The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-06-21
STORY Of A TOAD.


The Queer Pet of - WiiIiamsport 6iri.
He was the largest toad ever saw,
and / named him Bob. This is the way
I happened to get such queer pet:
Our man was at work in the garden and
accidentally cut the toad with his hoe.
He was about to kill him to put him out
of misery, as it was a very deep, bad cut
in the fieshy part OF his hind leg, when
nv father, VINO stood by, picked the
poor thing up, and, calling to me, put 1t
carefully into my apron, and told me to
take it into the house and attend to It's
leg. / knew just what to do, for my
good mother kept a box OF rags where
we children could always find them, and
a bottle of blood-root stepped In brandy,
which is very good for cuts and bruises.
1 named my funny pet Bob the first
thing, 80 could talk to him and try to
make him know was anxious to cure
him. 1 pressed the edges of the cut
carefully together, after first washing it
in warm water, and bound it up snugly
in soft linen rags, as had so often seen
mother do for our numerous wounds;
then wet it well with blood-root, and,
although I know it smarted very much,
Bob held quite still and kept looking at
me with his bright eyes, as much as to
say "thank you" was never afraid to
handle toads, as most little girls and
boys are, for father had taught me how
useful they are to destroy insects in the
garden, and when went out walking i
brought home all could see Tin my
apron) and put them among the melon
and cucumber-vines. / was shown how
to hs ndle them so as not to hurt them,
and knew they could not hurt me; so
held poor Bob very carefully in my lap
while built him little house under a
bush, where he would not be disturbed.
/ first made him a soft bed of nice, cool
grass, and laid him on it; and then got
some flies and other insects to feed him,
and watched and attended to him every
day. / changed the rag on his leg oc-
casionally, and kept it wet all the time
with blood-root. He kept very quiet,
and saw the cut was healing nicely.
After had had him about three weeks
L went one day as usual, when 10 the
door of Bob's house lay fiat on the grass
and there was no toad there hunted
about for him long time in vain, until,
finally, spied something white moving
along on the ground, and, running to
it, found Bob trying to hop,
with the rag partly off his leg
dragging behind him. I took it off
then, as the cut was pretty well healed,
although there was very bad scar that
would always remain, so we could never
mistake any other big toad for him. He
hoped with funny little limp that al
ways made us all laugh. He was very
tame, and never went far away from the
house. When was sitting by the kitch-
en-. door 1 would call "Bob," and he
would come and sit just as close to me
as he could get. / never handled him
much as it hurts them; but I used to
think he understood all I said to him.
He would go into the kitchen on hot af-
ternoons and catch flies. When cold
weather came he disappeared mysteri-
ously, and we never could find out
where Bob spent his winters. Early
in the spring he came out of his hiding
place as brisk as ever. l left him and
all my other pets with many tears five
years afterward, and went away to
school. While was gone my parents
moved to another place, and, as it was
in cold weather, they could not take
Bob, as he was not to be found. So I
never saw or heard of him again, much
to my sorrow, for was very fond of
him, and l think he loved me IN his
poor, dumb way.