MY WOODLAND INTIMATES 



picked him up stunned and apparently irremedia- 

 bly flattened out; but he has survived all the ac- 

 cidents that have befallen him in the course of 

 this Spartan training and has graduated from the 

 Jolie-Queue school, somewhat battered in appear- 

 ance, it is true, but with the lovely, chastened 

 disposition which is the usual compensating por- 

 tion of those who know how to turn to best ad- 

 vantage a residence with a shrew. 



You observe that Rufus does not figure in the 

 account of the nursery campaign; yet he used to 

 appear now and then ; but I always saw him on 

 a housetop corner! A post which, during this 

 stormy period, he seemed infinitely to prefer to 

 the comfortable dwelling which sheltered the 

 contentious Madame Jolie-Queue. 



Perhaps the hardest lesson the baby had to 

 learn was the art of turning around on a branch, 

 or any other elevated and insecure perch. Many 

 a time, when he was creeping safely and cautious- 

 ly along a swaying bough, he would lose his bal- 

 ance and topple to the ground at the sudden or- 

 der, " Right about face." 



Early in the course of the training the mother 

 led the little one to the bathing-dishes and taught 

 him how to drink. His first efforts were not 



[206] 



