UNCLE GEORGE'S TIGER STORY. "Now, Uncle George," said Milly, "we are ready to hear the story you were to tell us." "Well, children, sit down and I will tell you a story about a tiger. "A lady and a gentleman, with their baby, a little boy, were traveling through a lonely part of India. "One night they had to sleep near a thick wood, and the lady, after kissing her baby, put him into a swinging cot. "In the middle of the night she started up and cried out-'O my baby! My baby! Where is my baby?' "They looked into the cot, but the baby was not there! "You can think how great was their fear. They ran out of the tent, and saw, by the light of the moon, a great animal moving off toward the wood with something white in its mouth. "They woke the servants, and taking their loaded guns, went into the wood. "They went as fast as they could, yet making very little noise, for fear the animal, which was a tiger, would hear them and run far away into the wood. "Soon they saw through the trees that the tiger had lain down, and was playing with the baby just as a cat plays with а mouse before she kills it. "O how sad the poor mother felt! How she cried to the men to save her child! "What could the father and the servants do! "Just then one of the men raised his gun to fire at the tiger. "The lady seeing him, cried out, 'O you will kill my child! You will kill my child! "But the man fired, and the tiger jumping up, gave a loud cry and fell down, shot dead. "Then they all ran forward, and there was the baby quite safe and smiling, as if he were not at all frightened." "O uncle, what a strange story! And did the baby really live ? " "Yes. The lady was very ill of fright, but the baby was not hurt at all. have often seen him since then.” I “O have you, really, seen a baby that has been in a tiger's mouth ?" "Yes, I have; and you have seen him, too." 66 We, uncle? When did we see him?” "You can see him now." The children looked all around the room, and then back at Uncle George. Something in his eyes made Milly say, "Uncle, could it have been you?" "Yes," said Uncle George, "I was that very baby." LANGUAGE LESSON.-Let pupils give answers, oral or written, in complete sentences. Where were the lady and gentleman traveling? What took place in the middle of the night? When they saw the tiger, what did they do? Why did the lady fear to have the tiger shot? Let pupils write the following statements. The tiger is a large animal. He looks very much like a cat. He has sharp teeth. and claws. They do not eat hay, grass, or fruit. |
