CHAPTER I 



LIFE IN POND AND STREAM 



IF you have read " Water Babies " (and I 

 hope you have), you will remember when the 

 poor little sweep's boy, Tom, ran away from 

 his cruel master he came at last to .a bubbling 

 brook. And there he slipped out of his old 

 black skin, tumbled himself into the brook, 

 and sank down, down in the clear, cool 

 water, and turned into a Water Baby only 

 four inches long. Under the water Tom lived 

 for many a day, learning how to behave him- 

 self ; and he had the most wonderful adven- 

 tures, and met with all sorts of surprising 

 creatures, as he wandered along in the streams 

 and the river on his way down to the 

 sea. 



Now the best part of this story is, that all 

 those strange creatures do really live under 

 the water ; and if you could follow Tom's 

 example and turn into a Water Baby four 

 inches long, you would meet just exactly the 



