III. 



LIFE ON THE MANTEL. 



As soon as the marmoset was up he hurried 

 to his favorite seat, the top of the armchair, and 

 immediately called for his breakfast, with his 

 usual cry, a sort of long drawn out " e-e-e" in 

 a musical voice, each note a tone higher and a 

 little longer than the one before it. 



At once his breakfast was brought. If it 

 happened to be bread and milk, he first drank 

 the milk, and then ate the soaked bread. If it 

 were grapes, he poked one into his mouth out 

 of sight, even though it were a big Concord 

 grape, chewed till the pulp came out, then took 

 the skin in one hand and the pulp in the other, 

 and licked off the juice, rejecting what was left. 

 A pear, if soft, he took in both arms and 

 scooped out the inside with his tongue, leaving 

 the skin an empty cup, thin as the finest of 

 china. A slice of pear or apple he held in both 

 hands and bit, when he looked like a small 

 black boy with a slice of watermelon. 



The diet of my pet was at first bananas 

 alone, and his pranks with this food were in- 

 tolerable on a mantel, however they might do 



