BERT'S TADPOLE SCHEME. 



"Hello there, Harry ! Uncle George 

 has come and we're going for a tramp. 

 Don't you want to go with us?" called 

 Bert Andway as he caught sight of his 

 friend cleaning his wheel. 



"Indeed ! I guess I do. Just wait a 

 minute while I get these things out of 

 the way and some of this black off my 

 hands and I'll be ready," replied Harry. 



Uncle George was a great favorite 

 with boys ; having never forgotten his 

 own boyhood days he always made them 

 feel that their interests were his own. 

 Soon the trio were making their way 

 over the fields and it was a fine tramp 

 they took through the woods and down 

 the river- road, but the most interesting 

 part came when they were on the way 

 home. They were nearing the little red 

 school-house on the winding-road when 

 they came in sight of a pond. 



"Hello!" exclaimed Uncle George, as 

 he first saw it. "Perhaps we shall find 

 something of interest here. Yes," he 

 added, as they reached the wafer's edge, 

 "the pond is just alive with tadpoles. 

 Have you boys ever thought much about 

 these little polliwogs?" 



The boys exchanged knowing looks, 

 then Harry said, "We don't give much 

 for tadpoles this year." 



"How's that? What could the little 

 tadp>oles have done to have won your dis- 

 favor?" asked Uncle George in an inter- 

 ested tone. 



There was a moment's siPence on the 

 part of the boys, while Uncle George 

 whistled 



"A frog he would a-wooing go." 



Then Bert said, "Let's tell him all 

 about it, Harry. He won't laugh as the 

 other fellows would if they knew." And 

 soon Uncle George had the whole storv. 



The summer before the boys had seen 

 a sign, "Frpgs' Legs." in a market 

 over town and had learned that they 

 could get forty cents a dozen for them. 

 Then Bert had a scheme for money-mak- 

 ing. He reasoned it out in this way. 

 Frogs were hard to catch. Tadpoles 



were easy enough to get. They could 

 catch them by the dozens, then when they 

 had grown, how the money would pour 

 in! 



Harry became his partner. They spent 

 many hours in fixing a tank in Bert's 

 yard, where the little tadpoles were to be 

 put ; then they had made several trips 

 to the pond with their nets and had found 

 no trouble in getting all the tadpoles they 

 wanted. But, alas, they had refused to 

 live in the fine quarters the boys had 

 worked so hard to fix, and in a few 

 days they were all dead. 



Ll^ncle George listened sympathetically 

 to the story. He was sorry for the boys 

 and wanted to make them see why they 

 had failed. 



"What did you feed your tadpoles?" 

 he asked. 



"Feed them !" exclaimed both boys in 

 dismay, "We thought they just lived in 

 water."" 



They were sitting by the edge of the 

 jx)nd and Uncle George leaned over and 

 caught one of the little wrigglers. "I 

 am afraid your tadpoles must have been 

 pretty hungry," he said. "Just look at 

 this little fellow's jaws." 



"What horny looking things they are," 

 exclaimed Bert. 



"Why it looks 'most as if it had a 

 beak," said Harry. 



"That's just what it is," replied Uncle 

 George, and it is horny so that it can 

 crop water-weeds. Tadpoles live mostly 

 on vegetable food. When they get older 

 the beak falls oflf. Frogs eat insects in- 

 stead of leaves." 



"Do frogs have teeth?" asked Bert. 



"Yes, on the upper jaw. The tongue 

 is fastened to the front part of the lower 

 jaw. The forked part which is seen when 

 the frog protrudes his tongue is the hind- 

 er part. It is a fine thing with which 

 to seize insects ; it is also covered with 

 a sticky fluid, which h-^' '.> them fast." 



"What a cur'- •■ .renture a tadpole 

 is," said P'". i - ^ '"g the one his Uncle 

 still hLid, although he was careful to hold 



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