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EVERY year, when the apple-trees put on their pink-and-white spring dresses, Betty and Polly went to Uncle John's farm for a long visit.

Betty and Polly were just the same age and the same size, and each had blue eyes and red lips that parted very often to let a bubbly laugh come through. But Betty's hair was curly and brown, and Polly's hair was curly and yellow; if you did n't notice this, it was hard to tell which was Betty and which was Polly. Each morning they went together and fed the chickens, and then Betty went to feed the pigeons and Polly went to feed the ducks. The chickens soon grew used to them, and would come and take the grains of corn from their hands. But the ducks and the pigeons were shy, and always waited until Betty and Polly had gone away before they would come and eat the breakfast that had been brought to them. Betty and Polly often wished they were as tame as the chickens.

But one warm day, as Brown Wing, the mother duck, was floating about in the shade of the bridge with her three little ducklings, Downy and Fluffy and Topsy, she said to them: "Duckie dears, that seems to be a very kind little girl who brings you such a nice breakfast every morning. I think it would be quite

safe, and much better manners, for you to meet her politely when she comes instead of waiting for her to go away before you eat the food she brings you.'

Just then one of the pigeons was flying by and perched on the bridge for a moment, in time to overhear what Brown Wing was saying; the pigeon turned this over in his mind and decided she was quite right, so he flew back home and told the rest of the pigeon family, and all agreed that the idea did her credit.

The next morning Polly pattered down the garden path to the brook to watch the little ducks for a few minutes. As soon as they saw her, Downy and Fluffy and Topsy paddled toward her as fast as they could. Then they scrambled up the stone steps to where Polly sat, quacking and stretching their necks to see what she had brought them for breakfast. And then, while Polly, who could scarcely believe her eyes, held the dish, they ate up everything in it.

At the same time, Betty had carried the dish of corn and crumbs to the low bench beside the rain-water barrel, where she could look up at the pigeons in their house on top of the pole.

The pigeons stood in their tiny doorways watching her, cocking their heads from side to side. Then one very brave pigeon flew down and perched on the bench. As Betty did not move, two more flew down, and began to eat the crumbs from the dish; and then, best of all, Silver, the prettiest pigeon, spread his white wings, and came and picked the crumbs from Betty's hand.

As soon as their dishes were empty, Betty ran to find Polly, and Polly ran to find Betty, to tell each other the wonderful things that had happened to them. Nora Bennett.

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ANIMALS AT PLAY

"THE faculty of amusement comes early in animals given to play," writes the author of "Animals at Work and Play," and he adds, "Many animals make it part of their maternal duty to amuse their young. Even a ferret will play with her ferocious little kittens, just as a cat will with hers."

The same author very interestingly describes the game of "I 'm the King of the Castle," as he

DOGS ARE COMIC AND PERSISTENT WRESTLERS.

saw it played by some lambs. One lamb mounted a pile of straw and rubbish, and immediately his

comrades "stormed" his castle, and tried to push him from his stronghold. The one that succeeded had a chance to defend the position as the former one had done, and the performance was kept up until all were tired out. A steeplechase was another exciting amusement. In this they jumped over a row of old feed boxes as they ran back and forth across the barn-yard.

For genuine amusement in the home, select two well-matched kittens and set them to playing-or they will do it without urging. The saucy "faces" they make, with ears turned back, as they wait to close in with each other, are very amusing. It seems strange that they can keep such serious faces themselves while carrying on such funny performances. But we must remember that all their quick attacks and stealthy actions while at play are training them for more serious business in later life.

Dogs get a great deal of exercise in their play, but they are not so sly nor so graceful as members of the cat family. My dog has "killed" many a rag while playing at rat-catching. Dogs seem to obtain great enjoyment from their play. Their capers with a stick thrown for them to bring back from the land or the water have amused many a small master.

Little pigs play with as much vigor and dexterity as any animals that I have ever seen; but later in life, this capacity entirely disappears.

While some young animals enjoy playing with

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LAMBS COMBINE "FOLLOW THE LEADER" AND "RING AROUND A-ROSY.'

with a leap in the air, and snap about again for another run in another direction. Suddenly they

each other at close quarters, or, with heads jerking up and down in a lively manner, were trying to stare each other out of countenance.

In the Zoo, the bear cubs tussle with each other, and the polar bears wrestle while standing in their pool, three feet deep, or try to see how long one can hold another under the water. The graceful but grotesque gnu, in performing his antics, cuts up the ground of his yard with his sharp hoofs. He runs about his inclosure with great

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THE OSTRICH DANCES IN A LAUGHABLE MANNER.

rooks often go through an elaborate performance of 'killing' a biscuit before eating it, and tame sea-gulls play a game with sticks and stones,

COMIC COMBAT OF HALF-GROWN CHICKENS.

both body and mind greater benefit than can be had from any other form of recreation. Nature long ago taught her humbler creatures this, but we have been slow to learn the lesson.

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HARRY B. BRADFORD.

BIRDS NESTING IN NOISY PLACES

MANY birds that are shy and retiring in other respects, show very little fear of the creaking and groaning of heavy machinery, or the thunderous roar of heavy trains. I recall reading some years ago of a pair of courageous little sparrows that started a nest at one end of a large turn-table in a roundhouse. This turn-table was the same at both ends, and the birds built two nests-one on each end, working one day on one end, and the next day on the other, as the turntable was reversed. Here, in the midst of din and confusion, they finally selected one of the nests, and raised a happy brood of young.

In the western States, the mourning-dove is wild enough to be considered a game-bird, yet the accompanying picture shows the frail nest of a dove with its two delicate, white eggs, resting on the sloping side of a railroad grade, and barely three feet from the rails over which a dozen heavy trains thundered every day. Less than a mile from this nest, was the nest of a pintail-the wildest and wariest of all wild duckswithin eighteen feet of the rails; and the mother duck, as she brooded her eleven great clay

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