more; and presently our squirrel found 

 that they had fastened a cruel bur in the 

 beautiful hair of his large bushy tail. 

 Now a squirrel's tail is his pride and 

 delight, and when ou-r Bunny found the 

 hair of his tail was tangled and matted 

 instead of floating out upon the wind 

 like a long graceful plume, he was very 

 angry, as he had good reason to be; 

 besides his pride being hurt, the hooked 

 prongs of the bur irritated his tender 

 skin. So he hied himself home as fast 

 as he could and spent all the rest of the 

 day trying to get the bur out of his beau 

 tiful bushy tail. But the longer he tried 

 the more the hair became entangled. At 

 length as the shades of evening began 

 to glide among the trees, our little friend 

 ceased his efforts, and scampered 

 through the boughs of his old beech 

 tree. "Chick-a-ree" he said with an at 

 tempt at making the best of things; and 

 really his "Chick-a-ree I" this time, if 

 freely translated, meant, "What can't 

 be cured must be endured!" and he ran 

 to one of his cupboards in an old hollow 

 stump for a supper of beechnuts. 



From his tea-table on the stump he 

 suddenly spied Ella Galpin the squir 

 rel's friend. "Chick-a-ree-ree-ree\" he 

 called; and this time he meant, "Hello! 

 I'm glad to see you !" and when he spied 

 grains of popcorn in her hand, he left 

 his tea-table and his cupboard with 

 beechnuts in it, glad to exchange nuts 

 with their shells oh, for popcorn that was 



ready in hand. As he ate the corn, he 

 frisked less than usual, only stopping 

 occasionally to chatter his "chick-a-ree- 

 ree-ree !" and this time he must have 

 been saying; "This is kind of you! I 

 am very hungry and I am really too 

 weary to prepare my own supper. I 

 have had serious trouble over in Bur- 

 docktown. You have no idea how irri 

 tating is this bur in my tail !" 



The young lady appeared to under 

 stand. At all events, she saw the bur 

 and at once attempted to relieve him. 

 But as her fingers took hold of the bur 

 and the squirrel felt that his tail was 

 touched, with a shrill "chick-a-ree !" he 

 bounded away. As you must know, 

 squirrels are particularly sensitive about 

 ever having their beautiful tails touched, 

 and as he stood again on his old hollow 

 stump and "chick-a^ree-ed" loudly, it 

 was plain he was saying; "How dared 

 you to take such a liberty !" 



In his excitement, he frisked his tail 

 as he chattered, and lo! the wind 

 combed it out and it floated up over 

 his back like a beautiful airy plume once 

 more, for the bur was gone. The young 

 girl's fingers had held it firm as Bun 

 leaped away. Happy in his discovered 

 relief, he quickly scampered back to her 

 hand and in his excitement he chick-a- 

 reed faster than ever. It was as ear- 

 splitting as if a dozen squirrels were all 

 saying "Thank you!" at once. 



MRS. A. S. HARDY. 



A FINER SENSE 



The poet sees with different eyes from ours: 

 He sees a hidden glory in the flowers ; 

 He hears the stars chanting a song sublime ; 

 The ocean waves to him are pulsing rhyme; 

 The wind in rhythmic measures fleets along; 

 Each ray of sunshine pours for him a song; 

 The forests breathe a harmony divine; 

 Each wilding herb of melody gives sign ; 

 Thus, hearing, seeing; all fair things unite 

 In tribute to the poet's finer sight. 



M. D. TOLMAN. 



85 



