Mamma and Papa Thelia and Baby Thelia 



A Funny Family 



William D. Funkhauser 



Principal of Cascadilla School, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Mr. and Mrs. Thelia and their interesting family live on the 

 thorny branches of a locust tree. 



Mr. Thelia wears a gay yellow and brown striped waistcoat and a 

 funny pointed cap rests jauntily upon his head. His eyes are like 

 little black beads that look roguishly out from beneath his strange 

 head-gear. 



Mrs. Thelia, who is more sober than her lively partner, dresses 

 in Quaker gray. She too wears a pointed cap although it is not 

 so graceful as that of her dashing husband. 



The Thelia children are dressed like their mother in dull gray 

 garments. They are clumsy little fellows who stick fast to the gray 

 bark of the tree and look as if they grew there. They seem to be 

 covered with little spines or warts and this, together with their 

 pointed tails, makes them look like tiny alligators. 



The Thelias like to live upon the locust tree because its sharp 

 thorns are just the size and color of their caps. This affords them 

 protection from their enemies who do not consider thorns at all 

 appetizing. 



When Mr. and Mrs. Thelia are absent from home they leave 

 their babies in the best of hands. Their nurse-maids are the great 

 black ants that live at the foot of the locust tree. These ants are 

 very devoted to their charges and never permit them to stray out 

 of their sight. 



Each baby has ever so many nurses all his own and it is very 

 amusing to see them stroking the little fellows with their long 



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