SQUIRILIBUS.

FOR MY LITTLE PETS.

IN a pleasant old hemlock grove, very near a house where lived some nice

little children, was a very young

squirrel, named Squirilibus. He had a cunning little pointed nose, and bright black eyes, and red stripes on his back, and a thick bushy tail of which he was very proud. He was born in the spring, and he had enjoyed the

summer very much, — running up and down the trees and leaping from the ends of the branches on to the other trees. He would peep out from among the thick leaves at the children eating their bread and milk on the doorstep, and chatter as fast as they did. But if the boys tried to catch him, he would run away up into the top of the tree and peep

out at them with his bright eyes, and laugh very merrily.

He had plenty to eat, nice berries and tender green buds, and fresh oats and wheat. It was very funny to see him fill his mouth full of oats until his cheeks stuck out like a fat baby's, and then draw the oats forward into his teeth and nibble them one by one, to get out the sweet kernel, and drop the husks on to the ground.

He had never lived through a winter, and so he had no idea that the weather would ever be any different. He thought the sun would always shine warm and bright, and he would always have plenty to eat, and be just as gay and happy as he was in the bright summer days.

But his wise old mother had lived through the long cold winters, and she knew very well that there was work to be done in the world, and that if we do not "make hay while the sun shines," we shall have none to eat when the sun is gone.

So when the days began to grow short and

the nights long, and the yellow leaves were beginning to fall off the maple-trees, she began to talk to her lively young son.

"Now, my dear Squirilibus, the nuts are beginning to ripen, and you must look out sharp and gather up a nice lot of them, and have them ready for winter, when you will be very cold and hungry and will want plenty to eat. The boys and girls will be out nutting pretty soon, and as they can pick up whole bags full, and we can carry only one or two at a time, we must be very smart, or they will get them all away from us."

"Oh! mother," said Squirilibus, who was rather a pert little fellow, "you are always croaking. How you warned me against the dangers of the summer! and said I should break my neck running up and down the trees, and the cats would catch me, and the boys would shoot me. Now, none of these things have happened: I am well and strong. I am six months old, and I think I am very well able to take care of myself."

"Very well," said his wise mother; "but

remember you have not lived through a winter yet, and when the ground is covered with snow you will not find it pleasant running about and hunting for nuts for your breakfast."

Squirilibus did not quite believe his mother's story, but he thought it might be safe to pick up a few nuts now they were so plenty. So he made a hole in the stump of an old tree, and nearly filled it with nuts. But he thought this was very dull work, and it was a great deal better fun scampering about among the dry leaves, and running up and down the trees, and eating the nice green chestnuts and shagbarks.

"He didn't believe they would be half so good dry," he said.

But by and by all the leaves were off the trees, and the north wind began to blow, and Squirilibus was very glad to cuddle down in his hole at night, and put

his nose to keep it warm.

his bushy tail over

Then he got up in

the morning, and went out for his breakfast. He had to poke his nose into the leaves to