the staple kinds of canned goods. One might almost have supposed that he
had learned the brands, for a lobster-tin had no charm for him as long
as he could find those that once were filled with jam. Some of the tins
gave him much trouble, as he was too greedy or too clumsy to escape
being scratched by the sharp edges. One seductive fruit-tin had a hole
so large that he found he could force his head into it, and for a few
minutes his joy was full as he licked into all the farthest corners.
But when he tried to draw his head out, his sorrows began, for he found
himself caught. He could not get out, and he scratched and screamed like
any other spoiled child, giving his mother no end of concern, although
she seemed not to know how to help him. When at length he got the tin
off his head, he revenged himself by hammering it with his paws till it
was perfectly flat.

A large syrup-can made him happy for a long time. It had had a lid, so
that the hole was round and smooth; but it was not big enough to admit
his head, and he could not touch its riches with his tongue stretched
out its longest. He soon hit on a plan, however. Putting in his little
black arm, he churned it around, then drew out and licked it clean; and
while he licked one he got the other one ready; and he did this again
and again, until the [Illustration: A Syrup-tin Kept Him Happy for
a Long Time] can was as clean inside as when first it had left the
factory.

A broken mouse-trap seemed to puzzle him. He clutched it between his
fore paws, their strong inturn being sympathetically reflected in his
hind feet, and held it firmly for study. The cheesy smell about it was
decidedly good, but the thing responded in such an uncanny way, when he
slapped it, that he kept back a cry for help only by the exercise of
unusual self-control. After gravely inspecting it, with his head first