70 



THE YOUNG FLORIST. 



from the scorching noon day sun, 1 was 

 pleased to lay boards upon stones, or bricks, 

 that he might have a comfortable retreat. 



M. I know a man, who offered the boys 

 in his neighborhood, a certain price per hun- 

 dred, for all the toads they would bring, to put 

 in his garden ; but it is an article, I think, I 

 should not like to deal in. 



II I have been reading, in White's Natural 

 History of Selborne, of some ladies, who took a 

 fancy to a toad, which they nourished, summer 

 after summer, for many years, until he grew 

 to a monstrous size. 



M. They must have had a singular taste. 

 H. The reptile used to come forth every 

 evening from a hole under the garden steps ; 

 and was taken up, after supper, on the table 

 to be fed. But at last a tame raven espying 

 him, as he put forth his head, gave him such a 

 severe stroke with his horny beak, as to put 



