THE KINKAJOU. 



25 



was forgiven and laid gently down again to 

 sleep. 



The second night — grown wiser, as they 

 thought, and resolved that no more plants 

 should suffer — they shut him up in a school- 

 room. With nothing but desks and benches, 

 he could surely do no harm. 



Could he not ? They thought differently the 

 next morning, when they went in and found the 

 costly " solar system," without which no child 

 could be expected to understand how the earth 

 and the moon and the various planets perform 

 their several waltzes around the sun, a total 

 ruin, as hopelessly destroyed as the banana 

 plant had been, and the little beast again coiled 

 up, sleeping the sleep of innocence. 



His owner grew sober ; if this was his way 

 of passing the night, it would soon empty her 

 purse to pay for his fun. But he was so droll, 

 she could not bring herself to give him up. She 

 would try him again. The next night, accord- 

 ingly, he was carefully shut out of the school- 

 room, lest he try his hand on the benches them- 

 selves, for by that time they began to think he 

 could do anything he chose. 



With no fun on hand he became lonely, and 

 started on a search after society, which he al- 

 ways liked, but seldom enjoyed, since everybody 

 was in bed through most of his waking hours. 



