ose. It had been put up for the children, and could be
reached by Mickey, who now and then indulged himself with a swing on it.
One day, I had put down some bird skins on a chair to dry, far beyond,
as I thought, Mickey's reach; but, fertile in expedients, he took the
swing and launched it towards the chair, and actually managed to knock
the skins off in the return of the swing, so as to bring them within his
reach. He also procured some jelly that was set out to cool in the same
way. Mickey's actions were very human like. When any one came near to
fondle him, he never neglected the opportunity of pocket-picking. He
would pull out letters, and quickly take them from their envelopes.
Anything eatable disappeared into his mouth immediately. Once he
abstracted a small bottle of turpentine from the pocket of our medical
officer. He drew the cork, held it first to one nostril, then to the
other, made a wry face, recorked it, and returned it to the doctor.

One day, when he got loose, he was detected carrying off the cream-jug
from the table, holding it upright with both hands, and trying to move
off on his hind limbs. He gave the jug up without spilling a drop, all
the time making an apologetic chuckle he often used when found out in
any mischief, and which always meant, "I know I have done wrong, but
don't punish me; in fact, I did not mean to do it--it was accidental."
Whenever, however, he saw he was going to be punished, he would change
his tone to a shrill, threatening note, showing his teeth, and trying to
intimidate. He had quite an extensive vocabulary of sounds, varying from
a gruff bark to a shrill whistle; and we could tell by them, without
seeing him, when it was he was hungry, eating, frightened, or menacing;
doubtless, one of his own species would have understood various minor
shades of intonation and expression that we, not entering into his
feelings and wants, passed over as unintelligible.

FOOTNOTES:

[402-*] This selection is taken from _The Naturalist in Nicaragua_.

POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC

NOTE.--In the time of Benjamin Franklin, almanacs were a very
popular form of literature. Few of the poorer people could afford
newspapers, but almost every one could afford an almanac once a
year; and the anecdotes and scraps of information which these
contained in addition to their regular contents, were read and
re-read everywhere.

In 1732, Franklin began the publi