Is the nicest duck of all,
He hasn't any feathers,
And his mouth is sweet and small;
He runs with a light step
And jumps upon my knee,
And though he cannot swim
He is very dear to me.

One white lady-duck,
Motherly and trim,
Eight little baby ducks
Bound for a swim;
One sleepy little duck
Taking quite a nap,
One precious little duck
Here on mother's lap.

A. L.

The Squirrel

The pretty red squirrel
Lives up in a tree,
A little blithe creature
As ever can be;
He dwells in the boughs
Where the stock-dove broods,
Far in the shades
Of the green summer woods;

His food is the young
Juicy cones of the pine,
And the milky beech-nut
Is his bread and his wine.
In the joy of his nature
He frisks with a bound
To the topmost twigs,
And then down to the ground.

Then up again like
A winged thing,
And from tree to tree
With a vaulting spring;
Then he sits up aloft,
And looks ragged and queer,
As if he would say:
"Ay, follow me here!"

And then he grows pettish,
And stamps his foot;
And then with a chatter,
He cracks his nut;
And thus he lives
All the long summer through,
Without either a care
Or a thought of rue.

The Mountain and the Squirrel

The mountain and the squirrel
Had a quarrel,
And the former called the latter "Little Prig;"
Bun replied,
"You are doubtless very big,
But all sorts of things and weather
Must be taken together
To make up a year,
And a sphere.
And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.
If I'm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I.
And not half so spry;
I'll not deny you make
A very pretty squirrel track.
Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;
If I cannot carry forests on my back,
Neither can you crack an nut!"

R. W. Emerson

[Illustration: An Intelligent Tame Raccoon.]

[Page 189--Wonderful Bird Nests]

Wonderful Birds' Nests

[Illustration: Five Birds' Nests.]

[Page 190--Cole's Poems On Books]

[Illustration: Cole at the Age of 40.]

[Illustration: Edward William Cole--Aged 80.]

[Illustration: Coles Own Portrait]

What Books Do For Mankind

1.

Books should be found in every house,
To form and feed the mind;
They are the best of luxuries
To happify man