8 THE HOME OF A NATURALIST. 



Naturalist along with other young medicals. Beside 

 that gruesome relic lay a petrified stone from Mount 

 Sinai. In a corner by itself lay a score of tiny shoes 

 — the wee worn-out things which his little ones had 

 shed. Some of the small feet which had pushed 

 through the leather were lying still enough, after a 

 brief time of restless trotting up and down ; and the 

 father hoarded these memorials of feet that were not 

 meant to walk this earth. 



Somewhere in the mysterious space in the roof was 

 stored for some years a collection of stuffed animals, 

 the gifts of well-known naturalists. These creatures 

 were periodically put out on the lawn to air ; and a 

 queer sensation they produced there. The domestic 

 animals took flight, all except the dogs, which showed 

 fight at first ; but soon learned that the fierce, wild 

 beasts had long since ceased to claw. Unfortunately, 

 the small house, crowded with children and other 

 live dependents, had but sorry accommodation for the 

 stuffed beasts, which in course of time began to 

 look mangy to a degrea At last, some wise person 

 suggested that the collection was decidedly "bad for 

 people," and a bonfire was made of it. Armadillo, 

 sloth, tiger, bear, and bison, surmounted by a boa- 

 constrictor — whose internal arrangement of arsenical 

 soaped stuffing had been leaking all about the place 

 for months — made a grand pyre, round which the 

 dogs and bairns bounced delightedly. 



One especial book over which the children pored 

 until the pictures became as familiar to their eyes as 



