ho is extremely wise."

[Illustration]

"Oh! no," said he, in humble tone,
With shy but conscious look,
"Such facts I never could have known
But for this little book."

The Python

[Illustration]

A Python I should not advise,--
It needs a doctor for its eyes,
And has the measles yearly.

[Illustration]

However, if you feel inclined
To get one (to improve your mind,
And not from fashion merely),
Allow no music near its cage;
And when it flies into a rage
Chastise it, most severely.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

I had an aunt in Yucatan
Who bought a Python from a man
And kept it for a pet.
She died, because she never knew
These simple little rules and few;--

[Illustration]

The Snake is living yet.

The Welsh Mutton

[Illustration]

The Cambrian Welsh or Mountain Sheep
Is of the Ovine race,
His conversation is not deep,
But then--observe his face!

The Porcupine

[Illustration]

What! would you slap the Porcupine?
Unhappy child--desist!
Alas! that any friend of mine
Should turn Tupto-philist.[B]

[Illustration]

To strike the meanest and the least
Of creatures is a sin,
How much more bad to beat a beast
With prickles on its skin.

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[A] Sometimes called the "Lion-tailed or tufted Baboon of Ceylon."

[B] From [Greek: tupto]=I strike; [Greek: phileo]=I love; one that loves
to strike. The word is not found in classical Greek, nor does it occur
among the writers of the Renaissance--nor anywhere else.

The Scorpion

[Illustration]

The Scorpion is as black as soot,
He dearly loves to bite;
He is a most unpleasant brute
To find in bed, at night.

The Crocodile

[Illustration]

Whatever our faults, we can always engage
That no fancy or fable shall sully our page,
So take note of what follows, I beg.
This creature so grand and august in its age,
In its youth is hatched out of an egg.

[Illustration]

And oft in some far Coptic town
The Missionary sits h