178 MAKING THE ROOM NEAT. 



fact. No doubt the business for which Nature 

 fitted him, and which in freedom he would fol- 

 low with enthusiasm, is the planting of trees ; 

 to his industry we probably owe many an oak 

 and nut tree springing up in odd places. In 

 captivity, poor soul, he does the best he can to 

 fulfill his destiny. When he has more of any 

 special dainty than he can eat at the moment, 

 as meat, or bread and milk, he hides it at the 

 back of his tray, or in the hole already spoken 

 of in connection with the corks ; and when out- 

 side, nothing can be droller than the air of con- 

 cern with which he goes around the floor, pick- 

 ing up any small thing he finds, left purposely 

 for him, a burnt match, a small key, stray pins, 

 or a marble, and seeks the very best and most 

 secluded spot in the room in which to hide it. 

 A pin he takes lengthwise in his mouth, which 

 he closes as though he had swallowed it, as at 

 first I feared he had. He has no doubt about 

 the best place for that ; he long ago decided 

 that between the leaves of a book is safest. So 

 he proceeds at once to find a convenient volume, 

 and thrusts the pin far in out of sight. A 

 match gives him the most trouble. He tries 

 the cracks under the grooves in the moulding of 

 the doors, the base board, between the matting 

 and the wall, or under a rocker ; in each place 

 he puts it carefully, and pounds it in, then hops 

 off, giving me one of the 



