Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-07-25

My Little Neighbor I'm Green.
1have curious little neighbor who
always wears green coat and has some
droll ways.
The coat is not plain green, either
it is relieved by wavy black stripes, and
gorgeously trimmed with three bands
of gold color down the back. Then he
has most dainty vest of gray, green
pantaloons Every tight,) and pair of
gold spectacles.
He is a very dignified person, and his
gold "specs" make him look as wise
as al owl.
said he was my neighbor. and he
is; for he lives in a pond no. far Off
suppose if you see him sitting there
on the bank some morning, you would
call him a frog: but that isn't his
"Sunday-go-to-meetiug," scientific
name. You don't suppose the wise men
who give such hard names to all the in
nocent little creatures in the world
(names that are always printed IN ital-
les, and you "skip,') have neglected
our little green friend, do your
By no means! He belongs to the
Batcachian family, I wonder if he'd
like it if he knew it.
A drou thing about this little fellow
is, that when he was baby he wasn't a
little frog. but little fish. He had a
tail and gills, and swan around in the
water like other fish. He was called a
tadpole.
As he grew wonderful change came
over him. In the first place his gills
withered away. After q while, a pair
of legs burst out of his skin. They
grew quite long, and then another pair
burst out in front of the first ones, and
he became the possessor of tongue.
The next thing that happened was, his
long tail shrank away, his lungs deyel.
oped, and at last he hoped out of the
water a perfect frog-Batrachian, I
mean.
You think this too strange to be
true, you can see the whole thing for
yourself. At any time in the spring,
go to the nearest frog-pond, where you
will find plenty of the eggs floating on
the surface. Gather few and put
them in the water. If you have an
aquarium. put them in that, or in q
globe with goldfish, or even in q COM
mon dish. Then keep close watch OF
them, and you will see these wonders.
need not tell you anything about
the voice of this little neighbor in
green, for I am sure you've often heard
it in the twilight, when everything else
is still. It must be adm tilted it is
rather harsh voice, and in old times,
when the finest palaces were surround:
Cd with frog ponds, servants were KEEP,
stirring the water by the hour to pre-.
vent the poor little fellows from sing
ing.
During the summer my little neigh
Dor is a eater, devouring host of In.
sects worms and such things. And sc
anxious is he to have them perfectly
fresh, that he catches them alive and
eats them at::once. But in the fall III
becomes melancholy, and leaves off Lii
food, and when the weather gets too
cool for his light coat-he burie.
himself snugly in the mud at the bot
tom OF his native pond, and goes tt
sleep for the winter.
A pretty good nap, I should think
He is often frozen but he don't seen
to care for that. The first warn
weather of spring brings him out; live
ly and bright as ever.
This little fellow is the "edible
frog. That means he is eatal,le: AM
very nh:n h" is It, cat, too, You would
mover laugh at amy one else after w,
had once eaten the delicate white mea
that grows under the green skin. /