Zippy was not always so wicked as this, even after he had to be chained up; but he was very mischievous. Once, the servants in the kitchen heard a terrible racket in the wood-house. They went out there and found Zippy on a high shelf where the blacking-brushes were kept. He was throwing the blacking-boxes and brushes down, as fast as he could, and there they lay scattered about the floor. His chain was so long, that he had climbed up on the shelf and was having a good time. But, after a while, Zip Coon became so fierce that Isabella didn't know what to do with him. She was afraid he would do something terrible to somebody: so she gave him to a man who carried him way off where Isabella and her sisters never saw him any more. And this is all I have to tell you about Zip Coon. HELEN MARR. SAM AND HIS GOATS. SAM was a boy about five years old. He lived in the country, and had a nice little black-and-tan dog, Jack, to play with him. Sam wanted a goat. He thought that if he could only have a goat, he would be perfectly happy. One day, when Sam was playing in the yard, his papa came driving home from town, with something tied in the bottom of the wagon. When he saw Sam, he stopped the horse and called, "Sam, come here, I have something for you." Sam ran there as fast as he could, and--what do you think?--papa lifted two little goats out of the wagon, and put them down on the ground. One goat was black and one was white. Sam was so glad he did not know what to to do. He just jumped up and down with delight. Then the dog Jack came running out to see the goats too; but he did not like them much. He barked at them as hard as he could; but the goats did not mind him at all. Pretty soon mamma came to see what Sam had. When she saw the goats, she said, "Why, papa, what will become of us if we have two goats on the place?" But she was glad because Sam was glad; and Sam gave his papa about a hundred kisses to thank him for the goats. For some weeks, the goats ran about the yard, and ate the grass; and Sam gave them water to drink, out of his little pail, and salt to eat, out of his hand. He liked to feel their soft tongues on his hand as they ate the salt. The goats would jump and run and play, and Sam thought it was fine fun to run and play with them. Jack would run too, and bark all the time. [Illustration] But by and by Sam began to get tired of his goats, and his mamma was more tired of them than Sam was. They ate the tops off of her nice rose-bushes; they ran over her flower-beds; and one day, when the door was open, one of them ran into the parlor and jumped up on the best sofa. Mamma said this would never do: so the next day papa found a man who said he would give Sam fifty cents for the white goat. As Sam wanted to buy a drum, he was glad to sell the goat; and with fifty cents in his pocket he felt very rich.