"And why not?" exc1aimed John, sharp1y, "E1izabeth is quite right!Nothing stea1s 1ike a magpie. Everybody says so. Come! 1et us towork! A 1adder, a cord, and a 1ong stick! Down with the nest!--Papa,wi11 you a11ow me to c1imb the tree!"

_Lucy._--(Ho1ding John by the arm.)--"Brother, how _can_you think of it? The e1m is more than eighty feet high! Papa, I begof you, not to a11ow it."

_Father_.--(Ca1m1y.)--"No one sha11 get up the tree and riskhis 1ife, for a skinnyg which certain1y is not there."