Animals Books

CHAPTER I. IN WHICH ERNEST THORNTON INTRODUCES HIMSELF. "Ernest Thornton!" called Mr. Parasyte, the principal of the Parkville Liberal Institute, in a tone so stern and severe that it was impossible to mistake his meaning, or not to understand that a tempest was brewing. "Ernest Thornton!" As that was my name, I replied to the summons by rising, and exhibiting my full length to all the... more...

r. Wagner lived about two miles from a small town, and he thought it would be nice for his boys to have a little goat cart, so they could drive into town for mail and do errands for the family. Without saying anything to his family, he appeared one evening leading a nice, docile looking, long-bearded Billy goat, hitched to a beautiful new red wagon. Of course, the boys were wild with delight, and their... more...

THE FIDDLER If Chirpy Cricket had begun to make music earlier in the summer perhaps he wouldn’t have given so much time to fiddling in Farmer Green’s farmyard. Everybody admitted that Chirpy was the most musical insect in the whole neighborhood. And it seemed as if he tried his hardest to crowd as much music as possible into a few weeks, though he had been silent enough during all the spring. He... more...

CHAPTER I MOTHER ETIENNE'S FARM "Oh Grandfather, tell us a story, do. You know, the one you began the other evening about Mother Etienne's big farm. You remember. The weather is so bad and we can't go out. Go on, Grandfather, please." Coaxingly the three children clung round their grandfather, looking at him beseechingly. He adoring the children as he did, loved to hear them... more...

A TERRIBLE PERSON The rats and the mice thought that Miss Kitty Cat was a terrible person. She was altogether too fond of hunting them. They agreed, however, that in one way it was pleasant to have her about the farmhouse. When she washed her face, while sitting on the doorsteps, they knew—so they said!—that it was going to rain. And then Mrs. Rat never would let her husband leave home without... more...

JOHNNIE GREEN'S FAVORITE A few of the farmyard folk were a bit jealous of the Muley Cow. The little red lady that stood on one side of her, in the barn, often said that Johnnie Green was wasting too many goodies on her. It seemed as if he never entered the cow barn without bringing some tidbit for old Muley, as her neighbors called her—behind her back. If it wasn't a potato that Johnnie... more...

FOREWORD These stories are founded on memories of my childhood on the farm. They first took definite form in response to the requests of my own little boys: "Tell me about when you were little, Mama." Some of them were demanded over and over again; but it remained for Bobby, the youngest, to insist that they be "put into a book." Many a time, after listening to one of them, he would... more...

CHAPTER I. In a pleasant country where green meadows lay stretched by the side of a broad river whose banks were lined with the pollard-willow and tall poplar, there once dwelt a family of Weasels, known, from their place of residence, as the Weasels of Holm-wood. Holm-wood was a little island covered with underwood, rushes, and wild flowers. A few aged trees stood by its edge, bathing their long arms... more...

THE DESTINY OF DAN VI The baggageman slid open the side door of the car. With a rattle of his chain Dan sprang to his feet. A big red Irish setter was Dan, of his breed sixth, and most superb, his colour wavy-bronze, his head erect and noble, his eyes eloquent with that upward-looking appeal of hunting dog to hunting man. Cold, pine-laden air deluged the heated car and chilled his quivering nose and... more...

Paulina Evering was an intelligent girl, and as interesting as she was intelligent and pretty. She was kind-hearted, and generous almost to a fault. She was beloved by all the children in her neighborhood; for she was ever indulging them in some way. She had a beautiful grape-vine in the garden nurtured by her own hand. And when the grapes were ripe, she seldom tasted of them herself, but when any... more...