over with fright. "Oh, I beg your pardon!" cried Alice, hastily, afraid that she had hurt the poor animal's feelings. "I quite forgot you didn't like cats.'

Not like cats!" cried the mouse, in a shrill, passion5 ate voice. Would you like cats if you were me?"

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Well, perhaps not," said Alice, in a soothing tone. "Don't be angry about it. And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah. I think you'd take a fancy to cats if you could only see her. She is such a dear, quiet thing," 10 Alice went on, half to herself, as she swam lazily about in the pool, and she sits purring so nicely by the fire, licking her paws and washing her face and she is such a nice soft thing to nurse-and she's such a capital one for catching mice - oh, I beg your pardon!" cried Alice 15 again; for this time the mouse was bristling all over, and she felt certain it must be really offended. "We won't talk about her any more, if you'd rather not."

"We, indeed!" cried the mouse, who was trembling down to the end of his tail. "As if I would talk on such 20 a subject! Our family always hated cats- nasty, low, vulgar things! Don't let me hear the name again!" "I won't indeed!" said Alice, in a great hurry to change the subject of conversation. "Are you are you fondof- of dogs? The mouse did not answer, so Alice went 25 on eagerly: "There is such a nice little dog near our house

I should like to show you! A little bright-eyed terrier,

⚫ you know, with oh, such long, curly, brown hair! And it'll fetch things when you throw them, and it'll sit up and beg for its dinner, and all sorts of things-I can't remember half of them—and it belongs to a farmer, you know, and he says it's so useful, it's worth a hundred pounds! 5 He says it kills all the rats and -oh dear!" cried Alice in a sorrowful tone, "I'm afraid I've offended it again!" For the mouse was swimming away from her as hard as it could go, and making quite a commotion in the pool as it went.

10

So she called softly after it, "Mouse, dear! Do come back again, and we won't talk about cats, or dogs either, if you don't like them!" When the mouse heard this, it turned round and swam slowly back to her. Its face was quite pale (with passion, Alice thought), and it said in a low, trem- 15 bling voice, "Let us get to the shore, and then I'll tell you my history, and you'll understand why it is I hate cats and dogs."

QUESTIONS AND HELPS

1. From what book is this selection taken and how did the book happen to be written? 2. Write a short story about the author. 3. What mistakes did Alice make in her multiplication table and her geography? 4. What kind of a girl do you think Mabel must have been? 5. What did Alice mean by "next to no toys"? 6. The little door opened into the garden, and the little golden key which unlocked it was on the table. Why

could n't Alice get the key? 7. How can you account for the great size of the pool of tears? 8. What is a crocodile? 9. What is a walrus? 10. What is a hippopotamus? 11. If the mouse had known how to use the English language properly, what would he have said instead of "if you were me"?

"Will you walk a little faster?" said a whiting to a snail, "There's a porpoise close behind us, and he's treading on my tail.

See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance! They are waiting on the shingle- will you come and join the dance?"

quadrille (quả drřl): a dance.

whiting (whit'ing): a kind of fish.

porpoise (pôr pŭs): a large fish. shingle (shin'gle): a stony beach.

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL

A FABLE

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

[This fable tells how the mountain and the squirrel quarreled. The mountain called the squirrel a "little prig," which is a smart, vain sort of person. The squirrel was not pleased at the name and said: "You are big enough, to be sure, but it takes all sorts of things to make a world, 5 and for my part I'm not ashamed of being small. It's good to be small, and you're not nearly so small as I am. You can't run about as I do, either; though you make a pretty good place for me to walk on. All people can't do the same things. The world is wisely arranged. 10 I can't carry forests on my back, but you can't crack a nut."

The fable means that there is something for every one of us to do. One is big; another is little. One can carry forests; another can crack nuts. But the little things 15 are just as important as the big ones, and there is just as much honor in doing them.

Mr. Emerson, who wrote this fable, was one of the greatest of American authors. He was also a wise and a good man, who was loved and honored by all who knew 20 him. He lived at the same time as Longfellow and

Whittier and Lowell. You will find the story of his life in Book Six of the Literary Readers.]

The mountain and the squirrel

Had a quarrel,

5. And the former called the latter "Little prig"; Bun replied,

"You are doubtless very big;

But all sorts of things and weather

Must be taken in together,

To make up a year

And a sphere.

And I think it no disgrace
To occupy my place.

If I'm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,

And not half so spry.

I'll not deny you make

A very pretty squirrel track;

Talents differ; all is well and wisely put;

If I cannot carry forests on my back,

Neither can you crack a nut.”

QUESTIONS AND HELPS

1. Tell all that you know about the author of this fable. 2. What is meant by "the former" and by "the latter"? 3. What did the mountain call the squirrel, and what does that