The Pet Monkey

       "Once there was an old lady," said daddy, "who lived all alone.

       One day, though, she went to town and bought a pet monkey.

       She named him Niles. He was only seven inches long and had a curly tail. He was a very dark gray color. He proved to be a most expensive pet, for he liked all the most delicious fruits and would only eat his bread and rice when plenty of rich cream was poured over it. What fascinated him above all was the old lady's rings.

      "When the old lady saw how fond Niles was of jewels she took out her jewel box. Niles had the most glorious time playing with its contents. He decorated himself with all the beads and chains and bangles

and looked at himself in the mirror. He shook all over, for he liked the noise as well as the glitter of the jewels.

       ''So the old lady was very, very happy with her pet monkey. Niles was delighted with his new home and his new mistress, for he had never had jewels to play within the pet shop."

More About Silly Monkeys:

• Make a sock monkey for your 18" Doll...
• How to make a cute little monkey from a clothespin...
• The Animal Store

The Pink Cockatoo

        ''On the morning of the birthday of a little girl named Natalie,' said daddy, ''pink cockatoo was ready to greet her when she awoke. Well, you can imagine how happy Natalie was. And she kept saying over and over again:

       Oh, how lovely you are.' The cockatoo would raise up his pink crest on the top of his head at that - just as some people raise up their foreheads - only his crest went way, way higher. He did that whenever he felt like it, and he always felt like it when he was being talked to. ''And after a very short time the cockatoo was just as tame as could be and he seemed to grow more beautiful every day.

       ''Before long he began to talk just as a parrot will and follow Natalie around the house. He had his food out of special little pink dishes Natalie had given him to match his pink feathers, and every morning

he took his bath in a pink soup bowl which he thought was very fine indeed.

       ''Maybe you will think he got spoiled by so much fussing and attention, but he just became tamer and tamer every day. He learned many tricks and would often perform them for Natalie's friends.

       ''And when it came time for Natalie's next birthday she gave a party. On the invitation it said the party was being given by Natalie and the pink cockatoo. And in one corner was a little colored drawing Natalie had made of her cockatoo. When the cockatoo saw it he put his crest way up in the air, and said in a funny voice:

       ''Goodie, Natalie,' which was his pet name for his Mistress.

       ''And this is a truly true story, you know.''

More About Cockatoos:

• The Cockatoo
• Practice shading a rose-crested cockatoo
• The Cockatoo Primer Page

The Selfish Oyster Crabs

       You know, I think oyster-crabs are perhaps the most selfish of all the sea animals," began daddy. ''The oyster-crabs really belong to the crab family. They are called oyster-crabs, however, because above all things they love the juice of an oyster and absolutely live on it. And what I am going to tell you about now is the way they get it.

       "First of all, the oyster-crab hovers around the oysters and then picks out a nice, fat, juicy looking oyster, saying to himself: ''You look as if you could feed me well without any effort. I think I will crawl into your shell.' So then he crawls right inside the oyster's shell and proceeds to enjoy himself. He prefers just to 'sponge' on others, as the expression goes!" 

More About Oysters:

• Starfish love to eat oysters too!
• Your dolls can craft oysters on the half shell for a party...

Naughty Wind

       "The Clothespins on the line," said daddy, "were having a very jolly time."
       "I'll blow those clothes away," said the North Wind.
       "Oh, no you won't' said the Clothespins in chorus.
       "You are only little wooden things,' said the Wind. 'I am strong and powerful and can do just exactly as I like.'
       ''Now the Fairies saw that the Clothespins were doing their work so well that they thought they would like to help them, so they all perched on the line and began to sing:

'Heigh-ho, heigh-ho,

Let the North Wind blow,

The Clothes-Pins and we,

Will certainly see,

That the clothes will stay here.

The day's nice and clear,

The sun's good and strong,

And the wind is quite wrong.

To try such a trick,

But the Clothes-Pins will stick.'

       ''The Clothespins did stick to the line and the Fairies helped them, singing all the time. The Wind kept on blowing and tried his hardest to get the better of the Fairies, but he had no luck at all and the Clothespins won!''

More About Clothespins:

• The Clothes-Pin Dollies by Camilla J. Knight
• The Popover Family - series by Ethel Calvert Phillips
• Scout Clothespin Doll Crafts

Warren's Address

 WARREN'S ADDRESS
(At the Battle of Bunker Hill.)
BY JOHN PIERPONT

Stand! the ground's your own, my braves!
Will ye give it up to slaves?
Will ye look for greener graves?
Hope ye mercy still?
What's the mercy despots feel?
Hear it in that battle peal!
Read it on yon bristling steel!
Ask it, - ye who will!

Fear ye foes who kill for hire?
Will ye to your homes retire?
Look behind you! they're a-fire!
And, before you, see
Who have done it! - From the vale
On they come ! - and will ye quail?
Leaden rain and leaden hail
Let their welcome be!

In the God of battles trust!
Die we may, - and die we must;
But oh, where can dust to dust
Be consigned so well,
As where Heaven its dews shall shed
On the martyred patriot's bed.
And the rocks shall raise their head
Of his deeds to tell!

Columbia

 COLUMBIA
BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT
(Written during the author's services as an army chaplain,1777-78.)

Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise.
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies ;
Thy genius commands thee ; with rapture behold,
While ages on ages thy splendor unfold !
Thy reign is the last, and the noblest of time,
Most fruitful thy soil, most inviting thy clime ;
Let the crimes of the East ne'er encrimson thy name.
Be freedom, and science, and virtue thy fame.

To conquest and slaughter let Europe aspire ;
Whelm nations in blood, and wrap cities in fire ;
Thy heroes the rights of mankind shall defend,
And triumph pursue them, and glory attend ;
A world is thy realm : for a world be thy laws,
Enlarged as thine empire, and just as thy cause;
On Freedom's broad basis, that empire shall rise,
Extend with the main, and dissolve with the skies.

Fair science her gates to thy sons shall unbar,
And the east shall with mom hide the beams of her star.
New bards, and new sages, unrivaled shall soar
To fame unextinguished, when time is no more;
To thee, the last refuge of virtue designed,
Shall fly, from all nations the best of mankind ;
Here, grateful to heaven, with transport shall bring
Their incense, more fragrant than odors of spring.

Nor less shall thy fair ones to glory ascend,
And genius and beauty in harmony blend ;
The graces of form shall awake pure desire,
And the charms of the soul ever cherish the fire ;
Their sweetness unmingled, their manners refined,
The virtue's bright image, instamped on the mind.
With peace and soft rapture shall teach life to glow.
And light up a smile in the aspect of woe.

Thy fleets to all regions thy power shall display,
The nations admire and the ocean obey ;
Each shore to thy glory its tribute unfold,
And the East and the South yield their spices and gold.
As the day-spring unbounded, thy splendor shall flow,
And earth's little kingdoms before thee shall bow ;
While the ensigns of union, in triumph unfurled,
Hush the tumult of war and give peace to the world.

Thus, as down a lone valley, with cedars overspread,
From war's dread confusion I pensively strayed.
The gloom from the face of fair heaven retired;
The winds ceased to murmur ; the thunders expired ;
Perfumes as of Eden flowed sweetly along,
And a voice as of angels enchantingly sung:
Columbia, Columbia, to glory arise,
The queen of the world, and the child of the skies.''

The Battle of Trenton

 THE BATTLE OF TRENTON
(Dec. 26, 1776.)

On Christmas-day in seventy-six.
Our ragged troops with bayonets fixed.
For Trenton march away.
The Delaware see ! the boats below!
The light obscured by hail and snow!
But no signs of dismay.

Our object was the Hessian band,
That dared invade fair freedom's land,
And quarter in that place.
Great Washington he led us on,
Whose streaming flag, in storm or sun,
Had never known disgrace.

In silent march we passed the night.
Each soldier panting for the fight,
Though quite benumbed with frost.
Greene, on the left, at six began.
The right was led by Sullivan,
Who ne'er a moment lost.

The pickets stormed, the alarm was spread,
The rebels risen from the dead
Were marching into town.
Some scampered here, some scampered there.
And some for action did prepare ;
But soon their arms laid down.

Twelve hundred servile miscreants,
With all their colors, guns, and tents,
Were trophies of the day.
The frolic o'er, the bright canteen
In center, front, and rear was seen
Driving fatigue away.

Now brothers of the patriot bands,
Let's sing deliverance from the hands
Of arbitrary sway.
And as our life is but a span,
Let's touch the tankard while we can.
In memory of that day.