wouldn't work at all, so he had to sit quietly in the sunshine all day +drying them. And just as they got big, and smooth, and dry, it grew +dark, and Mr. Butterfly had to crawl under a leaf to sleep. + +The next morning, bright and early, he flew away to visit the flowers. +First he stopped to see the Daisies by the roadside. They were all +dancing in the wind, and their bright faces looked as cheerful as anyone +could wish. They were glad to see Mr. Butterfly, and wished him to stay +all day with them. He said; "You are very kind, but I really couldn't +think of doing it. You must excuse my saying it, but I am surprised to +think you will grow here. It is very dusty and dry, and then there is no +shade. I am sure I could have chosen a better place." + +The Daisies smiled and nodded to each other, saying, "This is the kind +of place we were made for, that's all." + +Mr. Butterfly shook his head very doubtfully, and then bade them a +polite "Good-morning," and flew away to call on the Cardinals. + +The Cardinals are a very stately family, as everybody knows. They hold +their heads very high, and never make deep bows, even to the wind, but +for all that they are a very pleasant family to meet. They gave Mr. +Butterfly a dainty lunch of honey, and seemed much pleased when he told +them how beautiful the river looked in the sunlight. + +"It is a delightful place to grow," said they. + +"Ye-es," said Mr. Butterfly, "it is very pretty, still I do not think it +can be healthful. I really cannot understand why you flowers choose such +strange homes. Now, there are the Daisies, where I just called. They are +in a dusty, dry place, where there is no shade at all. I spoke to them +about it, and they acted quite uppish." + +"But the Daisies always do choose such places," said the Cardinals. + +"And your family," said Mr. Butterfly, "have lived so long in wet places +that it is a wonder you are alive. Your color is good, but to stand with +one's roots in water all the time! It is shocking." + +"Cardinals and Butterflies live differently," said the flowers. +"Good-morning." + +Mr. Butterfly left the river and flew over to the woods. He was very +much out of patience. He was so angry that his feelers quivered, and now +you know how angry he must have been. He knew that the Violets were a +very agreeable family, who never put on airs, so he went at once to +them. + +He had barely said "Good-morning" to them when he began to explain what +had displeased him. + +"To think," he said, "what notions some flowers have! Now, you have a +pleasant home here in the edge of the woods. I have been telling the +Daisies and the Cardinals that they should grow in such a place, but +they wouldn't listen to me. The Daisies were quite uppish about it, and +the Cardinals were very stiff." + +"My dear friend," answered a Violet, "they could never live if they +moved up into our neighborhood. Every flower has his own place in this +world, and is happiest in that place. Everything has its own place and +its own work, and every flower that is wise will stay in the place for +which it was intended. You were exceedingly kind to want to help the +flowers, but suppose they had been telling you what to do. Suppose the +Cardinals had told you that flying around was not good for your health, +and that to be truly well you ought to grow planted with your legs in +the mud and water." + +"Oh!" said Mr. Butterfly, "Oh! I never thought of that. Perhaps +Butterflies don't know everything." + +"No," said the Violet, "they don't know everything, and you haven't been +out of your chrysalis very long. But those who are ready to learn can +always find someone to tell them. Won't you eat some honey?" + +And Mr. Butterfly sipped honey and was happy. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE ROBINS BUILD A NEST. + + +When Mr. and Mrs. Robin built in the spring, they were not quite agreed +as to where the nest should be. Mr. Robin was a very decided bird, and +had made up his mind that the lowest crotch of a maple tree would be the +best place. He even went so far as to take three billfuls of mud there, +and stick in two blades of dry grass. Mrs. Robin wanted it on the end of +the second rail from the top of the split-rail fence. She said it was +high enough from the ground to be safe and dry, and not so high that a +little bird falling out of it would hurt himself very much. Then, too, +the top rail was broad at the end and would keep the rain off so well. + +"And the nest will be just the color of the rails," said she, "so that +even a Red Squirrel could hardly see it." She disliked Red Squirrels, +and she had reason to, for she had been married before, and if it had +not been for a Red Squirrel, she might already have had children as +large as she was. + +"I say that the tree is the place for it," said Mr. Robin, "and I wear +the brightest breast feathers." He said this because in bird families +the one who wears the brightest breast feathers thinks he has the right +to decide things. + +Mrs. Robin was wise enough not to answer back when he spoke in this way. +She only shook her feathers, took ten quick running steps, tilted her +body forward, looked hard at the ground, and pulled out something for +supper. After that she fluttered around the maple tree crotch as though +she had never thought of any other place. Mr. Robin wished he had not +been quite so decided, or reminded her of his breast feathers. "After +all," thought he, "I don't know but the fence-rail would have done." He +thought this, but he didn't say it. It is not always easy for a Robin to +give up and let one with dull breast feathers know that he thinks +himself wrong. + +That night they perched in the maple-tree and slept with their heads +under their wings. Long before the sun was in sight, when the first +beams were just touching the tops of the forest trees, they awakened, +bright-eyed and rested, preened their feathers, sang their morning song, +"Cheerily, cheerily, cheer-up," and flew off to find food. After +breakfast they began to work on the nest. Mrs. Robin stopped often to +look and peck at the bark. "It will take a great deal of mud," said she, +"to fill in that deep crotch until we reach a place wide enough for the +nest." + +At another time she said: "My dear, I am afraid that the dry grass you +are bringing is too light-colored. It shows very plainly against the +maple bark. Can't you find some that is darker?" + +Mr. Robin hunted and hunted, but could find nothing which was darker. As +he flew past the fence, he noticed that it was almost the color of the +grass in his bill. + +After a while, soft gray clouds began to cover the sky. "I wonder," said +Mrs. Robin, "if it will rain before we get this done. The mud is soft +enough now to work well, and this place is so open that the rain might +easily wash away all that we have done." + +It did rain, however, and very soon. The great drops came down so hard +that one could only think of pebbles falling. Mr. and Mrs. Robin oiled +their feathers as quickly as they could, taking the oil from their back +pockets and putting it onto their feathers with their bills. This made +the finest kind of waterproof and was not at all heavy to wear. When the +rain was over they shook themselves and looked at their work. + +"I believe," said Mrs. Robin to her husband, "that you are right in +saying that we might better give up this place and begin over again +somewhere else." + +Now Mr. Robin could not remember having said that he thought anything of +the sort, and he looked very sharply at his wife, and cocked his black +head on one side until all the black and white streaks on his throat +showed. She did not seem to know that he was watching her as she hopped +around the partly built nest, poking it here and pushing it there, and +trying her hardest to make it look right. He thought she would say +something, but she didn't. Then he knew he must speak first. He flirted +his tail and tipped his head and drew some of his brown wing-feathers +through his bill. Then he held himself very straight and tall, and said, +"Well, if you do agree with me, I think you might much better stop +working here and begin in another place." + +"It seems almost too bad," said she. "Of course there are other places, +but----" + +By this time Mr. Robin knew exactly what to do. "Plenty of them," said +he. "Now don't fuss any longer with this. That place on the rail fence +is an excellent one. I wonder that no other birds have taken it." As he +spoke he flew ahead to the very spot which Mrs. Robin had first chosen. + +She was a very wise bird, and knew far too much to say, "I told you so." +Saying that, you know, always makes things go wrong. She looked at the +rail fence, ran along the top of it, toeing in prettily as she ran, +looked around in a surprised way, and said, "Oh, _that_ place?" + +"Yes, Mrs. Robin," said her husband, "_that_ place. Do you see anything +wrong about it?" + +"No-o," she said. "I think I could make it do." + +Before long another nest was half built, and Mrs. Robin was working away +in the happiest manner possible, stopping every little while to sing her +afternoon song: "Do you think what you do? Do you think what you do? Do +you thi-ink?" + +Mr. Robin was also at work, and such billfuls of mud, such fine little +twigs, and such big wisps of dry grass as went into that home! Once Mr. +Robin was gone a long time, and when he came back he had a beautiful +piece of white cotton string dangling from his beak. That they put on +the outside. "Not that we care to show off," said they, "but somehow +that seemed to be the best place to put it." + +Mr. Robin was very proud of his nest and of his wife. He never went far +away if he could help it. Once she heard him tell Mr. Goldfinch that, +"Mrs. Robin was very sweet about building where he chose, and that even +after he insisted on changing places from the tree to the fence she was +perfectly good-natured." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Robin to Mrs. Goldfinch, "I was perfectly +good-natured." Then she gave a happy, chirpy little laugh, and Mrs. +Goldfinch laughed, too. They were perfectly contented birds, even if +they didn't wear the brightest breast feathers or insist on having +their own way. And Mrs. Robin had been married before. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE SELFISH TENT-CATERPILLAR. + + +One could hardly call the Tent-Caterpillars meadow people, for they did +not often leave their trees to crawl upon the ground. Yet the Apple-Tree +Tent-Caterpillars would not allow anybody to call them forest people. +"We live on apple and wild cherry trees," they said, "and you will +almost always find us in the orchards or on the roadside trees. There +are Forest Tent-Caterpillars, but please don't get us mixed with them. +We belong to another branch of the family, the Apple-Tree branch." + +The Tree Frog said that he remembered perfectly well when the eggs were +laid on the wild cherry tree on the edge of the meadow. "It was early +last summer," he said, "and the Moth who laid them was a very agreeable +reddish-brown person, about as large as a common Yellow Butterfly. I +remember that she had two light yellow lines on each forewing. Another +Moth came with her, but did not stay. He was smaller than she, and had +the same markings. After he had gone, she asked me if we were ever +visited by the Yellow-Billed Cuckoos." + +"Why did she ask that?" said the Garter Snake. + +"Don't you know?" exclaimed the Tree Frog. And then he whispered +something to the Garter Snake. + +The Garter Snake wriggled with surprise and cried, "Really?" + +All through the fall and winter the many, many eggs which the +reddish-brown Moth had laid were kept snug and warm on the twig where +she had put them. They were placed in rows around the twig, and then +well covered to hold them together and keep them warm. The winter winds +had blown the twig to and fro, the cold rain had frozen over them, the +soft snowflakes had drifted down from the clouds and covered them, only +to melt and trickle away again in shining drops. One morning the whole +wild cherry tree was covered with beautiful long, glistening crystals of +hoar-frost; and still the ring of eggs stayed in its place around the +twig, and the life in them slept until spring sunbeams should shine down +and quicken it. + +But when the spring sunbeams did come! Even before the leaf-buds were +open, tiny Larvæ, or Caterpillar babies, came crawling from the ring of +eggs and began feeding upon the buds. They took very, very small bites, +and that looked as though they were polite children. Still, you know, +their mouths were so small that they could not take big ones, and it +may not have been politeness after all which made them eat daintily. + +When all the Tent-Caterpillars were hatched, and they had eaten every +leaf-bud near the egg-ring, they began to crawl down the tree toward the +trunk. Once they stopped by a good-sized crotch in the branches. "Let's +build here," said the leader; "this place is all right." + +Then some of the Tent-Caterpillars said, "Let's!" and some of them said, +"Don't let's!" One young fellow said, "Aw, come on! There's a bigger +crotch farther down." Of course he should have said, "I think you will +like a larger crotch better," but he was young, and, you know, these +Larvæ had no father or mother to help them speak in the right way. They +were orphans, and it is wonderful how they ever learned to talk at all. + +After this, some of the Tent-Caterpillars went on to the larger crotch +and some stayed behind. More went than stayed, and when they saw this, +those by the smaller crotch gave up and joined their brothers and +sisters, as they should have done. It was right to do that which pleased +most of them. + +It took a great deal of work to make the tent. All helped, spinning +hundreds and thousands of white silken threads, laying them side by +side, criss-crossing them, fastening the ends to branches and twigs, not +forgetting to leave places through which one could crawl in and out. +They never worked all day at this, because unless they stopped to eat +they would soon have been weak and unable to spin. There were nearly +always a few Caterpillars in the tent, but only in the early morning or +late afternoon or during the night were they all at home. The rest of +the time they were scattered around the tree feeding. Of course there +were some cold days when they stayed in. When the weather was chilly +they moved slowly and cared very little for food. + +There was one young Tent-Caterpillar who happened to be the first +hatched, and who seemed to think that because he was a minute older than +any of the other children he had the right to his own way. Sometimes he +got it, because the others didn't want to have any trouble. Sometimes he +didn't get it, and then he was very sulky and disagreeable, even +refusing to answer when he was spoken to. + +One cold day, when all the Caterpillars stayed in the tent, this oldest +brother wanted the warmest place, that in the very middle. It should +have belonged to the younger brothers and sisters, for they were not so +strong, but he pushed and wriggled his hairy black and brown and yellow +body into the very place he wanted, and then scolded everybody around +because he had to push to get there. It happened as it always does when +a Caterpillar begins to say mean things, and he went on until he was +saying some which were really untrue. Nobody answered back, so he +scolded and fussed and was exceedingly disagreeable. + +All day long he thought how wretched he was, and how badly they treated +him, and how he guessed they'd be sorry enough if he went away. The next +morning he went. As long as the warm sunshine lasted he did very well. +When it began to grow cool, his brothers and sisters crawled past him on +their way to the tent. "Come on!" they cried. "It's time to go home." + +"Uh-uh!" said the eldest brother (and that meant "No"), "I'm not going." + +"Why not?" they asked. + +"Oh, because," said he. + +When the rest were all together in the tent they talked about him. "Do +you suppose he's angry?" said one. + +"What should he be angry about?" said another. + +"I just believe he is," said a third. "Did you notice the way his hairs +bristled?" + +"Don't you think we ought to go to get him?" asked two or three of the +youngest Caterpillars. + +"No," said the older ones. "We haven't done anything. Let him get over +it." + +So the oldest brother, who had thought that every other Caterpillar in +the tent would crawl right out and beg and coax him to come back, waited +and waited and waited, but nobody came. The tent was there and the door +was open. All he had to do was to crawl in and be at home. He waited so +long that at last he had to leave the tree and spin his cocoon without +ever having gone back to his brothers and sisters in the tent. He spun +his cocoon and mixed the silk with a yellowish-white powder, then he +lay down in it to sleep twenty-one days and grow his wings. The last +thought he had before going to sleep was an unhappy and selfish one. +Probably he awakened an unhappy and selfish Moth. + +His brothers and sisters were sad whenever they thought of him. But, +they said, "what could we do? It wasn't fair for him to have the best of +everything, and we never answered when he said mean things. He might +have come back at any time and we would have been kind to him." + +And they were right. What could they have done? It was very sad, but +when a Caterpillar is so selfish and sulky that he cannot live happily +with other people, it is much better that he should live quite alone. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE LAZY SNAIL + + +In the lower part of the meadow, where the grass grew tall and tender, +there lived a fine and sturdy young Snail; that is to say, a +fine-looking Snail. His shell was a beautiful soft gray, and its curves +were regular and perfect. His body was soft and moist, and just what a +Snail's body should be. Of course, when it came to travelling, he could +not go fast, for none of his family are rapid travellers, still, if he +had been plucky and patient, he might have seen much of the meadow, and +perhaps some of the world outside. His friends and neighbors often told +him that he ought to start out on a little journey to see the sights, +but he would always answer, "Oh, it is too hard work!" + +There was nobody who liked stories of meadow life better than this same +Snail, and he would often stop some friendly Cricket or Snake to ask for +the news. After they had told him, they would say, "Why, don't you ever +get out to see these things for yourself?" and he would give a little +sigh and answer, "It is too far to go." + +"But you needn't go the whole distance in one day," his visitor would +say, "only a little at a time." + +"Yes, and then I would have to keep starting on again every little +while," the Snail would reply. "What of that?" said the visitor; "you +would have plenty of resting spells, when you could lie in the shade of +a tall weed and enjoy yourself." + +"Well, what is the use?" the Snail would say. "I can't enjoy resting if +I know I've got to go to work again," and he would sigh once more. + +So there he lived, eating and sleeping, and wishing he could see the +world, and meet the people in the upper part of the meadow, but just so +lazy that he wouldn't start out to find them. + +He never thought that the Butterflies and Beetles might not like it to +have him keep calling them to him and making them tell him the news. Oh, +no indeed! If he wanted them to do anything for him, he asked them +quickly enough, and they, being happy, good-natured people, would always +do as he asked them to. + +There came a day, though, when he asked too much. The Grasshoppers had +been telling him about some very delicious new plants that grew a little +distance away, and the Snail wanted some very badly. "Can't you bring me +some?" he said. "There are so many of you, and you have such good, +strong legs. I should think you might each bring me a small piece in +your mouths, and then I should have a fine dinner of it." + +The Grasshoppers didn't say anything then, but when they were so far +away that he could not hear them, they said to each other, "If the Snail +wants the food so much, he might better go for it. We have other things +to do," and they hopped off on their own business. + +The Snail sat there, and wondered and wondered that they did not come. +He kept thinking how he would like some of the new food for dinner, but +there it ended. He didn't want it enough to get it for himself. + +The Grasshoppers told all their friends about the Snail's request, and +everybody thought, "Such a lazy, good-for-nothing fellow deserves to be +left quite alone." So it happened that for a very long time nobody went +near the Snail. + +The weather grew hotter and hotter. The clouds, which blew across the +sky, kept their rain until they were well past the meadow, and so it +happened that the river grew shallower and shallower, and the sunshine +dried the tiny pools and rivulets which kept the lower meadow damp. The +grass began to turn brown and dry, and, all in all, it was trying +weather for Snails. + +One day, a Butterfly called some of her friends together, and told them +that she had seen the Snail lying in his old place, looking thin and +hungry. "The grass is all dried around him," she said; "I believe he is +starving, and too lazy to go nearer the river, where there is still good +food for him." + +They all talked it over together, and some of them said it was of no use +to help a Snail who was too lazy to do anything for himself. Others +said, "Well, he is too weak to help himself now, at all events, and we +might help him this once." And that is exactly what they did. The +Butterflies and the Mosquitoes flew ahead to find the best place to put +the Snail, and all the Grasshoppers, and Beetles, and other strong +crawling creatures took turns in rolling the Snail down toward the +river. + +They left him where the green things were fresh and tender, and he grew +strong and plump once more. It is even said that he was not so lazy +afterward, but one cannot tell whether to believe it or not, for +everybody knows that when people let themselves grow up lazy, as he did, +it is almost impossible for them to get over it when they want to. One +thing is sure: the meadow people who helped him were happier and better +for doing a kind thing, no matter what became of the Snail. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE ANT THE WORE WINGS + + +In one of the Ant-hills in the highest part of the meadow, were a lot of +young Ants talking together. "I," said one, "am going to be a soldier, +and drive away anybody who comes to make us trouble. I try biting hard +things every day to make my jaws strong, so that I can guard the home +better." + +"I," said another and smaller Ant, "want to be a worker. I want to help +build and repair the home. I want to get the food for the family, and +feed the Ant babies, and clean them off when they crawl out of their +old coats. If I can do those things well, I shall be the happiest, +busiest Ant in the meadow." + +"We don't want to live that kind of life," said a couple of larger Ants +with wings. "We don't mean to stay around the Ant-hill all the time and +work. We want to use our wings, and then you may be very sure that you +won't see us around home any more." + +The little worker spoke up: "Home is a pleasant place. You may be very +glad to come back to it some day." But the Ants with the wings turned +their backs and wouldn't listen to another word. + +A few days after this there were exciting times in the Ant-hill. All the +winged Ants said "Good-bye" to the soldiers and workers, and flew off +through the air, flew so far that the little ones at home could no +longer see them. All day long they were gone, but the next morning when +the little worker (whom we heard talking) went out to get breakfast, she +found the poor winged Ants lying on the ground near their home. Some of +them were dead, and the rest were looking for food. + +The worker Ant ran up to the one who had said she didn't want to stay +around home, and asked her to come back to the Ant-hill. "No, I thank +you," she answered. "I have had my breakfast now, and am going to fly +off again." She raised her wings to go, but after she had given one +flutter, they dropped off, and she could never fly again. + +The worker hurried back to the Ant-hill to call some of her sister +workers, and some of the soldiers, and they took the Ant who had lost +her wings and carried her to another part of the meadow. There they went +to work to build a new home and make her their queen. + +First, they looked for a good, sandy place, on which the sun would shine +all day. Then the worker Ants began to dig in the ground and bring out +tiny round pieces of earth in their mouths. The soldiers helped them, +and before night they had a cosy little home in the earth, with several +rooms, and some food already stored. They took their queen in, and +brought her food to eat, and waited on her, and she was happy and +contented. + +By and by the Ant eggs began to hatch, and the workers had all they +could do to take care of their queen and her little Ant babies, and the +soldier Ants had to help. The Ant babies were little worms or grubs when +they first came out of the eggs; after a while they curled up in tiny, +tiny cases, called pupa-cases, and after another while they came out of +these, and then they looked like the older Ants, with their six legs, +and their slender little waists. But whatever they were, whether eggs, +or grubs, or curled up in the pupa-cases, or lively little Ants, the +workers fed and took care of them, and the soldiers fought for them, +and the queen-mother loved them, and they all lived happily together +until the young Ants were ready to go out into the great world and learn +the lessons of life for themselves. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE CHEERFUL HARVESTMEN. + + +Some of the meadow people are gay and careless, and some are always +worrying. Some work hard every day, and some are exceedingly lazy. +There, as everywhere else, each has his own way of thinking about +things. It is too bad that they cannot all learn to think brave and +cheerful thoughts, for these make life happy. One may have a comfortable +home, kind neighbors, and plenty to eat, yet if he is in the habit of +thinking disagreeable thoughts, not even all these good things can make +him happy. Now there was the young Frog who thought herself sick--but +that is another story. + +Perhaps the Harvestmen were the most cheerful of all the meadow people. +The old Tree Frog used to say that it made him feel better just to see +their knees coming toward him. Of course, when he saw their knees, he +knew that the whole insect was also coming. He spoke in that way because +the Harvestmen always walked or ran with their knees so much above the +rest of their bodies that one could see those first. + +The Harvestmen were not particularly fine-looking, not nearly so +handsome as some of their Spider cousins. One never thought of that, +however. They had such an easy way of moving around on their eight legs, +each of which had a great many joints. It is the joints, or +bending-places, you know, which make legs useful. Besides being +graceful, they had very pleasant manners. When a Harvestman said +"Good-morning" to you on a rainy day, you always had a feeling that the +sun was shining. It might be that the drops were even then falling into +your face, but for a moment you were sure to feel that everything was +bright and warm and comfortable. + +Sometimes the careless young Grasshoppers and Crickets called the +Harvestmen by their nicknames, "Daddy Long-Legs" or "Grandfather +Graybeard." Even then the Harvestmen were good-natured, and only said +with a smile that the young people had not yet learned the names of +their neighbors. The Grasshoppers never seemed to think how queer it was +to call a young Harvestman daughter "Grandfather Graybeard." When they +saw how good-natured they were, the Grasshoppers soon stopped trying to +tease the Harvestmen. People who are really good-natured are never +teased very long, you know. + +The Walking-Sticks were exceedingly polite to the Harvestmen. They +thought them very slender and genteel-looking. Once the Five-Legged +Walking-Stick said to the largest Harvestman, "Why do you talk so much +with the common people in the meadow?" + +The Harvestman knew exactly what the Walking-Stick meant, but he was not +going to let anybody make fun of his kind and friendly neighbors, so he +said: "I think we Harvestmen are rather common ourselves. There are a +great, great many of us here. It must be very lonely to be uncommon." + +After that the Walking-Stick had nothing more to say. He never felt +quite sure whether the Harvestman was too stupid to understand or too +wise to gossip. Once he thought he saw the Harvestman's eyes twinkle. +The Harvestman didn't care if people thought him stupid. He knew that he +was not stupid, and he would rather seem dull than to listen while +unkind things were said about his neighbors. + +Some people would have thought it very hard luck to be Harvestmen. The +Garter Snake said that if he were one, he should be worried all the time +about his legs. "I'm thankful I haven't any," he said, "for if I had I +should be forever thinking I should lose some of them. A Harvestman +without legs would be badly off. He could never in the world crawl +around on his belly as I do." + +How the Harvestmen did laugh when they heard this! The biggest one said, +"Well, if that isn't just like some people! Never want to have anything +for fear they'll lose it. I wonder if he worries about his head? He +might lose that, you know, and then what would he do?" + +It was only the next day that the largest Harvestman came home on seven +legs. His friends all cried out, "Oh, how did it ever happen?" + +"Cows," said he. + +"Did they step on you?" asked the Five-Legged Walking-Stick. He had not +lived long enough in the meadow to understand all that the Harvestman +meant. He was sorry for him, though, for he knew what it was to lose a +leg. + +"Huh!" said a Grasshopper, interrupting in a very rude way, "aren't any +Cows in this meadow now!" + +Then the other Harvestmen told the Walking-Stick all about it, how +sometimes a boy would come to the meadow, catch a Harvestman, hold him +up by one leg, and say to him, "Grandfather Graybeard, tell me where the +Cows are, or I'll kill you." Then the only thing a Harvestman could do +was to struggle and wriggle himself free, and he often broke off a leg +in doing so. + +"How terrible!" said the three Walking-Sticks all together. "But why +don't you tell them?" + +"We do," answered the Harvestmen. "We point with our seven other legs, +and we point every way there is. Sometimes we don't know where they +are, so we point everywhere, to be sure. But it doesn't make any +difference. Our legs drop off just the same." + +"Isn't a boy clever enough to find Cows alone?" asked the +Walking-Sticks. + +"Oh, it isn't that," cried all the meadow people together. "Even after +you tell, and sometimes when the Cows are right there, they walk off +home without them." + +"I'd sting them," said a Wasp, waving his feelers fiercely and raising +and lowering his wings. "I'd sting them as hard as I could." + +"You wouldn't if you had no sting," said the Tree Frog. + +"N-no," stammered the Wasp, "I suppose I wouldn't." + +"You poor creature!" said the biggest Katydid to the biggest Harvestman. +"What will you do? Only seven legs!" + +"Do?" answered the biggest Harvestman, and it was then one could see +how truly brave and cheerful he was. "Do? I'll walk on those seven. If +I lose one of them I'll walk on six, and if I lose one of them I'll walk +on five. Haven't I my mouth and my stomach and my eyes and my two +feelers, and my two food-pincers? I may not be so good-looking, but I am +a Harvestman, and I shall enjoy the grass and the sunshine and my kind +neighbors as long as I live. I must leave you now. Good-day." + +He walked off rather awkwardly, for he had not yet learned to manage +himself since his accident. The meadow people looked after him very +thoughtfully. They were not noticing his awkwardness, or thinking of his +high knees or of his little low body. Perhaps they thought what the +Cicada said, "Ah, that is the way to live!" + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE LITTLE SPIDER'S FIRST WEB + + +The first thing our little Spider remembered was being crowded with a +lot of other little Spiders in a tiny brown house. This tiny house had +no windows, and was very warm and dark and stuffy. When the wind blew, +the little Spiders would hear it rushing through the forest near by, and +would feel their round brown house swinging like a cradle. It was +fastened to a bush by the edge of the forest, but they could not know +that, so they just wiggled and pushed and ate the food that they found +in the house, and wondered what it all meant. They didn't even guess +that a mother Spider had made the brown house and put the food in it for +her Spider babies to eat when they came out of their eggs. She had put +the eggs in, too, but the little Spiders didn't remember the time when +they lay curled up in the eggs. They didn't know what had been nor what +was to be--they thought that to eat and wiggle and sleep was all of +life. You see they had much to learn. + +One morning the little Spiders found that the food was all gone, and +they pushed and scrambled harder than ever, because they were hungry and +wanted more. Exactly what happened nobody knew, but suddenly it grew +light, and some of them fell out of the house. All the rest scrambled +after, and there they stood, winking and blinking in the bright +sunshine, and feeling a little bit dizzy, because they were on a shaky +web made of silvery ropes. + +Just then the web began to shake even more, and a beautiful great mother +Spider ran out on it. She was dressed in black and yellow velvet, and +her eight eyes glistened and gleamed in the sunlight. They had never +dreamed of such a wonderful creature. + +"Well, my children," she exclaimed, "I know you must be hungry, and I +have breakfast all ready for you." So they began eating at once, and the +mother Spider told them many things about the meadow and the forest, and +said they must amuse themselves while she worked to get food for them. +There was no father Spider to help her, and, as she said, "Growing +children must have plenty of good plain food." + +You can just fancy what a good time the baby Spiders had. There were a +hundred and seventy of them, so they had no chance to grow lonely, even +when their mother was away. They lived in this way for quite a while, +and grew bigger and stronger every day. One morning the mother Spider +said to her biggest daughter, "You are quite old enough to work now, and +I will teach you to spin your web." + +The little Spider soon learned to draw out the silvery ropes from the +pocket in her body where they were made and kept, and very soon she had +one fastened at both ends to branches of the bush. Then her mother made +her walk out to the middle of her rope bridge, and spin and fasten two +more, so that it looked like a shining cross. After that was done, the +mother showed her something like a comb, which is part of a Spider's +foot, and taught her how to measure, and put more ropes out from the +middle of the cross, until it looked like the spokes of a wheel. + +The little Spider got much discouraged, and said, "Let me finish it +some other time; I am tired of working now." + +The mother Spider answered, "No, I cannot have a lazy child." + +The little one said, "I can't ever do it, I know I can't." + +"Now," said the mother, "I shall have to give you a Spider scolding. You +have acted as lazy as the Tree Frog says boys and girls sometimes do. He +has been up near the farm-house, and says that he has seen there +children who do not like to work. The meadow people could hardly believe +such a thing at first. He says they were cross and unhappy children, and +no wonder! Lazy people are never happy. You try to finish the web, and +see if I am not right. You are not a baby now, and you must work and get +your own food." + +So the little Spider spun the circles of rope in the web, and made these +ropes sticky, as all careful spiders do. She ate the loose ends and +pieces that were left over, to save them for another time, and when it +was done, it was so fine and perfect that her brothers and sisters +crowded around, saying, "Oh! oh! oh! how beautiful!" and asked the +mother to teach them. The little web-spinner was happier than she had +ever been before, and the mother began to teach her other children. But +it takes a long time to teach a hundred and seventy children. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE BEETLE WHO DID NOT LIKE CATERPILLARS + + +One morning early in June, a fat and shining May Beetle lay on his back +among the grasses, kicking his six legs in the air, and wriggling around +while he tried to catch hold of a grass-blade by which to pull himself +up. Now, Beetles do not like to lie on their backs in the sunshine, and +this one was hot and tired from his long struggle. Beside that, he was +very cross because he was late in getting his breakfast, so when he did +at last get right side up, and saw a brown and black Caterpillar +watching him, he grew very ill-mannered, and said some things of which +he should have been ashamed. + +"Oh, yes," he said, "you are quick enough to laugh when you think +somebody else is in a fix. I often lie on my back and kick, just for +fun." (Which was not true, but when Beetles are cross they are not +always truthful.) + +"Excuse me," said the Caterpillar, "I did not mean to hurt your +feelings. If I smiled, it was because I remembered being in the same +plight myself yesterday, and what a time I had smoothing my fur +afterwards. Now, you won't have to smooth your fur, will you?" she asked +pleasantly. + +"No, I'm thankful to say I haven't any fur to smooth," snapped the +Beetle. "I am not one of the crawling, furry kind. My family wear dark +brown, glossy coats, and we always look trim and clean. When we want to +hurry, we fly; and when tired of flying, we walk or run. We have two +kinds of wings. We have a pair of dainty, soft ones, that carry us +through the air, and then we have a pair of stiff ones to cover over the +soft wings when we come down to the earth again. We are the finest +family in the meadow." + +"I have often heard of you," said the Caterpillar, "and am very glad to +become acquainted." + +"Well," answered the Beetle, "I am willing to speak to you, of course, +but we can never be at all friendly. A May Beetle, indeed, in company +with a Caterpillar! I choose my friends among the Moths, Butterflies, +and Dragon-flies,--in fact, _I_ move in the upper circles." + +"Upper circles, indeed!" said a croaking voice beside him, which made +the Beetle jump, "I have hopped over your head for two or three years, +when you were nothing but a fat, white worm. _You'd_ better not put on +airs. The fine family of May Beetles were all worms once, and they had +to live in the earth and eat roots, while the Caterpillars were in the +sunshine over their heads, dining on tender green leaves and flower +buds." + +The May Beetle began to look very uncomfortable, and squirmed as though +he wanted to get away, but the Tree Frog, for it was the Tree Frog, went +on: "As for your not liking Caterpillars, they don't stay Caterpillars. +Your new acquaintance up there will come out with wings one of these +days, and you will be glad enough to know him." And the Tree Frog hopped +away. + +The May Beetle scraped his head with his right front leg, and then said +to the Caterpillar, who was nibbling away at the milkweed: "You know, I +wasn't really in earnest about our not being friends. I shall be very +glad to know you, and all your family." + +"Thank you," answered the Caterpillar, "thank you very much, but I have +been thinking it over myself, and I feel that I really could not be +friendly with a May Beetle. Of course, I don't mind speaking to you once +in a while, when I am eating, and getting ready to spin my cocoon. After +that it will be different. You see, then I shall belong to one of the +finest families in the meadow, the Milkweed Butterflies. _We_ shall eat +nothing but honey, and dress in soft orange and black velvet. _We_ shall +not blunder and bump around when we fly. _We_ shall enjoy visiting with +the Dragon-flies and Moths. I shall not forget you altogether, I dare +say, but I shall feel it my duty to move in the upper circles, where I +belong. Good-morning." + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE YOUNG ROBIN WHO WAS AFRAID TO FLY. + + +During the days when the four beautiful green-blue eggs lay in the nest, +Mrs. Robin stayed quite closely at home. She said it was a very good +place, for she could keep her eggs warm and still see all that was +happening. The rail-end on which they had built was on the meadow side +of the fence, over the tallest grasses and the graceful stalks of +golden-rod. Here the Garter Snake drew his shining body through the +tangled green, and here the Tree Frog often came for a quiet nap. + +Just outside the fence the milkweeds grew, with every broad, pale green +leaf slanting upward in their spring style. Here the Milkweed +Caterpillars fed, and here, too, when the great balls of tiny dull pink +blossoms dangled from the stalks, the Milkweed Butterflies hung all day +long. All the teams from the farm-house passed along the quiet, +grass-grown road, and those which were going to the farm as well. When +Mrs. Robin saw a team coming, she always settled herself more deeply +into her nest, so that not one of her brick-red breast feathers showed. +Then she sat very still, only turning her head enough to watch the team +as it came near, passed, and went out of sight down the road. Sometimes +she did not even have to turn her head, for if she happened to be facing +the road, she could with one eye watch the team come near, and with the +other watch it go away. No bird, you know, ever has to look at anything +with both eyes at once. + +After the young Robins had outgrown their shells and broken and thrown +them off, they were naked and red and blind. They lay in a heap in the +bottom of the nest, and became so tangled that nobody but a bird could +tell which was which. If they heard their father or their mother flying +toward them, they would stretch up their necks and open their mouths. +Then each would have some food poked down his throat, and would lie +still until another mouthful was brought to him. + +When they got their eyes open and began to grow more down, they were +good little Robins and did exactly as they were told. It was easy to be +good then, for they were not strong enough to want to go elsewhere, and +they had all they wanted to eat. At night their mother sat in the nest +and covered them with her soft feathers. When it rained she also did +this. She was a kind and very hard-working mother. Mr. Robin worked +quite as hard as she, and was exceedingly proud of his family. + +But when their feathers began to grow, and each young Robin's sharp +quills pricked his brothers and sisters if they pushed against him, then +it was not so easy to be good. Four growing children in one little round +bed sometimes found themselves rather crowded. One night Mrs. Robin said +to her husband: "I am all tired out. I work as long as daylight lasts +getting food for those children, and I cannot be here enough to teach +them anything." + +"Then they must learn to work for themselves," said Mr. Robin decidedly. +"They are surely old enough." + +"Why, they are just babies!" exclaimed his wife. "They have hardly any +tails yet." + +"They don't need tails to eat with," said he, "and they may as well +begin now. I will not have you get so tired for this one brood." + +Mrs. Robin said nothing more. Indeed, there was nothing more to be +said, for she knew perfectly well that her children would not eat with +their tails if they had them. She loved her babies so that she almost +disliked to see them grow up, yet she knew it was right for them to +leave the nest. They were so large that they spread out over the edges +of it already, and they must be taught to take care of themselves before +it was time for her to rear her second brood. + +The next morning all four children were made to hop out on to the rail. +Their legs were not very strong and their toes sprawled weakly around. +Sometimes they lurched and almost fell. Before leaving the nest they had +felt big and very important; now they suddenly felt small and young and +helpless. Once in a while one of them would hop feebly along the rail +for a few steps. Then he would chirp in a frightened way, let his head +settle down over his speckled breast, slide his eyelids over his eyes, +and wait for more food to be brought to him. + +Whenever a team went by, the oldest child shut his eyes. He thought they +couldn't see him if he did that. The other children kept theirs open and +watched to see what happened. Their father and mother had told them to +watch, but the timid young Robin always shut his eyes in spite of that. + +"We shall have trouble with him," said Mrs. Robin, "but he must be made +to do as he is told, even if he is afraid." She shut her bill very +tightly as she spoke, and Mr. Robin knew that he could safely trust the +bringing-up of his timid son to her. + +Mrs. Robin talked and talked to him, and still he shut his eyes every +time that he was frightened. "I can't keep them open," he would say, +"because when I am frightened I am always afraid, and I can't be brave +when I am afraid." + +"That is just when you must be brave," said his mother. "There is no use +in being brave when there is nothing to fear, and it is a great deal +braver to be brave when you are frightened than to be brave when you are +not." You can see that she was a very wise Robin and a good mother. It +would have been dreadful for her to let him grow up a coward. + +At last the time came when the young birds were to fly to the ground and +hop across the road. Both their father and their mother were there to +show them how. "You must let go of the rail," they said. "You will never +fly in the world unless you let go of the rail." + +Three of the children fluttered and lurched and flew down. The timid +young Robin would not try it. His father ordered and his mother coaxed, +yet he only clung more closely to his rail and said, "I can't! I'm +afraid!" + +At last his mother said: "Very well. You shall stay there as long as +you wish, but we cannot stay with you." + +Then she chirped to her husband, and they and the three brave children +went across the road, talking as they went. "Careful!" she would say. +"Now another hop! That was fine! Now another!" And the father fluttered +around and said: "Good! Good! You'll be grown-up before you know it." +When they were across, the parents hunted food and fed their three brave +children, tucking the mouthfuls far into their wide-open bills. + +The timid little Robin on the fence felt very, very lonely. He was +hungry, too. Whenever he saw his mother pick up a mouthful of food, he +chirped loudly: "Me! Me! Me!" for he wanted her to bring it to him. She +paid no attention to him for a long time. Then she called: "Do you think +you can fly? Do you think you can fly? Do you think?" + +The timid little Robin hopped a few steps and chirped but never lifted +a wing. Then his mother gave each of the other children a big mouthful. + +The Robin on the fence huddled down into a miserable little bunch, and +thought: "They don't care whether I ever have anything to eat. No, they +don't!" Then he heard a rush of wings, and his mother stood before him +with a bunch in her bill for him. He hopped toward her and she ran away. +Then he sat down and cried. She hopped back and looked lovingly at him, +but couldn't speak because her bill was so full. Across the road the +Robin father stayed with his brave children and called out, "Earn it, my +son, earn it!" + +The young Robin stretched out his neck and opened his bill--but his +mother flew to the ground. He was so hungry--so very, very hungry,--that +for a minute he quite forgot to be afraid, and he leaned toward her and +toppled over. He fluttered his wings without thinking, and the first he +knew he had flown to the ground. He was hardly there before his mother +was feeding him and his father was singing: "Do you know what you did? +Do you know what you did? Do you know?" + +Before his tail was grown the timid Robin had become as brave as any of +the children, for, you know, after you begin to be brave you always want +to go on. But the Garter Snake says that Mrs. Robin is the bravest of +the family. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE CRICKETS' SCHOOL + + +In one corner of the meadow lived a fat old Cricket, who thought a great +deal of himself. He had such a big, shining body, and a way of chirping +so very loudly, that nobody could ever forget where he lived. He was a +very good sort of Cricket, too, ready to say the most pleasant things to +everybody, yet, sad to relate, he had a dreadful habit of boasting. He +had not always lived in the meadow, and he liked to tell of the +wonderful things he had seen and done when he was younger and lived up +near the white farm-house. + +When he told these stories of what he had done, the big Crickets around +him would not say much, but just sit and look at each other. The little +Crickets, however, loved to hear him talk, and would often come to the +door of his house (which was a hole in the ground), to beg him to tell +them more. + +One evening he said he would teach them a few things that all little +Crickets should know. He had them stand in a row, and then began: "With +what part of your body do you eat?" + +"With our mouths," all the little Crickets shouted. + +"With what part of your body do you run and leap?" + +"Our legs," they cried. + +"Do you do anything else with your legs?" + +"We clean ourselves with them," said one. + +"We use them and our mouths to make our houses in the ground," said +another. + +"Oh yes, and we hear with our two front legs," cried one bright little +fellow. + +"That is right," answered the fat old Cricket. "Some creatures hear with +things called ears, that grow on the sides of their heads, but for my +part, I think it much nicer to hear with one's legs, as we do." + +"Why, how funny it must be not to hear with one's legs, as we do," cried +all the little Crickets together. + +"There are a great many queer things to be seen in the great world," +said their teacher. "I have seen some terribly big creatures with only +two legs and no wings whatever." + +"How dreadful!" all the little Crickets cried. "We wouldn't think they +could move about at all." + +"It must be very hard to do so," said their teacher; "I was very sorry +for them," and he spread out his own wings and stretched his six legs to +show how he enjoyed them. + +"But how can they sing if they have no wings?" asked the bright little +Cricket. + +"They sing through their mouths, in much the same way that the birds +have to. I am sure it must be much easier to sing by rubbing one's wings +together, as we do," said the fat old teacher. "I could tell you many +queer things about these two-legged creatures, and the houses in which +they live, and perhaps some day I will. There are other large +four-legged creatures around their homes that are very terrible, but, my +children, I was never afraid of any of them. I am one of the truly brave +people who are never frightened, no matter how terrible the sight. I +hope, children, that you will always be brave, like me. If anything +should scare you, do not jump or run away. Stay right where you are, +and----" + +But the little Crickets never heard the rest of what their teacher began +to say, for at that minute Brown Bess, the Cow, came through a broken +fence toward the spot where the Crickets were. The teacher gave one +shrill "chirp," and scrambled down his hole. The little Crickets fairly +tumbled over each other in their hurry to get away, and the fat old +Cricket, who had been out in the great world, never again talked to them +about being brave. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE CONTENTED EARTHWORMS + + +After a long and soaking rain, the Earthworms came out of their burrows, +or rather, they came part way out, for each Earthworm put out half of +his body, and, as there were many of them and they lived near to each +other, they could easily visit without leaving their own homes. Two of +these long, slimy people were talking, when a Potato Bug strolled by. +"You poor things," said he, "what a wretched life you must lead. +Spending one's days in the dark earth must be very dreary." + +"Dreary!" exclaimed one of the Earthworms, "it is delightful. The earth +is a snug and soft home. It is warm in cold weather and cool in warm +weather. There are no winds to trouble us, and no sun to scorch us." + +"But," said the Potato Bug, "it must be very dull. Now, out in the +grass, one finds beautiful flowers, and so many families of friends." + +"And down here," answered the Worm, "we have the roots. Some are brown +and woody, like those of the trees, and some are white and slender and +soft. They creep and twine, until it is like passing through a forest to +go among them. And then, there are the seeds. Such busy times as there +are in the ground in spring-time! Each tiny seed awakens and begins to +grow. Its roots must strike downward, and its stalk upward toward the +light. Sometimes the seeds are buried in the earth with the root end up, +and then they have a great time getting twisted around and ready to +grow." + +"Still, after the plants are all growing and have their heads in the +air, you must miss them." + +"We have the roots always," said the Worm. "And then, when the summer is +over, the plants have done their work, helping to make the world +beautiful and raise their seed babies, and they wither and droop to the +earth again, and little by little the sun and the frost and the rain +help them to melt back into the earth. The earth is the beginning and +the end of plants." + +"Do you ever meet the meadow people in it?" asked the Potato Bug. + +"Many of them live here as babies," said the Worm. "The May Beetles, the +Grasshoppers, the great Humming-bird Moths, and many others spend their +babyhood here, all wrapped in eggs or cocoons. Then, when they are +strong enough, and their legs and wings are grown, they push their way +out and begin their work. It is their getting-ready time, down here in +the dark. And then, there are the stones, and they are so old and queer. +I am often glad that I am not a stone, for to have to lie still must be +hard to bear. Yet I have heard that they did not always lie so, and that +some of the very pebbles around us tossed and rolled and ground for +years in the bed of a river, and that some of them were rubbed and +broken off of great rocks. Perhaps they are glad now to just lie and +rest." + +"Truly," said the Potato Bug, "you have a pleasant home, but give me the +sunshine and fresh air, my six legs, and my striped wings, and you are +welcome to it all." + +"You are welcome to them all," answered the Worms. "We are contented +with smooth and shining bodies, with which we can bore and wriggle our +way through the soft, brown earth. We like our task of keeping the +earth right for the plants, and we will work and rest happily here." + +The Potato Bug went his way, and said to his brothers, "What do you +think? I have been talking with Earthworms who would not be Potato Bugs +if they could." And they all shook their heads in wonder, for they +thought that to be Potato Bugs was the grandest and happiest thing in +the world. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE MEASURING WORM'S JOKE + + +One day there crawled over the meadow fence a jolly young Measuring +Worm. He came from a bush by the roadside, and although he was still a +young Worm he had kept his eyes open and had a very good idea how things +go in this world. "Now," thought he, as he rested on the top rail of the +fence, "I shall meet some new friends. I do hope they will be pleasant. +I will look about me and see if anyone is in sight." So he raised his +head high in the air and, sure enough, there were seven Caterpillars of +different kinds on a tall clump of weeds near by. + +The Measuring Worm hurried over to where they were, and making his best +bow said: "I have just come from the roadside and think I shall live in +the meadow. May I feed with you?" + +The Caterpillars were all glad to have him, and he joined their party. +He asked many questions about the meadow, and the people who lived +there, and the best place to find food. The Caterpillars said, "Oh, the +meadow is a good place, and the people are nice enough, but they are not +at all fashionable--not at all." + +"Why," said the Measuring Worm, "if you have nice people and a pleasant +place in which to live, I don't see what more you need." + +"That is all very well," said a black and yellow Caterpillar, "but what +we want is fashionable society. The meadow people always do things in +the same way, and one gets so tired of that. Now can you not tell us +something different, something that Worms do in the great world from +which you come?" + +Just at this minute the Measuring Worm had a funny idea, and he wondered +if the Caterpillars would be foolish enough to copy him. He thought it +would be a good joke if they did, so he said very soberly, "I notice +that when you walk you keep your body quite close to the ground. I have +seen many Worms do the same thing, and it is all right if they wish to, +but none of my family ever do so. Did you notice how I walk?" + +"Yes, yes," cried the Caterpillars, "show us again." + +So the Measuring Worm walked back and forth for them, arching his body +as high as he could, and stopping every little while to raise his head +and look haughtily around. + +"What grace!" exclaimed the Caterpillars. "What grace, and what style!" +and one black and brown one tried to walk in the same way. + +The Measuring Worm wanted to laugh to see how awkward the black and +brown Caterpillar was, but he did not even smile, and soon every one of +the Caterpillars was trying the same thing, and saying "Look at me. +Don't I do well?" or, "How was that?" + +You can just imagine how those seven Caterpillars looked when trying to +walk like the Measuring Worm. Every few minutes one of them would tumble +over, and they all got warm and tired. At last they thought they had +learned it very well, and took a long rest, in which they planned to +take a long walk and show the other meadow people the fashion they had +received from the outside world. + +"We will walk in a line," they said, "as far as we can, and let them all +see us. Ah, it will be a great day for the meadow when we begin to set +the fashions!" + +The mischievous young Measuring Worm said not a word, and off they +started. The big black and yellow Caterpillar went first, the black and +brown one next, and so on down to the smallest one at the end of the +line, all arching their bodies as high as they could. All the meadow +people stared at them, calling each other to come and look, and whenever +the Caterpillars reached a place where there were many watching them, +they would all raise their heads and look around exactly as the +Measuring Worm had done. When they got back to their clump of bushes, +they had the most dreadful backaches, but they said to each other, +"Well, we have been fashionable for once." + +And, at the same time, out in the grass, the meadow people were saying, +"Did you ever see anything so ridiculous in your life?" All of which +goes to show how very silly people sometimes are when they think too +much of being fashionable. + + + + +[Illustration] + +A PUZZLED CICADA + + +Seventeen years is a long, long time to be getting ready to fly; yet +that is what the Seventeen-year Locusts, or Cicadas, have to expect. +First, they lie for a long time in eggs, down in the earth. Then, when +they awaken, and crawl out of their shells, they must grow strong enough +to dig before they can make their way out to where the beautiful green +grass is growing and waving in the wind. + +The Cicada who got so very much puzzled had not been long out of his +home in the warm, brown earth. He was the only Cicada anywhere around, +and it was very lonely for him. However, he did not mind that so much +when he was eating, or singing, or resting in the sunshine, and as he +was either eating, or singing, or resting in the sunshine most of the +time, he got along fairly well. + +Because he was young and healthy he grew fast. He grew so very fast that +after a while he began to feel heavy and stiff, and more like sitting +still than like crawling around. Beside all this, his skin got tight, +and you can imagine how uncomfortable it must be to have one's skin too +tight. He was sitting on the branch of a bush one day, thinking about +the wonderful great world, when--pop!--his skin had cracked open right +down the middle of his back! The poor Cicada was badly frightened at +first, but then it seemed so good and roomy that he took a deep breath, +and--pop!--the crack was longer still! + +The Cicada found that he had another whole skin under the outside one +which had cracked, so he thought, "How much cooler and more comfortable +I shall be if I crawl out of this broken covering," and out he crawled. + +It wasn't very easy work, because he didn't have anybody to help him. He +had to hook the claws of his outer skin into the bark of the branch, +hook them in so hard that they couldn't pull out, and then he began to +wriggle out of the back of his own skin. It was exceedingly hard work, +and the hardest of all was the pulling his legs out of their cases. He +was so tired when he got free that he could hardly think, and his new +skin was so soft and tender that he felt limp and queer. He found that +he had wings of a pretty green, the same color as his legs. He knew +these wings must have been growing under his old skin, and he stretched +them slowly out to see how big they were. This was in the morning, and +after he had stretched his wings he went to sleep for a long time. + +When he awakened, the sun was in the western sky, and he tried to think +who he was. He looked at himself, and instead of being green he was a +dull brown and black. Then he saw his old skin clinging to the branch +and staring him in the face. It was just the same shape as when he was +in it, and he thought for a minute that he was dreaming. He rubbed his +head hard with his front legs to make sure he was awake, and then he +began to wonder which one he was. Sometimes he thought that the old skin +which clung to the bush was the Cicada that had lain so long in the +ground, and sometimes he thought that the soft, fat, new-looking one +was the Cicada. Or were both of them the Cicada? If he were only one of +the two, what would he do with the other? + +While he was wondering about this in a sleepy way, an old Cicada from +across the river flew down beside him. He thought he would ask her, so +he waved his feelers as politely as he knew how, and said, "Excuse me, +Madam Cicada, for I am much puzzled. It took me seventeen years to grow +into a strong, crawling Cicada, and then in one day I separated. The +thinking, moving part of me is here, but the outside shell of me is +there on that branch. Now, which part is the real Cicada?" + +"Why, that is easy enough," said the Madam Cicada; "You are _you_, of +course. The part that you cast off and left clinging to the branch was +very useful once. It kept you warm on cold days and cool on warm days, +and you needed it while you were only a crawling creature. But when +your wings were ready to carry you off to a higher and happier life, +then the skin that had been a help was in your way, and you did right to +wriggle out of it. It is no longer useful to you. Leave it where it is +and fly off to enjoy your new life. You will never have trouble if you +remember that the thinking part is the real _you_." + +And then Madam Cicada and her new friend flew away to her home over the +river, and he saw many strange sights before he returned to the meadow. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE TREE FROG'S STORY + + +In all the meadow there was nobody who could tell such interesting +stories as the old Tree Frog. Even the Garter Snake, who had been there +the longest, and the old Cricket, who had lived in the farm-yard, could +tell no such exciting tales as the Tree Frog. All the wonderful things +of which he told had happened before he came to the meadow, and while he +was still a young Frog. None of his friends had known him then, but he +was an honest fellow, and they were sure that everything he told was +true: besides, they must be true, for how could a body ever think out +such remarkable tales from his own head? + +When he first came to his home by the elm tree he was very thin, and +looked as though he had been sick. The Katydids who stayed near said +that he croaked in his sleep, and that, you know, is not what well and +happy Frogs should do. + +One day when many of the meadow people were gathered around him, he told +them his story. "When I was a little fellow," he said, "I was strong and +well, and could leap farther than any other Frog of my size. I was +hatched in the pond beyond the farm-house, and ate my way from the egg +to the water outside like any other Frog. Perhaps I ought to say, 'like +any other Tadpole,' for, of course, I began life as a Tadpole. I played +and ate with my brothers and sisters, and little dreamed what trouble +was in store for me when I grew up. We were all in a hurry to be Frogs, +and often talked of what we would do and how far we would travel when we +were grown. + +"Oh, how happy we were then! I remember the day when my hind legs began +to grow, and how the other Tadpoles crowded around me in the water and +swam close to me to feel the two little bunches that were to be legs. My +fore legs did not grow until later, and these bunches came just in front +of my tail." + +"Your tail!" cried a puzzled young Cricket; "why, you haven't any tail!" + +"I did have when I was a Tadpole," said the Tree Frog. "I had a +beautiful, wiggly little tail with which to swim through the waters of +the pond; but as my legs grew larger and stronger, my tail grew littler +and weaker, until there wasn't any tail left. By the time my tail was +gone I had four good legs, and could breathe through both my nose and +my skin. The knobs on the ends of my toes were sticky, so that I could +climb a tree, and then I was ready to start on my travels. Some of the +other Frogs started with me, but they stopped along the way, and at last +I was alone. + +"I was a bold young fellow, and when I saw a great white thing among the +trees up yonder, I made up my mind to see what it was. There was a great +red thing in the yard beside it, but I liked the white one better. I +hopped along as fast as I could, for I did not then know enough to be +afraid. I got close up to them both, and saw strange, big creatures +going in and out of the red thing--the barn, as I afterward found it was +called. The largest creatures had four legs, and some of them had horns. +The smaller creatures had only two legs on which to walk, and two other +limbs of some sort with which they lifted and carried things. The +queerest thing about it was, that the smaller creatures seemed to make +the larger ones do whatever they wanted them to. They even made some of +them help do their work. You may not believe me, but what I tell you is +true. I saw two of the larger ones tied to a great load of dried grass +and pulling it into the barn. + +"As you may guess, I stayed there a long time, watching these strange +creatures work. Then I went over toward the white thing, and that, I +found out, was the farm-house. Here were more of the two-legged +creatures, but they were dressed differently from those in the barn. +There were some bright-colored flowers near the house, and I crawled in +among them. There I rested until sunset, and then began my evening song. +While I was singing, one of the people from the house came out and found +me. She picked me up and carried me inside. Oh, how frightened I was! My +heart thumped as though it would burst, and I tried my best to get away +from her. She didn't hurt me at all, but she would not let me go. + +"She put me in a very queer prison. At first, when she put me down on a +stone in some water, I did not know that I was in prison. I tried to hop +away, and--bump! went my head against something. Yet when I drew back, I +could see no wall there. I tried it again and again, and every time I +hurt my head. I tell you the truth, my friends, those walls were made of +something which one could see through." + +"Wonderful!" exclaimed all the meadow people; "wonderful, indeed!" + +"And at the top," continued the Tree Frog, "was something white over the +doorway into my prison. In the bottom were water and a stone, and from +the bottom to the top was a ladder. There I had to live for most of the +summer. I had enough to eat; but anybody who has been free cannot be +happy shut in. I watched my chance, and three times I got out when the +little door was not quite closed. Twice I was caught and put back. In +the pleasant weather, of course, I went to the top of the ladder, and +when it was going to rain I would go down again. Every time that I went +up or down, those dreadful creatures would put their faces up close to +my prison, and I could hear a roaring sound which meant they were +talking and laughing. + +"The last time I got out, I hid near the door of the house, and although +they hunted and hunted for me, they didn't find me. After they stopped +hunting, the wind blew the door open, and I hopped out." + +"You don't say!" exclaimed a Grasshopper. + +"Yes, I hopped out and scrambled away through the grass as fast as ever +I could. You people who have never been in prison cannot think how +happy I was. It seemed to me that just stretching my legs was enough to +make me wild with joy. Well, I came right here, and you were all kind to +me, but for a long time I could not sleep without dreaming that I was +back in prison, and I would croak in my sleep at the thought of it." + +"I heard you," cried the Katydid, "and I wondered what was the matter." + +"Matter enough," said the Tree Frog. "It makes my skin dry to think of +it now. And, friends, the best way I can ever repay your kindness to me, +is to tell you to never, never, never, never go near the farm-house." + +And they all answered, "We never will." + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE DAY WHEN THE GRASS WAS CUT. + + +There came a day when all the meadow people rushed back and forth, +waving their feelers and talking hurriedly to each other. The fat old +Cricket was nowhere to be seen. He said that one of his legs was lame +and he thought it best to stay quietly in his hole. The young Crickets +thought he was afraid. Perhaps he was, but he said that he was lame. + +All the insects who had holes crawled into them carrying food. Everybody +was anxious and fussy, and some people were even cross. It was all +because the farmer and his men had come into the meadow to cut the +grass. They began to work on the side nearest the road, but every step +which the Horses took brought the mower nearer to the people who lived +in the middle of the meadow or down toward the river. + +"I have seen this done before," said the Garter Snake. "I got away from +the big mower, and hid in the grass by the trees, or by the stumps where +the mower couldn't come. Then the men came and cut that grass with their +scythes, and I had to wriggle away over the short, sharp grass-stubble +to my hole. When they get near me this time, I shall go into my hole and +stay there." + +"They are not so bad after all," said the Tree Frog. "I like them better +out-of-doors than I did in the house. They saw me out here once and +didn't try to catch me." + +A Meadow Mouse came hurrying along. "I must get home to my babies," she +said. "They will be frightened if I am not there." + +"Much good you can do when you are there!" growled a voice down under +her feet. She was standing over the hole where the fat old Cricket was +with his lame leg. + +The mother Meadow Mouse looked rather angry for a minute, and then she +answered: "I'm not so very large and strong, but I can squeak and let +the Horses know where the nest is. Then they won't step on it. Last year +I had ten or twelve babies there, and one of the men picked them up and +looked at them and then put them back. I was so frightened that my fur +stood on end and I shook like June grass in the wind." + +"Humph! Too scared to run away," said the voice under her feet. + +"Mothers don't run away and leave their children in danger," answered +the Meadow Mouse. "I think it is a great deal braver to be brave when +you are afraid than it is to be brave when you're not afraid." She +whisked her long tail and scampered off through the grass. She did not +go the nearest way to her nest because she thought the Garter Snake +might be watching. She didn't wish him to know where she lived. She knew +he was fond of young Mice, and didn't want him to come to see her babies +while she was away. She said he was not a good friend for young +children. + +"We don't mind it at all," said the Mosquitoes from the lower part of +the meadow. "We are unusually hungry today anyway, and we shall enjoy +having the men come." + +"Nothing to make such a fuss over," said a Milkweed Butterfly. "Just +crawl into your holes or fly away." + +"Sometimes they step on the holes and close them," said an Ant. "What +would you do if you were in a hole and it stopped being a hole and was +just earth?" + +"Crawl out, I suppose," answered the Milkweed Butterfly with a careless +flutter. + +"Yes," said the Ant, "but I don't see what there would be to crawl out +through." + +The Milkweed Butterfly was already gone. Butterflies never worry about +anything very long, you know. + +"Has anybody seen the Measuring Worm?" asked the Katydid. "Where is he?" + +"Oh, I'm up a tree," answered a pleasant voice above their heads, "but I +sha'n't be up a tree very long. I shall come down when the grass is +cut." + +"Oh, dear, dear, dear!" cried the Ants, hurrying around. "We can't think +what we want to do. We don't know what we ought to do. We can't think +and we don't know, and we don't think that we ought to!" + +"Click!" said a Grasshopper, springing into the air. "We must hurry, +hurry, hurry!" He jumped from a stalk of pepper-grass to a plantain. +"We _must_ hurry," he said, and he jumped from the plantain back to the +pepper-grass. + +Up in the tree where the Measuring Worm was, some Katydids were sitting +on a branch and singing shrilly: "Did you ever? Did you ever? Ever? +Ever? Ever? Did you ever?" And this shows how much excited they were, +for they usually sang only at night. + +Then the mower came sweeping down the field, drawn by the Blind Horse +and the Dappled Gray, and guided by the farmer himself. The dust rose in +clouds as they passed, the Grasshoppers gave mighty springs which took +them out of the way, and all the singing and shrilling stopped until the +mower had passed. The nodding grasses swayed and fell as the sharp +knives slid over the ground. "We are going to be hay," they said, "and +live in the big barn." + +"Now we shall grow some more tender green blades," said the grass roots. + +"Fine weather for haying," snorted the Dappled Gray. "We'll cut all the +grass in this field before noon." + +"Good feeling ground to walk on," said the Blind Horse, tossing his head +until the harness jingled. + +Then the Horses and the farmer and the mower passed far away, and the +meadow people came together again. + +"Well," said the Tree Frog. "That's over for a while." + +The Ants and the Grasshoppers came back to their old places. "We did +just the right thing," they cried joyfully. "We got out of the way." + +The Measuring Worm and the Katydids came down from their tree as the +Milkweed Butterfly fluttered past. "The men left the grass standing +around the Meadow Mouse's nest," said the Milkweed Butterfly, "and the +Cows up by the barn are telling how glad they will be to have the hay +when the cold weather comes." + +"Grass must grow and hay be cut," said the wise old Tree Frog, "and when +the time comes we always know what to do. Puk-rup! Puk-r-r-rup!" + +"I think," said the fat old Cricket, as he crawled out of his hole, +"that my lame leg is well enough to use. There is nothing like rest for +a lame leg." + + + + +[Illustration] + +The GRASSHOPPER and the MEASURING WORM RUN a RACE + + +A few days after the Measuring Worm came to the meadow he met the +Grasshoppers. Everybody had heard of the Caterpillars' wish to be +fashionable, and some of the young Grasshoppers, who did not know that +it was all a joke, said they would like to teach the Measuring Worm a +few things. So when they met him the young Grasshoppers began to make +fun of him, and asked him what he did if he wanted to run, and whether +he didn't wish his head grew on the middle of his back so that he could +see better when walking. + +The Measuring Worm was good-natured, and only said that he found his +head useful where it was. Soon one fine-looking Grasshopper asked him to +race. "That will show," said the Grasshopper, "which is the better +traveller." + +The Measuring Worm said: "Certainly, I will race with you to-morrow, and +we will ask all our friends to look on." Then he began talking about +something else. He was a wise young fellow, as well as a jolly one, and +he knew the Grasshoppers felt sure that he would be beaten. "If I cannot +win the race by swift running," thought he, "I must try to win it by +good planning." So he got the Grasshoppers to go with him to a place +where the sweet young grass grew, and they all fed together. + +The Measuring Worm nibbled only a little here and there, but he talked a +great deal about the sweetness of the grass, and how they would not get +any more for a long time because the hot weather would spoil it. And the +Grasshoppers said to each other: "He is right, and we must eat all we +can while we have it." So they ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, until +sunset, and in the morning they awakened and began eating again. When +the time for the race came, they were all heavy and stupid from so much +eating,--which was exactly what the Measuring Worm wanted. + +The Tree Frog, the fat, old Cricket, and a Caterpillar were chosen to be +the judges, and the race was to be a long one,--from the edge of the +woods to the fence. When the meadow people were all gathered around to +see the race, the Cricket gave a shrill chirp, which meant "Go!" and off +they started. That is to say, the Measuring Worm started. The +Grasshopper felt so sure he could beat that he wanted to give the +Measuring Worm a little the start, because then, you see, he could say +he had won without half trying. + +The Measuring Worm started off at a good, steady rate, and when he had +gone a few feet the Grasshopper gave a couple of great leaps, which +landed him far ahead of the Worm. Then he stopped to nibble a blade of +grass and visit with some Katydids who were looking on. By and by he +took a few more leaps and passed the Measuring Worm again. This time he +began to show off by jumping up straight into the air, and when he came +down he would call out to those who stood near to see how strong he was +and how easy it would be for him to win the race. And everybody said, +"How strong he is, to be sure!" "What wonderful legs he has!" and "He +could beat the Measuring Worm with his eyes shut!" which made the +Grasshopper so exceedingly vain that he stopped more and more often to +show his strength and daring. + +That was the way it went, until they were only a short distance from the +end of the race course. The Grasshopper was more and more pleased to +think how easily he was winning, and stopped for a last time to nibble +grass and make fun of the Worm. He gave a great leap into the air, and +when he came down there was the Worm on the fence! All the meadow people +croaked, and shrilled, and chirped to see the way in which the race +ended, and the Grasshopper was very much vexed. "You shouldn't call him +the winner," he said; "I can travel ten times as fast as he, if I try." + +"Yes," answered the judges, "we all know that, yet the winning of the +race is not decided by what you might do, but by what you did do." And +the meadow people all cried: "Long live the Measuring Worm! Long live +the Measuring Worm!" + + + + +[Illustration] + +MR GREEN FROG AND HIS VISITORS + + +One day a young Frog who lived down by the river, came hopping up +through the meadow. He was a fine-looking fellow, all brown and green, +with a white vest, and he came to see the sights. The oldest Frog on the +river bank had told him that he ought to travel and learn to know the +world, so he had started at once. + +Young Mr. Green Frog had very big eyes, and they stuck out from his head +more than ever when he saw all the strange sights and heard all the +strange sounds of the meadow. Yet he made one great mistake, just as +bigger and better people sometimes do when they go on a journey; he +didn't try to learn from the things he saw, but only to show off to the +meadow people how much he already knew, and he boasted a great deal of +the fine way in which he lived when at home. + +Mr. Green Frog told those whom he met that the meadow was dreadfully +dry, and that he really could not see how they lived there. He said they +ought to see the lovely soft mud that there was in the marsh, and that +there the people could sit all day with their feet in water in among the +rushes where the sunshine never came. "And then," he said, "to eat grass +as the Grasshoppers did! If they would go home with him, he would show +them how to live." + +The older Grasshoppers and Crickets and Locusts only looked at each +other and opened their funny mouths in a smile, but the young ones +thought Mr. Green Frog must be right, and they wanted to go back with +him. The old Hoppers told them that they wouldn't like it down there, +and that they would be sorry that they had gone; still the young ones +teased and teased and teased and teased until everybody said: "Well, let +them go, and then perhaps they will be contented when they return." + +At last they all set off together,--Mr. Green Frog and the young meadow +people. Mr. Green Frog took little jumps all the way and bragged and +bragged. The Grasshoppers went in long leaps, the Crickets scampered +most of the way, and the Locusts fluttered. It was a very gay little +party, and they kept saying to each other, "What a fine time we shall +have!" + +When they got to the marsh, Mr. Green Frog went in first with a soft +"plunk" in the mud. The rest all followed and tried to make believe that +they liked it, but they didn't--they didn't at all. The Grasshoppers +kept bumping against the tough, hard rushes when they jumped, and then +that would tumble them over on their backs in the mud, and there they +would lie, kicking their legs in the air, until some friendly Cricket +pushed them over on their feet again. The Locusts couldn't fly at all +there, and the Crickets got their shiny black coats all grimy and +horrid. + +They all got cold and wet and tired--yes, and hungry too, for there were +no tender green things growing in among the rushes. Still they pretended +to have a good time, even while they were thinking how they would like +to be in their dear old home. + +After the sun went down in the west it grew colder still, and all the +Frogs in the marsh began to croak to the moon, croaking so loudly that +the tired little travellers could not sleep at all. When the Frogs +stopped croaking and went to sleep in the mud, one tired Cricket said: +"If you like this, _stay_. I am going home as fast as my six little legs +will carry me." And all the rest of the travellers said: "So am I," "So +am I," "So am I." + +Mr. Green Frog was sleeping soundly, and they crept away as quietly as +they could out into the silvery moonlight and up the bank towards home. +Such a tired little party as they were, and so hungry that they had to +stop and eat every little while. The dew was on the grass and they could +not get warm. + +The sun was just rising behind the eastern forest when they got home. +They did not want to tell about their trip at all, but just ate a lot +of pepper-grass to make them warm, and then rolled themselves in between +the woolly mullein leaves to rest all day long. And that was the last +time any of them ever went away with a stranger. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE DIGNIFIED WALKING-STICKS. + + +Three Walking-Sticks from the forest had come to live in the big maple +tree near the middle of the meadow. Nobody knew exactly why they had +left the forest, where all their sisters and cousins and aunts lived. +Perhaps they were not happy with their relatives. But then, if one is a +Walking-Stick, you know, one does not care so very much about one's +family. + +These Walking-Sticks had grown up the best way they could, with no +father or mother to care for them. They had never been taught to do +anything useful, or to think much about other people. When they were +hungry they ate some leaves, and never thought what they should eat the +next time that they happened to be hungry. When they were tired they +went to sleep, and when they had slept enough they awakened. They had +nothing to do but to eat and sleep, and they did not often take the +trouble to think. They felt that they were a little better than those +meadow people who rushed and scrambled and worked from morning until +night, and they showed very plainly how they felt. They said it was not +genteel to hurry, no matter what happened. + +One day the Tree Frog was under the tree when the large Brown +Walking-Stick decided to lay some eggs. He saw her dropping them +carelessly around on the ground, and asked, "Do you never fix a place +for your eggs?" + +"A place?" said the Brown Walking-Stick, waving her long and slender +feelers to and fro. "A place? Oh, no! I think they will hatch where they +are. It is too much trouble to find a place." + +"Puk-r-r-rup!" said the Tree Frog. "Some mothers do not think it too +much trouble to be careful where they lay eggs." + +"That may be," said the Brown Walking-Stick, "but they do not belong to +our family." She spoke as if those who did not belong to her family +might be good but could never be genteel. She had once told her brother, +the Five-Legged Walking-Stick, that she would not want to live if she +could not be genteel. She thought the meadow people very common. + +The Five-Legged Walking-Stick looked much like his sister. He had the +same long, slender body, the same long feelers, and the same sort of +long, slender legs. If you had passed them in a hay-field, you would +surely have thought each a stem of hay, unless you happened to see them +move. The other Walking-Stick, their friend, was younger and green. You +would have thought her a blade of grass. + +It is true that the brother had the same kind of legs as his sister, +but he did not have the same number. When he was young and green he had +six, then came a dreadful day when a hungry Nuthatch saw him, flew down, +caught him, and carried him up a tree. He knew just what to expect, so +when the Nuthatch set him down on the bark to look at him, he unhooked +his feet from the bark and tumbled to the ground. The Nuthatch tried to +catch him and broke off one of his legs, but she never found him again, +although she looked and looked and looked and looked. That was because +he crawled into a clump of ferns and kept very still. + +His sister came and looked at him and said, "Now if you were only a +Spider it would not be long before you would have six legs again." + +Her brother waved first one feeler and then the other, and said: "Do you +think I would be a Spider for the sake of growing legs? I would rather +be a Walking-Stick without any legs than to be a Spider with a +hundred." Of course, you know, Spiders never do have a hundred, and a +Walking-Stick wouldn't be walking without any, but that was just his way +of speaking, and it showed what kind of insect he was. His relatives all +waved their feelers, one at a time, and said, "Ah, he has the true +Walking-Stick spirit!" Then they paid no more attention to him, and +after a while he and his sister and their green little friend left the +forest for the meadow. + +On the day when the grass was cut, they had sat quietly in their trees +and looked genteel. Their feelers were held quite close together, and +they did not move their feet at all, only swayed their bodies gracefully +from side to side. Now they were on the ground, hunting through the flat +piles of cut grass for some fresh and juicy bits to eat. The Tree Frog +was also out, sitting in a cool, damp corner of the grass rows. The +young Grasshoppers were kicking up their feet, the Ants were scrambling +around as busy as ever, and life went on quite as though neither men nor +Horses had ever entered the meadow. + +"See!" cried a Spider who was busily looking after her web, "there comes +a Horse drawing something, and the farmer sitting on it and driving." + +When the Horse was well into the meadow, the farmer moved a bar, and the +queer-looking machine began to kick the grass this way and that with its +many stiff and shining legs. A frisky young Grasshopper kicked in the +same way, and happened--just happened, of course--to knock over two of +his friends. Then there was a great scrambling and the Crickets +frolicked with them. The young Walking-Stick thought it looked like +great fun and almost wished herself some other kind of insect, so that +she could tumble around in the same way. She did not quite wish it, you +understand, and would never have thought of it if she had turned brown. + +"Ah," said the Five-Legged Walking-Stick, "what scrambling! How very +common!" + +"Yes, indeed!" said his sister. "Why can't they learn to move slowly and +gracefully? Perhaps they can't help being fat, but they might at least +act genteel." + +"What is it to be genteel?" asked a Grasshopper suddenly. He had heard +every word that the Walking-Stick said. + +"Why," said the Five-Legged Walking-Stick, "it is just to be genteel. To +act as you see us act, and to----" + +Just here the hay-tedder passed over them, and every one of the +Walking-Sticks was sent flying through the air and landed on his back. +The Grasshoppers declare that the Walking-Sticks tumbled and kicked and +flopped around in a dreadfully common way until they were right side +up. "Why," said the Measuring Worm, "you act like anybody else when the +hay-tedder comes along!" + +The Walking-Sticks looked very uncomfortable, and the brother and sister +could not think of anything to say. It was the young green one who spoke +at last. "I think," said she, "that it is much easier to act genteel +when one is right side up." + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE DAY OF THE GREAT STORM + + +Everything in the meadow was dry and dusty. The leaves on the milkweeds +were turning yellow with thirst, the field blossoms drooped their dainty +heads in the sunshine, and the grass seemed to fairly rattle in the +wind, it was so brown and dry. + +All of the meadow people when they met each other would say, "Well, this +_is_ hot," and the Garter Snake, who had lived there longer than anyone +else, declared that it was the hottest and driest time that he had ever +known. "Really," he said, "it is so hot that I cannot eat, and such a +thing never happened before." + +The Grasshoppers and Locusts were very happy, for such weather was +exactly what they liked. They didn't see how people could complain of +such delightful scorching days. But that, you know, is always the way, +for everybody cannot be suited at once, and all kinds of weather are +needed to make a good year. + +The poor Tree Frog crawled into the coolest place he could find--hollow +trees, shady nooks under the ferns, or even beneath the corner of a +great stone. "Oh," said he, "I wish I were a Tadpole again, swimming in +a shady pool. It is such a long, hot journey to the marsh that I cannot +go. Last night I dreamed that I was a Tadpole, splashing in the water, +and it was hard to awaken and find myself only an uncomfortable old Tree +Frog." + +Over his head the Katydids were singing, "Lovely weather! Lovely +weather!" and the Tree Frog, who was a good-natured old fellow after +all, winked his eye at them and said: "Sing away. This won't last +always, and then it will be my turn to sing." + +Sure enough, the very next day a tiny cloud drifted across the sky, and +the Tree Frog, who always knew when the weather was about to change, +began his rain-song. "Pukr-r-rup!" sang he, "Pukr-r-rup! It will rain! +It will rain! R-r-r-rain!" + +The little white cloud, grew bigger and blacker, and another came +following after, then another, and another, and another, until the sky +was quite covered with rushing black clouds. Then came a long, low +rumble of thunder, and all the meadow people hurried to find shelter. +The Moths and Butterflies hung on the under sides of great leaves. The +Grasshoppers and their cousins crawled under burdock and mullein plants. +The Ants scurried around to find their own homes. The Bees and Wasps, +who had been gathering honey for their nests, flew swiftly back. +Everyone was hurrying to be ready for the shower, and above all the +rustle and stir could be heard the voice of the old Frog, "Pukr-r-rup! +Pukr-r-rup! It will rain! It will rain! R-r-r-rain!" + +The wind blew harder and harder, the branches swayed and tossed, the +leaves danced, and some even blew off of their mother trees; the +hundreds of little clinging creatures clung more and more tightly to the +leaves that sheltered them, and then the rain came, and such a rain! +Great drops hurrying down from the sky, crowding each other, beating +down the grass, flooding the homes of the Ants and Digger Wasps until +they were half choked with water, knocking over the Grasshoppers and +tumbling them about like leaves. The lightning flashed, and the thunder +pealed, and often a tree would crash down in the forest near by when the +wind blew a great blast. + +When everybody was wet, and little rivulets of water were trickling +through the grass and running into great puddles in the hollows, the +rain stopped, stopped suddenly. One by one the meadow people crawled or +swam into sight. + +The Digger Wasp was floating on a leaf in a big puddle. He was too tired +and wet to fly, and the whirling of the leaf made him feel sick and +dizzy, but he stood firmly on his tiny boat and tried to look as though +he enjoyed it. + +The Ants were rushing around to put their homes in shape, the Spiders +were busily eating their old webs, which had been broken and torn in the +storm, and some were already beginning new ones. A large family of Bees, +whose tree-home had been blown down, passed over the meadow in search +for a new dwelling, and everybody seemed busy and happy in the cool air +that followed the storm. + +The Snake went gliding through the wet grass, as hungry as ever, the +Tree Frog was as happy as when he was a Tadpole, and only the +Grasshoppers and their cousins, the Locusts and Katydids, were cross. +"Such a horrid rain!" they grumbled, "it spoiled all our fun. And after +such lovely hot weather too." + +"Now don't be silly," said the Tree Frog, who could be really severe +when he thought best, "the Bees and the Ants are not complaining, and +they had a good deal harder time than you. Can't you make the best of +anything? A nice, hungry, cross lot you would be if it didn't rain, +because then you would have no good, juicy food. It's better for you in +the end as it is, but even if it were not, you might make the best of it +as I did of the hot weather. When you have lived as long as I have, you +will know that neither Grasshoppers nor Tree Frogs can have their way +all the time, but that it always comes out all right in the end without +their fretting about it." + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE STORY OF LILY PAD ISLAND + + +This is the story of a venturesome young Spider, who left his home in +the meadow to seek his fortune in the great world. + +He was a beautiful Spider, and belonged to one of the best families in +the country around. He was a worker, too, for, as he had often said, +there wasn't a lazy leg on his body, and he could spin the biggest, +strongest, and shiniest web in the meadow. All the young people in the +meadow liked him, and he was invited to every party, or dance, or +picnic that they planned. If he had been content to stay at home, as his +brothers and sisters were, he would in time have become as important and +well known as the Tree Frog, or the fat, old Cricket, or even as the +Garter Snake. + +But that would not satisfy him at all, and one morning he said "Good-by" +to all his friends and relatives, and set sail for unknown lands. He set +sail, but not on water. He crawled up a tree, and out to the end of one +of its branches. There he began spinning a long silken rope, and letting +the wind blow it away from the tree. He held fast to one end, and when +the wind was quite strong, he let go of the branch and sailed off +through the air, carried by his rope balloon, and blown along by the +wind. + +The meadow people, on the ground below, watched him until he got so far +away that he looked about as large as a Fly, and then he looked no +bigger than an Ant, and then no bigger than a clover seed, and then no +bigger than the tiniest egg that was ever laid, and then--well, then you +could see nothing but sky, and the Spider was truly gone. The other +young Spiders all wished that they had gone, and the old Spiders said, +"They might much better stay at home, as their fathers and mothers had +done." There was no use talking about it when they disagreed so, and +very little more was said. + +Meanwhile, the young traveller was having a very fine time. He was +carried past trees and over fences, down toward the river. Under him +were all the bright flowers of the meadow, and the bushes which used to +tower above his head. After a while, he saw the rushes of the marsh +below him, and wondered if the Frogs there would see him as he passed +over them. + +Next, he saw a beautiful, shining river, and in the quiet water by the +shore were great white water-lilies growing, with their green leaves, +or pads, floating beside them. "Ah," thought he, "I shall pass over the +river, and land on the farther side," and he began to think of eating +his rope balloon, so that he might sink slowly to the ground, when--the +wind suddenly stopped blowing, and he began falling slowly down, down, +down, down. + +How he longed for a branch to cling to! How he shivered at the thought +of plunging into the cold water! How he wished that he had always stayed +at home! How he thought of all the naughty things that he had ever done, +and was sorry that he had done them! But it was of no use, for still he +went down, down, down. He gave up all hope and tried to be brave, and at +that very minute he felt himself alight on a great green lily-pad. + +This was indeed an adventure, and he was very joyful for a little while. +But he got hungry, and there was no food near. He walked all over the +leaf, Lily-Pad Island he named it, and ran around its edges as many as +forty times. It was just a flat, green island, and at one side was a +perfect white lily, which had grown, so pure and beautiful, out of the +darkness and slime of the river bottom. The lily was so near that he +jumped over to it. There he nestled in its sweet, yellow centre, and +went to sleep. + +When he fell asleep it was late in the afternoon, and, as the sun sank +lower and lower in the west, the lily began to close her petals and get +ready for the night. She was just drawing under the water when the +Spider awakened. It was dark and close, and he felt himself shut in and +going down. He scrambled and pushed, and got out just in time to give a +great leap and alight on Lily Pad-Island once more. And then he was in a +sad plight. He was hungry and cold, and night was coming on, and, what +was worst of all, in his great struggle to free himself from the lily +he had pulled off two of his legs, so he had only six left. + +He never liked to think of that night afterward, it was so dreadful. In +the morning he saw a leaf come floating down the stream; he watched it; +it touched Lily-Pad Island for just an instant and he jumped on. He did +not know where it would take him, but anything was better than staying +where he was and starving. It might float to the shore, or against one +of the rushes that grew in the shallower parts of the river. If it did +that, he would jump off and run up to the top and set sail again, but +the island, where he had been, was too low to give him a start. + +He went straight down-stream for a while, then the leaf drifted into a +little eddy, and whirled around and around, until the Spider was almost +too dizzy to stand on it. After that, it floated slowly, very slowly, +toward the shore, and at last came the joyful minute when the Spider +could jump to some of the plants that grew in the shallow water, and, by +making rope bridges from one to another, get on solid ground. + +After a few days' rest he started back to the meadow, asking his way of +every insect that he met. When he got home they did not know him, he was +so changed, but thought him only a tramp Spider, and not one of their +own people. His mother was the first one to find out who he was, and +when her friends said, "Just what I expected! He might have known +better," she hushed them, and answered: "The poor child has had a hard +time, and I won't scold him for going. He has learned that home is the +best place, and that home friends are the dearest. I shall keep him +quiet while his new legs are growing, and then, I think, he will spin +his webs near the old place." + +And so he did, and is now one of the steadiest of all the meadow +people. When anybody asks him his age, he refuses to tell, "For," he +says, "most of me is middle-aged, but these two new legs of mine are +still very young." + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE GRASSHOPPER WHO WOULDN'T BE SCARED. + + +There were more Ants in the meadow than there were of any other kind of +insects. In their family there were not only Ants, but great-aunts, +cousins, nephews, and nieces, until it made one sleepy to think how many +relatives each Ant had. Yet they were small people and never noisy, so +perhaps the Grasshoppers seemed to be the largest family there. + +There were many different families of Grasshoppers, but they were all +related. Some had short horns, or feelers, and red legs; and some had +long horns. Some lived in the lower part of the meadow where it was +damp, and some in the upper part. The Katydids, who really belong to +this family, you know, stayed in trees and did not often sing in the +daytime. Then there were the great Road Grasshoppers who lived only in +places where the ground was bare and dusty, and whom you could hardly +see unless they were flying. When they lay in the dust their wide wings +were hidden and they showed only that part of their bodies which was +dust-color. Let the farmer drive along, however, and they rose into the +air with a gentle, whirring sound and fluttered to a safe place. Then +one could see them plainly, for their large under wings were black with +yellow edges. + +Perhaps those Grasshoppers who were best known in the meadow were the +Clouded Grasshoppers, large dirty-brown ones with dark spots, who seemed +to be everywhere during the autumn. The fathers and brothers in this +family always crackled their wings loudly when they flew anywhere, so +one could never forget that they were around. + +It was queer that they were always spoken of as Grasshoppers. Their +great-great-great-grandparents were called Locusts, and that was the +family name, but the Cicadas liked that name and wanted it for +themselves, and made such a fuss about it that people began to call them +Seventeen-Year-Locusts; and then because they had to call the real +Locusts something else, they called them Grasshoppers. The Grasshoppers +didn't mind this. They were jolly and noisy, and as they grew older were +sometimes very pompous. And you know what it is to be pompous. + +When the farmer was drawing the last loads of hay to his barn and +putting them away in the great mows there, three young Clouded +Grasshopper brothers were frolicking near the wagon. They had tried to +see who could run the fastest, crackle the loudest, spring the highest, +flutter the farthest, and eat the most. There seemed to be nothing more +to do. They couldn't eat another mouthful, the other fellows wouldn't +play with them, they wouldn't play with their sisters, and they were not +having any fun at all. + +They were sitting on a hay-cock, watching the wagon as it came nearer +and nearer. The farmer was on top and one of his men was walking beside +it. Whenever they came to a hay-cock the farmer would stop the Horses, +the man would run a long-handled, shining pitch-fork into the hay on the +ground and throw it up to the farmer. Then it would be trampled down on +to the load, the farmer's wife would rake up the scattering hay which +was left on the ground, and that would be thrown up also. + +The biggest Clouded Grasshopper said to his brothers, "You dare not sit +still while they put this hay on the load!" + +The smallest Clouded Grasshopper said, "I do too!" + +The second brother said, "Huh! Guess I dare do anything you do!" He said +it in a rather mean way, and that may have been because he had eaten too +much. Overeating will make any insect cross. + +Now every one of them was afraid, but each waited for the others to back +out. While they were waiting, the wagon stopped beside them, the shining +fork was run into the hay, and they were shaken and stood on their heads +and lifted through the air on to the wagon. There they found themselves +all tangled up with hay in the middle of the load. It was dark and they +could hardly breathe. There were a few stems of nettles in the hay, and +they had to crawl away from them. It was no fun at all, and they didn't +talk very much. + +When the wagon reached the barn, they were pitched into the mow with +the hay, and then they hopped and fluttered around until they were on +the floor over the Horses' stalls. They sat together on the floor and +wondered how they could ever get back to the meadow. Because they had +come in the middle of the load, they did not know the way. + +"Oh!" said they. "Who are those four-legged people over there?" + +"Kittens!" sang a Swallow over their heads. "Oh, tittle-ittle-ittle-ee!" + +The Clouded Grasshoppers had never seen Kittens. It is true that the old +Cat often went hunting in the meadow, but that was at night, when +Grasshoppers were asleep. + +"Meouw!" said the Yellow Kitten. "Look at those queer little brown +people on the floor. Let's each catch one." + +So the Kittens began crawling slowly over the floor, keeping their +bodies and tails low, and taking very short steps. Not one of them took +his eyes off the Clouded Grasshopper whom he meant to catch. Sometimes +they stopped and crouched and watched, then they went on, nearer, +nearer, nearer, still, while the Clouded Grasshoppers were more and more +scared and wished they had never left the meadow where they had been so +safe and happy. + +At last the Kittens jumped, coming down with their sharp little claws +just where the Clouded Grasshoppers--had been. The Clouded Grasshoppers +had jumped too, but they could not stay long in the air, and when they +came down the Kittens jumped again. So it went until the poor Clouded +Grasshoppers were very, very tired and could not jump half so far as +they had done at first. Sometimes the Kittens even tried to catch them +while they were fluttering, and each time they came a little nearer than +before. They were so tired that they never thought of leaping up on the +wall of the barn where the Kittens couldn't reach them. + +At last the smallest Clouded Grasshopper called to his brothers, "Let us +chase the Kittens." + +The brothers answered, "They're too big." + +The smallest Clouded Grasshopper, who had always been the brightest one +in the family, called back, "We may scare them if they are big." + +Then all the Clouded Grasshoppers leaped toward the Kittens and crackled +their wings and looked very, very fierce. And the Kittens ran away as +fast as they could. They were in such a hurry to get away that the +Yellow Kitten tumbled over the White Kitten and they rolled on the floor +in a furry little heap. The Clouded Grasshoppers leaped again, and the +Kittens scrambled away to their nest in the hay, and stood against the +wall and raised their backs and their pointed little tails, and opened +their pink mouths and spat at them, and said, "Ha-ah-h-h!" + +"There!" said the smallest Clouded Grasshopper to them, "we won't do +anything to you this time, because you are young and don't know very +much, but don't you ever bother one of us again. We might have hopped +right on to you, and then what could you have done to help yourselves?" + +The Clouded Grasshoppers started off to find their way back to the +meadow, and the frightened Kittens looked at each other and whispered: +"Just supposing they had hopped on to us! What _could_ we have done!" + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE EARTHWORM HALF-BROTHERS + + +Early one wet morning, a long Earthworm came out of his burrow. He did +not really leave it, but he dragged most of his body out, and let just +the tip-end of it stay in the earth. Not having any eyes, he could not +see the heavy, gray clouds that filled the sky, nor the milkweed stalks, +so heavy with rain-drops that they drooped their pink heads. He could +not see these things, but he could feel the soft, damp grass, and the +cool, clear air, and as for seeing, why, Earthworms never do have eyes, +and never think of wanting them, any more than you would want six legs, +or feelers on your head. + +This Earthworm had been out of his burrow only a little while, when +there was a flutter and a rush, and Something flew down from the sky and +bit his poor body in two. Oh, how it hurt! Both halves of him wriggled +and twisted with pain, and there is no telling what might have become of +them if another and bigger Something had not come rushing down to drive +the first Something away. So there the poor Earthworm lay, in two +aching, wriggling pieces, and although it had been easy enough to bite +him in two, nothing in the world could ever bite him into one. + +After a while the aching stopped, and he had time to think. It was very +hard to decide what he ought to do. You can see just how puzzling it +must have been, for, if you should suddenly find yourself two people +instead of one, you would not know which one was which. At this very +minute, who should come along but the Cicada, and one of the Earthworm +pieces asked his advice. The Cicada thought that he was the very person +to advise in such a case, because he had had such a puzzling time +himself. So he said in a very knowing way: "Pooh! That is a simple +matter. I thought I was two Cicadas once, but I wasn't. The thinking, +moving part is the real one, whatever happens, so that part of the Worm +which thinks and moves is the real Worm." + +"I am the thinking part," cried each of the pieces. + +The Cicada rubbed his head with his front legs, he was so surprised. + +"And I am the moving part," cried each of the pieces, giving a little +wriggle to prove it. + +"Well, well, well, well!" exclaimed the Cicada, "I believe I don't know +how to settle this. I will call the Garter Snake," and he flew off to +get him. + +A very queer couple they made, the Garter Snake and the Cicada, as they +came hurrying back from the Snake's home. The Garter Snake was quite +excited. "Such a thing has not happened in our meadow for a long time," +he said, "and it is a good thing there is somebody here to explain it to +you, or you would be dreadfully frightened. My family is related to the +Worms, and I know. Both of you pieces are Worms now. The bitten ends +will soon be well, and you can keep house side by side, if you don't +want to live together." + +"Well," said the Earthworms, "if we are no longer the same Worm, but two +Worms, are we related to each other? Are we brothers, or what?" + +"Why," answered the Garter Snake, with a funny little smile, "I think +you might call yourselves half-brothers." And to this day they are known +as "the Earthworm half-brothers." They are very fond of each other and +are always seen together. + +A jolly young Grasshopper, who is a great eater and thinks rather too +much about food, said he wouldn't mind being bitten into two +Grasshoppers, if it would give him two stomachs and let him eat twice as +much. + +The Cicada told the Garter Snake this one day, and the Garter Snake +said: "Tell him not to try it. The Earthworms are the only meadow people +who can live after being bitten in two that way. The rest of us have to +be one, or nothing. And as for having two stomachs, he is just as well +off with one, for if he had two, he would get twice as hungry." + + + + +[Illustration] + +A GOSSIPING FLY + + +Of all the people who lived and worked in the meadow by the river, there +was not one who gave so much thought to other people's business as a +certain Blue-bottle Fly. Why this should be so, nobody could say; +perhaps it was because he had nothing to do but eat and sleep, for that +is often the way with those who do little work. + +Truly his cares were light. To be sure, he ate much, but then, with +nearly sixty teeth for nibbling and a wonderful long tongue for sucking, +he could eat a great deal in a very short time. And as for +sleeping--well, sleeping was as easy for him as for anyone else. + +However it was, he saw nearly everything that happened, and thought it +over in his queer little three-cornered head until he was sure that he +ought to go to talk about it with somebody else. It was no wonder that +he saw so much, for he had a great bunch of eyes on each side of his +head, and three bright, shining ones on the very top of it. That let him +see almost everything at once, and beside this his neck was so +exceedingly slender that he could turn his head very far around. + +This particular Fly, like all other Flies, was very fond of the sunshine +and kept closely at home in dark or wet weather. He had no house, but +stayed in a certain elder bush on cloudy days and called that his home. +He had spent all of one stormy day there, hanging on the under side of a +leaf, with nothing to do but think. Of course, his head was down and his +feet were up, but Blue-bottle Flies think in that position as well as +in any other, and the two sticky pads on each side of his six feet held +him there very comfortably. + +He thought so much that day, that when the next morning dawned sunshiny +and clear, he had any number of things to tell people, and he started +out at once. + +First he went to the Tree Frog. "What do you suppose," said he, "that +the Garter Snake is saying about you? It is very absurd, yet I feel that +you ought to know. He says that your tongue is fastened at the wrong +end, and that the tip of it points down your throat. Of course, I knew +it couldn't be true, still I thought I would tell you what he said, and +then you could see him and put a stop to it." + +For an answer to this the Tree Frog ran out his tongue, and, sure +enough, it was fastened at the front end. "The Snake is quite right," he +said pleasantly, "and my tongue suits me perfectly. It is just what I +need for the kind of food I eat, and the best of all is that it never +makes mischief between friends." + +After that, the Fly could say nothing more there, so he flew away in his +noisiest manner to find the Grasshopper who lost the race. "It was a +shame," said the Fly to him, "that the judges did not give the race to +you. The idea of that little green Measuring Worm coming in here, almost +a stranger, and making so much trouble! I would have him driven out of +the meadow, if I were you." + +"Oh, that is all right," answered the Grasshopper, who was really a good +fellow at heart; "I was very foolish about that race for a time, but the +Measuring Worm and I are firm friends now. Are we not?" And he turned to +a leaf just back of him, and there, peeping around the edge, was the +Measuring Worm himself. + +The Blue-bottle Fly left in a hurry, for where people were so +good-natured he could do nothing at all. He went this time to the +Crickets, whom he found all together by the fat, old Cricket's hole. + +"I came," he said, "to find out if it were true, as the meadow people +say, that you were all dreadfully frightened when the Cow came?" + +The Crickets answered never a word, but they looked at each other and +began asking him questions. + +"Is it true," said one, "that you do nothing but eat and sleep?" + +"Is it true," said another, "that your eyes are used most of the time +for seeing other people's faults?" + +"And is it true," said another, "that with all the fuss you make, you do +little but mischief?" + +The Blue-bottle Fly answered nothing, but started at once for his home +in the elder bush, and they say that his three-cornered head was filled +with very different thoughts from any that had been there before. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE FROG-HOPPERS GO OUT INTO THE WORLD. + + +Along the upper edge of the meadow and in the corners of the rail fence +there grew golden-rod. During the spring and early summer you could +hardly tell that it was there, unless you walked close to it and saw the +slender and graceful stalks pushing upward through the tall grass and +pointing in many different ways with their dainty leaves. The Horses and +Cows knew it, and although they might eat all around it they never +pulled at it with their lips or ate it. In the autumn, each stalk was +crowned with sprays of tiny bright yellow blossoms, which nodded in the +wind and scattered their golden pollen all around. Then it sometimes +happened that people who were driving past would stop, climb over the +fence, and pluck some of it to carry away. Even then there was so much +left that one could hardly miss the stalks that were gone. + +It may have been because the golden-rod was such a safe home that most +of the Frog-Hoppers laid their eggs there. Some laid eggs in other +plants and bushes, but most of them chose the golden-rod. After they had +laid their eggs they wandered around on the grass, the bushes, and the +few trees which grew in the meadow, hopping from one place to another +and eating a little here and a little there. + +Nobody knows why they should have been called Frog-Hoppers, unless it +was because when you look them in the face they seem a very little like +tiny Frogs. To be sure, they have six legs, and teeth on the front pair, +as no real Frog ever thought of having. Perhaps it was only a nickname +because their own name was so long and hard to speak. + +The golden-rod was beginning to show small yellow-green buds on the tips +of its stalks, and the little Frog-Hoppers were now old enough to talk +and wonder about the great world. On one stalk four Frog-Hopper brothers +and sisters lived close together. That was much pleasanter than having +to grow up all alone, as most young Frog-Hoppers do, never seeing their +fathers and mothers or knowing whether they ever would. + +These four little Frog-Hoppers did not know how lucky they were, and +that, you know, happens very often when people have not seen others +lonely or unhappy. They supposed that every Frog-Hopper family had two +brothers and two sisters living together on a golden-rod stalk. They fed +on the juice or sap of the golden-rod, pumping it out of the stalk with +their stout little beaks and eating or drinking it. After they had eaten +it, they made white foam out of it, and this foam was all around them on +the stalk. Any one passing by could tell at once by the foam just where +the Frog-Hoppers lived. + +One morning the oldest Frog-Hopper brother thought that the sap pumped +very hard. It may be that it did pump hard, and it may be that he was +tired or lazy. Anyway, he began to grumble and find fault. "This is the +worst stalk of golden-rod I ever saw in my life," he said. "It doesn't +pay to try to pump any more sap, and I just won't try, so there!" + +He was quite right in saying that it was the worst stalk he had ever +seen, because he had never seen any other, but he was much mistaken in +saying that it didn't pay to pump sap, and as for saying that "it didn't +pay, so there!" we all know that when insects begin to talk in that way +the best thing to do is to leave them quite alone until they are +better-natured. + +The other Frog-Hopper children couldn't leave him alone, because they +hadn't changed their skins for the last time. They had to stay in their +foam until that was done. After the big brother spoke in this way, they +all began to wonder if the sap didn't pump hard. Before long the big +sister wiggled impatiently and said, "My beak is dreadfully tired." + +Then they all stopped eating and began to talk. They called their home +stuffy, and said there wasn't room to turn around in it without hitting +the foam. They didn't say why they should mind hitting the foam. It was +soft and clean, and always opened up a way when they pushed against it. + +"I tell you what!" said the big brother, "after I've changed my skin +once more and gone out into the great world, you won't catch me hanging +around this old golden-rod." + +"Nor me!" "Nor me!" "Nor me!" said the other young Frog-Hoppers. + +"I wonder what the world is like," said the little sister. "Is it just +bigger foam and bigger golden-rod and more Frog-Hoppers?" + +"Huh!" exclaimed her big brother. "What lots you know! If I didn't know +any more than that about it, I'd keep still and not tell anybody." That +made her feel badly, and she didn't speak again for a long time. + +Then the little brother spoke. "I didn't know you had ever been out into +the world," he said. + +"No," said the big brother, "I suppose you didn't. There are lots of +things you don't know." That made him feel badly, and he went off into +the farthest corner of the foam and stuck his head in between a +golden-rod leaf and the stalk. You see the big brother was very cross. +Indeed, he was exceedingly cross. + +For a long time nobody spoke, and then the big sister said, "I wish you +would tell us what the world is like." + +The big brother knew no more about the world than the other children, +but after he had been cross and put on airs he didn't like to tell the +truth. He might have known that he would be found out, yet he held up +his head and answered: "I don't suppose that I can tell you so that you +will understand, because you have never seen it. There are lots of +things there--whole lots of them--and it is very big. Some of the things +are like golden-rod and some of them are not. Some of them are not even +like foam. And there are a great many people there. They all have six +legs, but they are not so clever as we are. We shall have to tell them +things." + +This was very interesting and made the little sister forget to pout and +the little brother come out of his foam-corner. He even looked as +though he might ask a few questions, so the big brother added, "Now +don't talk to me, for I must think about something." + +It was not long after this that the young Frog-Hoppers changed their +skins for the last time. The outside part of the foam hardened and made +a little roof over them while they did this. Then they were ready to go +out into the meadow. The big brother felt rather uncomfortable, and it +was not his new skin which made him so. It was remembering what he had +said about the world outside. + +When they had left their foam and their golden-rod, they had much to see +and ask about. Every little while one of the smaller Frog-Hoppers would +exclaim, "Why, you never told us about this!" or, "Why didn't you tell +us about that?" + +Then the big brother would answer: "Yes, I did. That is one of the +things which I said were not like either golden-rod or foam." + +For a while they met only Crickets, Ants, Grasshoppers, and other +six-legged people, and although they looked at each other they did not +have much to say. At last they hopped near to the Tree Frog, who was +sitting by the mossy trunk of a beech tree and looked so much like the +bark that they did not notice him at first. The big brother was very +near the Tree Frog's head. + +"Oh, see!" cried the others. "There is somebody with only four legs, and +he doesn't look as though he ever had any more. Why, Brother, what does +this mean? You said everybody had six." + +At this moment the Tree Frog opened his eyes a little and his mouth a +great deal, and shot out his quick tongue. When he shut his mouth again, +the big brother of the Frog-Hoppers was nowhere to be seen. They never +had a chance to ask him that question again. If they had but known it, +the Tree Frog at that minute had ten legs, for six and four are ten. But +then, they couldn't know it, for six were on the inside. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE MOSQUITO TRIES TO TEACH HIS NEIGHBORS + + +In this meadow, as in every other meadow since the world began, there +were some people who were always tired of the way things were, and +thought that, if the world were only different, they would be perfectly +happy. One of these discontented ones was a certain Mosquito, a fellow +with a whining voice and disagreeable manners. He had very little +patience with people who were not like him, and thought that the world +would be a much pleasanter place if all the insects had been made +Mosquitoes. + +"What is the use of Spiders, and Dragon-flies, and Beetles, and +Butterflies?" he would say, fretfully; "a Mosquito is worth more than +any of them." + +You can just see how unreasonable he was. Of course, Mosquitoes and +Flies do help keep the air pure and sweet, but that is no reason why +they should set themselves up above the other insects. Do not the Bees +carry pollen from one flower to another, and so help the plants raise +their Seed Babies? And who would not miss the bright, happy Butterflies, +with their work of making the world beautiful? + +But this Mosquito never thought of those things, and he said to himself: +"Well, if they cannot all be Mosquitoes, they can at least try to live +like them, and I think I will call them together and talk it over." So +he sent word all around, and his friends and neighbors gathered to hear +what he had to say. + +"In the first place," he remarked, "it is unfortunate that you are not +Mosquitoes, but, since you are not, one must make the best of it. There +are some things, however, which you might learn from us fortunate +creatures who are. For instance, notice the excellent habit of the +Mosquitoes in the matter of laying eggs. Three or four hundred of the +eggs are fastened together and left floating on a pond in such a way +that, when the babies break their shells, they go head first into the +water. Then they----" + +"Do you think I would do that if I could?" interrupted a motherly old +Grasshopper. "Fix it so my children would drown the minute they came out +of the egg? No, indeed!" and she hurried angrily away, followed by +several other loving mothers. + +"But they don't drown," exclaimed the Mosquito, in surprise. + +"They don't if they're Mosquitoes," replied the Ant, "but I am thankful +to say my children are land babies and not water babies." + +"Well, I won't say anything more about that, but I must speak of your +voices, which are certainly too heavy and loud to be pleasant. I should +think you might speak and sing more softly, even if you have no pockets +under your wings like mine. I flutter my wings, and the air strikes +these pockets and makes my sweet voice." + +"Humph!" exclaimed a Bee, "it is a very poor place for pockets, and a +very poor use to make of them. Every Bee knows that pockets are handiest +on the hind legs, and should be used for carrying pollen to the babies +at home." + +"My pocket is behind," said a Spider, "and my web silk is kept there. I +couldn't live without a pocket." + +Some of the meadow people were getting angry, so the Garter Snake, who +would always rather laugh than quarrel, glided forward and said: "My +friends and neighbors; our speaker here has been so kind as to tell us +how the Mosquitoes do a great many things, and to try to teach us their +way. It seems to me that we might repay some of his kindness by showing +him our ways, and seeing that he learns by practice. I would ask the +Spiders to take him with them and show him how to spin a web. Then the +Bees could teach him how to build comb, and the Tree Frog how to croak, +and the Earthworms how to burrow, and the Caterpillars how to spin a +cocoon. Each of us will do something for him. Perhaps the Measuring Worm +will teach him to walk as the Worms of his family do. I understand he +does that very well." Here everybody laughed, remembering the joke +played on the Caterpillars, and the Snake stopped speaking. + +The Mosquito did not dare refuse to be taught, and so he was taken from +one place to another, and told exactly how to do everything that he +could not possibly do, until he felt so very meek and humble that he was +willing the meadow people should be busy and happy in their own way. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE FROG WHO THOUGHT HERSELF SICK + + +By the edge of the marsh lived a young Frog, who thought a great deal +about herself and much less about other people. Not that it was wrong to +think so much of herself, but it certainly was unfortunate that she +should have so little time left in which to think of others and of the +beautiful world. + +Early in the morning this Frog would awaken and lean far over the edge +of a pool to see how she looked after her night's rest. Then she would +give a spring, and come down with a splash in the cool water for her +morning bath. For a while she would swim as fast as her dainty webbed +feet would push her, then she would rest, sitting in the soft mud with +just her head above the water. + +When her bath was taken, she had her breakfast, and that was the way in +which she began her day. She did nothing but bathe and eat and rest, +from sunrise to sunset. She had a fine, strong body, and had never an +ache or a pain, but one day she got to thinking, "What if sometime I +should be sick?" And then, because she thought about nothing but her own +self, she was soon saying, "I am afraid I shall be sick." In a little +while longer it was, "I certainly am sick." + +She crawled under a big toadstool, and sat there looking very glum +indeed, until a Cicada came along. She told the Cicada how sick she +felt, and he told his cousins, the Locusts, and they told their cousins, +the Grasshoppers, and they told their cousins, the Katydids, and then +everybody told somebody else, and started for the toadstool where the +young Frog sat. The more she had thought of it, the worse she felt, +until, by the time the meadow people came crowding around, she was +feeling very sick indeed. + +"Where do you feel badly?" they cried, and, "How long have you been +sick?" and one Cricket stared with big eyes, and said, "How +dr-r-readfully she looks!" The young Frog felt weaker and weaker, and +answered in a faint little voice that she had felt perfectly well until +after breakfast, but that now she was quite sure her skin was getting +dry, and "Oh dear!" and "Oh dear!" + +Now everybody knows that Frogs breathe through their skins as well as +through their noses, and for a Frog's skin to get dry is very serious, +for then he cannot breathe through it; so, as soon as she said that, +everybody was frightened and wanted to do something for her at once. +Some of the timid ones began to weep, and the others bustled around, +getting in each other's way and all trying to do something different. +One wanted to wrap her in mullein leaves, another wanted her to nibble a +bit of the peppermint which grew near, a third thought she should be +kept moving, and that was the way it went. + +Just when everybody was at his wits' end, the old Tree Frog came along. +"Pukr-r-rup! What is the matter with you?" he said. + +"Oh!" gasped the young Frog, weakly, "I am sure my skin is getting dry, +and I feel as though I had something in my head." + +"Umph!" grunted the Tree Frog to himself, "I guess there isn't enough in +her head to ever make her sick; and, as for her skin, it isn't dry yet, +and nobody knows that it ever will be." + +But as he was a wise old fellow and had learned much about life, he knew +he must not say such things aloud. What he did say was, "I heard there +was to be a great race in the pool this morning." + +The young Frog lifted her head quite quickly, saying: "You did? Who are +the racers?" + +"Why, all the young Frogs who live around here. It is too bad that you +cannot go." + +"I don't believe it would hurt me any," she said. + +"You might take cold," the Tree Frog said; "besides, the exercise would +tire you." + +"Oh, but I am feeling much better," the young Frog said, "and I am +certain it will do me good." + +"You ought not to go," insisted all the older meadow people. "You really +ought not." + +"I don't care," she answered, "I am going anyway, and I am just as well +as anybody." + +And she did go, and it did seem that she was as strong as ever. The +people all wondered at it, but the Tree Frog winked his eyes at them and +said, "I knew that it would cure her." And then he, and the Garter +Snake, and the fat, old Cricket laughed together, and all the younger +meadow people wondered at what they were laughing. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE KATYDIDS' QUARREL + + +The warm summer days were past, and the Katydids came again to the +meadow. Everybody was glad to see them, and the Grasshoppers, who are +cousins of the Katydids, gave a party in their honor. + +Such a time as the meadow people had getting ready for that party! They +did not have to change their dresses, but they scraped and cleaned +themselves, and all the young Grasshoppers went off by the woods to +practise jumping and get their knees well limbered, because there might +be games and dancing at the party, and then how dreadful it would be if +any young Grasshopper should find that two or three of his legs wouldn't +bend easily! + +The Grasshoppers did not know at just what time they ought to have the +party. Some of the meadow people whom they wanted to invite were used to +sleeping all day, and some were used to sleeping all night, so it really +was hard to find an hour at which all would be wide-awake and ready for +fun. At last the Tree Frog said: "Pukr-r-rup! Pukr-r-rup! Have it at +sunset!" And at sunset it was. + +Everyone came on time, and they hopped and chattered and danced and ate +a party supper of tender green leaves. Some of the little Grasshoppers +grew sleepy and crawled among the plantains for a nap. Just then a big +Katydid said he would sing a song--which was a very kind thing for him +to do, because he really did it to make the others happy, and not to +show what a fine musician he was. All the guests said, "How charming!" +or, "We should be delighted!" and he seated himself on a low swinging +branch. You know Katydids sing with the covers of their wings, and so +when he alighted on the branch he smoothed down his pale green suit and +rubbed his wing-cases a little to make sure that they were in tune. Then +he began loud and clear, "Katy did! Katy did!! Katy did!!!" + +Of course he didn't mean any real Katy, but was just singing his song. +However, there was another Katydid there who had a habit of +contradicting, and he had eaten too much supper, and that made him feel +crosser than ever; so when the singer said "Katy did!" this cross fellow +jumped up and said, "Katy didn't! Katy didn't!! Katy didn't!!!" and they +kept at it, one saying that she did and the other that she didn't, +until everybody was ashamed and uncomfortable, and some of the little +Grasshoppers awakened and wanted to know what was the matter. + +Both of the singers got more and more vexed until at last neither one +knew just what he was saying--and that, you know, is what almost always +happens when people grow angry. They just kept saying something as loud +and fast as possible and thought all the while that they were very +bright--which was all they knew about it. + +Suddenly somebody noticed that the one who began to say "Katy did!" was +screaming "Katy didn't!" and the one who had said "Katy didn't!" was +roaring "Katy did!" Then they all laughed, and the two on the branch +looked at each other in a very shamefaced way. + +The Tree Frog always knew the right thing to do, and he said +"Pukr-r-rup!" so loudly that all stopped talking at once. When they +were quiet he said: "We will now listen to a duet, 'Katy,' by the two +singers who are up the tree. All please join in the chorus." So it was +begun again, and both the leaders were good-natured, and all the +Katydids below joined in with "did or didn't, did or didn't, did or +didn't." And that was the end of the quarrel. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE LAST PARTY OF THE SEASON + + +Summer had been a joyful time in the meadow. It had been a busy time, +too, and from morning till night the chirping and humming of the happy +people there had mingled with the rustle of the leaves, and the soft +"swish, swish," of the tall grass, as the wind passed over it. + +True, there had been a few quarrels, and some unpleasant things to +remember, but these little people were wise enough to throw away all +the sad memories and keep only the glad ones. And now the summer was +over. The leaves of the forest trees were turning from green to scarlet, +orange, and brown. The beech and hickory nuts were only waiting for a +friendly frost to open their outer shells, and loosen their stems, so +that they could fall to the earth. + +The wind was cold now, and the meadow people knew that the time had come +to get ready for winter. One chilly Caterpillar said to another, +"Boo-oo! How cold it is! I must find a place for my cocoon. Suppose we +sleep side by side this winter, swinging on the same bush?" + +And his friend replied: "We must hurry then, or we shall be too old and +stiff to spin good ones." + +The Garter Snake felt sleepy all the time, and declared that in a few +days he would doze off until spring. + +The Tree Frog had chosen his winter home already, and the Bees were +making the most of their time in visiting the last fall flowers, and +gathering every bit of honey they could find for their cold-weather +stock. + +The last eggs had been laid, and the food had been placed beside many of +them for the babies that would hatch out in the spring. Nothing was left +but to say "Good-by," and fall asleep. So a message was sent around the +meadow for all to come to a farewell party under the elm tree. + +Everybody came, and all who could sing did so, and the Crickets and +Mosquitoes made music for the rest to dance by. + +The Tree Frog led off with a black and yellow Spider, the Garter Snake +followed with a Potato Bug, and all the other crawling people joined in +the dance on the grass, while over their heads the Butterflies and other +light-winged ones fluttered to and fro with airy grace. + +The Snail and the fat, old Cricket had meant to look on, and really did +so, for a time, from a warm corner by the tree, but the Cricket couldn't +stand it to not join in the fun. First, his eyes gleamed, his feelers +waved, and his feet kept time to the music, and, when a frisky young Ant +beckoned to him, he gave a great leap and danced with the rest, +balancing, jumping, and circling around in a most surprising way. + +When it grew dark, the Fireflies' lights shone like tiny stars, and the +dancing went on until all were tired and ready to sing together the last +song of the summer, for on the morrow they would go to rest. And this +was their song: + + The autumn leaves lying + So thick on the ground, + The summer Birds flying + The meadow around, + Say, "Good-by." + + The Seed Babies dropping + Down out of our sight, + The Dragon-flies stopping + A moment in flight, + Say, "Good-by." + + The red Squirrels bearing + Their nuts to the tree, + The wild Rabbits caring + For babies so wee, + Say, "Good-by." + + The sunbeams now showing + Are hazy and pale, + The warm breezes blowing + Have changed to a gale, + So, "Good-by." + + The season for working + Is passing away. + Both playing and shirking + Are ended to day, + So, "Good-by." + + The Garter Snake creeping + So softly to rest, + The fuzzy Worms sleeping + Within their warm nest, + Say, "Good-by." + + The Honey Bees crawling + Around the full comb, + The tiny Ants calling + Each one to the home, + Say, "Good-by." + + We've ended our singing, + Our dancing, and play, + And Nature's voice ringing + Now tells us to say + Our "Good-by." + + + + +THE END. + + + + +"_Many a mother and teacher will accord a vote of thanks to the +author._" + +[Illustration] + + + +Among the Meadow People. + + STORIES OF FIELD LIFE, WRITTEN FOR THE LITTLE ONES. + By CLARA D. PIERSON. + + Illustrated by F. C. GORDON. + New Edition, 12mo, 194 pages, cloth, gilt top, $1.25 + + "One of the daintiest and in many ways most attractive of the + many books of nature study which the past year has brought + forth."--_Boston Advertiser._ + + "They are like Mrs. Gatty's well-known 'Parables from Nature,' + written in the best of English, as fascinating as fairy tales, + and yet 'really true,' a quality which we all know appeals to + the childish mind."--_N. Y. Evangelist._ + + "We have seen nothing better for its purpose, and hope many a + teacher of kindergartens and many a mother may avail herself of + the privilege of using these little tales."--_N. Y. Christian + Advocate._ + + "It will be a great advance in the work of education in the + school and the home when such books are more generally + utilized."--_Zion's Herald._ + + "These charming stories of field life will delight many a child + of kindergarten age; and it is safe to say that older brothers + and sisters will also want to claim a share in + them."--_Christian Register._ + + + +Among the Forest People + + By CLARA D. PIERSON + + Illustrated by F. C. GORDON + 12mo, 220 pages, cloth, gilt top $1.25 + + "A thoroughly charming book for the little people, which grown + folks can read, also, with many a satisfied chuckle at its slily + insinuated 'morals,' and inimitable mingling of human sentiments + and affairs in the wild life of 'the Forest People.' The + illustrations have really artistic value; thoroughly well done, + with a pleasing combination of the conventional in form and + light and shade, they are also clever and accurate in + drawing."--_Living Church._ + + "A most charming series of stories for children--yes, and for + children of all ages, both young and old--is given us in the + volume before us. No one can read these realistic conversations + of the little creatures of the wood without being most tenderly + drawn toward them, and each story teaches many entertaining + facts regarding the lives and habits of these little people. + Mothers and teachers must welcome this book most cordially. One + cannot speak too strongly in praise of it."--_Boston + Transcript._ + + "I declare I really feel tempted to adopt or borrow a nice + little girl of six or seven, just for the pleasure of reading + this perfect book to her while she snuggles down in my + lap."--KATE SANBORN. + + "The telling is conceived with decided originality."--_Outlook._ + + "There has not been such a book for many a year, and it makes + the old folks long to be young again."--_N. Y. Observer._ + + "Is an utterly delightful book for the little folk."--_Interior._ + + + +Among the Farmyard People + + By CLARA D. PIERSON + + Illustrated by F. C. GORDON + 12mo, 256 pages, cloth, gilt top, $1.25 + + "The very pretty stories of animal life, 'Among the Forest + People,' and 'Among the Meadow People,' are continued in Clara + D. Pierson's 'Among the Farmyard People.' To those who know the + earlier volumes, this needs no introduction or praise. To those + who may still have that pleasure in store, we can commend + heartily these tenderly realistic conversations, which show a + sympathetic knowledge at once of animals and of children, who + will be amused and taught and edified by these dainty little + tales that never obtrude the always healthy moral of this + genuine Child's Book of Nature."--_Churchman._ + + "They will be found valuable for use by mothers and kindergarten + teachers. The beautiful illustrations furnished by F. C. Gordon + are distinctively instructive. Altogether the book is one of the + most desirable works that can be found to train the child's + imagination, affection, and powers of observation."--_Boston + Beacon._ + + "We heartily recommend the book for its thoroughly healthy tone, + far better adapted to a sweet and simple childhood than much of + the rather stimulating juvenile literature of the day."--_N. Y. + Commercial Advertiser._ + + "A helpful book for young readers, teaching first lessons in + natural history, and inculcating principles of love for + animals."--_Philadelphia Evening Telegram._ + + "A charming and pretty book for young children. It will help + them to observe, and it will also help them to think. Nearly + every story ends with something unsaid, which the nursery people + are to think out for themselves."--_Church Standard._ + + + +Among the Pond People + + By CLARA D. PIERSON + + With 12 full-page illustrations by F. C. GORDON + 12mo, 222 pages, cloth, gilt top $1.25 + + This last book of Mrs. Pierson's has all the charm of the + earlier volumes. The adventures of Mother Eel, the Playful + Muskrat, the Snappy Snapping Turtle, and the other Pond People, + will be eagerly followed by children, whether they are + naturalists or ordinary readers. The fact that one does not + continually feel that she is writing for the purpose of + instructing the young, gives Mrs. Pierson her hold on so many + boys and girls. The books teach a great many lessons, but one + does not feel that the author is lying in wait to enlighten the + unwary youngster. + + "In it, as in the old Greek comedies, the frogs have a voice and + speak their little orations and crack their jokes and play their + pranks. The 'science' is elementary but the entertainment + genuine, and the little people to whom it is read will ever + cherish a kindly interest in the denizens of the ponds and their + floral homes and environments."--_Interior._ + + "One lays down the book with quickened sympathy for everything + that crawls and creeps and swims."--_Critic._ + + "The Pond People are quite as real and as fascinating as were + the Meadow People and the Barnyard People of previous books. + They are genuine stories, full of a humor that will appeal to + boys and girls, yet cleverly conveying information about the + frogs, turtles, minnows, etc., and often suggesting a moral in a + delicate manner which no child could + resent."--_Congregationalist._ + + "In its way the work is very daintily done."--_Churchman._ + + + + Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price + + E. P. DUTTON & CO., Publishers + 31 West 23d Street New York + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Among the Meadow People, by +Clara Dillingham Pierson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMONG THE MEADOW PEOPLE *** + +***** This file should be named 34943-8.txt or 34943-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/4/34943/ + +Produced by Heather Clark and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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