h his back_ against her in the presence of a visitor.

"I do hope," said Mrs. Pig to Farmer Green, "I do hope you don't think
that I haven't tried to teach this child better manners." And then, when
all the rest of her family began to squirm and fidget against the sides
of the pen she added with a sigh, "Look at them! Anyone would suppose
they had had no bringing up at all!"

Farmer Green smiled as he leaned over the pen and watched the antics of
Grunty Pig and his brothers and sisters.

"There's something that I can do for your family to make them happier,"
he told Mrs. Pig. "To-morrow--if I can spare the time--I'll make a
change here. A lady who's raising such a fine family as yours deserves
the best there is. She ought to have a home with every modern
improvement."

"There!" Mrs. Pig exclaimed to her children as soon as Farmer Green left
them. "Did you hear what he said? Farmer Green is a kind man. I
shouldn't have blamed him if he had put us into the poorest pen on the
place, after seeing your unmannerly actions. You'll have to behave
better--especially after we have our new improvements."

Well, the next day Farmer Green brought a stout post and set it firmly
in the center of Mrs. Pig's pen.

"That's for you and your family to rub against," he informed Mrs. Pig.

Really, he needn't have explained what the improvement was for. No
sooner had he climbed out of the pen than Mrs. Pig and her children
began to put the rubbing post to good use. Grunty was the first of all
to try it. And to his mother's delight, he stopped grumbling at once.
Nor did he ever again disgrace her by scratching his back against her.
Instead, he always walked up to the rubbing post like a little
gentleman. At least, that was what Mrs. Pig said.

[Illustration: The Muley Cow Advises Grunty Pig to Go Home.

(_Page 34_)]

VIII

FEARFUL NEWS

There came a day at last when Farmer Green gave Mrs. Pig and her family
a great treat. He let them out of their pen and turned them loose in a
little yard out of doors. Such gruntings and squealings hadn't been
heard on the farm for a long time. It was just like a picnic. And
everybody had the finest of times. Still, Grunty Pig wasn't content to
stay in the yard with the rest of the family. It wasn't long before he
found a hole in the fence big enough to wriggle through. And off he
went. And he was actually glad, for once, that he was the littlest of
the family. There wasn't another of Mr