[Pg 49]

"What are those?" inquired Annie.

"They balanced themselves over sticks, head downwards, with their legs and tails in the air; or on a rope, and were swung backward and forward.

"The last feat was perhaps the most wonderful of either. A bright little fellow came out, and taking his place on the platform, [Pg 50] was shot at, and fell down, pretending to be dead. He lay quite still and motionless; and presently one of his companions came forward with a little mite of a wheelbarrow, as Annie would say, and wheeled him away."

[Pg 50]

"How very funny!" exclaimed Fred.

"See, grandpa, how very fast it rains," said the little girl; "but I like rainy weather, when[Pg 51] you will tell us such beautiful stories."

[Pg 51]

At this moment Mrs. Symmes joined their party. She had in her hand a pan of beans, which she was going to pick over before they were baked.

Fred jumped up and took them from her. "Annie and I can do them, mother," he said, "and you can sew while you hear grandpa's stories."

"That's right, my boy," said[Pg 52] the old gentleman. "Help your mother all you can."

[Pg 52]

The children were soon seated at their work, and their mother at her mending. "Now, dear grandpa, we're all ready for you to begin."

"Really, my dear," he answered, pleasantly, "you are hungry after stories."

"I like yours," said the child, "because they're always true."

"Well, let me think with[Pg 53] what I shall begin. Have I ever told you how fast birds can fly?"

[Pg 53]

"No, sir."

"It is perfectly astonishing," he added, "with what rapidity they dart through the air. Not many years ago, a large number of carrier pigeons were taken from Holland to London. They had been trained to carry messages by attaching a small paper bag to their wing. If taken[Pg 54] from any particular place and let loose, they 

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