licking off every little speck of dust;
the toes were spread out and examined; the small amount of tail kept in
order. I could but think how many a lesson we may learn from the small
as well as the great creations of God's hand--habits such as this little
animal possessed might, in the way of cleanliness, lead to the
prevention of endless diseases, if imitated by those who never dream of
daily cleansings as being necessary to health and life.

[Illustration]

[Illustration: SQUIRREL.]

SQUIRRELS.

If one lives in the country where these graceful little animals exist,
it is well worth while to attract them near the house so that one may
enjoy the sight their gambols and minister to their wants by suitable
diet. As I have already said, for many years food was placed in a basket
outside the dining-room window to attract the charming little titmice,
and four species might be seen feasting on fat of different kinds. I
placed Barcelona nuts for the nuthatches, and they came and shared the
contents of the basket with the tits. The nuts also drew a squirrel to
the spot, and after about a year, the little fellow became so used to
seeing us moving in the room that he would sit in the basket with his
graceful little tail curved over his back, cracking his nuts, and
nibbling away quite at ease. Then the window was opened and the nuts put
on a table inside the room, and there little "Frolic" sits whilst we are
at meals and forms one of the family, holding his nuts cleverly in his
paws, whilst his sharp teeth bite a hole in them, and, regardless of
tidiness, he flings the shells about as he nibbles at the kernels,
looking at us with his black, beady eyes, perhaps speculating upon what
our breakfast may be. How much more enjoyable is this sort of pet than a
poor caged squirrel whirling round in his wheel, condemned to a dreary
life, with no freedom or change, no intercourse with his kind.

In town there is, perhaps, no way to keep a squirrel but in a cage; even
so, by an occasional release from its captivity, a constant variety in
its food, and its being talked to and noticed, its life may be made
less irksome, and, if young, it may eventually be made quite tame, and
become an interesting daily companion.

We derived great amusement from our squirrel visitors; one after another
they would leap up the side of the window and spring in and out of the
basket in quick succession, carrying away a nut at each visit, playing
an