If a Polar bear went upright, he would be as tall as a man with a boy
standing on his head.
But the Polar bear goes on all-fours, and so he is nine feet long instead
of nine feet tall.
A big white Polar bear lived at the Zoo—a place where wild animals are
kept—in London, twenty-three years. He was named Zero, because he came
from the cold Arctic regions. It was so much warmer in London that he was
given great cakes of ice to lie on.
Zero weighed nearly a ton; but, though he was so large and so long, his
tail was very, very short, as short as a goat’s tail.
Unlike all other bears, the Polar bear’s feet are shod with hair—short
hairs set so close that one can’t see between them even with a magnifying
glass. With this hairy sole to his feet, the Polar bear can walk on the
smoothest ice without slipping.
Crowds of little London boys and girls used to go to the Zoo to
watch Zero splash into his cold-water swimming-bath. Zero liked his
swimming-bath best of anything in London—that and the ice. He never
noticed the children at all.
Polar bears are fondest of fish for food. Zero was also fond of
strawberries, but he would not touch the buns and apples the children
tossed in between the iron bars of his great cage.
_C. P. Stuart._
[Illustration: THE NIMBLE PENNIES.
Draw a small circle, and then a large circle at the right of, and behind,
the other—as in the first and second designs. (Use a small cent and a
large copper cent, or two-cent piece, or silver quarter.) Then add the
lines in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth designs—and you will have a
very tame bear wearing a muzzle.]
* * * * *
[Illustration]
Japanese doll-heads all in a row,
One—two—three;
Japanese doll-heads down below,
One—two—three;
Doll-heads three and three—do you see?—
Added, make six; and the six make T.
_P. S. C._
The Country Cats.
[Illustration: The mother or teacher may sing or recite the verses,
the children joining in the refrains of pit-a-pats and purrs. The hand
movements are made while marching.
Climbing movement, raising arms higher and higher alternately.