A JUNE DAY CHAT 



rel baby, Madame Jolie-Queue made her appear- 

 ance at the brush-heap with a second infant, the 

 little fellow who has just disappeared in the old 

 stump. As a youngster he was even more un- 

 steady on his feet and more uncertain in his 

 movements than was the earlier debutant. 

 Whether the three days of grace were granted 

 him in consideration of his evident delicacy of 

 constitution, or whether, according to squirrel 

 nursery tactics, babies are launched singly, I can- 

 not say. Perhaps Madame Jolie-Queue con- 

 nected the kidnapping of Number One with her 

 energetic training, and concluded to modify her 

 bringing-up principles in behalf of the second 

 child. At any rate, at the close of the first day 

 he was able to follow her up to the nest, and I 

 have never seen him in quite so desperate a con- 

 dition as was his brother on the evening of the 

 rescue. 



Yet Baby, as we term the second offspring, has 

 had his days of severe disciplining, of falling from 

 the tree-tops and other heights, and of coming in 

 audible contact w T ith substances even less sympa- 

 thetic than mother earth. More than once the 

 alarm has gone out that Madame Jolie-Queue 

 had killed her child, and I have several times 



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