File:St. Nicholas (serial) (1873) (14802237763).jpg

Identifier: stnicholasserial351dodg (find matches)
Title: St. Nicholas (serial)
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Dodge, Mary Mapes, 1830-1905
Subjects: Children's literature
Publisher: (New York : Scribner & Co.)
Contributing Library: Information and Library Science Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Digitizing Sponsor: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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decay. But this thirteenth-century palace of theBishop of Wells still retains its fine, wide moat,while the old stone gate-house, one side of whichis represented in the picture, is still stoutly de-fended by battlemented towers. In their pretty, silly white heads, I dare saythe great white swans of the picture considerthey are an important part of the bishops palace,as they float up and down the moat and sailsteadily on, no matter who approaches. SWANS AS BELL-RINGERS 435 You have seen many swans as pretty as these.But did you ever chance to see any who, insteadof waiting to have the dinner bell ring for them,rang it themselves and expected to be fed atonce? That is what these birds in the pictureare doing. A long string hangs out from the gate-housewindow and is fastened to a bell inside the house.When any of the numerous swan family in themoat feel inclined for dinner without the trouble
Text Appearing After Image:
THE SWANS IN THE PALACE MOAT. of bobbing their long necks down among the rootsand seeds in the bottom of the water, they maketheir wishes known, in some swan-like fashion, to the head of the family. Then a procession isformed—a long, graceful procession of whitenecks and fluffy, pillowy bodies—and sets sailfor the gate-house keepers window. The headof the family snatches up the string in hisbill, gives it several violent shakes, which setthe bell to ringing wildly in the house, andthe lodge-keepers wife appears with a basketof bread which she throws out in the waterto the snowy beggars. This bell-ringing call wastaught to the bishops swansmore than fifty years ago, byMiss Eden, the daughter of theLord Auckland who was thenBishop of Wells and lived atthe palace. It needed both in-genuity and patience to teachthe lesson, but the young ladypersevered until the swanslearned it so successfully thatthey have never forgotten itand show no sign of forgettingso long as swans shall sail thi

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