WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 93 



the ermine of his breast, and watching my 

 movements with great intelligence. He has 

 a feline and genuine love for the beauties 

 of Nature, and will establish himself where 

 there is a good view, and look on it for 

 hours. He always accompanies us when we 

 go to gather the vegetables, seeming to be 

 desirous to know what we are to have for 

 dinner. He is a connoisseur in the garden ; 

 being fond of almost all the vegetables, ex- 

 cept the cucumber, a dietetic hint to man. 

 I believe it is also said that the pig will not 

 eat tobacco. These are important facts. It 

 is singular, however, that those who hold up 

 the pigs as models to us never hold us up as 

 models to the pigs. 



I wish I knew as much about natural his- 

 tory and the habits of animals as Calvin does. 

 He is the closest observer I ever saw ; and 

 there are few species of animals on the place 

 that he has not analyzed. I think that he 

 has, to use a euphemism very applicable to 

 him, got outside of every one of them, ex- 

 cept ihe toad. To the toad he is entirely 



