216 



A BAD NEIGHBOU. 



Maidie and her papa had just come in from the station. They 

 ran to see what was the matter; and it made them both laugh 

 heartily to see cook so frightened by a harmless eel. 



If Minnikin went fishing after that she did it for her own amuse- 

 ment, for Maidie did not let her go hungry any more. 



I don't think, however, that cook ever knew that pussy meant to 

 return good for evil. 



A BAD NEIGHBOR. 



The next time you go to Africa, my dears, be sure to bring me 

 back a lepidosiren, will you? I am very anxious to have one. 

 Lep-i-do-si-ren ! Can't you say that? Well, it is rather a hard 

 word. You may call it mud-fish instead, if you like that better, 

 though I am not sure that it is a fish. 



There is a difference of opinion on the subject of this creature. 

 One very learned man, with green spectacles, calls it a fish; an- 

 other, whose spectacles are blue (and who is bald besides, having 

 tliought all the hair off his head) , vows that it is a reptile. Xow, 

 I don't wear spectacles, and I am not bald, — so really I cannot 

 pretend to decide the matter; but suppose you and I just please 

 ourselves, and call it the mud-fish, whether or no. 



There is some reason for that name, because at home it lives in 

 the — "Mud! ! " says Billy. Quite so. What an mtelligent child 

 you are, William! But now about finding one for me. When you 

 are in Africa, as I was saying, and in some very hot place, — say 

 in Tinibuctoo, where your Uncle Simon lives, — you must know 

 how to look for the mud-fish. 



