OUR PETS GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LONDON AND NEW YORK. Kronheim & Co. , London. [Illustration] OUR PETS. This is Pol-ly's own cat, Top-sy. She looks ve-ry prim and quiet; butif you play with her, you will find she is a ve-ry mer-ry lit-tle cat. She will jump up-on the ta-ble at break-fast, and run off withPol-ly's toast; and if mam-ma be wri-ting a let-ter, Top-sy will stealsoft-ly a-long the arm of the so-fa, and rub her paw o-ver the lastword mam-ma has writ-ten, and make a great blot in the let-ter. Some-times she will sit as still as a mouse on Un-cle Tom's shoul-derwhile he is read-ing, and look so grave-ly on the book that you mightthink she was read-ing too: but she is not quite wise e-nough forthat. [Illustration] Car-lo is Har-ry's dog, and a ve-ry good dog he is. If you were tothrow a stone twen-ty times in-to the foam-ing sea, Car-lo wouldplunge in, with-out a-ny fear, and bring the ve-ry same stone out toyou. And if Har-ry loses his ball a-mong the long grass, Car-lo bringsit in a mi-nute. And he can do bet-ter things than these, for one dayin win-ter, when the ri-ver was fro-zen, and Har-ry was ska-ting on itve-ry nice-ly, he came to a place where the ice was thin, for a holehad been bro-ken the day before, and there had not been time for it toget hard a-gain. Poor Har-ry broke through the ice and sank down in-tothe wa-ter; he would have been drown-ed, but Car-lo di-ved down, andbrought him out safe. No won-der Car-lo is a pet. These pi-geons be-long to lit-tle Pol-ly. They have a ve-ry pret-tyhouse to live in, and Pol-ly feeds them e-ve-ry morn-ing with bar-leyor peas. When they see her come with her lit-tle bas-ket, they all flydown from the roof of the dove-cot, and will hop round her, perch onher should-er, and eat from her hand. But if they see Top-sy steal-ingun-der the Trees, or Car-lo run-ning o-ver the grass-plot, a-way theyall fly. The Pi-geons trust Pol-ly, but they will not trust sly puss, nor rough Car-lo. Pret-ty, shy pets, are Pol-ly's pi-geons. [Illustration] [Illustration] Rab-bits are pret-ty mild crea-tures. Some-times they live on moors, where they hide in bur-rows, which are holes in the ground, then theyrun about the fields and eat the green corn, and tur-nip tops, andsome-times in win-ter are ve-ry hun-gry. But Har-ry's tame rab-bitshave a warm house, and plen-ty of clean straw, and fresh food e-ve-ryday, and are as well off as rab-bits can be that are in pri-son. Har-ry goes in-to the fields to pick clo-ver and rib grass for them, the gar-den-er gives him let-tuce and cab-bage leaves; and hesome-times gives them dry corn, for he likes them to have a change offood. The large, fine old rab-bit is call-ed Bun-ny. She is a greatpet. [Illustration] You see here Pol-ly and her Pet lamb. The mo-ther died in the cold wetwea-ther in spring, and the poor lit-tle lamb would have died too, butit was brought in-to the house and gi-ven to Pol-ly, who fed it withwarm milk through the spout of her doll's tea-pot e-ve-ry day, till itgrew so big that she used to bring it grass to eat. Pol-ly call-ed herpet lamb Nan, and there nev-er was such a pet lamb. It fol-low-edPol-ly up stairs to the nur-se-ry, and down to the school-room, andround the fields when she walk-ed out; and Pol-ly said, "If Nan didgrow to be a great sheep, she should nev-er be kill-ed for mut-ton. " Lit-tle Pol-ly went e-ve-ry morn-ing to the Poul-try yard to see thePoul-try wo-man feed the fowls. Her mam-ma had gi-ven her a Cock and aHen, and a fine brood of chickens, to be her own. She fed themher-self, and they were al-ways rea-dy to come round her when theyheard her say, Chuck! chuck! Pol-ly was nev-er a-fraid of the fine, bold Cock, even when he crow-ed so loud-ly that you might have heardhim a mile off. He was ve-ry fierce if a-ny o-ther cock came near hisfa-mi-ly, but he was quite tame with Pol-ly, and bow-ed like agen-tle-man when she gave him his bar-ley. [Illustration] ROUTLEDGE'S THREEPENNY TOY-BOOKS, WITH SIX COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS, PRINTED BY KRONHEIM & CO. 5. MY FIRST ALPHABET 6. MOTHER GOOSE 7. THE BABES IN THE WOOD 8. THIS LITTLE PIG 9. THE OLD WOMAN WHO LIVED IN A SHOE10. LITTLE BO-PEEP11. NURSERY RHYMES12. FARM-YARD ALPHABET13. JACK AND THE BEANSTALK14. JOHN GILPIN15. OLD MOTHER HUBBARD16. THE THREE BEARS17. THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT18. THE DOGS' DINNER PARTY19. MY MOTHER20. THE CATS' TEA PARTY21. MORE NURSERY RHYMES22. ROBIN REDBREAST23. A, APPLE PIE24. THE RAILWAY ALPHABET25. NURSERY SONGS26. NURSERY DITTIES27. PUNCH AND JUDY28. OUR PETS29. CINDERELLA30. PUSS-IN-BOOTS31. LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD32. WILD ANIMALS33. TAME ANIMALS34. BIRDS35. JACK THE GIANT KILLER36. BLUE BEARD37. ALADDIN38. THE FORTY THIEVES39. TOM THUMB40. SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, LONDON AND NEW YORK.