you to do when you see these dangers coming?"

"We are to run away as fast as we can from Hawks, Weasels, Owls, and
Cats. If a man comes near us, we are to lie perfectly still and watch
him, and are not to move unless we are sure that he sees us or is likely
to step on us. Men do not know so much about Mice as the other dangers
do."

"And what if you are not sure that some creature is a Hawk, an Owl, a
Weasel, or a Cat?"

"If we even think it may be, we are to run."

"When are you to run?"

"At once."

"Say that again."

"We are to run at once."

"Very good. That is all for to-day."

You can see how well the Meadow Mouse mother brought up her children,
and how carefully she taught them about life. If they had been wise and
always minded her, they would have saved themselves much trouble.

Seven of them were dutiful and obedient, but the largest of the eight,
and the finest-looking, liked to decide things for himself, and often
laughed at his brothers and sisters for being afraid. Because he was so
big and handsome, and spoke in such a dashing way, they sometimes
wondered if he didn't know as much as their mother.

One sunshiny day, when all the eight children were playing and feeding
together in the short grass, one of them saw a great black bird in the
air. "Oh, look!" she cried. "That may be a Hawk. We'd better run."

"Pooh!" said the biggest little Meadow Mouse. "Who's afraid?"

"Mother said to run," they squeaked, and seven long bare tails whisked
out of sight under a stump.

"Ho-ho!" said the biggest little Meadow Mouse. "Before I'd be so scared!
I dare you to come back! I dare you to----"

Just then the Hawk swooped down. And that is the end of the story, for
after that, there was no foolish little Meadow Mouse to tell about.

THE LONELY LITTLE PIG

One day the Brown Hog called to her twelve young Pigs and their ten
older brothers and sisters, "Look! look! What is in that cage?"

The twenty-two stubby snouts that were thrust through the opening of the
rail-fence were quivering with eagerness and impatience. Their owners
wished to know all that was happening, and the old mother's eyes were
not so sharp as they had once been, so if the Pigs wanted to know the
news, they must stop their rooting to find it out. Bits of the soft
brown earth clung to their snouts and trembled as they breathed.

"It looks like a Pig," they said, "only it is white."

"It is a Pig then," grunted their mothe