A JOURNEY TO NATURE 



&quot; If we succeed in outdoing that cub,&quot; I re 

 marked, &quot; I should not be surprised to see the 

 little lady take that blue ribbon off her hat and 

 pin it on your coat, Sir Launcelot.&quot; 



&quot; The little fraud,&quot; replied the Doctor, &quot; do 

 you see how she is trying to stimulate us with 

 baby smiles? They get out of their cradles ready- 

 made, and I m not punning either.&quot; 



We stopped to argue, and the boy beat us. In 

 a contest of brains and juvenile brawn, brains will 



eet the worst of it when chestnutting. While the 



& 



Doctor was throwing one of his sarcasms around, 

 the cub filled his pail. 



&quot; Woman,&quot; said the Doctor, &quot; is always a hal 

 lucination. Even at six she sits on a throne 

 regally and reigns without governing.&quot; 



Then the boy, having accomplished his task, 

 proposed that one of us climb up and thrash the 

 tree, if we wanted to fill the other pail, and I 

 quite fell in with this humorous idea, for certainly 

 nothing could be more jolly than to see the Doc 

 tor in his spectacles clasping that tree with his 

 arms and legs while I &quot;boosted&quot; him up, and 

 the little maid clapping her hands, and the yellow 

 dog going round about like a clown round a circus 

 pole. 



But the Doctor paid no attention to the sug 

 gestion, and lifting the little brown maiden on his 

 shoulder, we started up the road, I carrying the 

 pail. 



212 



