'MY INFANCY' 



43 



have mine than yours. Besides, I call mine much 

 prettier. Mine does look like part of my face, 

 while yours — well, I could make as good a nose 

 by sticking a lump of mud on a barn-door. That's 

 what I think of yours. I am sorry. I will 

 apologize at once, before it becomes too difficult. 

 When people begin to say rude things to one 

 another it is quite time to talk about something 

 else. But it was really your fault for saying that 

 my nose cannot talk, when it really talks to me all 

 day. However, let us change the conversation. 



One day we were all playing outside the hedge 

 with mother, all except sister Sal, who had gone 

 away to feed the young owls. That sounds just as 

 if they were her pets, does it not ? I call it rather 

 a nice way of saying that she was dead and eaten. 

 We hardly ever use the word ' dead ' if we can 

 possibly avoid it. It is too horrid, and so common 

 and vulgar, too. Y'^ou can always distinguish a 

 really well-bred rat by the way in which he 

 describes an accident. ' Where's Jimmy to-day ?' 

 asks somebody. * Feeding the hungry ' is a nice 

 answer when somebody has gobbled him up. 

 ' How's your wife to-day V asks somebody else. 

 ' Dancing in the pig-sty ' would mean * Caught by 

 the leg in a trap.' ' Singing in the larder ' is a way 



