hapter.

II.

ABOUT THE GRATEFUL PEOPLE AND THE WILD BEASTS.

That very afternoon there was a great rush to see Jedidiah's Noah's Ark,
and there was immense enthusiasm about it. Some brave ones opened the
roof and looked in upon the growling wild animals. The girls liked the
lambs the best; the boys were delighted with the foxes that jumped on
the edge of the boat that formed the ark.

In a day or two there was a flourishing little village built on a smooth
place on the other side of Mr. Dyer's house. The minister's daughter had
brought a little toy village she had with red roofs, and one of the men
scooped out the houses, which were made of one block of wood, but could
now accommodate Noah and his family, and each one picked out a house to
match the color of his garments.

Tom Stubbs built a barn of wooden bricks for the larger animals, and
Lucy Miles brought a pewter bird-cage, with a door that would open and
shut, for the birds. The elephant knocked out a brick with his trunk as
soon as he went into the barn, but that made a good window for him to
look out of. Jedidiah himself made the loveliest coop for the hen; and
the boys had a nice time over a pond they dug in the mud, for the ducks.

Indeed, it occupied Spinville for some time; and Noah, Shem, and Ham
did not sit down much, but looked very busy. There was a fence built
round the whole village, high enough to keep in the elephants and the
giraffes, though they could look over. There was a bit of pasture-land
shut in for the cows, who fell to nibbling as soon as they were put in
it. A clover-leaf lasted one of the sheep two days. The tinman sent
some little tin dippers no bigger than a thimble, and the children were
delighted to see the animals drink. The boys handed one of the dippers
into the ark for the tigers. The giraffes found a bush just high enough
for them to eat from. The doves sat on the eaves of the ark, and
Agamemnon brought some pickled olives, as he had no olive-branch for
them.

The children were never tired of seeing the camels kneel and rise. They
made them carry little burdens,--stones that were to be cleared from the
field, chips from the henhouse. Sometimes the camels growled; then the
children took off a chip or two from their burdens,--the last ounce,
they thought.

The "grateful people" sent a large umbrella, used by the umbrella-maker
for a sign, that could be opened over the whole village in case of a
rain; and the toy-