Page:The New-Year's Bargain (1884).djvu/184

 "I'm sorry that I cannot remember the lecture," continued October; "for it was very fine. Nippy took the ground that as squirrels live in trees, and so do birds;—and as squirrels make nests, and so do birds;—and as squirrels have tails, and birds the same,—so it was the duty of squirrels to lay eggs, just as much as it was the duty of birds. Everybody applauded and agreed, but didn't very well know how to do any thing more about it. So, after all, the lecture produced no practical result, except by making a great deal of talk.

"But this was precisely what Miss Nutcracker wished. She felt that her enterprise was succeeding, and that a glorious future lay before her. Other lectures followed. There was one on 'Food;' one on 'What to do with the Shells?' another on 'Hygiene' (which the average squirrel persisted in calling 'High Jinks,' and treating accordingly); and a fourth on 'The New Departure,' which meant the removal of the Nutcracker tribe to another tree, with more