TOADS, BATS AND OWLS 



The world is so full of friendly helpers that we have 

 only to look about us with wide-open eyes and loving 

 hearts to find a friend in almost everything God has 

 created. Suppose we listen to a story of what some 

 of these little creatures, those that we are apt to 

 think unattractive and disagreeable, do to help the 

 world and so to help us. 



You know the common toad, — the funny, fat 

 hop-toad that hops clumsily along the sidewalk at 

 night, or just sits in your garden and blinks his eyes. 

 He seems to do nothing but blink his eyes at you and 

 breathe with long breaths that make his throat puff 

 out as if he had swallowed too large a mouthful. He 

 seems so fat and lazy ! But he is not lazy, and if he is 

 fat it is only because he is taking such good care of 

 your garden. For he eats the little insects that are 

 bent upon eating your flowers. Did you know that 

 during those summer nights when you were sleeping 

 the toad was helping you? He lives in the garden 

 during the daytime, but you seldom see him because 

 he hides himself in a hole. He makes this hole in the 

 oddest way, kicking backwards with his hind legs 

 and burrowing with his body as he goes. At dusk he 

 comes out of his hiding place and sits down near the 

 edge of the garden waiting for some insect to come by. 

 That is the way of the spider, also. She vsits and 



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