The Nursery, October 1877, Vol. XXII. No. 4 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by JOHN L. SHOREY, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

FRANKLIN PRESS: RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 117 FRANKLIN STREET, BOSTON.

IN PROSE.

PAGE The Parrot that played Truant 97 Feeding the Ducks 100 Chestnut-Gathering 104 A Day with the Alligators 107 The Spider and her Family 110 Why Uncle Ralph did not hit the Deer 113 Faithful Dandy 114 Emma and her Doll 117 Our old Billy 119 The Thrush feeding the Cuckoo 120 The Cat and the Starling 125

IN VERSE.

PAGE A Baby Lay 101 The Pigs 106 How to draw a Goose 112 Learn your Lesson 116 Jippy and Jimmy 122 The jolly old Cooper 123 The Express Package 126 The White Owl (with music) 128

THE PARROT THAT PLAYED TRUANT.

But one day, when the window was open, and the door of the cage was open also, Polly thought it was a good time to play truant. So she hopped out, rested on the sill a moment, and then flew into the street, from tree to tree, and from lamp-post to lamp-post.

Poor Miss Dorothy was in despair. How should she get back her lost pet? She called in a policeman, and he advised her to get out a handbill, offering a reward. So in an hour this notice was pasted on the walls near by:--

LOST!--A green-and-white parrot. It answers to the name of Polly, and can talk quite plainly. It says, "Boy, go away!" also, "Polly wants a cracker," and "No, you don't!" Any one finding this bird shall, on returning it to its afflicted owner, Miss D. Draper, No. 10, Maiden Place, receive a reward of two dollars.

Little Tony Peterkin was walking home from school, and wishing he had money enough to buy a copy of Virgil without going to his mother for it,--for she was a widow, and poor,--when he saw a man pasting this handbill on a wall. Tony read it, and said aloud, "Oh, I wish I could find that parrot!"

A girl who heard him said, "I saw a parrot just now on one of the trees in Lake Street."--"Did you?" said Tony; and off he ran. The parrot had flown from the tree to the top of the lamp-post; and when Tony got there, two women, a newsboy, and a policeman were looking up at the strange fowl.

It was the work of a second for Tony to spring at the iron post, and begin climbing up. "No, you don't!" cried the parrot. That frightened Tony, so that he almost dropped; but he took heart when he thought of the two dollars and a new fresh copy of Virgil.

Up he climbed; but just as he was going to put his hand on the little cross-bar under the lamp, "Boy, go away!" cried Poll. Tony's heart beat at these words; but he held on. "Poll, Poll, pretty Poll!" cried he: "come and get a cracker!"--"Polly wants a cracker," replied the bird.

The truth was, Polly was tired of the street, and wanted to get back to Miss Dorothy. So, when Polly heard Tony's kind words, she flew down to the cross-bar, and, when he held out his hand, she lighted on it, and Tony slid with her down the post to the ground.

"Well done, my lad," said the policeman. He went with Tony, carrying the bird, to No. 10, Maiden Place; and Miss Dorothy was so much pleased that she gave Tony three dollars instead of two. On his way home he bought that copy Of Virgil.

DORA BURNSIDE.

FEEDING THE DUCKS.

A MILD summer day, and one, two, three, four children sitting on the ground by the pond, and feeding the ducks!

But I think I hear the larger girl, who is standing up, say to the sitters, "Children, don't you know better than to sit there on the damp earth? You will every one of you catch a cold. Get up this instant."

That is what the larger girl ought to say; for many children take bad colds by sitting on the grass. The other day, as I went through the Central Park in New York, I saw a maid in charge of three children, one of them an infant, and she was letting them lie at full-length on the grass.

I told her she must not do so; but she said the weather was warm, and there was no danger. As I knew the parents of the children, I told her she must take the children up at once, and let them sit on the seats near by.

At length she obeyed me. Two days afterwards I called on the parents of the children, and then learned that every one of the little ones was ill with a cold. I told the mother what I had seen at the Central Park and she told the maid that never again must she let the children sit on the bare grass. The maid promised she would not do so again.

AUNT MATILDA.

A BABY LAY.

WHAT does the kitten say? "Mew, mew, mew!" She shall have some nice milk, warm and new.

Up jumps the dog, and says, "Bow, wow, wow! I'm as good as kitty, and I'm hungry now."

What does the cow say? "Moo, moo, moo!" And the pretty little calf tries to say so too.

"Ba-a!" says the little lamb,--"baa, baa, baa!" What does she mean? Is she calling her mamma?

The rooster struts around, and cries, "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" As if that were just about the only thing he knew!

On the roof the gentle dove says, "Coo, coo, coo! Love me, little girls and boys, for I love you."

What does the hen say? "Cluck, cluck, cluck!" As she scratches for her chickens, and has good luck.

What does the bird say? "Peep, peep, peep!" As, early in the morning, she rouses us from sleep.

What does our baby say? "Goo, goo, goo!" See the loving glances in her eyes so blue; How we rush to take her, at the slightest call! Oh! the darling baby is the sweetest pet of all.

ELLA.

CHESTNUT-GATHERING.

DID you ever go chestnut-gathering? Such fun as it is! especially when a lot of girls and boys go together.

On one of my father's farms there were many chestnut-trees; and every autumn, after the first frost, when the leaves were all turning, and beginning to fall, we used to have chestnut-gatherings.

The boys used to get long poles, with which they would beat off the nuts. Sometimes they would climb the trees, and shake or beat off such nuts as they could not reach from below. And we girls used to help pick them up, and put them into baskets.

Some years chestnuts are very scarce. I remember one year there was only one tree that had any nuts on; and we could not reach them: not even a man could climb it.