ld's knowledge of the sexuality of nature should be as much a
matter of fact as any other knowledge, and the mystery of it should be
presented to him as a sublime and beautiful mystery, creating an
impression he cannot wholly escape from when he finds himself caught in
the vortex of his own adulthood.

IX

AMPHIBIOUS LIFE

To the parents who desire to lead the child's mind through a long
sequence of thought from the lower to the higher life, the amphibian
affords an easy step in this ascending scale. And among amphibians that
familiar and picturesque harbinger of spring, the frog, and his cousin
the friendly toad, are the best adapted.

Children are always interested in frogs because they jump so well. This
suggests a starting-point for making their closer acquaintance. Why do
they jump so well? It is because of their long hind legs. A little
watching of either frog or toad will show exactly how the legs are used
and wherein they differ from, and also resemble, the child's own legs.
The little hands of the frog and toad, their way of sitting, leaning on
their short arms, their eagerness to snap up a tempting fly, the queer
tongue fastened the other way round from ours, and its lightning-like
speed which is a result of this same position in the mouth,--a hundred
interesting things can be learned about the toads and frogs.

Toads are very easily tamed, and make most amusing as well as useful
pets if there is a garden to be protected from marauding insects. They
generally have a hole or corner to which they come home regularly at
night, and with a little patience can be so tamed that they will take
food, of living insect or even of scraps of meat, from the child's hand.
Their power to gormandize seems unlimited, and the number of insects
they can swallow without protest is almost incredible. They will keep a
small garden quite free from slugs and other pests. They have no bad
habits, do not bark at night, or chase cats, or bite, or steal, or
insist upon coming into the house, or scratch up the flower-beds. Some
accuse them of causing warts, but this is not true. When handled, they
sometimes give forth an acrid liquid from the skin, which stings the
mouths of tormenting dogs and smears meddling fingers. But this, though
unpleasant, does no harm. Many people have handled toads freely and
never had a wart; many others who have never touched a toad have had
many warts.

The toad may be ugly to look at, but that