e tale itself.

"Yesterday, children, as I came out of my yard, _what_ do you think I
saw?" The elaborately concealed surprise in store was so obvious that
Marantha rose to the occasion and suggested:

"An el'phunt?"

"Why, no! Why should I see an elephant in my yard? It wasn't _nearly_
so big as that--it was a _little_ thing!"

"A fish?" ventured Eddy Brown, whose eye fell upon the aquarium in the
corner. The _raconteuse_ smiled patiently.

"Why, no! How could a fish, a live fish, get in my front yard?"

"A dead fish?" persisted Eddy, who was never known to relinquish
voluntarily an idea.

"It was a little kitten," said the story-teller, decidedly. "A little
white kitten. She was standing right near a great big puddle of water.
And what else do you think I saw?"

"Another kitten?" suggested Marantha, conservatively.

"No, a big Newfoundland dog. He saw the little kitten near the water.
Now cats don't like the water, do they? They don't like a wet place.
What do they like?"

"Mice," said Joseph Zukoffsky, abruptly.

"Well, yes, they do; but there were no mice in my yard. I'm sure you
know what I mean. If they don't like _water_, what do they like?"

"Milk!"

"They like a dry place," said Mrs. R. B. M. Smith.

"Now what do you suppose the dog did?"

It may be that successive failures had disheartened the listeners; it
may be that the very range presented alive to the dog and them for
choice dazzled their imaginations. At any rate, they made no answer.

"Nobody knows what the dog did?" repeated the story-teller,
encouragingly. "What would you do if you saw a little white kitten
like that?"

Again a silence. Then Philip remarked gloomily, "I'd pull its tail."

"And what do the rest of you think?" inquired Mrs. R. B. M. Smith,
pathetically. "I hope _you_ are not so cruel as that little boy."

But fully half the children had seen the youngest assistant giggle at
"that little boy's" answer, and with one accord came the quick response,
"_I'd_ pull it too."

[D] Copyright, 1902, by McClure, Phillips & Co.

Fishin'?

(From the _New Orleans Times-Democrat_.)

Settin' on a log
An' fishin'
An' watchin' the cork,
An' wishin'.

Jus' settin' round home
An' sighin',
Jus' settin' round home--
An' lyin'.

"Ardelia in Arcady"[E]

(_Arranged by Maude Herndon and Grace Kellam._)

[From "The Madness of Philip," by Josephine Dodge Daskam.
McClure, Phillip