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 FHEDERICK 
 CHARLE5 
 
'HA'i^lA 
 
 GIFT OF 
 


Among the Meadow People 
 
 BY 
 
 CLARA DILLINGHAM PlERSON 
 
 Illustrated by F. C. GORDON 
 
 o * »:. .«., >*, -^ , • ■> 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 
 
 31 West Twenty-third Street 
 
 1897 
 
COPYRIGHT 
 
 E. P. BUTTON & CO. 
 
 1897 
 
 Ube ftnickerbocher press, l^ew JSovit 
 
 V 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 /OG? 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THE BUTTERFLY THAT WENT CALLING . 
 
 THE LAZY SNAIL 
 
 AN ANT THAT WORE WINGS . 
 
 THE LITTLE SPIDER's FIRST WEB . 
 
 THE BEETLE WHO DID NOT LIKE CATERPIL 
 
 LARS 
 
 t 
 
 THE crickets' SCHOOL .... 
 
 THE CONTENTED EARTHWORMS 
 
 THE MEASURING WORM's JOKE 
 
 A PUZZLED CICADA .... 
 
 THE TREE FROG's STORY 
 
 THE GRASSHOPPER AND THE MEASURING WORM 
 
 RUN A RACE 
 
 MR. GREEN FROG AND HIS VISITORS 
 
 THE DAY OF THE GREAT STORM 
 
 THE STORY OF LILY-PAD ISLAND . 
 
 THE EARTHWORM HALF-BROTHERS 
 
 A GOSSIPPING FLY . . . 
 
 THE MOSQUITO TRIES TO TEACH HIS NEIGH 
 
 BORS 
 
 THE FROG WHO THOUGHT HERSELF SICK 
 
 THE katydid's QUARREL 
 
 THE LAST PARTY OF THE SEASON . 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 15 
 21 
 
 26 
 
 33 
 38 
 43 
 49 
 55 
 61 
 
 69 
 
 75 
 81 
 
 87 
 95 
 
 105 
 III 
 117 
 122 
 
 411421 
 
Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2007 witii funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.arcliive.org/details/amongmeadowpeoplOOpierricli 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Many of these stories of field life were 
 written for the little ones of my kinder- 
 garten, and they gave so much pleasure, 
 and aroused such a new interest in '* the 
 meadow people," that it has seemed wise 
 to collect and add to the original number 
 and send them out to a larger circle of 
 boys and girls. 
 
 All mothers and teachers hear the cry 
 for "just one more," and find that there 
 are times when the bewitching tales of 
 animals, fairies, and " really truly " children 
 are all exhausted, and tired imagination 
 will not supply another. In selecting the 
 tiny creatures of field and garden for the 
 characters in this book, I have remem- 
 bered with pleasure the way in which my 
 
6 Introduction. 
 
 loyal pupils befriended stray crickets and 
 grasshoppers, their intense appreciation of 
 the new realm of fancy and observation, 
 and the eagerness and attention with which 
 they sought Mother Nature, the most won- 
 derful and tireless of all story-tellers. 
 
 Clara Dillingham Pierson. 
 
 Stanton, Michigan, 
 April 8th, 1897. 
 
The DUTTERTI^" That 
 
 AVENT CAIXINO 
 
 As the warm spring days 
 came, Mr. Yellow Butterfly 
 wriggled and pushed in his 
 snug little brown house, and 
 wished he could get out to see 
 the world. He remembered 
 the days when he was a fuzzy 
 little caterpillar, crawling slow- 
 ly over grass and leaves, arid 
 he remembered how beautiful 
 the sky and the flowers all 
 were. Then he thought of the 
 new wings which had been 
 growing from his back, and he 
 7 
 
8 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 tried to move them, just to see how It 
 would feel. He had only six legs since his 
 wings grew, and he missed all the sticky 
 feet which he had to give up when he be- 
 gan to change into a butterfly. 
 
 The more he thought about it the more 
 he squirmed, until suddenly he found some- 
 thing that looked like milk in his little 
 home, and he saw that where this milky- 
 looking stuff had made a little puddle at 
 the lower end of his room the walls of his 
 house were melting away. They got thin- 
 ner and thinner, until he could see the 
 beautiful sunlight shining outside. Then 
 all the milky stuff leaked out, and there was 
 a tiny hole ready for Mr. Butterfly to crawl 
 through. The thin dark brown wrapper 
 around him popped open, and out he went. 
 
 Poor Mr. Butterfly ! H e found his wings 
 so wet and crinkled that they would n't 
 work at all, so he had to sit quietly in the 
 sunshine all day drying them. And just 
 as they got big, and smooth, and dry. It 
 
The Butterfly that Went Calling. 9 
 
 grew dark, and Mr. Butterfly had to crawl 
 under a leaf to sleep. 
 
 The next morning, bright and early, he 
 flew away to visit the flowers. First he 
 stopped to see the Daisies by the road- 
 side. They were all dancing in the wind, 
 and their bright faces looked as cheerful 
 as anyone could wish. They were glad 
 to see Mr. Butterfly, and wished him to 
 stay all day with them. He said: ''You 
 are very kind, but I really could n't think 
 of doing it. You must excuse my saying 
 it, but I am surprised to think you will 
 grow here. It is very dusty and dry, and 
 then there is no shade. I am sure I could 
 have chosen a better place." 
 
 The Daisies smiled and nodded to each 
 other, saying, " This Is the kind of place 
 we were made for, that 's all." 
 
 Mr. Butterfly shook his head very doubt- 
 fully, and then bade them a polite " Good- 
 morning," and flew away to call on the 
 Cardinals, 
 
lo Among the Meadow People. 
 
 The Cardinals are a very stately family, 
 as everybody knows. They hold their 
 heads very high, and never make deep 
 bows, even to the wind, but for all that 
 they are a very pleasant family to meet. 
 They gave Mr. Butterfly a dainty lunch 
 of honey, and seemed much pleased when 
 he told them how beautiful the river 
 looked in the sunlight. 
 
 "It is a delightful place to grow," said 
 they. 
 
 *' Ye-es," said Mr. Butterfly, '' it is very 
 pretty, still I do not think it can be health- 
 ful. I really cannot understand why you 
 flowers choose such strange homes. Now, 
 there are the Daisies, where I just called. 
 They are in a dusty, dry place, where there 
 is no shade at all. I spoke to them about 
 it, and they acted quite uppish." 
 
 " But the Daisies always do choose such 
 places," said the Cardinals. 
 
 *' And your family," said Mr. Butterfly, 
 " have lived so long in wet places that it 
 
The Butterfly that Went CalHng. 1 1 
 
 is a wonder you are aHve. Your color is 
 good, but to stand with one's roots in 
 water all the time ! It is shocking." 
 
 ** Cardinals and Butterflies live differ- 
 ently," said the flowers. '* Good-morn- 
 ing." 
 
 Mr. Butterfly left the river and flew 
 over to the woods. He was very much 
 out of patience. He was so angry that 
 his feelers quivered, and now you know 
 how angry he must have been. He knew 
 that the Violets were a very agreeable 
 family, who never put on airs, so he went 
 at once to them. 
 
 He had barely said *' Good-morning" 
 to them when he began to explain what 
 had displeased him. 
 
 *' To think," he said, *' what notions some 
 flowers have ! Now, you have a pleasant 
 home here in the edge of the woods. I 
 have been telling the Daisies and the 
 Cardinals that they should grow in such 
 a place, but they would n't listen to me. 
 
12 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 The Daisies were quite uppish about it, 
 and the Cardinals were very stiff." 
 
 " My dear friend," answered a Violet, 
 ** they could never live if they moved up 
 into our neighborhood. Every flower has 
 his own place in this world, and is happiest 
 in that place. Everything has its own 
 place and its own work, and every flower 
 that is wise will stay in the place for which 
 it was intended. You were exceedingly 
 kind to want to help the flowers, but sup- 
 pose they had been telling you what to 
 do. Suppose the Cardinals had told you 
 that flying around was not good for your 
 health, and that to be truly well you 
 ought to grow planted with your legs in 
 the mud and water." 
 
 "Oh!" said Mr. Butterfly, *' Oh ! I 
 never thought of that. Perhaps Butter- 
 flies don't know everything." 
 
 ** No," said the Violet, '' they don't know 
 everything, and you have n't been out of 
 your chrysalis very long. But those who 
 
The Butterfly that Went Calhng. 13 
 
 are ready to learn can always find some- 
 one to tell them. Won't you eat some 
 honey ? " 
 
 And Mr. Butterfly sipped honey and 
 was happy. 
 
^) 
 
 
 ^':fr 
 
 W^k 
 
 ss.. 
 
 Thi: lAZy 5NA1L 
 
 In the lower part of the 
 meadow, where the grass grew 
 tall and tender, there lived a 
 fine and sturdy young Snail ; 
 that is to say, a fine-looking Snail. 
 His shell was a beautiful soft 
 gray, and its curves were regular 
 and perfect. His body was soft 
 and moist, and just what a Snail's 
 body should be. Of course, 
 when it came to travelling, he 
 could not go fast, for none of his 
 family are rapid travellers, still, if 
 he had been plucky and patient, 
 15 
 
i6 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 he might have seen much of the meadow, 
 and perhaps some of the world outside. 
 His friends and neighbors often told hrim 
 that he ought to start out on a little jour- 
 ney to see the sights, but he would always 
 answer, " Oh, it is too hard work ! " 
 
 There was nobody who liked stories of 
 meadow life better than this same Snail, 
 and he would often stop some friendly 
 Cricket or Snake to ask for the news. 
 After they had told him, they would say, 
 ** Why, don't you ever get out to see these 
 things for yourself ? " and he would give a 
 little sigh and answer, ** It is too far to go." 
 
 " But you need n't go the whole distance 
 in one day," his visitor would say, **only 
 a little at a time." 
 
 **Yes, and then I would have to keep 
 starting on again every little while," the 
 Snail would reply. '* What of that?" said 
 the visitor ; '' you would have plenty of rest- 
 ing spells, when you could lie in the shade 
 of a tall weed and enjoy yourself." 
 
The Lazy Snail. 17 
 
 • 
 ** Well, what is the use ? " the Snail 
 
 would say. '' I can't enjoy resting if I 
 
 know I Ve got to go to work again," and 
 
 he would sigh once more. 
 
 So there he lived, eating and sleeping, 
 and wishing he could see the world, and 
 meet the people in the upper part of the 
 meadow, but just so lazy that he would n't 
 start out to find them. 
 
 He never thought that the Butterflies 
 and Beetles might not like it to have him 
 keep calling them to him and making them 
 tell him the news. Oh, no indeed ! If he 
 wanted them to do anything for him, he 
 asked them quickly enough, and they, be- 
 ing happy, good-natured people, would 
 always do as he asked them to. 
 
 There came a day, though, when he 
 asked too much. The Grasshoppers had 
 been telling him about some very deli- 
 cious new plants that grew a little distance 
 away, and the Snail wanted some very 
 badly. *' Can't you bring me some ? " he 
 
1 8 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 said. '* There are so many of you, and you 
 have such good, strong legs. I should 
 think you might each bring me a small 
 piece in your mouths, and then I should 
 have a fine dinner of it." 
 
 The Grasshoppers did n't say anything 
 then, but when they were so far away that 
 he could not hear them, they said to each 
 other, " If the Snail wants the food so 
 much, he might better go for it. We 
 have otherthings to do," and they hopped 
 off on their own business. 
 
 The Snail sat there, and wondered and 
 wondered that they did not come. He kept 
 thinking how he would like some of the new 
 food for dinner, but there It ended. He 
 did n't want it enough to get it for himself. 
 
 The Grasshoppers told all their friends 
 about the Snail's request, and everybody 
 thought, " Such a lazy, good-for-nothing 
 fellow deserves to be left quite alone." 
 So it happened that for a very Jong time 
 nobody went near the Snail. 
 
The Lazy Snail. 19 
 
 The weather grew hotter and hotter. 
 The clouds, which blew across the sky, 
 kept their rain until they were well past 
 the meadow, and so it happened that the 
 river grew shallower and shallower, and 
 the sunshine dried the tiny pools and rivu- 
 lets which kept the lower meadow damp. 
 The grass began to turn brown and dry, 
 and, all in all, it was trying weather for 
 Snails. 
 
 One day, a Butterfly called some of her 
 friends together, and told them that she 
 had seen the Snail lying in his old place, 
 looking thin and hungry. '* The grass is 
 all dried around him," she said ; '' I believe 
 he is starving, and too lazy to go nearer 
 the river, where there is still good food 
 for him." 
 
 They all talked it over together, and 
 some of them said it was of no use to help 
 a Snail who was too lazy to do anything 
 for himself. Others said, '* Well, he is too 
 weak to help himself now, at all events, 
 
20 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 and we might help him this once." And 
 that is exactly what they did. The But- 
 terflies and the Mosquitoes flew ahead to 
 find the best place to put the Snail, and 
 all the Grasshoppers, and Beetles, and 
 other strong crawling creatures took 
 turns in rolling the Snail down toward 
 the river. 
 
 They left him where the green things 
 were fresh and tender, and he grew strong 
 and plump once more. It is even said 
 that he was not so lazy afterward, but one 
 cannot tell whether to believe it or not, 
 for everybody knows that when people let 
 themselves grow up lazy, as he did, it is 
 almost impossible for them to get over it 
 when they want to. One thing is sure : 
 the meadow people who helped him were 
 happier and better for doing a kind thing, 
 no matter what became of the Snail. 
 

 In one of the Ant-hills in the 
 highest part of the meadow, 
 were a lot of young Ants talk- 
 ing together. '' I," said one, 
 *' am going to be a soldier, 
 and drive away anybody who 
 comes to make us trouble. I 
 try biting hard things every 
 day to make my jaws strong, 
 so that I can guard the home 
 better." 
 
 ''I," said another and smaller 
 Ant, " want to be a worker. I 
 want to help build and repair 
 the home. I want to get the 
 food for the family, and feed 
 
2 2 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 the Ant babies, and clean them off when 
 they crawl out of their old coats. If I 
 can do those things well, I shall be the 
 happiest, busiest Ant in the meadow." 
 
 " We don't want to live that kind of 
 life," said a couple of larger Ants with 
 wings. '' We don't mean to stay around 
 the Ant-hill all the time and work. We 
 want to use our wings, and then you may 
 be very sure that you won't see us around 
 home any more." 
 
 The little worker spoke up : " Home is 
 a pleasant place. You may be very glad 
 to come back to it some day." But the 
 Ants with the wings turned their backs 
 and would n't listen to another word. 
 
 A few days after this there were excit- 
 ing times in the Ant-hill. All the winged 
 Ants said " Good-bye" to the soldiers and 
 workers, and flew off through the air, flew 
 so far that the little ones at home could 
 no longer see them. All day long they 
 were gone, but the next morning when 
 
An Ant that Wore Wings. 23 
 
 the Httle worker (whom we heard talking) 
 went out to get breakfast, she found the 
 poor winged Ants lying on the ground 
 near their home. Some of them were 
 dead, and the rest were looking for food. 
 
 The worker Ant ran up to the one who 
 had said she didn't want to stay around 
 'home, and asked her to come back to 
 the Ant-hill. '' No, I thank you," she an- 
 swered. ** I have had my breakfast now, 
 and am going to fly off again." She 
 raised her wings to go, but after she had 
 given one flutter, they dropped off, and 
 she could never fly again. 
 
 The worker hurried back to the Ant- 
 hill to call some of her sister workers, and 
 some of the soldiers, and they took the 
 Ant who had lost her wings and carried 
 her to another part of the meadow. There 
 they went to work to build a new home 
 and make her their queen. 
 
 First, they looked for a good, sandy 
 place, on which the sun would shine all 
 
24 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 day. Then the worker Ants began to 
 dig in the ground and bring out tiny- 
 round pieces of earth in their mouths. 
 The soldiers helped them, and before 
 night they had a cosy little home in the 
 earth, with several rooms, and some food 
 already stored. They took their queen in, 
 and brought her food to eat, and waited 
 on her, and she was happy and contented. 
 By and by the Ant eggs began to hatch, 
 and the workers had all they could do to 
 take care of their queen and her little Ant 
 babies, and the soldier Ants had to help. 
 The Ant babies were little worms or 
 grubs when they first came out of the 
 eggs ; after a while they curled up in tiny, 
 tiny cases, called pupa-cases, and after an- 
 other while they came out of these, and 
 then they looked like the older Ants, with 
 their six legs, and their slender little 
 waists. But whatever they were, whether 
 eggs, or grubs, or curled up in the pupa- 
 cases, or lively little Ants, the workers fed 
 
An Ant that Wore Wings. 25 
 
 and' took care of them, and the soldiers 
 fought for them, and the queen-mother 
 loved them, and they all lived happily to- 
 gether until the young Ants were ready 
 to go out into the great world and learn 
 the lessons of life for themselves. 
 
ss© 
 
 The first thing our 
 -,^^^__^-«^^ little Spider remem- 
 
 ^ JJ^rr^V bered was being crowd- 
 ed with a lot of other 
 little Spiders in a tiny brown 
 house. This tiny house had 
 no windows, and was very 
 warm and dark and stuffy. 
 When the wind blew, the lit- 
 tle Spiders would hear it rushing 
 through the forest near by, and 
 would feel their round brown 
 house swinging like a cradle. It 
 was fastened to a bush by the 
 edge of the forest, but they could 
 not know that, so they just wiggled and 
 
 26 
 
The Little Spider's First Web. 27 
 
 pushed and ate the food that they found 
 in the house, and wondered what it all 
 meant. They did n't even guess that a 
 mother Spider had made the brown house 
 and put the food in it for her Spider 
 babies to eat when they came out of 
 their eggs. She had put the eggs in, 
 too, but the little Spiders did n't remem- 
 ber the time when they lay curled up in 
 the eggs. They did n't know what had 
 been nor what was to be — they thought 
 that to eat and wiggle and sleep was all 
 of life. You see they had much to learn. 
 One morning the little Spiders found 
 that the food was all gone, and they 
 pushed and scrambled harder than ever, 
 because they were hungry and wanted 
 more. Exactly what happened nobody 
 knew, but suddenly it grew light, and 
 some of them fell out of the house. All 
 the rest scrambled after, and there they 
 stood, winking and blinking in the bright 
 sunshine, and feeling a little bit dizzy, be- 
 
28 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 cause they were on a shaky web made of 
 silvery ropes. 
 
 Just then the web began to shake even 
 more, and a beautiful great mother Spider 
 ran out on it. She was dressed in black 
 and yellow velvet, and her eight eyes 
 glistened and gleamed in the sunlight. 
 They had never dreamed of such a won- 
 derful creature. 
 
 "Well, my children," she exclaimed, ** I 
 know you must be hungry, and I have 
 breakfast all ready for you." So they 
 began eating at once, and the mother 
 Spider told them many things about the 
 meadow and the forest, and said they 
 must amuse themselves while she worked 
 to get food for them. There was no 
 father Spider to help her, and, as she 
 said, *' Growing children must have plenty 
 of good plain food." 
 
 You can just fancy what a good time 
 the baby Spiders had. There were a 
 hundred and seventy of them, so they 
 
The Little Spider's First Web. 29 
 
 had no chance to grow lonely, even when 
 their mother was away. They lived in 
 this way for quite a while, and grew big- 
 ger and stronger every day. One morn- 
 ing the mother Spider said to her biggest 
 daughter, '' You are quite old enough to 
 work now, .and I will teach you to spin 
 your web." 
 
 The little Spider soon learned to draw 
 out the silvery ropes from the pocket in 
 her body where they were made and kept, 
 and very soon she had one fastened at 
 both ends to branches of the bush. Then 
 her mother made her walk out to the 
 middle of her rope bridge, and spin and 
 fasten two more, so that it looked like a 
 shining cross. After that was done, the 
 mother showed her something like a comb, 
 which is part of a Spider's foot, and taught 
 her how to measure, and put more ropes 
 out from the middle of the cross, until it 
 looked like the spokes of a wheel. 
 
 The little Spider got much discouraged, 
 
30 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 and said, ** Let me finish it some other 
 time ; I am tired of working now." 
 
 The mother Spider answered, " No, I 
 cannot have a lazy child." 
 
 The little one said, *' I can't ever do it, 
 I know I can't." 
 
 *' Now," said the mother, ** I shall have 
 to give you a Spider scolding. You have 
 acted as lazy as the Tree Frog says boys 
 and girls sometimes do. He has been up 
 near the farm-house, and says that he has 
 seen there children who do not like to 
 work. The meadow people could hardly 
 believe such a thing at first. He says 
 they were cross and unhappy children, and 
 no wonder ! Lazy people are never happy. 
 You try to finish the web, and see if I am 
 not right. You are not a baby now, and 
 you must work and get your own food." 
 
 So the little Spider spun the circles of 
 rope in the web, and made these ropes 
 sticky, as all careful spiders do. She ate 
 the loose ends and pieces that were left 
 
The Little Spider's First Web. 31 
 
 over, to save them for another time, and 
 when it was done, it was so fine and per- 
 fect that her brothers and sisters crowded 
 around, saying, " Oh ! oh ! oh ! how beauti- 
 ful ! " and asked the mother to teach them. 
 The little web-spinner was happier than 
 she had ever been before, and the mother 
 began to teach her other children. But 
 it takes a long time to teach a hundred 
 and seventy children. 
 
THE BEETLE WHO 
 
 DID NOT UKt CATtIlPILLAR3^ 
 
 One morning early 
 in June, a fat and shin- 
 ing May Beetle lay on 
 his back among the 
 grasses, kicking his 
 six legs in the air, 
 and wriggling around 
 while he tried to catch 
 hold of a grass-blade 
 by which to pull him- 
 self up. Now, Beetles 
 do not like to lie on 
 their backs in the sun- 
 shine, and this one was 
 hot and tired from 
 his long struggle. Be- 
 side that, he was very 
 cross because he was 
 late in getting his 
 breakfast, so when he 
 
 33 
 
34 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 did at last get right side up, and saw a 
 brown and black Caterpillar watching 
 him, he grew very ill-mannered, and said 
 some things of which he should have been 
 ashamed. 
 
 ** Oh, yes," he said, '* you are quick 
 enough to laugh when you think some- 
 body else is in a fix. I often lie on my 
 back and kick, just for filn." (Which was 
 not true, but when Beetles are cross they 
 are not always truthful.) 
 
 ** Excuse me," said the Caterpillar, '* I 
 did not mean to hurt your feelings. If I 
 smiled, it was because I remembered be- 
 ing in the same plight myself yesterday, 
 and what a time I had smoothing my fur 
 afterwards. Now, you won't have to 
 smooth your fur, will you ? " she asked 
 pleasantly. 
 
 *' No, I 'm thankful to say I have n't 
 any fur to smooth," snapped the Beetle. 
 ** I am not one of the crawling, furry kind. 
 My family wear dark brown, glossy coats, 
 
Beetle who did not like Caterpillars. 35 
 
 and we always look trim and clean. When 
 we want to hurry, we fly ; and when tired 
 of flying, we walk or run. We have two 
 kinds of wings. We have a pair of dainty, 
 soft ones, that carry us through the air, 
 and then we have a pair of stiff ones to 
 cover over the soft wings when we come 
 down to the earth again. We are the 
 finest family in the meadow." 
 
 '' I have often heard of you," said the 
 Caterpillar, ** and am very glad to become 
 acquainted." 
 
 '' Well," answered the Beetle, " I am 
 willing to speak to you, of course, but 
 we can never be at all friendly. A May 
 Beetle, indeed, in company with a Cater- 
 pillar ! I choose my friends among the 
 Moths, Butterflies, and Dragon-flies, — in 
 fact, / move in the upper circles." 
 
 ** Upper circles, indeed!" said a croak- 
 ing voice beside him, which made the 
 Beetle jump, '' I have hopped over your 
 head for two or three years, when you 
 
36 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 were nothing but a fat, white worm. 
 You'd better not put on airs. The fine 
 family of May Beetles were all worms, 
 once, and they had to live in the earth 
 and eat roots, while the Caterpillars 
 were in the sunshine over their heads, 
 dining on tender green leaves and flower 
 buds." 
 
 The May Beetle began to look very 
 uncomfortable, and squirmed as though 
 he wanted to get away, but the Tree 
 Frog, for it was the Tree Frog, went on : 
 '' As for your not liking Caterpillars, they 
 don't stay Caterpillars. Your new ac- 
 quaintance up there will come out with 
 wings one of these days, and you will be 
 glad enough to know him." And the 
 Tree Frog hopped away. 
 
 The May Beetle scraped his head with 
 his right front leg, and then said to the 
 Caterpillar, who was nibbling away at the 
 milkweed: *'You know, I was n't really in 
 earnest about our not being friends. I 
 
Beetle who did not like Caterpillars. 2>7 
 
 shall be very glad to know you, and all 
 your family." 
 
 ** Thank you," answered the Caterpillar, 
 ** thank you very much, but I have been 
 thinking it over myself, and I feel that I 
 really could not be friendly with a May 
 Beetle. Of course, I don't mind speak- 
 ing to you once in a while, when I am 
 eating, and getting ready to spin my co- 
 coon. After that it will be different. You 
 see, then I shall belong to one of the 
 finest families in the meadow, the Milk- 
 weed Butterflies. We shall eat nothing 
 but honey, and dress in soft orange and 
 black velvet. We shall not blunder and 
 bump around when we fly. We shall en- 
 joy visiting with the Dragon-flies and 
 Moths. I shall not forget you altogether, 
 I dare say, but I shall feel it my duty to 
 move in the upper circles, where I belong. 
 Good-morning." 
 
In one corner of the meadow lived a 
 fat old Cricket, who thought a great deal 
 of himself. He had such a big, shining 
 body, and a way of chirping so very loudly, 
 that nobody could ever forget where he 
 lived. He was a very good sort of Cricket, 
 too, ready to say the most pleasant things 
 to everybody, yet, sad to relate, he had a 
 dreadful habit of boasting. He had not 
 always lived in the meadow, and he liked 
 to tell of the wonderful things he had seen 
 and done when he was younger and lived 
 up near the white farm-house. 
 
 When he told these stories of what he 
 had done, the big Crickets around him 
 38 
 
The Crickets' School. ^ 39 
 
 » 
 
 would riot say much, but just sit and look 
 at each other. The little Crickets, how- 
 ever, loved to hear him talk, and would 
 often come to the door of his house 
 (which was a hole in the ground), to beg 
 him to tell them more. 
 
 One evening he said he would teach 
 them a few things that all little Crickets 
 should know. He had them stand in a 
 row, and then began : '* With what part 
 of your body do you eat ?" 
 
 ** With our mouths," all the little Crick- 
 ets shouted. 
 
 " With what part of your body do you 
 run and leap ? " 
 
 ** Our legs," they cried. 
 
 " Do you do anything else with your 
 legs?" 
 
 "We clean ourselves with them," said 
 one. 
 
 " We use them and our mouths to 
 make our houses in the ground," said 
 another. 
 
40 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 ** Oh yes, and we hear with 6ur two 
 front legs," cried one bright little fellow. 
 
 '' That is right," answered the fat old 
 Cricket. " Some creatures hear with 
 things called ears, that grow on the sides of 
 their heads, but for my part, I think it much 
 nicer to hear with one's legs, as we do." 
 
 " Why, how funny it must be not to 
 hear with one's legs, as we do," cried all 
 the little Crickets together. 
 
 ** There are a great many queer things 
 to be seen in the great world," said their 
 teacher. *' I have seen some terribly big 
 creatures with only two legs and no wings 
 whatever." 
 
 " How dreadful !" all the little Crickets 
 cried. *' We would n't think they could 
 move about at all." 
 
 " It must be very hard to do so," said 
 their teacher ; " I was very sorry for them," 
 and he spread out his own wings and 
 stretched his six legs to show how he en- 
 joyed them. 
 
The Crickets' School. 41 
 
 " But how can they sing if they have no 
 wings ? " asked the bright Httle Cricket. 
 
 ** They sing through their mouths, in 
 much the same way that the birds have 
 to. I am sure it must be much easier to 
 sing by rubbing one's wings together, as 
 we do," said the fat old teacher. '' I could 
 tell you many queer things about these 
 two-legged creatures, and the houses in 
 which they live, and perhaps some day I 
 will. There are other large four-legged 
 creatures around their homes that are very 
 terrible, but, my children, I was never 
 afraid of any of them. I am one of the 
 truly brave people who are never fright- 
 ened, no matter how terrible the sight. I 
 hope, children, that you will always be 
 brave, like me. If anything should scare 
 you, do not jump or run away. Stay right 
 where you are, and " 
 
 But the little Crickets never heard the 
 rest of what their teacher began to say, for 
 at that minute Brown Bess, the Cow, came 
 
42 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 through a^ broken fence toward the spot 
 where the Crickets were. The teacher 
 gave one shrill *' chirp," and scrambled 
 down his hole. The little Crickets fairly 
 tumbled over each other in their hurry to 
 get away, and the fat old Cricket, who 
 had been out in the great world, never 
 again talked to them about being brave. 
 
"^7 
 
 YJ 
 
 THE CONTENTED 
 
 ^ EAurrrwoiiM5 ^ 
 
 After a long and soaking 
 rain, the Earthworms came 
 out of their burrows, or 
 rather, they came part way 
 out, for each Earthworm put 
 out half of his body, and, as 
 there were many of them 
 and they lived near to each 
 other, they could easily visit 
 without leaving their own 
 homes. Two of these long, 
 slimy people were talking, 
 when a Potato Bug strolled 
 by. " You poor things," 
 said he, ''what a wretched 
 life you must lead. Spend- 
 ing one's days in the dark 
 earth must be very dreary." 
 
 43 
 
44 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 " Dreary ! " exclaimed one of the Earth- 
 worms, *' it is delightful. The earth is a 
 snug and soft home. It is warm in cold 
 weather and cool in warm weather. There 
 are no winds to trouble us, and no sun to 
 scorch us." 
 
 *' But," said the Potato Bug, '* it must 
 be very dull. Now, out in the grass, one 
 finds beautiful flowers, and so many fam- 
 ilies of friends." 
 
 '' And down here," answered the Worm, 
 " we have the roots. Some are brown and 
 woody, like those of the trees, and some 
 are white and slender and soft. They 
 creep and twine, until it is like passing 
 through a forest to go among them. And 
 then, there are the seeds. Such busy times 
 as there are in the ground in spring-time ! 
 Each tiny seed awakens and begins to 
 grow. Its roots must strike downward, 
 and its stalk upward toward the light. 
 Sometimes the seeds are burjed in the 
 earth with the root end up, and then they 
 
The Contented Earthworms. 45 
 
 have a great time getting twisted around 
 and ready to grow." 
 
 ** Still, after the plants are all growing 
 and have their heads in the air, you must 
 miss them." 
 
 *' We have the roots always," said the 
 Worm. " And then, when the summer 
 is over, the plants have done their work, 
 helping to make the world beautiful and 
 raise their seed babies, and they wither 
 and droop to the earth again, and little 
 by little the sun and the frost and the rain 
 help them to melt back into the earth. 
 The earth is the beginning and the end of 
 plants." 
 
 '* Do you ever meet the meadow people 
 in it ? " asked the Potato Bug. 
 
 *' Many of them live here as babies," 
 said the Worm. '' The May Beetles, the 
 Grasshoppers, the great Humming-bird 
 Moths, and many others spend their baby- 
 hood here, all wrapped in eggs or cocoons. 
 Then, when they are strong enough, and 
 
46 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 their legs and wings are grown, they push 
 their way out and begin their work. It is 
 their getting-ready time, down here in the 
 dark. And then, there are the stones, 
 and they are so old and queer. I am 
 often glad that I am not a stone, for to 
 have to lie still must be hard to bear. Yet I 
 have heard that they did not always lie so, 
 and that some of the very pebbles around 
 us tossed and rolled and ground for years 
 in the bed of a river, and that some of 
 them were rubbed and broken off of great 
 rocks. Perhaps they are glad now to just 
 lie and rest." 
 
 ** Truly," said the Potato Bug, ** you 
 have a pleasant home, but give me the 
 sunshine and fresh air, my six legs, and 
 my striped wings, and you are welcome 
 to it all." 
 
 *'You are welcome to them all," an- 
 swered the Worms, ** We are contented 
 with smooth and shining bodies, with 
 which w^e can bore and wriggle our way 
 
The Contented Earthworms. 47 
 
 through the soft, brown earth. We Hke 
 our task of keeping the earth right for 
 the plants, and we will work and rest 
 happily here." 
 
 The Potato Bug went his way, and said 
 to his brothers, *' What do you think ? I 
 have been talking with Earthworms who 
 would not be Potato Bugs if they could." 
 And they all shook their heads in wonder, 
 for they thought that to be Potato Bugs 
 was the grandest and happiest thing in 
 the world. 
 
One day there crawled 
 over the meadow fence a 
 jolly young Measuring 
 Worm. He came from a 
 bush by the roadside, and 
 although he was still a 
 young Worm he had 
 kept his eyes open and 
 had a very good idea how 
 things go in this world. 
 " Now," thought he, as 
 he rested on the top rail 
 of the fence, '* I shall 
 meet some new friends. 
 I do hope they will be 
 
 49 
 
50 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 pleasant. I will look about me and see If 
 anyone is in sight." So he raised his 
 head high in the air and, sure enough, 
 there were seven Caterpillars of different 
 kinds on a tall clump of weeds near by. 
 
 The Measuring Worm hurried over to 
 where they were, and making his best 
 bow said : " I have just come from the 
 roadside and think I shall live in the 
 meadow. May I feed with you ? " 
 
 The Caterpillars were all glad to have 
 him, and he joined their party. He 
 asked many questions about the meadow, 
 and the people who lived there, and the 
 best place to find food. The Caterpillars 
 said, " Oh, the meadow is a good place, 
 and the people are nice enough, but they 
 are not at all fashionable — not at all." 
 
 *' Why," said the Measuring Worm, " if 
 you have nice people and a pleasant place 
 in which to live, I don't see what more 
 you need." 
 
 ** That is all very well," said a black and 
 
The Measuring Worm's Joke. 51 
 
 yellow Caterpillar, " but what we want 
 is fashionable society. The meadow peo- 
 ple always do things in the same way, 
 and one gets so tired of that. Now can 
 you not tell us something different, some- 
 thing that Worms do in the great world 
 from which you come ?" 
 
 Just at this minute the Measuring 
 Worm had a funny idea, and he wondered 
 if the Caterpillars would be foolish enough 
 to copy him. He thought it would be a 
 good joke if they did, so he said very sober- 
 ly, *' I notice that when you walk you keep 
 your body quite close to the ground. I 
 have seen many Worms do the same 
 thing, and it is all right if they wish to, 
 but none of my family ever do so. Did 
 you notice how I walk ? " 
 
 *' Yes, yes," cried the Caterpillars, "show 
 us again." 
 
 So the Measuring Worm walked back 
 and forth for them, arching his body as 
 high as he could, and stopping every little 
 
52 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 while to raise his head and look haughtily 
 around. 
 
 " What grace ! " exclaimed the Cater- 
 pillars. '' What grace, and what style ! " 
 and one black and brown one tried to walk 
 in the same way. 
 
 The Measuring Worm wanted to laugh 
 to see how awkward the black and brown 
 Caterpillar was, but he did not even smile, 
 and soon every one of the Caterpillars 
 was trying the same thing, and saying 
 ''Look at me. Don't I do well?" or, 
 " How was that?" 
 
 You can just imagine how those seven 
 Caterpillars looked when trying to walk 
 like the Measuring Worm. Every few 
 minutes one of them would tumble over, 
 and they all got warm and tired. At last 
 they thought they had learned it very well, 
 and took a long rest, in which they planned 
 to take a long walk and show the other 
 meadow people the fashion they had re- 
 ceived from the outside world. 
 
The Measuring Worm's Joke. 53 
 
 " We will v/alk In a line," they said, " as 
 far as we can, and let them all see us. 
 Ah, it will be a great day for the meadow 
 when we begin to set the fashions ! " 
 
 The mischievous young Measuring 
 Worm said not a word, and off they 
 started. The big black and yellow Cater- 
 pillar went first, the black and brown one 
 next; and so on down to the smallest one at 
 the end of the line, all arching their bodies 
 as high as they could. All the meadow 
 people stared at them, calling each other 
 to come and look, and whenever the 
 Caterpillars reached a place where there 
 were many watching them, they would all 
 raise their heads and look around exactly 
 as the Measuring Worm had done. When 
 they got back to their clump of bushes, 
 they had the most dreadful backaches, but 
 they said to each other, '* Well, we have 
 been fashionable for once." 
 
 And, at the same time, out in the 
 grass, the meadow people were saying. 
 
54 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 " Did you ever see anything so ridicu- 
 lous In your life ? " All of which goes 
 to show how very silly people some- 
 times are when they think too much of 
 being fashionable. 
 
Seventeen years' Is a long 
 long time to be getting r 
 to fly ; yet that is what 
 Seventeen-year Locusts, or 
 Cicadas, have to expect. 
 First, they He for a long 
 time in eggs, down in 
 the earth. Then, when 
 they awaken, and crawl 
 out of their shells, they 
 must grow strong 
 enough to dig before 
 they can make their 
 way out to where the 
 
 55 
 
56 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 beautiful green grass is growing and wav- 
 ing in the wind. 
 
 The Cicada who got so very much puz- 
 zled had not been long out of his home in 
 the warm, brown earth. He was the only 
 Cicada anywhere around, and it was very 
 lonely for him. However, he did not 
 mind that so much when he was eating, 
 or singing, or resting in the sunshine, and 
 as he was either eating, or singing, or rest- 
 ing in the sunshine most of the time, he 
 got along fairly well. 
 
 Because he was young and healthy he 
 grew fast. He grew so very fast that 
 after a while he began to feel heavy and 
 stiff, and more like sitting still than like 
 crawling around. Beside all this, his skin 
 got tight, and you can imagine how un- 
 comfortable it must be to have one's skin 
 too tight. He was sitting on the branch 
 of a bush one day, thinking about the 
 wonderful great world, when — pop ! — his 
 skin had cracked open right down the 
 
A Puzzled Cicada. 57 
 
 middle of his back ! The poor Cicada 
 was badly frightened at first, but then it 
 seemed so good and roomy that he took a 
 deep breath, and — pop ! — the crack was 
 longer still ! 
 
 The Cicada found that he had another 
 whole skin under the outside one which 
 had cracked, so he thought, '' How much 
 cooler and more comfortable I shall be if 
 I crawl out of this broken covering," and 
 out he crawled. 
 
 It was n't very easy work, because he 
 did n't have anybody to help him. He 
 had to hook the claws of his outer skin 
 into the bark of the branch, hook them 
 in so hard that they could n't pull out, 
 and then he began to wriggle out of the 
 back of his own skin. It was exceedingly 
 hard work, and the hardest of all was the 
 pulling his legs out of their cases. ' He 
 was so tired when he got free that he 
 could hardly think, and his new skin was 
 so soft and tender that he felt limp and 
 
58 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 queer. He found that he had wings of a 
 pretty green, the same color as his legs. 
 He knew these wings must have been grow- 
 ing under his old skin, and he stretched 
 them slowly out to see how big they were. 
 This was in the morning, and after he had 
 stretched his wings he went to sleep for a 
 long time. 
 
 When he awakened, the sun was in the 
 western sky, and he tried to think who he 
 was. He looked at himself, and instead 
 of being green he was a dull brown and 
 black. Then he saw his old skin clinging 
 to the branch and staring him in the face. 
 It was just the same shape as when he was 
 in it, and he thought for a minute that he 
 was dreaming. He rubbed his head hard 
 with his front legs to make sure he was 
 awake, and then he began to wonder which 
 one he was. Sometimes he thought that 
 the old skin which clung to the bush was 
 the Cicada that had lain so long in the 
 ground, and sometimes he thought tha^ 
 
A Puzzled Cicada. 59 
 
 the soft, fat, new-looking one was the 
 Cicada. Or were both of them the Ci- 
 cada? If he were only one of the two, 
 what would he do with the other ? 
 
 While he was wondering about this in 
 a sleepy way, an old Cicada from across 
 the river flew down beside him. He 
 thought he would ask her, so he waved 
 his feelers as politely as he knew how, and 
 said, " Excuse me. Madam Cicada, for I 
 am much puzzled. It took me seventeen 
 years to grow into a strong, crawling Ci- 
 cada, and then in one day I separated. 
 The thinking, moving part of me is here, 
 but the outside shell of me is there on 
 that branch. Now, which part is the real 
 Cicada?" 
 
 *' Why, that Is easy enough," said the 
 Madam Cicada; '* You arej^^^, of course. 
 The part that you cast off and left cling- 
 ing to the branch was very useful once. 
 It kept you warm on cold days and cool 
 on warm days, and you needed it while 
 
6o Among the Meadow People. 
 
 you were only a crawling creature. But 
 when your wings were ready to carry you 
 off to a higher and happier life, then the 
 skin that had been a help was in your way, 
 and you did right to wriggle out of it. It 
 is no longer useful to you. Leave it 
 where it is and fly off to enjoy your new 
 life. You will never have trouble if you 
 remember that the thinking part is the 
 real youy 
 
 And then Madam Cicada and her new 
 friend flew away to her home over the 
 river, and he saw many strange sights be- 
 fore he returned to the meadow. 
 
In all the meadow there was 
 nobody who could tell such 
 interesting stories as the old 
 Tree Frog. Even the Garter 
 Snake, who had been there the 
 longest, and the old Cricket, who 
 had lived in the farm-yard, could 
 tell no such exciting tales as the 
 Tree Frog. All the wonderful 
 things of which he told had hap- 
 pened before he came to the 
 meadow, and while he was still a young 
 Frog. None of his friends had known 
 him then, but he was an honest fellow, 
 
 61 
 
62 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 and they were sure that everything he 
 told was true : besides, they must be true, 
 for how could a body ever think out such 
 remarkable tales from his own head ? 
 
 When he first came to his home by the 
 elm tree he was very thin, and looked as 
 though he had been sick. The Katydids 
 who stayed near said that he croaked in 
 his sleep, and that, you know, is not what 
 well and happy Frogs should do. 
 
 One day when many of the meadow 
 people were gathered around him, he told 
 them his story. *' When I was a little 
 fellow," he said, ** I was strong and well, 
 and could leap farther than any other 
 Frog of my size. I was hatched in the 
 pond beyond the farm-house, and ate my 
 way from the egg to the water outside 
 like any other Frog. Perhaps I ought to 
 say, * like any other Tadpole,' for, of course, 
 I began life as a Tadpole. I played and 
 ate with my brothers and sisters, and little 
 dreamed what trouble was in store for me 
 
The Tree Frog*s Story. 63 
 
 when I grew up. We were all in a hurry 
 to be Frogs, and often talked of what we 
 would do and how far we would travel 
 when we were grown. 
 
 *' Oh, how happy we were then ! I re- 
 member the day when my hind legs began 
 to grow, and how the other Tadpoles 
 crowded around me in the water and swam 
 close to me to feel the two little bunches 
 that were to be legs. My fore legs did 
 not grow until later, and these bunches 
 came just in front of my tail." 
 
 ** Your tail ! " cried a puzzled young 
 Cricket ; '' why, you have n't any tail ! " 
 
 *' I did have when I was a Tadpole," 
 said the Tree Frog. '' I had a beautiful, 
 wiggly little tail with which to swim 
 through the waters of the pond ; but as 
 my legs grew larger and stronger, my tail 
 grew littler and weaker, until there was n't 
 any tail left. By the time my tail was 
 gone I had four good legs, and could 
 breathe through both my nose and my 
 
64 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 skin. The knobs on the ends of my toes 
 were sticky, so that I could climb a tree, 
 and then I was ready to start on my 
 travels. Some of the other Frogs started 
 with me, but they stopped along the way, 
 and at last I was alone. 
 
 " I was a bold young fellow, and when 
 I saw a great white thing among the trees 
 up yonder, I made up my mind to see 
 what it was. There was a great red thing 
 in the yard beside it, but I liked the white 
 one better. I hopped along as fast as I 
 could, for I did not then know enough to 
 be afraid. I got close up to them both, 
 and saw strange, big creatures going in 
 and out of the red thing — the barn, as I 
 afterward found it was called. The largest 
 creatures had four legs, and some of them 
 had horns. The smaller creatures had 
 only two legs on which to walk, and two 
 other limbs of some sort with which they 
 lifted and carried things. The queerest 
 thing about it was, that the smaller creat- 
 
The Tree Frog's Story. 65 
 
 ures seemed to make the larger ones do 
 whatever they wanted them to. They 
 even made some of them help do their 
 work. You may not believe me, but what 
 I tell you is true. I saw two of the larger 
 ones tied to a great load of dried grass 
 and pulling it into the barn. 
 
 ** As you may guess, I stayed there a 
 long time, watching these strange creat- 
 ures work. Then I went over toward 
 the white thing, and that, I found out, 
 was the farm-house. Here were more of 
 the two-legged creatures, but they were 
 dressed differently from those in the barn. 
 There were some bright-colored flowers 
 near the house, and I crawled in among 
 them. There I rested until sunset, and 
 then began my evening song. While I 
 was singing, one of the people from the 
 house came out and found me. She 
 picked me up and carried me inside. Oh, 
 how frightened I was ! My heart thumped 
 as though it would burst, and I tried my 
 
66 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 best to get away from her. She did n't 
 hurt me at all, but she would not let me 
 
 go- 
 
 '' She put me in a very queer prison. 
 
 At first, when she put me down on a stone 
 
 in some water, I did not know that I was 
 
 in prison. I tried to hop away, and — 
 
 bump ! went my head against something. 
 
 Yet when I drew back, I could see no wall 
 
 there. I tried it again and again, and 
 
 every time I hurt my head. I tell you 
 
 the truth, my friends, those walls were 
 
 made of something which one could see 
 
 through." 
 
 *' Wonderful !" exclaimed all the meadow 
 people ; *' wonderful, indeed ! " 
 
 *' And at the top," continued the Tree 
 Frog, '' was something white over the 
 doorway into my prison. In the bottom 
 were water and a stone, and from the bot- 
 tom to the top was a ladder. There I 
 had to live for most of the summer. I 
 had enough to eat ; but anybody who has 
 
The Tree Frog's Story. 67 
 
 been free cannot be happy shut in. I 
 watched my chance, and three times I got 
 out when the Httle door was not quite 
 closed. Twice I was caught and put back. 
 In the pleasant weather, of course, I went 
 to the top of the ladder, and when it was 
 going to rain I would go down again. 
 Every time that I went up or down, those 
 dreadful creatures would put their faces 
 up close to my prison, and I could hear a 
 roaring sound which meant they were 
 talking and laughing. 
 
 ''The last time I got out, I hid near the 
 door of the house, and although they 
 hunted and hunted for me, they did n't 
 find me. After they stopped hunting, the 
 wind blew the door open, and I hopped 
 out." 
 
 " You don't say ! " exclaimed a Grass- 
 hopper. 
 
 " Yes, I hopped out and scrambled 
 away through the grass as fast as ever I 
 could. You people who have never been 
 
68 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 in prison cannot think how happy I was. 
 It seemed to me that just stretching my 
 legs was enough to make me wild with 
 joy. Well, I came right here, and you 
 were all kind to me, but for a long time I 
 could not sleep without dreaming that I 
 was back in prison, and I would croak in 
 my sleep at the thought of it." 
 
 *' I heard you," cried the Katydid, *' and 
 I wondered what was the matter." 
 
 ** Matter enough," said the Tree Frog. 
 ** It makes my skin dry to think of it now. 
 And, friends, the best way I can ever re- 
 pay your kindness to me, is to tell you to 
 never, never, never, never go near the 
 farm-house." 
 
 And they all answered, "We never 
 will." 
 
The GRA55 
 HOPPER and 
 theMEA5UR- 
 INGAVORM 
 RUNaH4GE: 
 
 A FEW days after the 
 Measuring Worm came 
 to the meadow he met the Grass- 
 hoppers. Everybody had heard of 
 the Caterpillars* wish to be fashion 
 able, and some of the young Grass 
 hoppers, who did not know that it was all 
 a joke, said they would like to teach the 
 Measuring Worm a few things. So when 
 they met him the young Grasshoppers be- 
 gan to make fun of him, and asked him 
 what he did if he wanted to run, and 
 whether he did n't wish his head grew on 
 69 
 
70 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 the middle of his back so that he could 
 see better when walking. 
 
 The Measuring Worm was good-na- 
 tured, and only said that he found his 
 head useful where it was. Soon one fine- 
 looking Grasshopper asked him to race. 
 '* That will show," said the Grasshopper, 
 " which is the better traveller." 
 
 The Measuring Worm said : '' Cer- 
 tainly, I will race with you to-morrow, 
 and we will ask all our friends to look 
 on." Then he began talking about some- 
 thing else. He was a wise young fellow, 
 as well as a jolly one, and he knew the 
 Grasshoppers felt sure that he would be 
 beaten. '' If I cannot win the race by 
 swift running," thought he, ''I must try 
 to win it by good planning." So he got 
 the Grasshoppers to go with him to a 
 place where the sweet young grass grew, 
 and they all fed together. 
 
 The Measuring Worm nibbled only a 
 little here and there, but he talked a great 
 
Grasshopper and Measuring Worm. 71 
 
 deal about the sweetness of the grass, and 
 how they would not get any more for a 
 long time because the hot weather would 
 spoil it. And the Grasshoppers said to 
 each other : ''He is right, and we must 
 eat all we can while we have it." So they 
 ate, and ate, and ate, and ate, until sun- 
 set, and in the morning they awakened 
 and began eating again. * When the time 
 for the race came, they were all heavy 
 and stupid from so much eating, — which 
 was exactly what the Measuring Worm 
 wanted. 
 
 The Tree Frog, the fat, old Cricket, 
 and a Caterpillar were chosen to be the 
 judges, and the race was to be a long 
 one, — from the edge of the woods to the 
 fence. When the meadow people were 
 all gathered around to see the race, the 
 Cricket gave a shrill chirp, which meant 
 *' Go ! " and off they started. That is to 
 say, the Measuring Worm started. The 
 Grasshopper felt so sure he could beat 
 
72 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 that he wanted to give the Measuring 
 Worm a Httle the start, because then, you 
 see, he could say he had won without half 
 trying. 
 
 The Measuring Worm started off at a 
 good, steady rate, and when he had gone 
 a few feet the Grasshopper gave a couple 
 of great leaps, which landed him far ahead 
 of the Worm. Then he stopped to nibble 
 a blade of grass and visit with some Katy- 
 dids who were looking on. By and by he 
 took a few more leaps and passed the 
 Measuring Worm again. This time he 
 began to show off by jumping up straight 
 into the air, and when he came down he 
 would call out to those who stood near to 
 see how strong he was and how easy it 
 would be for him to win the race. And 
 everybody said, ** How strong he is, to be 
 sure ! " ** What wonderful legs he has ! " 
 and *' He could beat the Measuring Worm 
 with his eyes shut ! " which made the Grass- 
 hopper so exceedingly vain that he stopped 
 
Grasshopper and Measuring Worm. ^'^ 
 
 more and more often to show his strength 
 and daring. 
 
 That was the way it went, until they 
 were only a short distance from the end 
 of the race course. The Grasshopper 
 was more and more pleased to think how 
 easily he was winning, and stopped for a 
 last time to nibble grass and make fun of 
 the Worm. He gave a great leap into 
 the air, and when he came down there 
 was the Worm on the fence ! All the 
 meadow people croaked, and shrilled, and 
 chirped to see the way in which the race 
 ended, and the Grasshopper was very 
 much vexed. '' You should n't call him 
 the winner," he said ; '' I can travel ten 
 times as fast as he, if I try." 
 
 "Yes," answered the judges, **we all 
 know that, yet the winning of the race is 
 not decided by what you might do, but by 
 what you did do." And the meadow people 
 all cried : " Long live the Measuring 
 Worm ! Long live the Measuring Worm ! " 
 
"^ 
 
 M? GREEN r^pG] 
 
 One day a young Frog 
 who lived down by the 
 river, came hopping up 
 through the meadow. He 
 was a fine-looking fellow, 
 all brown and green, with 
 a white vest, and he came 
 to see the sights. The 
 oldest Frog on the river 
 bank had told him that he 
 
 '■vl 
 
 75 
 
76 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 ought to travel and learn to know the 
 world, so he had started at once. 
 
 Young Mr. Green Frog had very big 
 eyes, and they stuck out from his head 
 more than ever when he saw all the 
 strange sights and heard all the strange 
 sounds of the meadow. Yet he made one 
 great mistake, just as bigger and better 
 people sometimes do when they go on a 
 journey ; he did n't try to learn from the 
 things he saw, but only to show off to the 
 meadow people how much he already 
 knew, and he boasted a great deal of the 
 fine way in which he lived when at home. 
 
 Mr. Green Frog told those whom he 
 met that the meadow was dreadfully dry, 
 and that he really could not see how they 
 lived there. He said they ought to see 
 the lovely soft mud that there was in the 
 marsh, and that there the people could sit 
 all day with their feet in water in among 
 the rushes where the sunshine never came. 
 ** And then," he said, ''to eat grass as the 
 
Mr. Green Frog and his Visitors. ^'] 
 
 Grasshoppers did ! If they would go 
 home with him, he would show them how 
 to live." 
 
 The older Grasshoppers and Crickets 
 and Locusts only looked at each other 
 and opened their funny mouths in a smile, 
 but the young ones thought Mr. Green 
 Frog must be right, and they wanted to 
 go back with him. The old Hoppers told 
 them that they would n't like it down 
 there, and that they would be sorry that 
 they had gone ; still the young ones teased 
 and teased and teased and teased until 
 everybody said : " Well, let them go, and 
 then perhaps they will be contented when 
 they return." 
 
 At last they all set off together, — Mr. 
 Green Frog and the young meadow peo- 
 ple. Mr. Green Frog took little jumps 
 all the way and bragged and bragged. 
 The Grasshoppers went in long leaps, the 
 Crickets scampered most of the way, and 
 the Locusts fluttered. It was a very gay 
 
78 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 little party, and they kept saying to 
 each other, *' What a fine time we shall 
 have ! " 
 
 When they got to the marsh, Mr. Green 
 Frog went in first with a soft *' plunk " in 
 the mud. The rest all followed and tried 
 to make believe that they liked it, but 
 they did n't — they did n't at all. The 
 Grasshoppers kept bumping against the 
 tough, hard rushes when they jumped, 
 and then that would tumble them over on 
 their backs in the mud, and there they 
 would lie, kicking their legs in the air, 
 until some friendly Cricket pushed them 
 over on their feet again. The Locusts 
 could n't fly at all there, and the Crickets 
 got their shiny black coats all grimy and 
 horrid. 
 
 They all got cold and wet and tired — 
 yes, and hungry too, for there were no 
 tender green things growing in among 
 the rushes. Still they pretended to have 
 a good time, even while they were think- 
 
Mr. Green Frog and his Visitors. 79 
 
 ing how they would like to be In their 
 dear old home. 
 
 After the sun went down in the west it 
 grew colder still, and all the Frogs in the 
 marsh began to croak to the moon, croak- 
 ing so loudly that the tired little travellers 
 could not sleep at all. When the Frogs 
 stopped croaking and went to sleep in the 
 mud, one tired Cricket said : ** If you like 
 this, stay, I am going home as fast as 
 my six little legs will carry me." And all 
 the rest of the travellers said : "■ So am I," 
 " So am I," '* So am I." 
 
 Mr. Green Frog was sleeping soundly, 
 and they crept away as quietly as they 
 could out into the silvery moonlight and 
 up the bank towards home. Such a tired 
 little party as they were, and so hungry 
 that they had to stop and eat every little 
 while. The dew was on the grass and 
 they could not get warm. 
 
 The sun was just rising behind the 
 eastern forest when they got home. They 
 
8o Among the Meadow People. 
 
 did not want to tell about their trip at all, 
 but just ate a lot of pepper-grass to make 
 them warm, and then rolled themselves 
 in between the woolly mullein leaves to 
 rest all day long. And that was the last 
 time any of them ever went away with a 
 stranger. 
 
THE D;SV orTTIE CHEAT STOBM 
 
 r 
 
 Everything in the meadow 
 was dry and dusty. The leaves 
 on the milkweeds were turn- 
 ing yellow with thirst, the field 
 blossoms drooped their dainty 
 heads in the sunshine, and the 
 grass seemed to fairly rattle in 
 the wind, it was so brown and 
 dry. 
 
 All of the meadow people 
 when they met each other 
 would say, '* Well, this is hot," 
 and the Garter Snake, who 
 had lived there longer than anyone else, 
 
 8i 
 
82 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 declared that it was the hottest and driest 
 time that he had ever known. *' Really," 
 he said, " it is so hot that I cannot eat, 
 and such a thing never happened before." 
 
 The Grasshoppers and Locusts were 
 very happy, for such weather was exactly 
 what they liked. They did n't see how 
 people could complain of such delightful 
 scorching days. But that, you know, is 
 always the way, for everybody cannot be 
 suited at once, and all kinds of weather 
 are needed to make a good year. 
 
 The poor Tree Frog crawled into the 
 coolest place he could find — hollow trees, 
 shady nooks under the ferns, or even be- 
 neath the corner of a great stone. ** Oh," 
 said he, '' I wish I were a Tadpole again, 
 swimming in a shady pool. It is such a 
 long, hot journey to the marsh that I can- 
 not go. Last night I dreamed that I was 
 a Tadpole, splashing in the water, and it 
 was hard to awaken and find myself only 
 an uncomfortable old Tree Frog." 
 
The Day of the Great Storm. St, 
 
 Over his head the Katydids were singing, 
 ** Lovely weather ! Lovely weather ! " and 
 the Tree Frog, who was a good-natured 
 old fellow after all, winked his eye at them 
 and said : '' Sing away. This won't last 
 always, and then it will be my turn to sing." 
 
 Sure enough, the very next day a tiny 
 cloud drifted across the sky, and the Tree 
 Frog, who always knew when the weather 
 was about to change, began his rain-song. 
 ** Pukr-r-rup ! " sang he, *' Pukr-r-rup ! It 
 will rain ! It will rain ! R-r-r-rain ! " 
 
 The little white cloud grew bigger and 
 blacker, and another came following after, 
 then another, and another, and another, 
 until the sky was quite covered with rush- 
 ing black clouds. Then came a long, low 
 rumble of thunder, and all the meadow peo- 
 ple hurried to find shelter. The Moths and 
 Butterflies hung on the under sides of great 
 leaves. The Grasshoppers and their cousins 
 crawled under burdock and mullein plants. 
 The Ants scurried around to find their 
 
84 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 own homes. The Bees and Wasps, who 
 had been gathering honey for their nests, 
 flew swiftly back. Everyone was hurry- 
 ing to be ready for the shower, and above 
 all the rustle and stir could be heard the 
 voice of the old Frog, '' Pukr-r-rup ! Pukr-r- 
 rup ! It will rain ! It will rain ! R-r-r-rain ! " 
 The wind blew harder and harder, the 
 branches swayed and tossed, the leaves 
 danced, and some even blew off of their 
 mother trees ; the hundreds of little clinging 
 creatures clung more and more tightly to 
 the leaves that sheltered them, and then the 
 rain came, and such a rain ! Great drops 
 hurrying down from the sky, crowding each 
 other, beating down the grass, flooding the 
 homes of the Ants and Digger Wasps until 
 they were half choked with water, knocking 
 over the Grasshoppers and tumbling them 
 about like leaves. The lightning flashed, 
 and the thunder pealed, and often a tree 
 would crash down in the forest near by 
 when the wind blew a great blast. 
 
The Day of the Great Storm. 85 
 
 When everybody was wet, and little 
 rivulets of water were trickling through 
 the grass and running into great puddles 
 in the hollows, the rain stopped, stopped 
 suddenly. One by one the meadow peo- 
 ple crawled or swam into sight. 
 
 The Digger Wasp was floating on a 
 leaf in a big puddle. He was too tired 
 and wet to fly, and the whirling of the 
 leaf made him feel sick and dizzy, but he 
 stood firmly on his tiny boat and tried to 
 look as though he enjoyed it. 
 
 The Ants were rushing around to put 
 their homes in shape, the Spiders were 
 busily eating their old webs, which had 
 been broken and torn in the storm, and 
 some were already beginning new ones. 
 A large family of Bees, whose tree-home 
 had been blown down, passed over the 
 meadow in search for a new dwelling, and 
 everybody seemed busy and happy in the 
 cool air that followed the storm. 
 
 The Snake went gliding through the 
 
86 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 wet grass, as hungry as ever, the Tree 
 Frog was as happy as when he was a 
 Tadpole, and only the Grasshoppers and 
 their cousins, the Locusts and Katydids, 
 were cross. " Such a horrid rain !" they 
 grumbled, '' it spoiled all our fun. And 
 after such lovely hot weather too." 
 
 " Now don't be silly," said the Tree 
 Frog, who could be really severe when he 
 thought best, "the Bees and the Ants are 
 not complaining, and they had a good 
 deal harder time than you. Can't you 
 make the best of anything ? A nice, 
 hungry, cross lot you would be if it 
 did n't rain, because then you would have 
 no good, juicy food. It 's better for you 
 in the end as it is, but even if it were not, 
 you might make the best of it as I did of 
 the hot weather. When you have lived 
 as long as I have, you will know that 
 neither Grasshoppers nor Tree Frogs can 
 have their way all the time, but that it 
 always comes out all right in the end 
 without their fretting about it." 
 
LILV DAD 
 
 This is the story of a 
 venturesome young Spider, 
 who left his home in the 
 meadow to seek his fortune 
 in the great world. 
 
 He was a beautiful Spi- 
 der, and belonged to one 
 of the best families in the 
 country around. He was 
 a worker, too, for, as he had 
 often said, there was n't a 
 lazy leg on his body, and 
 he could spin the biggest, 
 strongest, and shiniest web 
 in the meadow. All the 
 young people in the meadow liked him, 
 and he was invited to every party, or 
 87 
 
88 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 dance, or picnic that they planned. If he 
 had been content to stay at home, as his 
 brothers and sisters were, he would in time 
 have become as important and well known 
 as the Tree Frog, or the fat, old Cricket, 
 or even as the Garter Snake. 
 
 But that would not satisfy him at all, 
 and one morning he said ''Good-by" to 
 all his friends and relatives, and set sail 
 for unknown lands. He set sail, but not 
 on water. He crawled up a tree, and out 
 to the end of one of its branches. There 
 he began spinning a long silken rope, and 
 letting the wind blow it away from the 
 tree. He held fast to one end, and when 
 the wind was quite strong, he let go of 
 the branch and sailed off through the air, 
 carried by his rope balloon, and blown 
 along by the wind. 
 
 The meadow people, on the ground be- 
 low, watched him until he got so far away 
 that he looked about as large as a Fly, and 
 then he looked no bigger than an Ant, 
 
The Story of Lily-Pad Island. 89 
 
 and then no bigger than a clover seed, and 
 then no bigger than the tiniest egg that 
 was ever laid, and then — well, then you 
 could see nothing but sky, and the Spider 
 was truly gone. The other young Spiders 
 all wished that they had gone, and the old 
 Spiders said, " They might much better 
 stay at home, as their fathers and mothers 
 had done." There was no use talking 
 about it when they disagreed so, and very 
 little more was said. 
 
 Meanwhile, the young traveller was 
 having a very fine time. He was carried 
 past trees and over fences, down toward 
 the river. Under him were all the bright 
 flowers of the meadow, and the bushes 
 which used to tower above his head. After 
 a while, he saw the rushes of the marsh 
 below him, and wondered If the Frogs 
 there would see him as he passed over 
 them. 
 
 Next, he saw a beautiful, shining river, 
 and in the quiet water by the shore were 
 
90 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 great white water-HHes growing, with their 
 green leaves, or pads, floating beside them. 
 '*Ah," thought he, *' I shall pass over the 
 river, and land on the farther side," and 
 he began to think of eating his rope bal- 
 loon, so that he might sink slowly to the 
 ground, when — the wind suddenly stopped 
 blowing, and he began falling slowly down, 
 down, down, down. 
 
 How he longed for a branch to cling to ! 
 How he shivered at the thought of plung- 
 ing into the cold water ! How he wished 
 that he had always stayed at home ! How 
 he thought of all the naughty things that 
 he had ever done, and was sorry that he 
 had done them ! But it was of no use, for 
 still he went down, down, down. He gave 
 up all hope and tried to be brave, and at 
 that very minute he felt himself alight on 
 a great green lily-pad. 
 
 This was indeed an adventure, and he 
 was very joyful for a little while. But he 
 got hungry, and there was no food near. 
 
The Story of Lily-Pad Island. 91 
 
 He walked all over the leaf, Lily-Pad 
 Island he named it, and ran around its 
 edges as many as forty times. It was just 
 a flat, green island, and at one side was a 
 perfect white lily, which had grown, so 
 pure and beautiful, out of the darkness 
 and slime of the river bottom. The lily 
 was so near that he jumped over to it. 
 There he nestled in its sweet, yellow cen- 
 tre, and went to sleep. 
 
 When he fell asleep it was late in the 
 afternoon, and, as the sun sank lower and 
 lower in the west, the lily began to close 
 her petals and get ready for the night. 
 She was just drawing under the water 
 when the Spider awakened. It was dark 
 and close, and he felt himself shut in and 
 going down. He scrambled and pushed, 
 and got out just in time to give a great 
 leap and alight on Lily Pad-Island once 
 more. And then he was in a sad plight. 
 He was hungry and cold, and night was 
 coming oh, and, what was worst of all, in 
 
92 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 his great struggle to free himself from the 
 lily he had pulled off two of his legs, so 
 he had only six left. 
 
 He never liked to think of that night 
 afterward, it was so dreadful. In the 
 morning he saw a leaf come floating down 
 the stream ; he watched it ; it touched 
 Lily-Pad Island for just an instant and he 
 jumped on. He did not know where it 
 would take him, but anything was better 
 than staying where he was and starving. 
 It might float to the shore, or against one 
 of the rushes that grew in the shallower 
 parts of the river. If it did that, he would 
 jump off and run up to the top and set sail 
 again, but the island, where he had been, 
 was too low to give him a start. 
 
 He went straight down-stream for a 
 while, then the leaf drifted into a little 
 eddy, and whirled around and around, 
 until the Spider was almost too dizzy to 
 stand on it. After that, it floated slowly, 
 very slowly, toward the shore, and at last 
 
The Story of Lily-Pad Island. 93 
 
 came the joyful minute when the Spider 
 could jump to some of the plants that 
 grew in the shallow water, and, by making 
 rope bridges from one to another, get on 
 solid ground. 
 
 After a few days' rest he started back 
 to the meadow, asking his way of every 
 insect that he met. When he got home 
 they did not know him, he was so changed, 
 but thought him only a tramp Spider, and 
 not one of their own people. His mother 
 was the first one to find out who he was, 
 and when her friends said, "Just what I 
 expected ! He might have known better," 
 she hushed them, and answered : '' The 
 poor child has had a hard time, and I 
 won't scold him for going. He has learned 
 that home is the best place, and that home 
 friends are the dearest. I shall keep him 
 quiet while his new legs are growing, and 
 then, I think, he will spin his webs near 
 the old place." 
 
 And so he did, and is now one of the 
 
94 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 steadiest of all the meadow people. When 
 anybody asks him his age, he refuses to 
 tell, *' For," he says, *' most of me is mid- 
 dle-aged, but these two new legs of mine 
 are still very young." 
 
Early one wet morning, a long Earth- 
 worm came out of his burrow. He did 
 not really leave it, but he dragged most 
 of his body out, and let just the tip-end 
 of it stay in the earth. Not having any 
 eyes, he could not see the heavy, gray 
 clouds that filled the sky, nor the milk- 
 weed stalks, so heavy with rain-drops that 
 they drooped their pink heads. He could 
 not see these things, but he could feel the 
 soft, damp grass, and the cool, clear air, 
 and as for seeing, why, Earthworms never 
 do have eyes, and never think of wanting 
 them, any more than you would want six 
 legs, or feelers on your head. 
 
 95 
 
96 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 This Earthworm had been out of his 
 burrow only a little while, when there was 
 a flutter and a rush, and Something flew 
 down from the sky and bit his poor body 
 in two. Oh, how it hurt ! Both halves 
 of him wriggled and twisted with pain, 
 and there is no telling what might have 
 become of them if another and bigger 
 Something had not come rushing down 
 to drive the first Something away. So 
 there the poor Earthworm lay, in two 
 aching, wriggling pieces, and although it 
 had been easy enough to bite him in two, 
 nothing in the world could ever bite him 
 into one. 
 
 After a while the aching stopped, and 
 he had time to think. It was very hard 
 to decide what he ought to do. You can 
 see just how puzzling it must have been, 
 for, if you should suddenly find yourself 
 two people instead of one, you would not 
 know which one was which. At this very 
 minute, who should come along but the 
 
The Earthworm Half-Brothers. 97 
 
 Cicada, and one of the Earthworm pieces 
 asked his advice. The Cicada thought 
 that he was the very person to advise in 
 such a case, because he had had such a 
 puzzHng time himself. So he said in a 
 very knowing way : ** Pooh ! That is a 
 simple matter. I thought I was two Ci- 
 cadas once, but I was n't. The thinking, 
 moving part is the real one, whatever 
 happens, so that part of the Worm which 
 thinks and moves is the real Worm." 
 
 ** I am the thinking part," cried each of 
 the pieces. 
 
 The Cicada rubbed his head with his 
 front legs, he was so surprised. 
 
 *' And I am the moving part," cried 
 each of the pieces, giving a little wriggle 
 to prove it. 
 
 '' Well, well, well, well ! " exclaimed the 
 Cicada, " I believe I don't know how to 
 settle this. I will call the Garter Snake," 
 and he flew off to get him. 
 
 A very queer couple they made, the 
 
98 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 Garter Snake and the Cicada, as they 
 came hurrying back from the Snake's 
 home. The Garter Snake was quite ex- 
 cited. ** Such a thing has not happened 
 in our meadow for a long time," he said, 
 "and it is a good thing there is somebody 
 here to explain it to you, or you would be 
 dreadfully frightened. My family is re- 
 lated to the Worms, and I know. Both 
 of you pieces are Worms now. The 
 bitten ends will soon be well, and you can 
 keep house side by side, if you don't want 
 to live together." 
 
 ** Well," said the Earthworms, ** if we 
 are no longer the same Worm, but two 
 Worms, are we related to each other ? 
 Are we brothers, or what ?" 
 
 '* Why," answered the Garter Snake, 
 with a funny little smile, ** I think you 
 might call yourselves half-brothers." And 
 to this day they are known as " the Earth- 
 worm half-brothers." They are very fond 
 of each other and are always seen together. 
 
The Earthworm Half-Brothers. 99 
 
 A jolly young Grasshopper, who is a 
 great eater and thinks rather too much 
 about food, said he would n't mind being 
 bitten into two Grasshoppers, if it would 
 give him two stomachs and let him eat 
 twice as much. 
 
 The Cicada told the Garter Snake this 
 one day, and the Garter Snake said : 
 ** Tell him not to try it. The Earth- 
 worms are the only meadow people who 
 can live after being bitten in two that 
 way. The rest of us have to be one, or 
 nothing. And as for having two stomachs, 
 he is just as well off with one, for if he had 
 two, he would get twice as hungry." 
 
V 
 
 A 
 ING 
 
 Of all the people who lived 
 and worked in the meadow by the 
 river, there was not one who gave 
 so much thought to other people's 
 business as a certain Blue-bottle 
 Fly. Why this should be so, no- 
 body could say ; perhaps it was 
 because he had nothing to do but 
 eat and sleep, for that is often the 
 way with those who do little work. 
 Truly his cares were light. To 
 be sure, he ate much, but then, 
 with nearly sixty teeth for nib- 
 bling and awonderful long tongue 
 for sucking, he could eat a great 
 deal in a very short time. And 
 
A Gossiping Fly. loi 
 
 as for sleeping — well, sleeping was as easy 
 for him as for anyone else. 
 
 However it was, he saw nearly every- 
 thing that happened, and thought it over 
 in his queer little three-cornered head 
 until he was sure that he ought to go to 
 talk about it with somebody else. It was 
 no wonder that he saw so much, for he 
 had a great bunch of eyes on each side of 
 his head, and three bright, shining ones on 
 the very top of it. That let him see almost 
 everything at once, and beside this his 
 neck was so exceedingly slender that he 
 could turn his head very far around. 
 
 This particular Fly, like all other Flies, 
 was very fond of the sunshine and kept 
 closely at home in dark or wet weather. 
 He had no house, but stayed in a certain 
 elder bush on cloudy days and called that 
 his home. He had spent all of one stormy 
 day there, hanging on the under side of a 
 leaf, with nothing to do but think. Of 
 course, his head was down and his feet 
 
I02 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 were up, but Blue-bottle Flies think in 
 that position as well as in any other, and 
 the two sticky pads on each side of his 
 six feet held him there very comfortably. 
 
 He thought so much that day, that 
 when the next morning dawned sunshiny 
 and clear, he had any number of things to 
 tell people, and he started out at once. 
 
 First he went to the Tree Frog. *' What 
 do you suppose," said he, " that the Garter 
 Snake is saying about you ? It is very 
 absurd, yet I feel that you ought to know, 
 tje says that your tongue is fastened at 
 the wrong end, and that the tip of it 
 points down your throat. Of course, I 
 knew it could n't be true, still I thought I 
 would tell you what he said, and then you 
 could see him and put a stop to it." 
 
 For an answer to this the Tree Frog 
 ran out his tongue, and, sure enough, it 
 was fastened at the front end. *' The 
 Snake is quite right," he said pleasantly, 
 " and my tongue suits me perfectly. It is 
 
A Gossiping Fly. 103 
 
 just what I need for the kind of food I 
 eat, and the best of all is that it never 
 makes mischief between friends." 
 
 After that, the Fly could say nothing 
 more there, so he flew away in his noisiest 
 manner to find the Grasshopper who lost 
 the race. *' It was a shame," said the Fly 
 to him, " that the judges did not give the 
 race to you. The idea of that little green 
 Measuring Worm coming in here, almost 
 a stranger, and making so much trouble ! 
 I would have him driven out of the 
 meadow, if I were you." 
 
 '' Oh, that is all right," answered the 
 Grasshopper, who was really a good fel- 
 low at heart ; '' I was very foolish about 
 that race for a time, but the Measuring 
 Worm and I are firm friends now. Are 
 we not ? " And he turned to a leaf just 
 back of him, and there, peeping around the 
 edge, was the Measuring Worm himself. 
 
 The Blue-bottle Fly left in a hurry, for 
 where people were so good-natured he 
 
I04 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 could do nothing at all. He went this 
 time to the Crickets, whom he found all 
 together by the fat, old Cricket's hole. 
 
 '* I came," he said, '' to find out if it 
 were true, as the meadow people say, that 
 you were all dreadfully frightened when 
 the Cow came ? " 
 
 The Crickets answered never a word, 
 but they looked at each other and began 
 asking him questions. 
 
 '' Is it true," said one, ** that you do 
 nothing but eat and sleep ? " 
 
 '' Is it true," said another, '' that your 
 eyes are used most of the time for seeing 
 other people's faults ? " 
 
 " And is it true," said another, *' that 
 with all the fuss you make, you do little 
 but mischief?" 
 
 The Blue-bottle Fly answered nothing, 
 but started at once for his home in the elder 
 bush, and they say that his three-cornered 
 head was filled with very different thoughts 
 from any that had been there before. 
 
JHE M05QUIT0j 
 ffRIE5TOTl4CHi 
 
 >^ 
 
 In this meadow, as in 
 every other meadow since 
 the world began, there were 
 some people who were al- 
 ways tired of the way things 
 were, and thought that, if 
 the world were only differ- 
 ent, they would be perfect- 
 ly happy. One of these 
 discontented ones was a 
 certain Mosquito, a fellow 
 with a whining voice and 
 disagreeable manners. He 
 had very little patience 
 with people who were not 
 like him, and thought that 
 105 
 
io6 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 the world would be a much pleasanter 
 place if all the insects had been made 
 Mosquitoes. 
 
 *' What is the use of Spiders, and 
 Dragon-flies, and Beetles, and Butter- 
 flies?" he would say, fretfully; **a Mos- 
 quito is worth more than any of them." 
 
 You can just see how unreasonable he 
 was. Of course. Mosquitoes and Flies do 
 help keep the air pure and sweet, but that 
 is no reason why they should set them- 
 selves up above the other insects. Do 
 not the Bees carry pollen from one flower 
 to another, and so help the plants raise 
 their Seed Babies ? And who would not 
 miss the bright, happy Butterflies, with 
 their work of making the world beautiful ? 
 
 But this Mosquito never thought of 
 those things, and he said to himself: 
 '' Well, if they cannot all be Mosquitoes, 
 they can at least try 'to live like them, and 
 I think I will call them together and talk 
 it over." So he sent word all around, and 
 
The Mosquito Tries to Teach. 107 
 
 his friends and neighbors gathered to hear 
 what he had to say. 
 
 *'In the first place," he remarked, ''it is 
 unfortunate that you are not Mosquitoes, 
 but, since you are not, one must make the 
 best of it. There are some things, how- 
 ever, which you might learn from us 
 fortunate creatures who are. For in- 
 stance, notice the excellent habit of the 
 Mosquitoes in the matter of laying eggs. 
 Three or four hundred of the eggs are 
 fastened together and left floating on a 
 pond in such a way that, when the babies 
 break their shells, they go head first into 
 the water. Then they " 
 
 ** Do you think I would do that if I 
 could?" interrupted a motherly old Grass- 
 hopper. '' Fix it so my children would 
 drown the minute they came out of the egg ? 
 No, indeed ! " and she hurried angrily away, 
 followed by several other loving mothers. 
 
 ** But they don't drown," exclaimed the 
 Mosquito, in surprise. 
 
io8 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 ** They don't if they 're Mosquitoes," 
 repHed the Ant, *' but I am thankful to say 
 my children are land babies and not water 
 babies." 
 
 '' Well, I won't say anything more about 
 that, but I must speak of your voices, 
 which are certainly too heavy and loud to 
 be pleasant. I should think you might 
 speak and sing more softly, even if you 
 have no pockets under your wings like 
 mine. I flutter my wings, and the air 
 strikes these pockets and makes my sweet 
 voice." 
 
 ** Humph!" exclaimed a Bee, ** it Is a 
 very poor place for pockets, and a very 
 poor use to make of them. Every Bee 
 knows that pockets are handiest on the 
 hind legs, and should be used for carrying 
 pollen to the babies at home." 
 
 ** My pocket Is behind," said a Spider, 
 " and my web silk is kept there. I could n't 
 live without a pocket." 
 
 Some of the meadow people were get- 
 
The Mosquito Tries to Teach. 109 
 
 ting angry, so the Garter Snake, who 
 would always rather laugh than quarrel, 
 glided forward and said : '' My friends 
 and neighbors ; our speaker here has been 
 so kind as to tell us how the Mosquitoes 
 do a great many things, and to try to 
 teach us their way. It seems to me that 
 we might repay some of his kindness by 
 showing him our ways, and seeing that 
 he learns by practice. I would ask the 
 Spiders to take him with them and show 
 him how to spin a web. Then the Bees 
 could teach him how to build comb, and 
 the Tree Frog how to croak, and the 
 Earthworms how to burrow, and the 
 Caterpillars how to spin a cocoon. Each 
 of us will do something for him. Perhaps 
 the Measuring Worm will teach him to 
 walk as the Worms of his family do. I 
 understand he does that very well." Here 
 everybody laughed, remembering the joke 
 played on the Caterpillars, and the Snake 
 stopped speaking. 
 
no Among the Meadow People. 
 
 The Mosquito did not dare refuse to 
 be taught, and so he was taken from one 
 place to another, and told exactly how to 
 do everything that he could not possibly 
 do, until he felt so very meek and humble 
 that he was willing the meadow people 
 should be busy and happy in their own 
 way. 
 
% 
 
 By the, edge of the marsh 
 lived a young Frog, who 
 thought a great deal about 
 herself and much less about 
 other people. Not that it 
 was wrong to think so much 
 of herself, but it certainly was 
 unfortunate that she should 
 have so little time left in 
 which to think of others and 
 of the beautiful world. 
 
 Early in the morning this 
 Frog would awaken and lean 
 far over the edge of a pool 
 
 to see how 
 
 III 
 
112 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 she looked after her night's rest. Then 
 she would give a spring, and come down 
 with a splash in the cool water for her 
 morning bath. For a while she would 
 swim as fast as her dainty webbed feet 
 would push her, then she would rest, sit- 
 ting in the soft mud with just her head 
 above the water. 
 
 When her bath was taken, she had her 
 breakfast, and that was the way in which 
 she began her day. She did nothing but 
 bathe and eat and rest, from sunrise to 
 sunset. She had a fine, strong body, and 
 had never an ache or a pain, but one day 
 she got to thinking, " What if sometime 
 I should be sick?" And then, because 
 she thought about nothing but her own 
 self, she was soon saying, '' I am afraid I 
 shall be sick." In a little while longer it 
 was, '' I certainly am sick." 
 
 She crawled under a big toadstool, and 
 sat there looking very glum indeed, until 
 a Cicada came along. She told the Cicada 
 
The Frog who Thought herself Sick. 113 
 
 how sick she feh, and he told his cousins, 
 the Locusts, and they told their cousins, 
 the Grasshoppers, and they told their 
 cousins, the Katydids, and then everybody 
 told somebody else, and started for the 
 toadstool where the young Frog sat. The 
 more she had thought of it, the worse she 
 felt, until, by the time the meadow people 
 came crowding around, she was feeling 
 very sick indeed. 
 
 ** Where do you feel badly?" they cried, 
 and, ** How long have you been sick?" 
 and one Cricket stared with big eyes, and 
 said, ' ' H ow dr-r-readf ully she looks ! " The 
 young Frog felt weaker and weaker, and 
 answered in a faint little voice that she 
 had felt perfectly well until after break- 
 fast, but that now she was quite sure her 
 skin was getting dry, and ''Oh dear!" and 
 '' Oh dear ! " 
 
 Now everybody knows that Frogs 
 breathe through their skins as well as 
 through their noses, and for a Frog's skin 
 
114 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 to get dry is very serious, for then he can- 
 not breathe through it ; so, as soon as she 
 said that, everybody was frightened and 
 wanted to do something for her at once. 
 Some of the timid ones began to weep, 
 and the others bustled around, getting in 
 each other s way and all trying to do some- 
 thing different. One wanted to wrap her 
 in mullein leaves, another wanted her to 
 nibble a bit of the peppermint which grew 
 near, a third thought she should be kept 
 moving, and that was the way it went. 
 
 Just when everybody was at his wits* 
 end, the old Tree Frog came along. 
 *' Pukr-r-rup ! What is the matter with 
 you ? " he said. 
 
 ** Oh!" gasped the young Frog, weakly, 
 '* I am sure my skin is getting dry, and I 
 feel as though I had something in my 
 head." 
 
 ** Umph ! " grunted the Tree Frog to 
 himself, '* I guess there is n't enough in 
 her head to ever make her sick ; and, as 
 
The Frog who Thought herself Sick. 1 1 5 
 
 for her skin, it is n't dry yet, and nobody 
 knows that it ever will be." 
 
 But as he was a wise old fellow and had 
 learned much about life7he knew he must 
 not say such things aloud. What he did 
 say was, ** I heard there was to be a great 
 race in the pool this morning." 
 
 The young Frog lifted her head quite 
 quickly, saying : '' You did ? Who are 
 the racers ? " 
 
 *' Why, all the young Frogs who live 
 around here. It is too bad that you can- 
 not go." 
 
 " I don't believe it would hurt me any," 
 she said. 
 
 ** You might take cold," the Tree Frog 
 said; "besides, the exercise would tire you." 
 
 " Oh, but I am feeling much better," 
 the young Frog said, '' and I am certain 
 it will do me good." 
 
 '' You ought not to go," insisted all the 
 older meadow people. ** You really ought 
 not." 
 
Ii6 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 " I don't care," she answered, *' I am 
 going anyway, and I am just as well as 
 anybody." 
 
 And she did go, and it did seem that 
 she was as strong as ever. The people 
 all wondered at it, but the Tree Frog 
 winked his eyes at them and said, ** I 
 knew that it w^ould cure her." And then 
 he, and the Garter Snake, and the fat, old 
 Cricket laughed together, and all the 
 younger meadow people wondered at what 
 they were laughing. 
 
KATVDID5* 
 
 qUARREL 
 
 The warm summer days 
 were past, and the Katy- 
 dids came again to the 
 meadow. Everybody was 
 glad to see them, and the 
 Grasshoppers, who are 
 cousins of the Katydids, 
 gave a party in their honor. 
 
 Such a time as the 
 meadow people had getting 
 ready for that party ! They 
 did not have to change 
 their dresses, but they 
 scraped and cleaned them- 
 selves, and all the young 
 Grasshoppers went off by 
 
 117 
 
ii8 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 the woods to practise jumping and get 
 their knees well limbered, because there 
 might be games and dancing at the party, 
 and then how dreadful It would be if any- 
 young Grasshopper should find that two 
 or three of his legs would n't bend easily ! 
 
 The Grasshoppers did not know at just 
 what time they ought to have the party. 
 Some of the meadow people whom they 
 wanted to Invite were used to sleeping all 
 day, and some were used to sleeping all 
 night, so It really was hard to find an hour 
 at which all would be wide-awake and 
 ready for fun. At last the Tree Frog 
 said : '* Pukr-r-rup ! Pukr-r-rup ! Have it 
 at sunset ! " And at sunset It was. 
 
 Everyone came on time, and they 
 hopped and chattered and danced and 
 ate a party supper of tender green leaves. 
 Some of the little Grasshoppers grew 
 sleepy and crawled among the plantains 
 for a nap. Just then a big Katydid said 
 he would sing a song — which was a very 
 
The Katydids' Quarrel. 119 
 
 kind thing for him to do, because he really 
 did it to make the others happy, and not 
 to show what a fine musician he was. All 
 the guests said, ''How charming!" or, 
 " We should be delighted ! " and he seated 
 himself on a low swinging branch. You 
 know Katydids sing with the covers of 
 their wings, and so when he alighted on 
 the branch he smoothed down his pale 
 green suit and rubbed his wing-cases a 
 little to make sure that they were in tune. 
 Then he began loud and clear, " Katy 
 did! Katy did!! Katydid!!!" 
 
 Of course he did n't mean any real 
 Katy, but was just singing his song. 
 However, there was another Katydid 
 there who had a habit of contradicting, 
 and he had eaten too much supper, and 
 that made him feel crosser than ever ; so 
 when the singer said " Katy did ! " this 
 cross fellow jumped up and said, " Katy 
 did n't ! Katy did n't ! ! Katy did n't ! ! ! " 
 and they kept at it, one saying that she 
 
I20 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 did and the other that she did n't, until 
 everybody was ashamed and uncomfort- 
 able, and some of the little Grasshoppers 
 awakened and wanted to know what was 
 the matter. 
 
 Both of the singers got more and more 
 vexed until at last neither one knew just 
 what he was saying — and that, you know, 
 is what almost always happens when peo- 
 ple grow angry. They just kept saying 
 something as loud and fast as possible 
 and thought all the while that they were 
 very bright — which was all they knew 
 about it. 
 
 Suddenly somebody noticed that the 
 one who began to say '' Katy did ! " was 
 screaming '' Katy did n't ! " and the one 
 who had said '* Katy did n't !" was roaring 
 *' Katy did ! " Then they all laughed, and 
 the two on the branch looked at each 
 other in a very shamefaced way. 
 
 The Tree Frog always knew the right 
 thing to do, and he said *' Pukr-r-rup ! " 
 
The Katydids' Quarrel. 121 
 
 so loudly that all stopped talking at once. 
 When they were quiet he said : '' We will 
 now listen to a duet, ' Katy,' by the two 
 singers who are up the tree. All please 
 join in the chorus." So it was begun 
 again, and both the leaders were good- 
 natured, and all the Katydids below joined 
 in with '' did or did n't, did or did n't, did 
 or did n't." And that was the end of the 
 quarrel. 
 
■ V^^ 
 
 
 Summer had been a joy^ 
 ful time in the meadow. 
 It had been a busy time, 
 too, and from morning till 
 night the chirping and 
 humming of the happy 
 people there had mingled 
 with the rustle of the 
 leaves, and the soft "swish, 
 swish," of the tall grass, as 
 the wind passed over It. 
 
 True, there had been a 
 few quarrels, and some un- 
 pleasant things to remem- 
 
 [22 
 
The Last Party of the Season. 123 
 
 ber, but these little people were wise 
 enough to throw away all the sad mem- 
 ories and keep only the glad ones. And 
 now the summer was over. The leaves 
 of the forest trees were turning from green 
 to scarlet, orange, and brown. The beech 
 and hickory nuts were only waiting for a 
 friendly frost to open their outer shells, 
 and loosen their stems, so that they could 
 fall to the earth. 
 
 The wind was cold now, and the meadow 
 people knew that the time had come to 
 get ready for winter. One chilly Cater- 
 pillar said to another, *' Boo-00 ! How 
 cold it is ! I must find a place for my 
 cocoon. Suppose we sleep side by side this 
 winter, swinging on the same bush ? " 
 
 And his friend replied: "We must hurry 
 then, or we shall be too old and stiff to 
 spin good ones." 
 
 The Garter Snake felt sleepy all the 
 time, and declared that in a few days he 
 would doze off until spring. 
 
124 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 The Tree Frog had chosen his winter 
 home already, and the Bees were making 
 the most of their time in visiting the last 
 fall flowers, and gathering every bit of 
 honey they could find for their cold- 
 weather stock. 
 
 The last eggs had been laid, and the 
 food had been placed beside many of 
 them for the babies that would hatch out 
 in the spring. Nothing was left but to sa^ 
 *' Good-by," and fall asleep. So a message 
 was sent around the meadow for all to 
 come to a farewell party under the elm tree. 
 
 Everybody came, and all who could sing 
 did so, and the Crickets and Mosquitoes 
 made music for the rest to dance by. 
 
 The Tree Frog led off with a black and 
 yellow Spider, the Garter Snake followed 
 with a Potato Bug, and all the other crawl- 
 ing people joined in the dance on the 
 grass, while over their heads the Butter- 
 flies and other light-winged ones fluttered 
 to and fro with airy grace. 
 
The Last Party of the Season. 125 
 
 The Snail and the fat, old Cricket had 
 meant to look on, and really did so, for a 
 time, from a warm corner by the tree, but 
 the Cricket could n't stand it to not join 
 in the fun. First, his eyes gleamed, his 
 feelers waved, and his feet kept time to 
 the music, and, when a frisky young Ant 
 beckoned to him, he gave a great leap 
 and danced with the rest, balancing, jump- 
 ing, and circling around in a most surpris- 
 ing way. 
 
 When it grew dark, the Fireflies' lights 
 shone like tiny stars, and the dancing went 
 on until all were tired and ready to sing 
 together the last song of the summer, for 
 on the morrow they would go to rest. 
 And this was their song : , 
 
 The autumn leaves lying 
 So thick on the ground, 
 
 The summer Birds flying 
 The meadow around. 
 
 Say, " Good-by." 
 
126 Among the Meadow People. 
 
 The Seed Babies dropping 
 Down out of our sight, 
 
 The Dragon-flies stopping 
 A moment in flight, 
 
 Say, " Good-by." 
 
 The red Squirrels bearing 
 Their nuts to the tree, 
 
 The wild Rabbits caring 
 For babies so wee. 
 
 Say, " Good-by." 
 
 The sunbeams now showing 
 
 Are hazy and pale. 
 The warm breezes blowing 
 
 Have changed to a gale, 
 So, " Good-by." 
 
 The season for working 
 
 Is passing away. 
 ;Both playing and shirking 
 
 Are ended to day, 
 
 So, " Good-by." 
 
 The Garter Snake creeping 
 
 So softly to rest. 
 The fuzzy Worms sleeping 
 
 Within their warm nest. 
 Say, " Good-by." 
 
The Last Party of the Season. 127 
 
 The Honey Bees crawling 
 
 Around the full comb, 
 The tiny Ants calling 
 
 Each one to the home, 
 Say, " Good-by." 
 
 We 've ended our singing, 
 
 Our dancing, and play, 
 And Nature's voice ringing 
 
 Now tells us to say 
 
 Our " Good-by." 
 
 THE END. 
 
^■.'^•''. 
 
I U \W~f /vJLJ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAUFORNIA UBRARY 
 
■i