Sketches From Oldest America 



The raven walked through the opening and found 

 himself in a much larger apartment, where there 

 was a great deal to excite his interest, but what 

 seemed the most curious thing of all was a great 

 red object that was thumping in regular order. 

 After standing and watching it for quite a while, 

 his curiosity became much aroused. He thought he 

 would feel it, just to see if it was hard or soft. 

 He commenced feeling with his bill and found it 

 was quite firm, but on trial discovered that it was 

 easy to nip off a small piece. The fragment tasted 

 very good, and as he had not breakfasted yet he 

 made up his mind to keep nipping off small pieces 

 until his hunger was appeased. The whale told its 

 friends that these colds in the nose were awful 

 things, for sometimes they struck through to the 

 heart. The raven declared he had never before had 

 such a good thing in all his life. Here was a nice 

 large room with plenty to excite his curiosity, 

 while there was no end of good things to eat. 



At the end of a week he found himself growing 

 quite fleshy, but the big red object was not beating 

 with the same regularity as at first. At last it 

 ceased, and the whale lay floating on the water, 

 dead. The whale s friends declared that their late 

 146 



