ng,
curly white plume, and it was very becoming to her.

"Yes, I like it," she said to aunt Sarah. "But Nanny Rich has a hat
with two plumes."

"And I can tell you somebody who wears half a dozen or more," replied
aunt Sarah, "and that somebody is the ostrich himself."

[Illustration: OSTRICH EGGS.]

Aunt Sarah tells Matty a great many interesting things, and she told
her about ostriches. She told how they live in hot sandy countries
like Africa.

They are so tall and have such long legs they can run as fast as, or
faster than, a horse.

[Illustration: A PAIR OF OSTRICHES AT HOME.]

They have their nests in a hollow on the ground. The Hottentot likes
ostrich eggs to eat. One ostrich egg is as big as sixteen hen's eggs.
So it makes a breakfast for a number of people. The Hottentot breaks a
hole in the small end of the egg, stirs up the contents with a stick,
and then sets it over the fire to cook. The shell is very thick and
hard, and the heat of the fire will not break it.

There is somebody else who likes ostrich eggs too, and that somebody
is a kind of fox. He comes when the ostrich is away and helps himself.
Sometimes the ostrich comes home and finds him at it.

Many other people like to wear ostrich plumes as well as Matty. So
there is a large trade in them. The wild ostrich does not supply
feathers enough for the market, so ostriches are now raised like
turkeys and hens. This business is called "ostrich farming." The
ostriches are kept in large yards, and the plumes are taken out every
year.

Aunt Sarah told all this to Matty. "And so," said Matty, stroking the
long white plume, "this feather has ridden on the back of an ostrich
in Africa; I wish it could tell me what it has seen."

[Illustration: SOMEBODY ELSE WHO LIKES EGGS.]

WHO KILLED THE GOOSE?

[Illustration: {A DOG WRAPPED IN A QUILT.}]

It was the very nicest, whitest goose of the whole flock, and there it
was--dead! Who had killed it? was the question. Everybody said it must
have been Bose; and why? Because Bose liked to tease the geese.
Sometimes he jumped from behind a bush and frightened them. Sometimes
when they were standing at their trough eating, he ran at them, just
for the fun of seeing them run.

[Illustration: {A DOG IN A BASKET.}]

"I don't think he meant to kill it," said the grandpa.

"Very likely not," said the father, "but I must teach him not to run
at the geese. Come here, sir," he said to Bose.

[Illustr