eaten the thistle down to the very roots. Then she would back down the
bank, and trot on.

Fanny was fond of other good things besides thistles. She would spy an
apple on a tree, no matter how thick the leaves were; and, without
waiting to ask Louise's permission, she would run under the tree,
stretch her head up among the branches, and even raise herself up on her
hind-legs, like a dog, to reach the apple.

Louise would clasp Fanny around the neck, and bury her face in her mane:
but she often got scratched by the little twigs; and many a long hair
has she left waving from the apple-boughs after such an adventure.

Whenever Fanny smelled any very savory odor issuing from the kitchen,
she would trot up, and put her head in at the window, waiting for Biddy
to give her a doughnut or cooky. One day a boy named Frank borrowed
Fanny, as he wished to ride out with a little girl from the city. As
they were passing a farm-house, Fanny perceived by the smell that some
one was frying crullers there.

[Illustration]

She immediately ran down the lane to the house, and stuck her head in at
the open window, and would not stir from the spot until the farmer's
wife gave her a cruller. Then she went quickly back to the road, and
behaved very properly all the rest of the way.

Fanny was such a good pony, with all her tricks, that the neighbors
often used to borrow her. This Fanny did not think at all fair; and she
soon found a way to put a stop to it. One warm summer day, the minister
borrowed her in order to visit a sick man about two miles away. After
several hours he returned, very warm and tired, walking through the
dust, and leading Fanny, who came limping along, holding down her head,
and appearing to be very lame.

She had fallen lame when only half-way to the sick man's house; and the
good old minister had led her all the way, rather than ride her when she
was lame. All the family gathered around Fanny to see where she was
hurt, when Fanny tossed her head, kicked up her heels, and pranced off
to the stable, no more lame than a young kitten. It had been all a trick
to punish the minister for borrowing her. And it succeeded; for he never
asked for Fanny again.

L. S. H.

[Illustration]

THE TOAD.

WHAT a curious thing is the little brown toad;
Do come and look at it, pray!
It sits in the grass, and, when we come near,