SHELDRAKE. 



sitting in charge of it near the kitchen fire. The first time she 

 did it she had lost her kittens, and may have done so in hopes 

 that the chicken might help to relieve her of her superfluity of 

 milk ; but, as she did the same thing another time, she must have 

 been actuated besides by the pure love of nursing. Greater 

 wonders than this have been narrated in old times. In Shake- 

 speare we read : 



" Some say that Ravens foster forlorn children." 



Titus Andronicus, Act ii., Scene 3. 



But no such instance has come under my own observation. 



157 



