The bees would have a spelling-bee
And buzz among their betters;
And monkeys chatter French and squeak
In Greek the live-long day,
To scare the class of infant lambs,
Who only know B-A.

[Illustration]

"They'd send giraffes up to the board
To figure slowly, each,
Problems in higher branches
That they could never reach.
And here and there and everywhere,
No matter who played fool,
They'd straightway clap a paper cap
Upon the youngest mule.

[Illustration]

"A looker-on might feel, perhaps,
A little consternation,
To see the bear philosophy
Arise for recitation;
And pupils all, and teacher, too,
Would pale a bit, perchance,
When the elephants came up to do
Their calisthenics dance!"

"But," Amos persisted, "if they don't go to school, then how on earth did
they learn how to talk?"

"I taught them, to be sure," said a hoarse voice overhead.

The children looked up, startled, and were astonished to see that the
voice came, apparently, from a long-tailed green parrot, with a hooked
beak and round, solemn eyes.

"They come from all parts of the world," the parrot resumed, "for me to
teach them. Of course, you needn't call it a school if you don't want to."

He whistled shrilly, and the birds and beasts came scampering back and
stood round in a respectful circle. The children tried to talk to them,
but they looked bashful and would not say a word.

"Perhaps they'd like to hear some rhymes," J. M. suggested. "Go ahead,
Amos and Ann."

"My _stars_!" said Ann, and Amos added: "How in the world can I start off
quite suddenly--"

Just then a cuckoo rushed out from a clock somewhere and cuckooed eleven
times, and the twelfth time Amos said:--

"Quite suddenly, a speckled trout
Down in the swift, clear river
Began to bustle all about,
His fishy chin a-quiver.

"He raised so big a foam and fuss
The fishes all assembled.
Why, at a hippopotamus
He'd scarcely so have trembled!

"'What ails you?' asked a brother trout.
'What's wrong?' inquired a minnow.
'Alas! We're all invited out,'
He shivered, 'to a dinner!'

"They cried, 'Why, that's a jolly plan!
Who asked us out to dine?'
'Oh!' sobbed the trout, 'a fisherman,
He just dropped me a line!'"

When the poem was finished, the parrot cried, "Hear! Hear!" and c