So, then, Alice went bravely into the water, and soon splashed Susie Jane, and Susie Jane splashed back! And Bobby Shafto gave both dolls a ride on his back. "Alice just loves swimming!" cried Sophie. "I thought she would!" said Elizabeth. Later, everybody, except Grandmama, Mama, and Baby, went in bathing. Papa and Uncle Nathaniel were very jolly, and gave the children a glorious time. Guess how many of them fell sound asleep in the train going home, and I will tell you the answer in the next chapter. CHAPTER VII THE DOLL LEARNS TRUE POLITENESS EVERY blessed one of them! Even Papa wakened only just in time to say, "Preserve us! Ours is the next station!" As soon as the Dales got home, they ate a hot supper which Hannah had ready for them, and then the children were glad to go to bed. The next day was still hotter, and Cousin Eleanor, who always felt the heat very much, lay upon a lounge, for she had a terrible headache. The sun streamed broadly through her south window, but she felt so ill that she dreaded even to get up to fix the shade. "In just a minute I will," she said to herself, and closed her eyes. "If only that water-pitcher were nearer!" she thought. she considered what Alice could do. Presently she wound a soft handkerchief around and around the doll's hand, and arm, and tied it firmly. Next, she turned some cold water into the basin, and brought the basin, with great care, onto a chair beside the bed. She Cousin Eleanor did n't open her eyes. thought, "I don't know what the child is doing, but I won't send her out if she likes to be here. She was such a darling to shut out that horrid sun. Oh, how my head does ache!" Just then she felt something deliciously cool and soft and wet drawn lightly across her forehead. You know what it was. Again it came, and again. Never had anything felt so good to Cousin Eleanor ! She said not a word. Alice, too, was so well-bred that she knew it was not a time to speak. But by and by, Cousin Eleanor opened her eyes, smiled brightly at Elizabeth, and said: "I really believe the headache is going away!" And she sat up, and kissed Elizabeth, and then Alice. So, now, the doll had learned another way to help. "Thank you very much," said Cousin Eleanor. "It seems to me that Alice is growing to be a very well-bred doll. How thoughtful she was to bathe my forehead." Elizabeth looked at Alice more happily. "Who taught Aunt Alice to be polite?" she asked. "Why, I think she was taught a great deal by her own kind heart," answered Cousin Eleanor. "Her mother died when she was a little baby. But I really believe Aunt Alice could not be happy a moment if she felt some one near her was uncomfortable. She puts her own wishes last. And now, honey, it's growing cooler outside, so let's take our pails and go out into the pasture and pick some huckleberries. If we get enough, I'll make a roly-poly pudding for our dinner, and you shall make a little one exactly like it for Alice and Susie Jane." She lay there for a little while with her eyes shut; and then Elizabeth came into the room with her doll in her arms. She stopped just inside the door, with her finger on her lip, looking toward Cousin Eleanor; and then, what do you think she did? First, she stepped, so softly that it was like a kitten stepping, over to the south window, and pulled the green shade slowly down until the sun was hidden, and cool shadows played over the floor. You remember that, at the christening, Elizabeth said that she wanted her doll to grow up to be like Aunt Alice, down in Yarmouthport, who was always careful about being kind? So now next chapter. Guess what it was that made Cousin Eleanor's own manners so good, and I will tell you in the SOME ODDITIES OF THE FISH WORLD FOR many years it has been known that certain fish make sounds known as drumming, and that others make noises that are somewhat musical and not unlike the croaking of a big bullfrog. Though the cause of these sounds could have been easily investigated, as such fish are widely found, this was not done until recently, although a number of suggestions were made by various writers as to the means by which the sounds THE CLIMBING FISH. were produced. In 1880, Gunther, a careful student, wrote as follows: These drumming sounds are frequently noticed by persons in vessels lying at anchor on the coasts of the United States. It is still a matter of uncertainty by what means the drumfish produces the sounds. Some naturalists believe that it is caused by the clapping together of the very large molar teeth. However, if it be true that the sounds are accompanied by a tremulous motion of the vessel, it seems more probable that they are produced by the fishes beating their tails against the bottom of the vessel in order to get rid of the parasites with which that part of their body is infested. Another writer stated that the sounds were supposed to be made by the forcible expulsion of air from the swim-bladder. But quite recently Dr. Hugh M. Smith, of Washington, D. C., has discovered that the drumming is produced by a special muscle in connection with the airbladder, which acts as a sounding-board. The drumfish is found along the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Florida. It is said that more than fifty species of fish are known to make sounds of some kind. The mud sunfish utters a deep grunting sound; the mullet, the catfish, and even the eel are known to be sound producers. In Siam, a variety of sole, known as dog'stongue (Cynoglossus), attaches itself to the bottom of boats and makes a sonorous sound which is more musical when several are attached to the same boat and act in concert. This sound is "something like that of a jew's-harp struck slowly, though sometimes it increases in loudness so as to resemble the full tones and sound of an organ." The sea-robin gives a short, high-pitched grunt-whence its name of "pigfish," given to it in some places. Darwin tells of a catfish "which is remarkable for a harsh, grating noise when caught by hook and line. This noise can be distinctly heard even when the fish is beneath the water." In this connection it will doubtless be of interest to our young people to have their attention called to certain fish of peculiar form. One of the strangest is known by scientists as Melanocetus. Another is the Eurypharyr, also known as the pelican-fish. These are here pictured by our artist. They are deep-sea fishes, living over a mile below the surface. It is believed that the Melanocetus buries itself in the mud, and when the "feeler" is touched, suddenly opens its huge mouth and draws in its food. Among the most interesting fresh-water fish that are sometimes kept in household aquaria is the stickleback, which builds a nest. Some build these homes in the bottom of the streams, hiding the nest among the weeds and water-plants; others build on submerged boughs, or on stones or projecting ledges. All kinds of material are collected, and are matted together to form the bottom of the nest, being held in place by sand, small pebbles, leaves, stems, or twigs, all of which are glued together by an adhesive secretion of the fish. After the base has been formed, the sides and roof are made, with a circular opening at or near the top. In the fresh waters of Guiana, a beautiful, green-brown fish, the Callicthys, builds a nest of grass blades, straw, and leaves, not in the water, but in a muddy hole at the edge, and just above the surface. When the water dries away, the fish, by means of its fins, creeps to other wet or marshy places. It is said to live for twenty-four hours out of water. Our common sunfish are nest-builders. Every country boy with observing eyes has noticed, at the edge of the pond, the clean appearance of certain spots from which all vegetable material, mud, and pebbles have been removed. This has been done by the sunfish, whose swaying body and moving fins and tail make currents in the water, that wash the spot and leave only the clean sand. Sometimes the pebbles and other unde at times trained above the cleaned depression and shocks similar in effect to that produced by a form a perfect bower. But of all strange nests, the one that has pleased me most is that of the Indian paradisefish, kept in an ordinary house aquarium. This fish is novel, not only on account of its brilliant markings, but it also breathes air, and does not, like other fish, depend for its oxygen on that set free in the water by aquatic plants. But the most remarkable thing about it is its method of building a nest. These amazing nests not only float, but are formed of air bubbles. With its mouth the fish blows the little bubbles, and coats them with an adhesive or mucilaginous substance, so that they adhere together and form a floating, fairy-like mass, in which the eggs are laid, and in which the young are hatched. Occasionally a young fish will slip out, or apparently tumble out, of his home of bubbles, and circle away, finally falling to the bottom of the aquarium. Then one of the parents, in serious alarm at what has happened to the youngster, swims quickly to the bottom, draws the little one into its mouth, swims back to the delicate bubble mass, and literally "blows him up," because he was so careless as to fall out of bed. A "SHOCKING" FISH THE electric ray (Narcine brasiliensis) has a broad body covered with smooth skin, and is galvanic battery. The shocks delivered by these creatures are very startling, and barefoot fishermen have been known to be knocked down by accidentally stepping on them in shallow water. The specimen here pictured was captured in the Gulf of Mexico near Veteran, Florida, and taken alive to the laboratory of Mr. A. G. Reynolds. The National Museum has specimens of Narcine brasiliensis from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, and from several localities in Florida, as well as from Cozumel Island and Jamaica. This ray is very small when compared with the common electric ray (Tetronarce), which reaches a weight of two hundred pounds. B. A. BEAN, Smithsonian Institution. A RAMBLER in the forest is often surprised to find what seems to be a twig alive. This is the walking-stick insect. It has many relatives in the insect world, the family name being Phasmidae, from a Greek word meaning an apparition, a name that fits it well, for indeed it looks like the ghost of a twig. The accompanying photograph of this insect on a real twig was sent to ST. NICHOLAS by John Boyd, Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. "MEMORY ROOT," AND WHY "Do you know the memory root?" inquired one boy of another, during a ramble in the woods. "No; what is it, and why is it called that?" "Come here and look at it, and I will tell you why," said boy number one, showing his companion a root of the Indian turnip; and, as they bent over it, he continued: "I once dug up one of these plants, and, being young and foolish, I tasted it, taking a very little piece to be sure. Just at first it seemed all right, but in a moment-phew! I thought I had tried to eat red-hot needles. I found out later that it is really full of tiny, needle-like prickers. One is n't likely to forget such an experience, so we call it the memory root." Many plants are so placed by nature that they must protect themselves from the attacks of insects and of larger animals, in order that they may thrive and increase. Some have thorns to prevent the cattle from eating their leaves. Some have spines or prickles around the blossoms to exclude undesirable visitors. Many others have peculiar means of obtaining similar protection. The jack-in-the-pulpit, or our "memory plant," has its weapons in the underground bulb, and these consist of minute needles of crystal, about one five-hundredths of an inch in length, invisible to the naked eye, but a few sticking to the lips or tongue will make themselves painfully known, Birds may for they burn and sting like fire. safely eat the cluster of red berries that "jack" A MAGNIFIED VIEW OF A SMALL PIECE OF "MEMORY ROOT.' lifts every autumn on the top of a long stem. But no boy or other animal will more than once molest the bulb, and our young folks should never eat the berries. The picture shows a magnified bit of the root |