amount of good we might do? Yet I would not have this poor boy hurt
if a word of mine could prevent it."

"This is a scientific meeting," observed the professor; "and benevolent
sentiments are quite out of place. We will now proceed to notice the
delicate nervous system of the creature. Stand closer, my friends, if
you please."

"Nervous system, indeed!" said Bobby. "Boys don't have such silly things
as nerves!"

Suddenly Bobby felt a multitude of tiny pin pricks over the entire
surface of his body. The suffering was not intense, but the irritation
made him squirm and wince. He could not discover the cause of his
discomfort, but at the professor's command it suddenly ceased.

"That will do," said the frog. "Each hair on his head is also connected
with a nerve. Pull his hair, please!"

"Oh, don't!" said Bobby. "That hurts!"

Nobody listened to him. It did hurt, more than you would think, for tiny
hands were pulling each hair separately. When the ordeal was over,
Bobby heard a faint noise in the grass as if some very small creatures
were scurrying away, but he could see nothing. He was winking his eyes
desperately to keep from crying.

"The assistants may go now," said the professor; and the sound of little
feet died away in the distance.

"How interesting this is!" murmured a plain-looking toad who had been
watching the experiments attentively.

"I think it's mean," protested poor Bobby, "to keep a fellow fastened up
like this, and then torment him."

"Does it hurt as much as being skinned, or having your legs cut off?"
demanded the professor.

"Or should you prefer to be stepped on, or burned up in a rubbish pile?"
asked Mrs. Bufo.

"How should you like to be stoned or kicked, for a change?" said another
toad sharply.

"Perhaps you would choose a fish-hook in the corner of your mouth?" said
a voice from the pond.

"Or one run the entire length of your body?" came a murmur from the
ground under Bobby's head.

"Wait a minute," said the professor, more gently. "We will give you a
chance to defend yourself. It is not customary to inquire into the moral
character of specimens, but we do not wish to be unjust. Perhaps you can
explain why you made a bonfire the very week after the toads came out of
their winter-quarters. Dozens of lives were destroyed before that fire
was put out."

"I forgot about the toads," began Bobby.

"Carelessness!" said the professor. "Now you may tell us why you like to
throw s