d dip his fingers in the clear bright stream,
which she told him was running to swell the waters of the great ocean.
It was a lovely day; the air was full of the sweet scent of the early
flowers, and the grass was green and bright with the freshness of
Spring.

"What is that running up the tree, mother?" asked Edward; "see what
bright _quick_ eyes it has, and a bushy tail;--there he goes,
mother!"

[Illustration: The Squirrel.]

"That is a squirrel, my dear; a _brown_ squirrel. They are not all
like this one. There are _black_ and _gray_ squirrels; and in
some very cold countries, _white_ ones. But hark! my son; what
sound is that?"

Edward listened, and heard something like the sound of a little hammer
against a tree. He ran into the wood, and there he saw a little bird
knocking with its bill against the trunk of a tree, just as if it wanted
some one to _open the door!_ Soon he saw it draw out of the bark of
the tree, a little worm, which hung upon the end of its tongue as if it
had been a hook! His mother told him this little bird, was called a
woodpecker, and this was the way it took its food.

Edward's father now put him in the carriage, and they proceeded on their
journey. For the first few miles Edward could think of nothing but the
squirrel, the bird, and the pleasant spot where he had been looking at
them. Then he began to think of the friends he was going to see, and
wondered what his cousins would say, and how they would look when they
saw him.

A short time before sunset, they stopped before a neat and pretty
cottage, with a large yard before it; in which two rosy boys and a sweet
little girl were playing together.

"There, Edward," said his mother, "are your cousins, William, George,
and Ann, all clapping their hands with joy at seeing us; and there is
aunt Harriet just coming to the door with her baby in her arms."

Oh, what a joyful time these little cousins had. Edward told all the
wonders he had seen, and William and George told of many more that they
would show him. George said he should ride on his little pony, and
William promised to show him all his pet rabbits, while Ann insisted
that he would be delighted to see her pretty chickens, and to go to her
play-room, and see her dolls.

Before dark, Edward's aunt called the children to supper, and they all
sat down to the table, where Mrs. Wilson gave them some nice new bread,
and fresh butter, with some beautiful honey in the honey-comb, such