12 DOGGED JACK.

devised countless ways of amusement for her; and
as for Polly-she thought there was no such delight-
ful companion as Jack, and she loved and admired
him with the whole of her honest little heart.
 Sometimes Jack took her for a long ramble
 through the woods, and if Polly grew tired, which
 she often did, for she was not very strong, Jack
 would carry her home pick-a-back.
 One of their greatest pleasures was birds-nesting,
 not that they ever robbed them, they were too kind-
 hearted for that; but were content with just finding
 the nests, and then they would visit them daily, and
 watch the pretty eggs, until some fine morning they
 would find them turned into, oh, such funny, little,
 skinny creatures-not a bit like birds; and what
 an intense pleasure it was watching them daily
 grow less and less ugly, until at last they were
 full-fledged beautiful birds.
 Nor had the children very far to go for nests-the
 roses and creepers were full of them. Of course,
 they were only sparrows' nests. I don't know
 whether the sparrows at Hillside were different from
 other sparrows of well-regulated minds, but these
 were never content with a single brood of nestlings.
As soon as they turned 'off one family just able to
fly well enough to save themselves from Mrs. Pussy-
cat, they would straightway fill their nests with