The little husband stands in some awe of his portly spouse 



Tales of the Toad 



IN olden days the toad was looked upon as a venomous 

 and loathly thing ; it was thought to spit a deadly 

 poison, and to be the image of spite and hate. Yet it 

 was good luck if a toad crossed the path of a wedding 

 party. Good St. Patrick spared the toads when he 

 drummed the snakes and other vermin out of Ireland ; 

 and if you wore a toad you carried a charm against 

 poisons and plagues. 



In old days it would be thought very strange if any 

 ladies made a pet of so vile and noxious a creature. 

 But the toad is a delightful pet, and not nearly so 

 poisonous as he was thought to be of old, though the 

 dog that tries to worry him is soon sent packing away 

 with a nasty taste in his mouth. Really the toad is 

 very harmless. 



We know also that the toad does a great deal of good 

 in the world, even if he does have a little poison con- 

 cealed about him. 



He devours enormous quantities of insects far more 

 H 



