Home Life In All Lands

How few of us can go into the house without their coming to meet us: the frisky dog, with its wagging tail; the sleek and soft-footed cat, with its mellow purr. On her swinging perch sits mistress parrot, greeting us with her noisy "Polly wants a cracker." In its gilded cage flirts the golden-hued canary, singing loudly to bid us welcome. They give life and joy to the most rustic home, these pets of the household, our glad though humble friends and guests. If we go out of the house into the stable-yard or the pasturefield we meet others of them: the noble horse, the patient and docile cow, the woolly sheep, the sturdy goat. In the poultryyard still others meet us: the cackling hen, proud of her newlaid egg; the crowing rooster, the quacking duck, the gracefully swimming goose or swan, the peacock with its splendid tail, even the buzzing bee, flying home laden with wax and honey.