CHAPTER III. BOB AND TOM. FIRST, what were Bob and Tom doing? those two got together there was sure to be mischief. I am sure the birds and the beasts of the wood must have been sorry when they saw those two boys come near them. Most little boys and girls are fond of animals, and it is right they should be so; animals are dear little things generally. But Bob and Tom Jackson only cared about animals to tease them. Now, as soon as they found themselves alone in this wood, they began to hunt for birds' nests and eggs. Many children collect birds' eggs; but Tom and Bob did not care for collecting: they took the eggs only for mischief--broke them and threw them away. They not only took the eggs, but they killed the young birds which were just hatched, and even destroyed and threw away the newly-made nests where the poor little birds had not yet laid any eggs, giving them all their trouble for nothing. Then they saw a squirrel, and pelted the poor thing with stones. Happily the squirrel could get into the highest branches of the trees, where I do not think the stones could reach him; but that was not the fault of either of these horrid boys. They beat down the butterflies with sticks, and left them bruised and half dead. This was fine They next found an ant heap. fun for them; so they each took a stick and poked and routed out the ants, till the poor things did not know where to go. All their houses and their villages, which had taken them so much time and trouble to build up, were spoilt in a moment. They ran to and fro asking each other what they should do now, and no one knowing what advice to give. I am glad to think of one thing though. The ants, although they are such little creatures, are able to defend themselves in some way; and a great many of them crept up inside the legs of Bob's and Tom's trousers, and began stinging them. Then the disagreeable boys called the poor little ants 'beasts,' and left off worrying them; so that the ants after all got the best of it. Why, ants are a vast deal more clever than such boys as Bob and Tom, although perhaps boys would be offended to be told so. Do you know that ants build most wonderful houses for themselves underground in those hillocks that we see; and that they all live together as if in a town, and help each other? If they are at war with another colony or hillock of ants, they go out to battle against them with a king at their head as leader. Men could not do more. He was Then Tom and Bob met a toad. doing no harm; he was only going out to tea with another toad, who was a friend of his, and who lived near. When he saw them he tried to get out of the way; but they shouted at him, and frightened him, so that he stopped; and Bob hit him a great blow on the back, and then they both of them beat and banged him till he was quite flat, and looked as if he was dead. Was not all this very cruel and wicked? At length they came to a wasps' nest. A wasps' nest is a beautiful thing-it looks as if it were made of paper-it is much more beautiful than the honeycomb of a bee; and that, you know, is very pretty indeed. Well, the wasps were not thinking of Bob or Tom. If they had, I daresay they would only have thought them very disagreeable-looking boys, and have gone on with their work. At any rate, they were not doing mischief. As soon as Bob heard them humming and buzzing, and saw their nest in a bush near, he called out Hurrah! here's a wasps' nest! Let's smoke them out. Let's kill them.' Tom was ready enough. He said, 'We must run back to the cart; there is a lot of straw there. We must get heaps of straw, you know.' They went, and soon returned, each with his arms full of straw. 'Have you got lucifers?' asked Tom. Bob took some from his pocket, and soon both of them were holding the lighted straw under the wasps' nest. The poor wasps did not know what to do. They did not like leaving their nest, where all their young ones were; and they kept flying about close above it, and round it, getting more and more giddy with the smoke every moment. Bob and Tom were shouting with laughter, when, all at once, their laughter came to an end. Several of the wasps, made furious with the fright and the heat and the pain, flew at these nasty boys, and stung them in their faces. Master Bob and Master Tom dropped the burning straw quick enough, and rolled about the ground, because the stings hurt them so much. They were ready enough to cry out when they were hurt; yet not nearly so much as they had injured the poor wasps, for they had been killed in numbers. Of course they roared when they were hurt themselves; for Bob and Tom Jackson were cowards. Bullying boys are always so. Brave boys would not hurt little animals as Bob and Tom did; they would be kind to them and take care of them, because they are small, and cannot fight their own battles. Whenever I see a boy unkind to a little beast, I always think directly that boy is a coward, or he would not do so, and I despise him, as everybody else does, and think that unless he tries to do better, that he will not grow up a good or brave man. After a while, Bob rolled up against Tom. Bob had his eyes shut for fear of the wasps, and he could not see where he was rolling to. Boys cannot generally see when their eyes are shut. I don't think you can. Upon this, Tom struck out at him, and told him to keep out of the way or he would punch him. So Bob gave it back to Tom, and Tom did punch him; and then Bob |