108 GOODY TWO-SHOES,

and the young eagles shall eat it.” Now this bird she taught
to speak, to spell, and to read ; and as he was particularly fond

 

of playing with the large letters, the children used to call this
Ralph's Alphabet:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

Some days after she had met with the raven, as she was
walking in the fields, she saw some naughty boys, who had
taken a pigeon, and tied a string to its legs, in order to let it
fly, and draw it back again when they pleased ; and by this
means they tortured the poor animal with the hopes of liberty
and repeated disappointment.

This pigeon she also bought, and taught him how to spell
and read, though not to talk ; and he performed all those extra
ordinary things which are recorded of the famous bird that was
some time since advertised in the Haymarket, London, and
visited by most of the great people of the kingdom. This