MINOR MUD AND WATER FOLK. 127 



frogs, it was decreed that they should pass through 

 the polliwog state ? That would have been too 

 cruel, to condemn mortals, who had been used to 

 having feet and using them to escape from dan- 

 gers, to a footless condition wherein they would be 

 comparatively helpless. I am sure a tadpole must 

 feel proud of his first pair of feet, albeit they 

 are his hind ones. 



Strings of eggs are toad's ; round eggs are 

 frog's, say the books. I remember finding here, 

 one March, a long string of double black dots 

 enclosed in yellow jelly, and taking it home I had 

 the pleasure of seeing the dots lengthen till the 

 polliwogs' tails stood out of the mass in all di- 

 rections. And finally the whole polliwogs would 

 slip out and sink down through the water in a 

 half -alive way, as though they really did not 

 know whether they were glad to be in the world 

 or not. They gather courage after a time, how- 

 ever, and conclude that it is a fine world, after 

 all, and it is a blissful thing to waddle in it. 



I found here two boys inspecting a can of 

 theirs one afternoon. They were seated on a 

 bank, and their can contained a collection of little 

 frogs, etc. 



" What do you do with them ? " I queried. 



" Have fights and see which side whips," ex- 

 plained one youngster. 



And forthwith, aided by his companion, he 

 made clear to my comprehension the joyful man- 

 ner in which the fight was to be conducted. 



