134 



A MOVING XUESEEY. 



would do ; she would only shake her long ears now and then, as if 

 she would say, " I hear you, but I don't heed." 



Sometimes we used to ride on her back, and then, if an obstinate 

 fit came over her, she would do something worse than to shake her 

 ears. She would go up to the first wall or fence she saw, and 

 coolly rub us against it till we tumbled off oh the ground. Then 

 she would give a little snort of triumph, turn round, and trot quietly 

 off to the stable. Wasn't that a pretty trick? 



A MOVING NURSERY. 



Now who is this stout lady? And what is this stout lady 

 doing? And what is the matter with her back? 



This is Mrs. Toad, of Surinam (her first name is Pipa), and she 

 is taking her family out for a walk. I ought to say, for a hop, for 

 Mrs. Toad does not walk, but hops, after the manner of all toads. 

 In most of her manners, however, she flatters herself she does not 

 in the least resemble other toads. In fact she regards all other 

 toads as a set of low, grovelling creatures. 



" People who neglect their children ! " she says, with a shudder. 

 " No words can express my contemjjt for them. Only fancy, my 

 dears (she is talking to her children now), those common toads, 

 and the frog§, too, who give themselves such airs, and call them- 

 selves opera-singers, — they all neglect their families in the most 

 shocking manner. Why, they just lay their eggs at the bottom of 

 a pond, or a river, or any water that happens to be convenient, and 

 then — go off and leave them ! Actually leave them, before they 

 are hatched; father and mother both go off wherever they like, 



