92 THE BAKERS DONKEY.

THE BAKER'S DONKEY.

I MET some time ago with an account of a clever donkey
that was employed in drawing a baker’s cart. He knew so
well the houses of all his master’s customers, that while the
baker went into one house to deliver his loaves, the wise ass
would go on to the door of the next, at which, when he could
reach the knocker, he gave a rap-a-tap-tap. If unable to do
so, he would stamp with his feet in a peculiar way, well
known to the inmates. He never failed to stop at their
doors, nor was he ever known by mistake to go to the wrong
house.

Be as careful to learn your school lessons now, and as
exact in business matters when you grow up, as was the
baker’s donkey to attend to what he thought his duty,

 

THE ELEPHANT AND THE ROTTEN
BRIDGE. .

Ir is not often that an elephant can be induced to pass over
ground he thinks unsafe. Sometimes, however, a driver gains
such a mastery over a timid animal, that he can force him to
engage in what his better sense would induce him to shun.
An elephant of this kind was owned by a person residing
near Gyah. Between the house and the town was a small
bridge, over which the elephant had often passed. One day,
however, he refused to go over it. He tried it with his
trunk, evidently thinking that its strength was not equal to