Friends in Feathers and Fur, and Other Neighbors Part 11

LESSON XXVIII.

_WHAT WHITE-PAW SAW IN THE KITCHEN._

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1. In their haste the two friends bolted into the kitchen of the farm-house, where an old tabby-cat lay dozing before the fire. But when they came in she arose to meet them.

2. "What a polite fat mouse!" thought White-paw. "Please, ma'am--" But p.u.s.s.y's eyes were fixed upon him with a horrid glare, and he could not go on.

3. Alas! his poor little friend! There was a cry and a crunching of bones, and White-paw just escaped through a hole into the pantry.

4. When he had in part got over his fright, he smelled toasted cheese--something he had heard of but never tasted. He sniffed about, and soon saw it in a little round hole.

5. By this time he was very hungry, and he reached out for the dainty morsel; but there was a sudden click, and he turned back--but too late! His tail and one of his legs were caught by the cruel teeth of a trap.

6. He pulled with all his might, but could not get away. He heard a little squeak, and an old mouse came limping up with only three legs.

7. "Pull hard, my son; better lose a leg and tail than your life. See!

I was caught like you. How came you here?" he asked.

8. "I came to see the world, and 'tis a terrible place!" As White-paw spoke, he pulled himself free, but left one paw and the point of his tail in the trap.

9. The two hopped off together, and, after some friendly advice from the old mouse, White-paw limped away to his home, and soon found himself by his mother's side, where he could have his wounds dressed, and rest in peace.

LESSON XXIX.

_WHITE-PAW'S ACCOUNT OF THE GREAT WORLD._

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1. "My dear son, what is the world like?" asked Mrs. Mouse, after she had hugged White-paw, and set his supper before him.

2. "Oh, it's a grand place! There are great black mice, and great white ones, and great spotted ones, and great friendly mice with long noses, and great uncivil mice with horns.

3. "Then there are queer mice with only two legs, and some terrible mice that make a great noise." At this moment, Gaffer Graybeard came in, and White-paw said, "Sir, I've learned what a mouse-trap is." "Ah!

then," said the sage, "you've not seen the world in vain."

_THREE BLIND MICE._

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Three blind mice! Three blind mice!

See how they run! See how they run!

They all ran after the farmer's wife; She cut off their tails with a carving-knife.

Did you ever see such a thing in your life As three blind mice?

LESSON x.x.x.

_THE DEATH OF POOR PUSS._

"Here lies poor Puss!"-- "Who saw her die?" asked Grandmother Mouse, Just peeping forth from her hole of a house.

"I," said Tommy t.i.tmouse, "I saw her die; I think she was choked while eating a fly."

"Who'll dig her grave?" asked Granny again; In her voice, strange to say, there was no tone of pain.

"The honest old dormouse, out in the wood, He'd dig a good grave, if any one could."

"Who'll be the bearers?" The grandchildren all Were ready at once, at sound of the call.

"We'll carry Puss, since she can't carry us, And bury her deep, without any fuss."

One seized her fore paw, another her tail, Another her ear, to make sure not to fail.

Then off they all ran, for Puss winked her eye, And sprang to her feet, as the mice squeaked "Good-by."

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LESSON x.x.xI.

_FIELD-MICE._

1. Some kinds of mice live in the fields and woods, and never come into the house. The tiny little harvest-mouse has its home in the grain or thick gra.s.s, and feeds upon grain and insects.

2. It makes a nest of gra.s.s neatly woven together, and places it on the stalks, about a foot from the ground, where it is out of the way of the wet.

3. The nest is round, and about the size of a large orange. When the mother mouse goes away, she closes up the door of her nest, so no one can see her little ones.

4. The harvest-mouse runs up the corn and gra.s.s stalks easily. In climbing, it holds on by its tail as well as by its claws. The way it comes down from its nest is very curious. It twists its tail about the stalk and slides down.

5. Another of the field-mice is the dormouse, that lives in the woods.

It has a bushy tail, and makes its nest in hollow trees. It lives upon nuts and fruit. As cold weather comes on, it rolls itself up in a ball, and sleeps until spring.

6. Once a dormouse was caught and kept in a cage, when it became quite tame, and a great pet with the children. One day it got out of its cage, and the children hunted all over the house, but could not find it, and gave it up as lost.