THE MAN'S BOOT

BY GERTRUDE SELLON

N a dark wood, where the wild beasts lived, there

once lay a man's boot. How it came there I can

not say, for no man had been there; at least the beasts had not seen one in all their lives. But there was the boot, and when the beasts saw it, they all came around to find out what it was. Such thing was quite new to them, but they were quite sure they knew what it was.

"Well, there is no doubt what it is, I say," said the Bear.

"Oh, of course not," said the Wolf, and the Goat, and all the beasts and birds, in one breath.

"Of course," said the Bear. "It is the rind of some kind of fruit of a tree. The fruit of the cork, I should say. This is cork, it is easy to see;" and he showed the sole of the boot.

"Oh! just hear hi! just hear him!" cried all the beasts and birds.

"It's not that at all," said the Wolf, with a glance of scorn at the Bear. "It is some kind of nest. Here is the hole for the bird to go in, and here is the deep part for the eggs and young ones to be safe. No doubt at all, of course not."

"Oh! oh!" cried the Bear, and the Goat, and all the birds and beasts. "Just hear that. It is not that at all."

"I should think not," said the Goat. "It is quite plain. Look at this," and he showed the lace at the side of the boot. "It is the root of a plant, of course."

"Not at all," cried the Wolf and the Bear; "not at all. A root! How can you say so? It is not that, we can all see."

"If I might speak," said an Old Owl, who sat in a tree near, "I think I can tell you what it is. I have been in a land where there are more of such things than you could count. It is a man's boot."

"A what?" they cried all at once. "What is a man? and what is a boot?"

"A man!" said the Owl. "Well, a Man is a thing with two legs, that can walk, and eat, and talk like us, but he can do much more than we can."

"Pooh! pooh!" they all cried.

"That cannot be true!" said the beasts. "How can a thing with two legs do more than we can, who have four. It is false, of course."

"Of course it is, if they have no wings," said the birds.

"Well," went on the Owl, "they have no wings, and yet it is true. And they can make things like this, and they call them boots, and put them on their feet.”

"Oh! oh!" cried all the beasts and birds at once. "How can you say so? For shame! Fie on you! That is not true, of course. It cannot be."

"A fine tale!" said the Bear.

"Do more than we can!" said the Wolf. "Wear things on their feet!" said the Goat.

"Not true! not true!" cried they all. "On the face of it, your tale is not true. are not worn on the feet. the feet?"

We know that such things How could they be worn on

"Of course they could not," said the Bear. "It is false."

"It must be false," cried all of them together.

“I

I DON'T CARE

BY GERTRUDE SELLON

SHALL go this way," said a young black Colt, who was out on the moor.

"No, no," said a Horse who was close by. "You must stay on the moor."

"Why?" asked the Colt.

"I cannot tell you," said the Horse, "I have been told to stay by an old Horse, and I shall do so."

"I don't care," said the young Colt, and off he ran down the road.

By-and-by he met an old Mare, at an inn door. "Why are you here?" asked she.

"I have come out for a bit of fun," said the Colt. "But you should not do so," said the Mare. "You are not fit to go out in the world. You have no shoes."

"I don't care," said the Colt, and he kicked up his heels to show that he did not mind what the old Mare said. But the Mare said no more.

run.

Then he went on down the road, as fast as he could

He met a Mule with a pack on his back. The Mule shook his head when he saw the Colt.

"You should not be here," he said. "You have come from off the moor, I know. The town is close by."

"I don't care," said the Colt. And on he ran right through the town. He had not been in a town in all his life. And the noise, and the sight of all the men,