Part 2

"Oh, yes, Toddy! I have seen more alligators than you can count fingers and thumbs on your little dimpled hands. But I saw the funniest one when I was in Kansas last winter; and if you will sit here on my lap, I will tell you all about it.

"One day, last year, when Flossie was in Jacksonville, Florida, with her parents, she saw a baby-alligator, and took such a fancy to it, that her papa bought it for her. They brought it home in the spring, and cousin Fred made a pen for it in the back-yard, near a large puddle of water; for alligators, you know, live in the water.

"Always after a rain, the water was quite deep, and 'Allie,' as Flossie named her pet, would splash about in it, as happy as could be. Flossie and all the children in the neighborhood, used to play with him every day.

"Before the spring was over, Allie was so tame, that he would follow Flossie up to the house, where the children would feed him with fish or meat.

"The alligator kept growing and growing, until he was too large for the pen; and as he grew old, he grew so cross, that Flossie's papa sold him to a circus-man for a twenty-dollar gold-piece, and the children never saw their pet again."

AUNT MEG.

"THE NURSERY" TO ITS READERS.

FIFTEEN years ago, in my green cover Faintly colored like the leaves in spring, High and low, of every child the lover, First I came my welcome words to bring.

And from then till now I have not rested; I have still kept busy every day; When the cowslips bloomed, and, crimson-breasted, Sang the robins in the golden May,

When the silver daisies starred the mowing, When the nestling swallows fluttered forth, When the maple-woods like flame were glowing, Or the wild wind piped from out the north;

All the time I used to look and listen: "Something for the children I must find, Merry tales to make their bright eyes glisten, Useful lessons they should keep in mind."

Fifteen years--how brief they were and pleasant! When these little golden heads are gray, Looking back on what is now the present, Who can tell? There may be one will say,--

"These few words that once my mother taught me From 'The Nursery,' ere I could read, Lingering in my memory, have brought me Helpful counsel in life's hours of need."

Everywhere, of every child the lover, Willing doer of my best was I; For the last time, in my pale green cover, I have come to say to you "Good-by!"

MARIAN DOUGLAS.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes: Obvious punctuation errors repaired.

The original text for the July issue had a table of contents that spanned six issues. This was divided amongst those issues.

Additionally, only the July issue had a title page. This page was copied for the remaining five issues. Each issue had the number added on the title page after the Volume number.

Table of Contents omits the mention of the Drawing-Lesson on page 369.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Nursery, December 1881, Vol. XXX, by Various