eUNNWG MICE. 



167 



Several years. When they were brought into the warm air they 

 came to life and hopped about as hvely as ever. 



I have read of a toad that was found in the middle of a tree fast 

 asleep. ISo one knew how he came there. The tree had kept on 

 growing until there were over sixty rings in the trunk. As a tree 

 adds a ring every year, the poor creature had been there all that 

 time! What do you think of that for a long sleep? And yet he 

 woke up all right, and acted just like any other toad ! 



CUNNING MICE. 



Up in the garret in our house there used to be a great many 

 mice. But they never gave any trouble until one day, when papa 

 put some corn there to dry, so that he could use it to plant in the 

 spring. When he went to look at it, not long after, he found that 

 much of it had been cai-ried off by the mice. 



So he told me that he would give me a penny for every mouse I 

 would catch. I was delighted, and immediately got our old trap, 

 put some cheese in it, and placed it in the garret. 



The trap had but two holes, and so could catch but two mice at a 

 time. But I thought that a great many, when for three mornings 

 I had found the trap full, and had been paid six cents for the mice. 

 I thought how rich I should be if I found two mice in the trap on 

 every morning for a year. But it did not happen so, unfortunately 

 for me. 



One morning, when I went to look at my trap, I found it sprung, 

 and the cheese all gone, but there was no mouse. I set the trap 



