MY TOADS. 149 



to distinguish between the harmless and hurtful beings, 

 and, by watching their interesting habits, to feel a sym- 

 pathy with their fellow creatures, and to appreciate too 

 keenly the infinite value of life to kill any living thing 

 without just cause. 



We were never afraid of black-beetles, daddy long- 

 legs, or any of the insect tribe, except the few that wore 

 stings ; while the frogs and toads were our special pets, 

 lived in magnificent edifices made of bricks and flower- 

 pots, and each had its own name. Long before we read 

 about them in books, we knew all about their absorp- 

 tion of water through the skin, their sudden cry of fear 

 when alarmed, the equally sudden change of colour, and 

 the curious fact that a frog which lived in a dark hole 

 was always brown, and one that lived in the open air 

 was yellow ; while as to the venomous nature of the 

 toads, as energetically detailed by our nursery maids, 

 we treated the notion with supreme contempt, and 

 handled a toad as imconcerned as if it had been a ball. I 

 am sure that many persons — young ladies especially — 

 who cannot rid themselves of real terrors at the sight of 

 many a harmless and useful creature, would have been 

 much happier if their early lives had been spent in a 

 garden such as has been described. 



Having always felt an interest in these ungainly 

 but truly useful batra«hians, I begged from a friend a 

 fine pair of Natterjack toads that had just been sent 

 from Jersey, and placed them in a glass fern-case. 



Their first proceeding was to establish hiding-places. 



