night, shut the window, without suspecting that she had cut off the
retreat of any of her woodland neighbours. The next morning she was
startled by what she thought a gray rat running past her bed. She
rose to pursue him, when he ran up the wall, and clung against the
plastering, showing himself very plainly a gray flying-squirrel, with
large, soft eyes, and wings which consisted of a membrane uniting the
fore paws to the hind ones, like those of a bat. He was chased into
the conservatory, and a window being opened, out he flew upon the
ground, and made away for his native woods, and thus put an end to
many fears as to the nature of our nocturnal rappings.

So you see how many neighbours we found by living in the woods, and,
after all, no worse ones than are found in the great world.



THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF LITTLE WHISKEY



And now, at the last, I am going to tell you something of the ways
and doings of one of the queer little people, whom I shall call
Whiskey.

You cannot imagine how pretty he is. His back has the most beautiful
smooth shining stripes of reddish brown and black, his eyes shine
like bright glass beads, and he sits up jauntily on his hind
quarters, with his little tail thrown over his back like a ruffle.

And where does he live? Well, "that is telling," as we children say.