A letter about Grandpa's childhood

Dear Children,

       Well, here I am again, writing a letter to Grandpa's Grandchildren. This time I am going to write about horses. Some little girls do not care very much for horses, but all boys love horses and dogs. Long years ago I was a little boy. My Papa had an old-fashioned pair of leather saddlebags. My Father attended to a large herd of cattle, and he salted these cattle every week, and counted them to see if any had got out of the pasture. Sometimes I would ride behind until I would fall asleep, and then he would place me around in front, and hold me on his lap. At one time after he had emptied all the salt out of one side of the saddlebags, he put me in the empty bag and covered me up. Then he rode up in front of our home, and Mother came out to see her little boy; but no little boy could be found. It was a hot summer day, and I began to feel about as warm as a setting hen. Mother was scared; yes, excited at the loss of her first-born little boy. I could see the tears streaming from her eyes, as I peeped through a small crack in the old saddlebags.

       Mother was crying and, at the same time, telling Father that he was cruel to punish her in that way. I couldn't stand it a minute longer; young as I was, I felt that a little fellow like me could have no better friend than Mother. Papa saw that I had poked my head out of the bag and was turning the horse around, so Mother could not see me; but the old Dollie mare seemed to almost understand the trick, and in turning around, made more of a turn than Papa expected, and I was brought squarely around in full view, and there I was right in full sight of Mama, sitting down in the old saddlebags, with my little black head just above the cover. Papa lifted me up, and I didn't wait to be helped any farther, but just jumped into Mother's arms. The next day Father was mowing the yard, and I was wearing my first pants. Down at the back end of the yard was a small pond of water, with a mud bottom. My Papa waded into it to show me that the water was not deep, and in this way got me to try my new breeches. I waded out and back again a few times until the water became very muddy. Finally, I fell down in the middle of the pond, and went clear under, and how much farther, I could not tell. I was not old enough to swim, but I was a wriggler, and I wriggled out, but Oh! such a sight. I was the color of mud, and my new pants! Both Father and Mother gathered me up, and I was put through some kind of a fresh-water scrubbing, and that night Mother sat up until a late hour, making me a new pair of pantaloons. I started out in this letter to write you something about horses, but I got to thinking of some things that happened to me when I was a little boy.

       I believe I am getting to be like some preachers, who always take a text, but never preach from it.

Love, Grandpa.

Story of A Mouse

       A very neat little Mouse once lived in the same house with an ill-natured old Cat. When this little Mouse left his bed in the morning, he always washed and brushed himself with great care, taking particular pains with his long tail, which he kept very sleek and pretty.

       One morning the untidy Cat had not been able to find her brush and comb, not having put them in their proper place the day before; and when the Mouse ran past her, she snapped his pretty tail quite off because she felt so cross. The little Mouse turned and said, " Please, Mrs, Cat, give me back my long tail!"

       Mrs. Cat answered, " I will give you your long tail if you will bring me a saucer of milk; I always like milk better than tails." The little Mouse had no milk in his pantry, but he took his tin pail and went to the Cow, saying -

       "Please, Mrs. Cow, give me some milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat some milk, and Mrs. Cat will give back my long tail."

       The Cow said, " I will give you some milk, but I must first have some hay." The little Mouse then took his wheelbarrow, and going to the farmer, said -

       "Please, Mr. Farmer, give me some hay, and I will give Mrs. Cow some hay; Mrs. Cow will give me some milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat some milk, and Mrs. Cat will give back my long tail."

       The farmer said, "I would be glad to give you some hay, but my barn door is locked; if you will go to the locksmith, and get me a key, I will unlock my barn, and give you all the hay you can carry on your little wheelbarrow."

       Then the little Mouse took his pocket-book, and went to the locksmith, saying, "Please, Mr. Locksmith, give me a key, and I will give the farmer a key, and the farmer will give me some hay, and I will give Mrs. Cow some hay, and Mrs. Cow will give me some milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat some milk, and Mrs. Cat will then give me back my long tail."

       The locksmith said, "I must have a file with which to make a key; if you will get me a file, I will make the key with great pleasure,"

       So the little Mouse took his satchel, and went to the blacksmith, and asked him, saying - "Please, Mr. Blacksmith, give me a file, and I will give Mr. Locksmith a file, and Mr. Locksmith will give me a key, and I will give the farmer a key, and the farmer will give me some hay, and I will give Mrs. Cow some hay, and Mrs. Cow will give me some milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat some milk, and Mrs. Cat will give me back my long tail." The blacksmith answered, "I need some coal to build a fire before I can make a file. If you will go to the miner, and get me some coal, I will be glad to make a file for you." So the Mouse took his little cart, and went down, down into the dark earth, until he saw a man, with a lantern on his hat, and when he spoke to the man, the man said, "Well done, little Mousie, how did you get so far without a light?"

       Mousie answered that he was quite used to playing in the dark, and now he must work night and day to get his tail again; and then he said-

       "Please, Mr. Miner, give me some coal, and I will give the blacksmith some coal, the blacksmith will give me a file, I will give the locksmith a file, the locksmith will give me a key, I will give the farmer a key, and the farmer will give me some hay, and I will give Mrs. Cow some hay, and Mrs. Cow will give me some milk, and I will give Mrs. Cat some milk, and Mrs. Cat will give me back my long tail."

       Then the miner filled the little cart with coal; and the Mouse trudged up to the blacksmith, who gave him the file, which he put in his little satchel, and then ran as fast as his feet would carry him to the locksmith, who gave him a key, which he put in his pocket-book, and carried to the farmer, who unlocked the barn door, and gave him all the hay he could pile upon his wheelbarrow. Mousie took the hay to Mrs. Cow, who filled his little tin pail with milk, which the Mouse carried to the cat, saying, "Now, Mrs. Cat, please give me back my long tail."

       Mrs. Cat said, " So I will, my dear; but where have I put it?"

       Then this untidy Cat called all the people in the house, saying, "Where could I have put that tail!" "Oh! now I think I know - I believe it is in the upper bureau drawer." But the tail was not in the upper bureau drawer, and the poor Mousie who had worked so hard was nearly ready to cry, and the milk was getting cold. Then Mrs. Cat said, "I must have put it in this closet," and she ran to the closet, pulling down dresses and boxes; but there was no tail there, and the little Mouse had to wink very

hard not to let the tears fall, and the milk was getting blue, when Mrs. Cat shouted, " Of course I put it in the second drawer" ;but she tumbled all the things out of the drawer and found no tail; then the little Mouse had to sing "Yankee Doodle" to keep from crying, and the milk was in danger of getting sour.

       Mrs. Cat now clapped her paws, and said, " Why, I know where it is - I ought to have thought before - I put it here in this lower drawer, in this very box, wrapped up so neatly in pink tissue paper. Yes; hurrah! here it is!" And the Mousie took his pretty, long tail, and ran home as fast as he could to get some glue to stick it on again; and Mrs. Cat ate her milk, thinking she would try hereafter to put things in their places.

Tom The Water-Baby

       Once upon a time there was a little chimney-sweep, and his name was Tom. That is a short name, and you have heard it before, so you will not have much trouble in remembering it. He lived in a great town in the North country, where there were plenty of chimneys to sweep. He could not read nor write, and did not care to do either; and he never washed himself, for there was no water up the court where he lived. He had never been taught to say his prayers. Tom and his master, Mr. Grimes, set out one morning for Harthover Place, where they were to sweep the chimneys. Mr. Grimes rode the donkey in front, and Tom and the brushes walked behind.

       Old Mrs. Earth was still fast asleep; and, like many pretty people, she looked still prettier asleep than awake. The great elm-trees in the gold-green meadows were fast asleep above, and the cows fast asleep beneath them; nay, the few clouds which were about were fast asleep likewise, and so tired that they had lain down on the earth to rest, in long white flakes and bars, among the stems of the elm-trees, and along the tops of the alders by the stream, waiting for the sun to bid them rise and go about their day's business in the clear blue overhead.

       Tom never had been so far into the country before; and longed to get over a gate, and pick buttercups; but Mr. Grimes was a man of business, and would not have heard of that.

       Soon they came up with a poor Irishwoman, trudgingalong with a bundle at her back. She had a gray shawl over her head, and a crimson madder petticoat. She had neither shoes nor stockings, and limped along as if she were tired and footsore; but she was a very tall, handsome woman, with bright gray eyes, and heavy black hair hanging about her cheeks. And she took Mr. Grimes's fancy so much, that when he came alongside he called out to her, "This is a hard road for a gradely foot like that. Will

ye up, lass, and ride behind me?"

       But, perhaps, she did not admire Mr. Grimes's look and voice; for she answered quietly, -

       "No, thank you; I'd sooner walk with your little lad here."

       "You may please yourself," growled Mr. Grimes, and went on.

       So she walked beside Tom, and asked him where he lived, and all about himself, till Tom thought he had never met such a pleasant-spoken woman.

       And she asked him, at last, whether he said his prayers; and seemed sad when he told her that he knew no prayers to say.

       Then he asked her where she lived; and she said far away by the sea that lay still in bright summer days, for the children to bathe and play in it; and Tom longed to go and see the sea and bathe in it.

       At last they came to a spring, bubbling and gurgling, so clear that you could not tell where the water ended and the air began.

       There Grimes stopped, got off his donkey, and clambered over the low road-wall, and knelt down, and began dipping his ugly head into the spring; and very dirty he made it.

       Tom was picking the flowers as fast as he could. The Irishwoman helped him. But when he saw Grimes actually wash, he stopped, quite astonished; and when Grimes had finished, and began shaking his ears to dry them, he said, 

       "Why, master, I never saw you do that before."

       "Nor will again, most likely. 'Twasn't for cleanliness I did it, but for coolness. I'd be ashamed to want washing every week or so, like any smutty collier-lad."

       "I wish I might go and dip my head in," said poor little Tom. "It must be as good as putting it under the town-pump; and there is no beadle here to drive a chap away."

       "Thou come along," said Grimes. "What dost want with washing thyself?"

       Grimes was very sulky, because the woman preferred Tom's company to his; and he began beating him.

       "Are you not ashamed of yourself, Thomas Grimes?" cried the Irishwoman, over the wall.

       Grimes seemed quite cowed, and got on his donkey without another word.

       "Stop!" said the Irishwoman. "I have one more word, Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be; and those that wish to be foul, foul they will be. REMEMBER"

       How many chimneys Tom swept at Harthover Place I cannot say: but he swept so many that he got quite tired, and lost his way in them; and coming down, as he thought, the right chimney, he came down the wrong one, and found himself standing on the hearth-rug in a room the like of which he had never seen before.

       The room was all dressed in white: white window-curtains, white bed-curtains, white chairs and white walls, with just a few lines of pink here and there.

       The next thing he saw was a washing-stand, with ewers and basins, and soap and brushes, and towels; and a large bath full of clean water. And then, looking toward the bed, he held his breath with astonishment.

       Under the snow-white coverlet, upon the snow-white pillow, lay the most beautiful little girl that Tom had ever seen. Her cheeks were almost as white as the pillow, and her hair was like threads of gold spread all about over the bed.

       She never could have been dirty, thought Tom to himself. And then he thought, "And are all people like that when they are washed?" And he looked at his own wrist, and tried to rub the soot off, and wondered whether it ever would come off. "Certainly I should look much prettier, if I grew at all like her."

       And looking round, he suddenly saw, standing close to him, a little, ugly, black, ragged figure, with bleared eyes and grinning white teeth. He turned on it angrily. What did such a little black ape want in that sweet young lady's room.'' And behold, it was himself reflected in a great mirror, the like of which Tom had never seen before.

       And Tom, for the first time in his life, found out that he was dirty; and burst into tears with shame and anger; and turned to sneak up the chimney again and hide, and upset the fender, and threw the fire-irons down, with a great noise.

       Under the window spread a tree, with great leaves, and sweet white flowers, and Tom went down the tree like a cat, and across the garden towards the woods.

       The under-gardener, mowing, saw Tom, and threw down his scythe, and gave chase to poor Tom. The dairy-maid heard the noise, jumped up and gave chase to Tom. A groom ran out, and gave chase to Tom. Grimes upset the soot-sack in the new-gravelled yard, and spoilt it all utterly; but he ran out, and gave chase to Tom. The ploughman left his horses at the headland, and one jumped over the

fence, and pulled the other into the ditch, plough and all; but he ran on and gave chase to Tom. Sir John looked out of his study-window (for he was an early old gentleman), and he ran out, and gave chase to Tom. The Irish-woman, too, was walking up to the house to beg; she must have got round by some by-way; but she threw away her bundle, and gave chase to Tom likewise.

       Tom ran on and on, and when he stopped to look around, he said, "Why, what a big place the world is;" for he was far away from Harthover, having left the gardener, and the dairy-maid, and the groom, and Sir John, and Grimes, and the ploughman all behind him.

       Through the wood he could see a clear stream glance, and far, far away the river widened to the shining sea, and this is the song Tom heard the river sing: 

"Clear and cool, dear and cool,

By laughing shallow, and dreaming pool;

Cool and clear, cool and clear.

By shining shingle, and foaming wear;

Under the crag where the ouzel sings.

And the ivied wall where the church bell rings,

Undefiled, for the undefiled;

Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.

Strong and free, strong and free,

The floodgates are open, away to the sea ;

Free and strong, free and strong.

Cleansing my streams as I hurry along ;

To the golden sands, and the leaping bar.

And the taintless tide that awaits me afar,

As I lose myself in the infinite main,

Like a soul that has sinned and is pardoned again.

Undefiled, for the undefiled ;

Play by me, bathe in me, mother and child.

       Then he fell asleep and dreamed that the little white lady called to him "Oh, you're so dirty; go and be washed;" and then he heard the Irishwoman say: "Those that wish to be clean, clean they will be.'' And all of a sudden he found himself, between sleep and awake, in the middle of the meadow saying continually, "I must be clean, I must be clean." And he went to the bank of the brook and lay down on the grass and looked into the clear water, and dipped his hand in and found it so cool, cool, cool; and he said again, "I must be clean, I must be clean." And he put his poor, hot, sore feet into the water; and then his legs. "Ah," said Tom, "I must be quick and wash myself."

        And all the while he never saw the Irishwoman: not behind him this time, but before.

       For just before he came to the river-side, she had stepped down into the cool, clear water; and her shawl and her petticoat floated off her, and the green water-weeds floated round her sides, and the white water-lilies floated round her head, and the fairies of the stream came up from the bottom, and bore her away and down upon their arms; for she was the Queen of them all ; and perhaps of more besides.

       "Where have you been?'' they asked her.

       "I have been smoothing sick folk's pillows, and whispering sweet dreams into their ears; opening cottage casements, to let out the stifling air; coaxing little children away from gutters and foul pools; doing all I can to help those who will not help themselves: and little enough that is, and weary work for me. But I have brought you a new little brother, and watched him safe all the way here."

       But Tom did not see nor hear this, for he had not been in the water two minutes before he fell fast asleep, into the quietest, sunniest, coziest sleep that he ever had in his life. The reason of his delightful sleep is very simple: the fairies had taken him.

       Ah, now comes the most wonderful part of this wonderful story. Tom, when he woke, - for of course he woke; children always wake after they have slept exactly as long as is good for them, ‚ -found himself turned into a water-baby.

       And now happened to Tom a most wonderful thing; he came upon a water-baby.

       A real, live water-baby, sitting on the white sand, very busy about a little point of rock. And when it saw Tom, it looked up for a moment, and then cried, "Why, you are not one of us. You are a new baby! Oh, how delightful!"

       And it ran to Tom, and Tom ran to it, and they hugged and kissed each other for ever so long, they did not know why.

       At last Tom said, "Oh, where have you been all this while?"

       "We have been here for days and days. There are hundreds of us about the rocks."

       "Now," said the baby, "come and help me, or I shall not have finished before my brothers and sisters come, and it is time to go home."

       "What shall I help you at?"

       "At this poor, dear little rock; a great, clumsy boulder came rolling by in the last storm, and knocked all its head off, and rubbed off all its flowers. And now I must plant it again with sea-weeds, and I will make it the prettiest little rock-garden on all the shore."

       So they worked away at the rock, and planted it and smoothed the sand down round it, and capital fun they had till the tide began to turn. And then Tom heard all the other babies coming, laughing and singing and shouting and romping; and the noise they made was just like the noise of the ripple.

       And in they came, dozens and dozens of them, some bigger than Tom and some smaller, all in the neatest little white bathing-dresses; and when they found that he was a new baby, they hugged him and kissed him, and then put him in the middle and danced round him on the sand, and there was no one ever so happy as poor little Tom.

       "Now then," they cried all at once, "we must come away home, we must come away home, or the tide will leave us dry. We have mended all the broken sea-weed, and put all the rock-pools in order, and planted all the shells again in the sand, and nobody will see where the storm swept in last week."

       And this is the reason why the rock-pools are always so neat and clean; because the water-babies come in shore after every storm to sweep them out, and comb them down, and put them all to rights again.

Coming And Going

       There came to our fields a pair of birds that had never built a nest nor seen a winter. How beautiful was everything! The fields were full of flowers, and the grass was growing tall, and the bees were humming everywhere. Then one of the birds began singing, and the other bird said, "Who told you to sing?" And he answered, "The flowers told me, and the bees told me, and the winds and leaves told me, and the blue sky told me, and you told me to sing." Then his mate answered, "When did I tell you to sing?" And he said, " Every time you brought in tender grass for the nest, and every time your soft wings fluttered off again for hair and feathers to line the nest." Then his mate said, "What are you singing about?" And he answered,  I am singing about everything and nothing. It is because I am so happy that I sing."

       By and by five little speckled eggs were in the nest, and his mate said, " Is there anything in all the world as pretty as my eggs?'' "Then they both looked down on some people that were passing by and pitied them because they were not birds.

       In a week or two, one day, when the father-bird came home, the mother-bird said, "Oh, what do you think has happened?" "What?" "One of my eggs, has been peeping and moving!" Pretty soon another moved under her feathers, and then another and another, till five little birds were hatched! Now the father-bird sang louder and louder than ever. The mother-bird, too, wanted to sing, but she had no time, and so she turned her song into work. So hungry were these little birds that it kept both parents busy feeding them. Away each one flew. The moment the little birds heard their wings fluttering among the leaves, five yellow mouths flew open wide, so that nothing could be seen but five yellow mouths!

       "Can anybody be happier?'' " said the father-bird to the mother-bird. "We will live in this tree always, for there is no sorrow here. It is a tree that always bears joy."

       Soon the little birds were big enough to fly, and great was their parents' joy to see them leave the nest and sit crumpled up upon the branches. There was then a great time! The two old birds talking and chatting to make the young ones go alone! In a little time they had learned to use their wings, and they flew away and away, and found their own food, and built their own nests, and sang their own songs of joy.

       Then the old birds sat silent and looked at each other, until the mother-bird said, "Why don't you sing?" And he answered, "I can't sing - I can only think and think." "What are you thinking of?'' "I am thinking how everything changes: the leaves are falling off from this tree, and soon there will be no roof over our heads; the flowers are all going; last night there was a frost; almost all the birds are flown away. Something calls me, and I feel as if I would like to fly far away."

       "Let us fly away together!"

       Then they rose silently, and, lifting themselves far up in the air, they looked to the north: far away they saw the snow coming. They looked to the south: there they saw flowers and green leaves! All day they flew; and all night they flew and flew, till they found a land where there was no winter - where flowers always blossom, and birds always sing. by Henry Ward Beecher.

Mary Had A Little Lamb

       Mary had one little lamb. Mary's father had a hundred little lambs. Mary's lamb could not stay in the house with her all of the time; it stayed out in the meadow, with the other little lambs and sheep, most of the time. When Mary went to look at all the lambs playing together, she could not tell surely which was her own until she called, "Pet, Pet!" As soon as she spoke, her lamb would come bounding toward her, and would go with her wherever she ,went. When she had to go home to go to bed, she would shut the gate between her and her lamb, and then kiss the lamb's woolly head through the bars, telling him, "Good night; be sure to be awake when I go to school in the morning." A part of Mary's path to school was beside the meadow, and the lamb always went as far as he could with her; when she turned the corner so he could go no further, he always put his head through the fence for Mary to give him a good-by hug and a kiss, and as long as he could see her he would cry "baa, baa"; but when she was quite out of sight, he would go to play with the other lambs, no doubt thinking that a hundred lambs were almost as good playfellows as one little girl.

       One day all the sheep were taken from the meadow and driven down the road past the schoolhouse, the lambs being left alone. Mary was afraid something might happen to her lamb, left with so many frisky little creatures without a mother-sheep to tell them not to turn heels over head. Mary's father had told her she might bring her lamb down past the schoolhouse at noon and see what they were doing with the old sheep; so Mary let the lamb follow her to school in the morning, though her father did not mean she should do so. It really was no harm, and I am sorry "it made the children laugh and play," so that the teacher had to turn the lamb out of doors. But just as soon as school closed, Mary ran out, and hugging the woolly little lamb, said, "You dear, patient little Pet! now we will take a walk"; and away they went down the road toward the river. Very soon they heard all sorts of baas, big, coarse baas, pretty, soft baas, and coarse and soft baas all mingled together. (Children can easily produce the sound.)

       It was a strange sight that Mary and Pet saw. Some men were carrying the sheep into the water and were washing their warm woolly coats in the clear, cool river. Mary asked her father if she might wash her lamb, and her father said she might wash his face and see how he liked that. Mary took off her shoes and stockings and waded into the water. Mary's lamb splashed in after her, and when his face had been neatly washed, Mary's father said the day was so warm that she might wash all of her lamb's wool. What fun they had! The lamb enjoyed it quite as much as Mary did. Mary was afraid the dust would get into the damp wool and make her lamb look more untidy than if he had not been washed, so she took off her apron, and putting the lamb's fore-legs through the sleeves, started home ; but the lamb would not stir a step while dressed in that way, and Mary took the sleeves off his legs and tied them in a pretty bow-knot under his chin; this seemed to please him much better, for he now trotted briskly ahead of her a part of the way home. I wish you had been at that schoolhouse when Mary and her lamb went past; the teacher and all the children were eating their luncheon out under the trees, and they laughed as you or I would laugh, to see a lamb dressed in a girl's apron.

       When all the old sheep had been in the sunny meadow a few days after their bath in the river, their thick coats of wool had become quite dry, and they were taken to the barn, where the farmers cut off their wool every summer. Mary and her lamb went too. Mary said her lamb ought to be taught to keep very quiet while being sheared, and her father said the best-behaved lambs always made the best sheep; so Mary taught her lamb to keep its feet quite still while she played that she cut its wool all off to make herself a dress. Some of the wool from a mother-sheep was made into a ball for Mary to hang round Pet's neck so she could tell him from the other lambs, and Mary had a dress, a hood, a pair of mittens, and some stockings made from the wool that was cut from the sheep's backs that day. Mary took a pair of scissors and clipped a tiny lock of wool from Pet's back, and tying it with a blue ribbon, put it in a box marked : "Pet's first wool; washed and cut off by Mary."

Disc and The Cats Now Eat Together!

Dear Children,

       Just as I expected, little Disc has had trouble with the kittens. We undertook to feed Disc and the cats from the same dish. The cats did not like the looks of Disc. Now, Disc does not look like a cat, still he has four legs and four feet, two eyes, and one tail just like a cat; but he looks more like a little baby cub bear. Well, Disc went to helping himself, and in his great hurry picked out the biggest piece of meat on the plate. The old mother cat lifted her paw and gave the dog a slap on his ear; but Disc paid no attention to the lick as his coat of hair is very thick, pussy did not hurt him. Then she bowed her back and arched her tail, and said something that all the rest of the cats understood, and then about three stuck their claws into him at once. Disc saw at once that there were too many cats for one little dog, and as there were no other little dogs near, he got close to the floor, turned his head away from the cats, and put his paws up over his ears, as if to say, come on, and thus ended the first fight. When dinner came, Disc was on hand. The food was emptied in a large dish, but neither dog nor cats seemed hungry. Disc looked at the dish and made a move as if to help himself, when old puss raised her paw as if to strike; then Disc raised his paw and ducked his head; puss made a lick at him and he dodged it; then the old mother cat gave a scream, and all at once every cat looked like a fighter. Disc growled, and every cat bent their backs almost double. Old puss then said something, and all at once every cat jumped at the little bear dog. Disc snapped and snarled ; he just bit right and left; every cat was doing their very best to whip poor little Disc. He turned and twisted, sometimes on his back and then on his stomach. Sometimes he had his head in front and sometimes his tail. Disc got hold of one of the best fighters that old pussy had, and the cat cried like a little whipped boy. Some of the cats kept up their spite and spit. Cat fur and dog hair lay around in patches. Disc was fighting for his dinner and would not give up. The cats now saw that this was a lost cause, and left in a hurry, and now Disc and the cats eat out of the same dish, but Disc eats first.

Love, Grandpa.

Puppies feed together at a pinwheel feeding dish.

The donkey and the dog pull a cart...

Dear Children,

       There was a letter in the mail today from your Mama, in which she said the church was getting ready for "Children's Day." You just tell your Mama that the church ought to be ready all the time. When you get older, I want you to read that story in the Bible where five people started out in the dark, without any coal oil in their lamps. And then there is another story that ought to have been in the Good Book; it tells about a man with a lantern looking all around for an honest man.

       There was a funny thing happened today, in the street, right in front of our house. Some boys hitched up a dog and a goat to a little wagon. Now, this kind of a team did not match. That is one did not look very much like the other. I think the goat was older than the dog, because of his beard. They had harness and bridles and lines on them. The boys had a whip, but they didn't need a whip. The team did not seem to know what was said to them. The dog's name was Tray, and the goat didn't have any name at all, and if he ever had a name, he didn't want anybody to know it, for he had been caught in bad company. The dog went entirely too fast for the goat. The dog was a loper, and the Billy Goat was a pacer. The dog barked, but I could not hear what the goat did say about it ; almost sounded like swearing. The dog was going too fast for Billy; so when they came to the street corner, the dog tried to turn alright but Billy tried his best to go straight on, and this didn't last long. The wagon smashed into a gate that was hanging open on the sidewalk, and here the driver was thrown out; but it never hurt him until he struck the ground. Billy had gotten himself turned around in the harness, and seemed as if he wanted to go somewhere, and the dog appeared as if he intended going somewhere else. Just at this time three more dogs came along, and Billy did not seem to be in a very good humor about something, so he reared and plunged, and finally broke his bridle, and started pell-mell down the street; sometimes the goat was ahead, and sometimes the dog. The goat got behind, but some way caught up. On turning the next corner, the wagon upset, and who do you think was coming up the sidewalk, just at this time? Well, it was Grandma, and, among other things, she had a basket of apples carrying along at arms length, and as the dog and goat passed her, the wagon was still coming on, and when it passed her the basket of apples was in the way, and now I am sure she won't ask me to go to prayer meeting with her again for at least two weeks.

Love, Grandpa.

Dixie, a professional cart goat.