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Walks and Talks

We were in the garden one morning, shortly after my
arrival, John, Mary, Bobby and Mother had gone away for
a vacation.

The garden was beautiful, and we were quietly enjoying
all the loveliness when suddenly Mary cried, "Oh there's
an ugly old toad, I'm afraid of it!"

John and Bobby ran forward in eager anticipation of
destroying it.

"I hate toads," said John with a vengance.

"I'll step on it," exclaimed Bobby at the same time.

I was just in time with my "Wait, Bobby.
Why are you going to kill it?"

"Because I hate it," he answered.

"And why do you hate it?"

"It's ugly."

"Oh, is it?  I don't think so.
Let's take a better look at it.
Why, see, it has beautiful jewels on its back, and look
here at its gold rimmed spectacles."

The children looked surprised.

"Suppose we sit down and watch it while I tell you all
about it," I continued.

"Don't do that, you'll get warts."
This from John as I reached out to stroke the toad. "No,
you won't," I replied. "Not any of the books that I have
ever read about toads say that you get warts from
stroking them. The toad likes it and he sometimes sings
a song, just as a cat purrs when it is stroked. Do you
see the pouch under his mouth? That swells as he sings.
He cries too, when he is hurt. There are different kinds
of toads. The tree toad becomes the color of the surface
on which he finds himself so that people or animals
cannot see him."

"I wish I could do that when I'm playing hide-and-seek,"
said Mary. "Well, you see the toad can do some things
that you cannot do," I replied. "Let's hear some more
about it," exclaimed John, breathlessly moving closer to
the toad. "The mother toad lays the eggs in the water
and covers them with .......

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