rning, when the baby's mamma was very busy
in the kitchen, washing the clothes. Probably she put the baby to bed
for the usual morning nap, and did not hear her wake up.

It must be about noon, for the shadows are short in the picture. The
mother is probably out in the yard, taking her clean clothes off the
line, so of course she could not hear the baby creep out through the
open door to the porch. There the baby found the great dog keeping
watch. How wise he looks! He knows the baby's mamma would be worried
if she knew what her little one is doing, and his kind eyes seem to
say, "Never mind, I'll take care of her."

[Illustration: _"Can't You Talk?"_]

Perhaps the baby asks him, "Where's my mamma?" He looks as if he
wanted to answer or say something, and she cannot understand why he
does not, so she crawls up to him and says, "Can't you talk?" But the
big dog can only wag his tail and watch the baby. If she should crawl
too far away, we feel sure he would try to persuade her to come back,
or if he could not do that, he would bark and let the mother know
something was wrong.

What chubby little hands and feet the baby has! You can almost see the
dimples in her cheeks. She is a friendly, happy little child, I'm
sure, and you can see that her pets love her. There is the little
kitten rubbing up against the door as if waiting to see if the dog
will answer baby's question. Kitty seems to be afraid to come out on
the porch, although the dog does not look as if he would hurt her.
Sometimes little babies with such chubby hands squeeze their pets too
hard, and maybe this little kitten, although she loves the baby, does
not want to come too near.

There is a stone bench at one side of the porch. It looks as if some
one had left a market basket, a cabbage, and a bag on it. Perhaps in
the basket are potatoes from the garden.

What a busy life this baby has with so many things to do and so much
to learn! She tries so hard to understand. I suppose she thinks, "Good
old dog, you seem to know so much more than I do. How does it happen
that I can talk and you cannot?"

The mother will be coming in soon, and how surprised she will be to
find her baby up and out on the porch, with the big dog taking such
good care of her!

This good old dog does so much to help them! All night long he guards
the house, not allowing any one even to stop on the walk in front of
the house, without his warning bark. In the daytime, if the people
w