The Fireside Library.

ANIMAL
CHUMS

True Tales about Four-footed
Friends

BY
JEAN McINTOSH

NEW YORK
SULLY AND KLEINTEICH

(PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN)

CONTENTS.

ANIMAL CHUMS.

John Willie.

Have you ever heard of any one having a real live goose for a pet?" said Uncle John to Willie and Tommy.

"Oh! do tell us all about it, uncle," said Tommy.

Now these two little boys loved to hear a nice story; and whenever their uncle came to live with them, they made him promise to come to their nursery every evening and tell them a story.

"Well," said Uncle John, when they had settled down, "this is a true story that I am going to tell you to-night."

"I know it is true, because I saw the goose not very long ago, and very funny he did look with his—"

"But I must begin at the beginning."

In a country village not very far from the seaside lived a little boy and girl with their father and mother.

Now these people were very, very poor.

It was drawing very near to Christmas time, and they were thinking of all the nice presents and things that little boys like you would be sure to get on Christmas morning.

Said Robbie (for that was the boy's name) to his sister,—

"Mamie, do you think Father Christmas will bring us anything this year?"

"I do hope so," said Mamie. "I have tried to be good."

"What would you like?" said Robbie.

"Well," said Mamie, who was thinking hard, "I think I should like something that we could all share—father and mother as well."

"But what could that be?" asked Robbie in surprise.

"Well, I have thought of something," said Mamie, "but I am afraid you will laugh at me if I tell you."

"Oh no, I won't," cried Robbie. "Do tell me what it is."

"I shall tell you," said Mamie, "if you promise faithfully not to laugh."

"I promise faithfully," answered Robbie.

"Well," Mamie went on, "I thought that I should like Father Christmas to send me a goose, and then we could all have it for dinner on Christmas day."

"That would be jolly," said Robbie. "What a surprise father and mother would get!"

"Yes, that is what I thought," said Mamie, much relieved that Robbie did not laugh. "Let us both call up the chimney now and ask Father Christmas if he will send us one."

So Robbie and Mamie shouted up the chimney together, and what a noise they did make! This is what they said:—

"Please, Father Christmas, we should like a lovely big goose for Christmas instead of a present for our stockings."

"I wonder if he heard," said Robbie and Mamie together.

But Father Christmas did hear. For there was a tiny little fairy listening all the time, and she caught the message in one of her wings, and flew right away there and then to give it to Santa Claus.

The next morning Robbie and Mamie ran out into the garden, and what do you think they saw?

"Oh, oh!" cried Mamie.

"Oh, oh!" cried Robbie.

"It has come," they both said together.

And there waddling about on the grass was a large goose.

They ran away to tell their mother, and she said,—

"Well, we must give it something to eat."

So Robbie and Mamie fed it, not only that morning, but every morning.

By-and-by this goose became very tame, and was soon the pet of the family.

"I am afraid we shall never have him for dinner now," said Robbie.

"Oh no," answered Mamie; "I could not bear to eat him, he is such a darling."

So they kept him and gave him the name of John Willie.

"And now," said Uncle John, "if you are good children, I will take you to see this strange pet some fine day.

"You will see it going for a walk with its master. It sometimes walks along beside him for miles and miles, with a slow, stately tread.

"Or you may see it sitting on its master's shoulder while he sits and reads.

"It will also feed out of your hand as dainty as—well, as a goose can."

"What a jolly story!" said Tommy.

"I wish I had a goose," said Willie.

"Hurry Up, Jack!"

A lady who lived in the country had a son who was a sailor boy.

Once when he came home from a long, long voyage he brought his mother a parrot.

Now this parrot was very, very wise indeed, and the lady had taught her to say all manner of things.

In the mornings the master of the house had to get up very early, and the parrot used to wake him by crying out,—

"Hurry up, Jack! It is time to get up!"

One day Polly got out of her cage, and, as the door was standing open, she flew very quickly through it and out of sight.

The lady hunted high and low for her pet, but she was not to be found. At last, just when she had given up all hope of ever seeing Polly again, a boy came to the door of the house.

"Please, Mrs. Brown" (for that was the lady's name), "I think your parrot is in Farmer Day's orchard. She is sitting in an old apple tree screeching for all she is worth."

"Oh, I do hope it is she," said Mrs. Brown, and off she went to seek the bird as fast as she could.

Sure enough, there was Polly perched high up in the tree crying out,—

"Oh dear me, poor Polly's lost—poor Polly's lost!"

As soon as she saw her mistress Polly cried out,—

"Hullo, Sally! Poor Polly's lost. Take Polly home!" And the bird flew down to her.

Now, don't you wish you had a parrot so clever?

Brer Rabbit's Adventure.

Said Brer Rabbit to his wife one day, "Oh, how I should like to see the world! It is very dreary living in this green field, and always having the same thing over and over again."

"My dear," answered his wife, "it is a dangerous world beyond the green fields, where all manner of strange things dwell, and two-footed animals lie in wait to gobble you up. I do not want to leave my little burrow."

And Brer Rabbit's wife tucked herself up in her little bed and went to sleep.

But Brer Rabbit kept thinking and thinking, and longing and longing to go beyond the green field in which he had his home; and one fine morning he popped out of his hole and ran away with all his might and main.

Over the fields he went faster and faster. On the way he passed whole families of rabbits, and when they called after him, "Where are you going to, Brer Rabbit?" never a word he answered.

At last Brer Rabbit began to feel tired. It was long since he had left his home, and he had travelled many, many miles, and now felt very hungry.

"I wonder where I could get something to eat," he said to himself.

But he looked about in vain. Not a blade of nice sweet grass could he see anywhere, and he began to feel very sad.

"Oh, what shall I do?" thought poor Brer Rabbit. "How I wish I had never left my nice home!"

But now he was too tired to go back; and even if he would, he could not go, for, in his haste, he had not noticed by which way he had come.

Just then he spied a nice box with a lot of straw in it.

"Ah," said Brer Rabbit, "this looks a nice quiet bed. I will just pop in here and have a good sleep."

So in he popped, and curled himself up in the corner, and soon fell fast asleep.

Brer Rabbit must have been sleeping for a long time when he awoke with a fearful start.

And what do you think had happened?

Some one had put a chair inside the box and packed it in with more straw, and now the lid was being hammered on, and poor Brer Rabbit was too terrified to move. There he was held fast in a prison, and no one to let him out.

"Oh dear, dear me!" wailed Brer Rabbit. "If only I had taken my wife's advice and never left my nice little home!"

But Brer Rabbit wailed in vain, for never an answer was there to his cry.

Presently Brer Rabbit felt the box being lifted and put into a train. Then the door was shut, the whistle blown, and away he went, far, far across the country to a strange land.

Brer Rabbit shivered and shook with fright, and he got so ill with hunger that he was forced to eat the hard coarse straw. How he longed for some green grass and a nice cool drink!

After many hours the train stopped and the box was taken out; then it was put into a van and taken to a big shop in a town. There, with poor Brer Rabbit still in it, the box was put into a dark cellar.

After a long time a man came to the box and took off the lid; then he took out the chair.

"I am lost now," said Brer Rabbit, "for surely this is a two-footed animal come to gobble me up."

So he huddled himself up in the corner, but it was so dark in the cellar that the man never saw him, and he took the chair away, and left Brer Rabbit all alone, and the lid off the box.

"Now," said Brer Rabbit, "I am at least free of this box, but I will just wait awhile before I pop out in case any one should come in and see me."

So he waited till all was quiet, and then popped out of his prison. Oh, how weak and ill he did feel! He could scarcely hop round the floor. He looked all over for something to eat, and found some crumbs, but no water to drink.

So Brer Rabbit stayed there all that night and the next day, until he was almost dead and had lost count of time.

"O sir," said Bob, the errand boy, to his master, "there is a great big rat in the cellar. I have never seen such a big one before, and I am almost afraid of it."

"I will come and see," said the master. And off he went with Bob to the cellar.

Bob opened the door very gently and peeped in.

"It is still there," said he.

"Let me look," exclaimed the master, and he too peeped in at the door.

"Why," he said, "that is not a rat; it is a wild rabbit."

Bob's eyes nearly dropped out with surprise. And no wonder, for here was poor Brer Rabbit sitting in the corner, too weak and ill to run away.

"Now," he thought, "I must surely die, for I am caught at last."

But Bob's master was a kind man, and he loved animals very much.

He took Brer Rabbit up in his arms, and gave him some milk to drink and biscuits to eat, and then put him into a warm basket, and took him home for his little girls and boys to look at.

That same day they took Brer Rabbit away into the country, and put him down in a lovely green field, and gave him his freedom.

And this was the end of Brer Rabbit's adventure. After many long days he found his wife and family again, and when he had told them all about it, he said,—

"I shall never, never again want to see the world."

The Greedy Lamb.

Have you ever seen a pet lamb?" said Bobs to his mother one day.

Bobs was a little boy who was always asking questions; and if he could only get his mother to tell him a story, he was quite content. He would sit so still that he scarcely so much as winked.

"Yes," answered his mother; "I had a pet lamb for my very own when I was a little girl."

"Oh, do tell me all about it," cried Bobs. "Was it very tiny?"

So Bobs and his mother sat down in a chair by the fire, and she began,—

"A long, long time ago, when I was quite a little girl, I had a great longing to have a pet lamb.

"My father owned a farm, and although I had lots of other pets, I was not content, and still wanted a lamb for my own.

"'Very well,' said my father, 'you may have a pet lamb, but I am sure you will get tired of it and never want another.'

"But I did not believe what father said, for I thought nothing could be so nice as a little woolly lamb.

"One day we went for a picnic to a lovely valley where a beautiful waterfall leaped and dimpled in the sunlight, and then fell down, down, down hundreds of feet into the river below.

"Father and I were standing on a rock watching this waterfall and thinking how lovely it looked, when, all at once, I saw something that made me jump.

"'Look, look, father!' I cried; 'there is something lying in the pool below. What can it be?'

"'Why, I do believe it is a sheep,' said father. 'You stay just there, and I will go nearer and see.'

"'O father, it is a sheep,' I cried, 'and there is its little lamb.' And I pointed to a ledge of rock where a tiny lamb was standing nibbling at some green leaves on a tree that grew by the water-side.

"Every few moments it bleated most piteously, and looked all round for its mother.

"But never again would it hear her bleat, for there, in the deep pool at the foot of the waterfall, she was lying drowned.

"'O father,' I cried in great distress, 'what if the poor lamb should fall in too?'

"But father had gone to try to save it.

"Down, down he went, slipping and sliding on the wet rocks.

"At last he reached the lamb, and, putting it on his shoulder, he began to climb up the steep rocks to a place of safety.

"After much hard and dangerous climbing, he came back to me and said,—

"'Now, my little girl, you have got your wish at last, for here is a lamb, and you must take care of it until it is old enough to look after itself.'

"How pleased I was, although I felt very sad when I thought of the poor sheep that had fallen into the water and lost its life.

"Well, we took the lamb home, and very soon it got to know me quite well.

"It would come running to me as soon as I called, and would drink milk out of a bottle in a very funny way.

"But oh, it was a mischief; and Jane, the kitchen maid, used to be very angry when it came trotting into her kitchen on wet days and dirtied the floor with its feet.

"One day Jane had made the chickens' food all ready, and put it in a pail, and placed it outside the door to cool.

"The chickens were all waiting for their meal and feeling very hungry. Jane went to the door for the food, and to her surprise and horror she found the pail upset and not a bit of food left.

"'Bother that lamb!' cried Jane. 'It has gone and eaten up all the chickens' food.'

"And just then we saw the lamb trotting off to the field quite content.

"At last it grew to be a very big sheep—too big to come trotting into the farm kitchen, for it was so strong and bumped against Jane so much that she would often chase it out with a broom.

"Then father said it must go into the field and stay there for good.

"'I am glad,' said Jane, when she heard about it; 'I hope we shall never have another pet lamb.'

"But I did not think so, for I loved it very much.

"Long afterwards, when I went to the field, it would come running to me when I called.

"So that was how I got my pet lamb," said Bobs's mother.

"How lovely it must have been!" said Bobs. "I wish I lived in the country."

The Sparrow Hawks.

George, George! Where are you?" called Frank as he went through the wood.

"I am here," answered George.

"Where? I can't see you," shouted Frank at the top of his voice.

"I am here, up a tree," said George.

"Whatever are you doing there?" said Frank as he spied George's fat legs through the branches of a tree.

"I shall be down in a minute," said George, "and I will tell you."

Presently George came scrambling down so quickly that Frank thought he would be sure to fall.

But George was not afraid of this, for had he not been used to climbing trees all his life? But then, you see, George lived in the country, and Frank had only come to stay with him for his summer holiday.

And what a surprise this holiday was to Frank, who lived in a town where he could not see the green fields nor hear the birds sing!

"Frank," said George in a whisper, "there is a hawk's nest up that tree."

"Did you see it?" asked Frank.

"Yes," answered George, "but I could not get close to it; I must try again to-morrow."

The next day being fine, George and Frank hurried to the wood. They soon came to the tree where the nest was, and George began to climb.

Up, up, he went, higher and higher, until Frank could not see him any more, for it was a very high tree.

"I have found it," shouted George, "and there are young ones in it."

"Oh! do bring one down," called Frank. "I should like to see it."

"I will try," answered George, "but they are very savage."

However, George managed to get hold of one of the young hawks, and he started to come down the tree once more. It was not so easy to climb down this time, and he had many scratches and bruises before he reached the ground again.

"Look!" said George; "this is a young hawk." And he held it out for Frank to see.

It was very pretty but very angry, and it had given George some hard pecks, so that his fingers were bleeding.

Well, George and Frank took the young hawk home and put it into a cage.

Now, I think these two boys were very cruel to rob the nest; but if you read the rest of this story you will see what happened.

The next day Frank said to George, "I wish I had another hawk to take home to my brother Fred. He would be so pleased."

So, sad to say, George climbed the tree again, and took out of the nest another bird, and they put it into the cage beside its mate.

The next week Frank went back to town, for he had spent a long holiday, and it was now time to go back to school.

What must have been the feelings of the poor hawks when they found themselves shut up in a cage and taken away in the train to a smoky town?

Fred was delighted when he saw them, although he was rather afraid to go near them, for they ruffled their feathers and looked so angry if any one attempted to touch them.

So the poor birds were put in an outhouse, and given raw meat to eat, and very miserable they looked.

After a few days Frank began to wish that he had never asked George to take them from their nest. You see, after Fred had seen them there was no more fun, and Frank thought that they might die if they were shut up for a long time in a cage.

"Fred," said Frank, "what do you think we should do with these birds?"

"Well," said Fred, "I think we ought to take them into the country and set them free again."

"Hurrah!" shouted Frank; "that is just what I was thinking. Let us do it now."

So Frank and Fred covered up the cage, and off they went.

I think the sparrow hawks must have been saying to each other, "Oh dear me! What are they going to do with us now?"

After a very, very long walk the two boys came to the green fields. They were very tired and hot and dusty, so Frank said, "Oh, let us open the cage now, for I cannot go any further."

But Fred answered, "There is a wood not far away. Let us go there, and then the birds will feel more at home."

So they went on until they came to the wood. Frank took the cover off the cage, and Fred opened the door.

The hawks looked out for a few seconds, and then made one dash for liberty.

They mounted higher and higher, and then soared away out of sight.

Frank looked at Fred, and Fred looked at Frank, and then both together they said,—

"I am glad they are free."

"I wonder where they will go," said Fred.

But they never knew, for the birds were never seen again.

Frank and Fred were two happy boys as they trudged back to town again. Never, never again will they keep a hawk in prison, or indeed any other free and happy bird of the woods.

Jacko.

Oh, look, look!" cried Tony; "here are some real live bears."

"Where?" said Elsie, as she came running round the corner. "Oh, what funny-looking things they are!"

It was a fine day in June, and Tony and Elsie had come with their mother to see all the animals at the Zoo.

And what a jolly time they were having!

When they had paid their money and passed through the turnstile, the first thing they saw was a strange-looking bird perched on a branch beside a seat where one of the keepers was sitting.

"That is not a real bird," said Tony. "It is only put there to make fun of people."

Just then it turned its head right round and stared steadily at Tony.

"Why, it is real!" said Tony in surprise. "What a funny-looking bird!"

"It is an owl," said the keeper, "and there are a lot more in the cages there."

So Tony and Elsie went on and saw the rest of the owls.

Next, they came to the parrot house. Oh! what screeching and screaming there was!

"Hullo!" said a voice so close to Elsie that it made her jump.

"It is only a parrot," said Tony, laughing; "he can talk."

There were parrots outside too, swinging on perches, and they looked very beautiful in the sunlight.

Then Tony, Elsie, and mother went on and on and saw all kinds of animals. They had a ride on an elephant, and when it was time to get off, mother was standing with a bag of buns in her hand, and before she could speak Jumbo had put out his trunk and taken one. What a surprise she got!

Inside the elephant house was another Jumbo, and when they told him to dance he went round and round in his cage in the most comical manner. Then he opened his mouth wide for Tony to throw a bun into it.

Well, well, what heaps of things there were to see! At last Tony and Elsie came to the bears.

And there, sitting in a cage, was a lovely brown bear.

"Oh, isn't he a darling?" said Elsie.

"Yes," answered Tony. "Let us give him something to eat."

So he threw a piece of bun to him, and he caught it in his paw. Then mother said, "Sit up, then;" and greatly to their surprise the bear sat up on his hind legs and begged.

"Now," said Elsie, "I should like to see the monkeys."

"Come on, then," cried Tony; "I'll race you." And away they ran.

Just inside the door of the monkey house was a great big monkey sitting all alone in his cage.

"Ugh!" said Elsie; "isn't he ugly?"

And what do you think happened? Up got the monkey, and picking up a handful of gravel, threw it at Elsie.

You see the monkey did not like being called names, and was very much hurt.

Well, there were all kinds of monkeys—big monkeys and little monkeys—running and climbing about their cages. Tony gave them nuts and pieces of carrot, and one sly old monkey took his share and hid it in a corner under the straw.

"I do wish I had a monkey, all for my very own," said Tony, as they went home that day.

"Do you?" asked Elsie. "I do not think I should like one."