38(3 
AMERICAN AG1UC UET UR1ST. 
[October, 
The Adventures of a Dog', a Bas¬ 
ket, a ml Two Very Naughty Boys. 
Nonsense pictures, like other pictures, should tell their 
own story, and not need much nonsense talk to explain 
them. Still, as some may not read the pictures without 
pened that these boys (2) went to the very tree under 
which Mr. Skinner usually took his dinner, and when 
they saw Snap set down the basket, and go to call his 
master, they discovered that they were hungry, and de¬ 
termined to examine the contents, and No. 3 shows what 
they did. Snap soon came back, ahead of his master. 
The Doctor’s Correspondence. 
My correspondence with boys and girls has impressed 
one fact very strongly—which is: there is a very little 
known about very common things. I do not say this be¬ 
cause of the questions you ask, for they are all right and 
help, we give also an outline of the story. The principal 
character is the dog, and his name is Snap. There is 
Mr. Skinner, an architect who builds stone walls, and as 
he can not bring his work home, he goes to his work. 
There is a Mrs. Skinner, who, as it is a long distance 
for Mr. S. to come to his dinner, sends his dinner to Mr. 
So faithful a dog would never let his basket go off in that 
way without a struggle, and No. 4 shows what he did, and 
it is continued in No. 5. But the boys did not wish to 
give it up either, and here (No. 6) the rope came in play. 
Then the boys, thinking they had quite conquored their 
enemy, coward like, made fun of him (No. 7) when he 
proper. But sometimes you ask questions which I ought 
to be able to answer at once, but can not. I then wonder 
at my own ignorance, and at once look the matter up in 
books which should tell all about it. Sometimes I find 
the information I look for, but more often I discover that 
people who we suppose should know all about a subject. 
S. by Snap, who, being a very faithful dog, takes the din¬ 
ner 1o a certain tree; he does not eat any, but watches it 
until his master comes, when he knows he will have a 
share. Besides these, there are the boys, Tom and 
Jack, and what kind of boys they were, the faithful his¬ 
tory shown in these pictures will tell. In the first chap- 
could not help himself. But now another party appears, 
(No. 8). Mr. S. comes for his dinner—and there is no 
dinner. In the meantime Tom, thinking he had done 
the most to capture the basket, claimed that he should 
divide the contents, but Jack would not agree to this, 
and they quarreled, and the quarrel led to (No. 9) a fight. 
really tell us nothing about very common things. A few 
mouths ago I told you how little was known about the 
common House Fly, and recently some questions about 
THE BUMBLE OR HUMBLE-BEES, 
showed the same want of knowledge. Every boy who 
ter, or picture, Mrs. Skinner starts off Snap with his mas¬ 
ter’s dinner basket. What was in the basket we shall 
probably never know, but whatever it was, Mrs. S., as 
usual, told Snap to be very careful of it. Tom and Jack 
were boys who regularly had terrible aches and pains, 
just before school time, which stopped in a remarkable 
They were too busy with one another to mind their foot¬ 
ing ; the bank, which had been weakened by the stream, 
gave way, and what happened is shown in No. 10. Their 
history is continued in No. 11. But what became of them 
did not concern Snap or his master, the basket was safe, 
and we hope that Mr. S. enjoyed his dinner, and that he 
lives in the country, or indeed who lives anywhere ex¬ 
cept in the most compactly built city streets, knows the 
common Bumble-Bee, and many know that he has a 
“ business end,” especially if in hay-making or berry 
gathering they have interfered with the domestic arrange¬ 
ments of the big “ busy bee.” “ Arrah 1 how hot the lit- 
manner soon after it was too late to go to school. On this 
particular morning they went off to amuse themselves, 
and to see if there was any mischief that needed their at¬ 
tention ; they took a rope along to help climb trees in 
case any nuts orapples required looking after. It so hap- 
gave a good share to the faithful dog, without whose care 
he would have had no dinner at all. This interesting 
picture history fails to tell what became of Tom and Jack, 
the two boys who caused all the trouble. They, no doubt, 
had their reward, and were put to bed without any supper. 
tie fut of him is 1 ” said the newly arrived Irishman, who 
was induced to catch it by being told that it was the 
American Humming-bird. Probably few boys escape 
an acquaintance of this kind. The question came 
some time ago, “ Do Humble or Bumble-Bees store 
