18 THE STBIKE AT SHANE'S. 



in Dobbin, and attended the meeting in full force. It 

 was held under the old oak tree down in the pasture 

 beside the brook. The gathering was rather a surprise 

 to Dobbin, for he had not expected so many. He had 

 given notice that all the useful animals and fowls of 

 the farm should be present, and as the result all the 

 horses, cattle, sheep and swine were there, and all the 

 chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese had sent representa- 

 tives. Towser, the dog, and puss, the cat, were there 

 in person. All the birds of the forest had sent repre- 

 sentatives, and there were also representatives from 

 the snakes and toads. 



It was with some apprehension that Dobbin took 

 charge of this great gathering, as it was the first time 

 he had ever attempted to preside over a public meeting, 

 and he would have found himself alflicted with a trem- 

 bling of the knees if his knees had not been too stiff 

 to tremble. More than that, he was doubtful if all the 

 representatives present were entitled to seats in the 

 convention ; but he concluded to take the matter in his 

 own hands without appointing a committee on creden- 

 tials—probably owing to the fact that he never heard of 

 such a committee. He concluded to take the most 

 difficult problem under consideration first, and called 

 on the snakes and toads to state their claims to sit in 

 the convention. 



''We are not animals," said one of the toads, 

 " neither are we fowls ; but we do claim to be useful. 

 We destroy many noxious insects that would injure the 

 crops grown on the farm. In fact, we live entirely on 



