840 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July. 
carry ; and the caterpillar was fat, and had no back¬ 
bone to support her. At last they reached the 
home of the old crab, who, being a bachelor and a 
hermit, lived all by himself in a cave in the bank. 
Moll knocked at the door, and out came the crab, 
looking so fierce, that Catty’s hair stood up on 
eud, aud she shook like a spoonful of jelly, when 
she saw his big eyes and long claws ; but he spoke 
very politely and said : “ Glad to see you, cousin 
Moll Lusk, and whom have you brought here ?”— 
“ These,” said Moll, “are Master Pollywogand Miss 
Grub; and they have come to ask, if you can tell 
them how to get legs and wings.”—“ Ah ! hum?” 
said the crab solemnly, “ that is a question that 
few could answer; but I can, for I know every¬ 
thing.” At which the snail nodded her horns, as 
much as to say : “ I told you so.” Taddy became 
quite excited, and Catty trembled more than ever. 
“ You, master Pollywog,” continued the crab, 
“ need do nothing but eat plenty of young spring 
flies, and stretch yourself well every day; and 
before long you will be able to run and jump with 
the best.”—“ Thank you, sir,” said Taddy, “ I can 
easily do that, for I am always hungry.”—“And 
what must I do?” asked Catty in a low voice.— 
“ You, my dear,” said the crab, “I hope, know 
how to spin.”—“Oh! yes sir,” said Catty. “I 
learned when I was a tiny little ‘ pillar.’—“Then, 
go home, and spin a nice silk quilt; wrap yourself 
up in it snug and warm, and go to sleep. When 
you wake up, 1 promise you shall have a beautiful 
pair of wings.”—“ I will,” said Catty, “ for I am 
very sleepy' now ”—“ And 1 must go back now to' 
my cave,” said the crab, “ for the light hurts my 
eyes. Good-bye, children ; come and see me when 
you get your legs and wings.” So the three friends 
went home ; and for a long time, Moll aud Taddy 
saw nothing of Catty, for she was sound asleep, 
rolled up in her silk quilt. But Taddy stretched 
himself every day, and ate all the young flies he 
could catch ; until at last he began to feel two 
little legs growing out from his sides; and one 
morning he stretched so hard, that his skin split 
all the way down his back.—“ Oh ! I am cracking 
in two ; I am cracking in two,” he cried in alarm ; 
but not so, for his skin slipped off, and when he 
looked at himself in the water, he was no longer a 
tadpole, but a beautiful green frog ; and away he 
went, with a hop, skip and a jump up the bank. 
On the top he met a lovely butterfly, with wings of 
blue, and crimson, and gold, who came floating 
slowly by. “Good morning, sir,” she said, “you 
seem to be a stranger ; what may be your name ?” 
—“ Yesterday I was Taddy Pollywog,” said the 
frog, “ now I don’t know who I am.”—“ Oh ! Tad, 
Tad, is it indeed you!” exclaimed the butterfly; 
“ I am Catty. 1 went to sleep as the crab told 
me, and when I awoke, I had these beautiful wings. 
Are they not lovely ?” and she flapped them gaily 
in the sun.—“ Very nice,” said Taddy, “ but only 
look at my fine green legs ! and I can hop at least 
three inches at a time.”—“ We have each got our 
wish,” said Catty ; “but where is Moll Lusk?” — 
“ Here she is,” said a tiny voice, and the snail came 
crawling over the top of the bank. “ Glad to see 
you so happy, my friends ; but do not forget to 
call on my cousin crab before you leave the old 
pond, as I suppose you will now want to do." 
—“ Yes, yes,” said Taddy and Catty, “ we are 
going to travel now,” and away t hey hurried to 
the cave of the hermit crab. He smiled as sweetly 
as he could, and gave them each a claw to shake as 
he gazed on them with pride, saying, “ thanks to 
me, you are as fine a frog and butterfly as anyone 
would wish to see.”—When they bade him “ good¬ 
bye,” and started hopping and flying off to see the 
world, they left the nice old crab, standing on the 
top of a rock, waving his shelly arms in the air, 
and with a cracked voice calling, “ bless you my 
children, bless you.” 
The Tug of War- Charlie F. W., Jeffer¬ 
son, Minnesota. This is a very common name for 
what used to be called, when we were boys, 
“French and English.” It is a game that does 
not last a long time, but it is very lively for a 
time. It requires quite a number of boys and a 
stout rope. There are two leaders appointed, and 
each in turn chooses a boy for his side. A mark 
is made on the ground, and both sides take hold of 
the rope, of course facing one another. The two 
leaders are first, and each followed by the boys of 
his side, the leaders standing at equal distances 
from the mark. At a signal, the pull begins, each 
side trying to pull the other across the mark, and 
the side which pulls the other over wins. This 
game is a favorite one with passengers on the 
ocean steamers, and it is quite amusing to see dig¬ 
nified old gentlemen pulling as if for dear life. 
Round Robin. 
^_ • 
Dear Children. —The bright, glad summer has 
come, and I know you are all delighted to welcome 
it, and are planning to have a lovely time during 
the vacation, romping in the hay fields, and enjoy¬ 
ing all sorts of out-door sports. If you meet with 
any funny little adventures, or come across any 
curious insects or animals in your wanderings 
through the “ merry green woods,” I shall be glad 
to hear of them, for the amusement of other lit¬ 
tle folks, so keep your eyes open. 
A sister and brother, Mary and Hally Crain, who 
live in Washington, Iowa, have sent me a joint let¬ 
ter, but 1 suspect that Mary had the chief hand in 
composing and writing it, as she is the elder. 
Hally has a colt for a pet, and Mary says : “ I have 
a calf named ‘Starry,’ because she is all over spots 
like stars, and two pet pigs, ‘ Spot’ and ‘ Zip,’ that 
are so cute! We have also two big Plymouth Rock 
roosters; one we call ‘Ingersoll,’ the other is 
‘Beecher.’ They are so big, we wanted to name 
them after big men.” 
One little girl writes that she found some Easter 
flowers about the 1st of April. The season has 
been so backward, I imagine very few wild flowers 
were in bloom before that date. 
Mary Tomes, of Danville, Iowa, says : “ We have 
a dog named ‘ Shep,’ and he plays hide and seek 
with us ; also two playful Maltese cats. 1 would 
like to see Nettie Woodward’s Alderney calf, for I 
think it must be the nicest pet of all.” 
A very nice note has been received from a wee 
girl, only six years old—Mamie Jessie Gidley, of 
North Dartmouth, Mass. She says: “ I have not 
seen a dandelion this spring, but I have seen more 
than one crocus m my mother’s flower-bed.” Ma¬ 
mie’s father says of his little daughter’s letter, 
that “the penmanship, composition, and spelling 
are entirely her own,” and they are certainly 
creditable to such a little girl. Round Robin. 
A “Peppery” Face, 
Not long ago we found on our office table a pod 
of the common garden pepper, dressed up to re¬ 
semble—well, what do you think ? The engraving 
is an exact reproduction of the general appearance 
of the dressed fruit as it was left for our cousider- 
a little red flannel for a hood, with proper edging 
and some tow, will transform a simple ripe red 
pepper into a very odd-looking thing. 
Balloons.—The Fourth of July. 
We some time ago advised our young friends to 
make their preparations for celebrating “The 
Fourth ” well in advance. Some have asked us 
about balloons for the celebration. We would not 
advise very young boys to undertake to make or 
to send up balloons ; indeed older persons, unless 
they have had some experience, or seen others in¬ 
flate and set them off, will find that it requires care 
and skill. Balloons are now sold at the city toy 
stores at very low prices, when we consider the 
work required to make them. The old way was to 
heat the air within the balloon with alcohol, burned 
on a sponge or a lock of cotton. The balloons 
now sold have attached at the mouth a ball of very 
fine shavings, the material called “ excelsior,” and 
used for packing, stuffing furniture, etc. This is 
soaked in melted paraffine, a wax-like substance 
that burns very readily. By holding the balloon 
erect and lighting this ball, it soon fills and goes 
off with but little trouble. We have found that 
this ball, especially on small balloons, is two or 
three times as large as need be, making it too 
heavy, and it is necessary to cut a part of it away. 
Illustrated Rebus No. 493.— Good advice 
for both old and young in pictorial form. 
Answers to Puzzles in the May Number. 
INVERTED PYRAMID. 
DIGITALIS 
B ITUIEN 
GENIE 
M I D 
S 
REVERSED RHOMBOID. 
JASPER 
M U S T A C 
C A N T A R 
T A N I E R 
BANGOR 
T E T TER 
COMBINATION SQUARE. 
SCOTT 
CAPER 
OPINE 
TENDS 
T R E S S 
COMPOUND ACROSTIC. 
BREAM 
E P U P E 
V Y C A S 
K O R E T 
E A U R A 
EDGAR 
R A B 1 D 
Primale. — Buckler. Fi¬ 
nals.— Mustard. Combined. 
Buckler Mustard. 
SQUARE. 
MARTHA 
ARARAT 
R A Z I N T 
TRIFLE 
H A N L A N 
ATTEND 
HALF SQUARE. 
NEREID ' 
EVENT 
READ 
END 
I T 
D 
OCTAGON. 
M E W 
P A P A W 
MARI T A L 
E P I G E N E 
WATERED 
WANED 
LED 
DIAMOND. 
T 
PAW 
TONIC 
P O L A R I C 
TANA CETUM 
W I R E N E T 
CITED 
CUT 
M 
Hidden Fish.— 1. Barbel. 2. Bonito. 3. Bream. 4. 
Dab. 5. Dace. 6. Doree. 7. Goby. 8. Ling. 9. Pike. 
10. Tench. 
