he had a dear little daughter who would rather have an empty cage than a pet in prison. LANGUAGE. Find in the lesson what words describe Bunny's eyes. Next, those that tell what kind of teeth he had, and four words that describe the new cage. XLI. THE MICE IN A ROBIN'S NEST. scram'bling in clined' news'pa pers im ag'ine quin'ces de ci'ded 66 mat'tress 1. Did Mr. Robin, when he took his family south for the winter, advertise a House to let" in the newspapers? Grandpa Baldwin wondered about it when he found who had moved into the robin's nest on the top of the quince-bush. 2. Grandpa was picking quinces when he noticed the nest. He was surprised to see something move in it. At first he thought it was a dry leaf, blown by the wind. He kept glancing up at it, and pretty soon something moved again. He did not think for a moment that it could be a little robin; for when quinces are ripe, all the little robins have grown up and have gone south. 3. Grandpa was very curious by this time. He climbed up in the nothing there but a bunch of wool. 66 'How did cottonwool get into that nest?" said grandpa. 4. Then it moved again. Grandpa put his hand up carefully, and was just about to lift the wool, when out jumped an old mother mouse and ran away. 5. Grandpa started so that he nearly fell out of the tree. Then he lifted the wool and peeped into the nest. There he found six little baby mice, all sleeping in the softest little bed you can imagine, with a nice wool mattress and coverlid. 6. As the old mother mouse had run away and left her babies, grandpa decided to carry the nest home and show it to mamma and the boys. 66 7. Such a shouting as there was then! The little mites," as baby called them, cuddled closer and closer to each other, until one fell over the edge of the nest on the floor. 8. Then such a scrambling as there was to catch him! Mamma was inclined to get up in a chair and look on. Grandpa and the boys chased the nimble little fellow. At last grandpa caught him, and mamma advised him to take them all out doors. 9. The mother mouse had a beautiful white breast and a fawn-colored back. she was a dear little mouse. 66 Grandpa said Hal thought they were all dear little mice." 10. There are a great many of them in the fields. Sometimes when the men are mowing, the mice run up their trousers legs. Grandpa says he never before knew one to climb a tree and make a home for herself in a bird's nest. NATURAL HISTORY. The quince is a fruit somewhat like an apple. It grows upon large bushes, and is yellow like the orange. But it is hard, and not fit to eat until stewed with sugar. LANGUAGE. Can you make some little notices for a newspaper? 1. Do you know about the nests the little field mice hang for their children, high up in the stalks of standing grain? They do not often trust their little ones to the open nest of a bird. 2. Their own are very carefully woven of narrow grasses. They are hollow globes not larger than the balls you use in your games, with always a baby mouse peeping out. 3. They do not need much room, for when fully grown they weigh less than the sixth part of an ounce. This whole family in its nest would only weigh as much as a letter which one postage stamp would carry. 4. They are the tiniest of all animals, at least of all that have bones. What will they do when the grain is cut? 66 We shall be grown-up mice then," they answer. But what do they do? 5. Some of them burrow a deep hole in the ground and line it with grass. Some stay in the summer nest, after the stalks have been cut and |