shade, and from one of the branches, I had hung a
miniature "belfry," containing a tiny brass bell, and had led the
string into the water, letting it go down to a considerable depth. At
first, I tied bait at intervals upon the line, and the sticklebacks,
of course, seized upon it, and thus rang the bell. Generally the
ringing was done in a very grave and proper way, although sometimes,
when the bait was too tightly tied, the quick peals sounded like a
call to a fire.

[Illustration]

I kept up this system of baiting the string for about a week, until
I thought they understood it, and then replaced the worms by bits of
stone. As I expected, the next morning, as I looked through the grass
and down into the water, tinkle! tinkle! rang the bell, and I knew my
little friends were saying, "Good-morning!" and expected a breakfast.
You may be sure they got it. I put my hand down, and up they came, and
got one worm apiece; and as I raised my hand, down they rushed, and
away went the bell, in an uproarious peal, that must have startled the
whole neighborhood. I was quick to respond, and they soon learned to
ring the bell before coming to the surface; in fact, if they saw me
pass, I always heard their welcome greeting. But to return to the
minnows.

I generally fed them first, about twenty feet up the bank; but one
morning I found one or two had followed me down to the residence of
the stickleback family. They met with a rude reception, however, and,
to avoid making trouble, the next day I went to the willow first. But
no sooner had the bell begun to ring, than I saw a lot of ripples
coming down, and in a second the two factions were in mortal combat.
The sticklebacks were fighting not only for breakfast, but for their
nests, which were near by; and they made sad work of the poor minnows,
who, though smart in some things, did not know when they were whipped,
and so kept up the fight, though losing one of their number nearly
every morning. The bell now and then rang violently, but I fear it was
only sounding an appeal from a voracious stickleback whose appetite
had got the better of his rage.

So it went on every morning. The minnows had learned what the bell
meant, and though usually defeated in the fight, they in reality had
their betters as servants to ring the bell and call them to meals.
Finally, they succeeded, by force of great numbers, in driving away
their pugnacious little rivals, and the bell hung silent; for, stran