He seemed to understand me , and buzzed again , evidently saying , -- ` Thank you , ma'am . I should like to stay in your warm room , and amuse you for my board . I wo n't disturb you , but do my best to be a good little friend . ' So the bargain was struck , and he stopped to tea . I found that his manners had been neglected ; for he was inclined to walk over the butter , drink out of the cream-pot , and put his fingers in the jelly . A few taps with my spoon taught him to behave with more propriety , and he sipped a drop of milk from the waiter with a crumb of sugar , as a well-bred fly should do . On account of his fine voice , I named him Buzz , and we soon got on excellently together . He seemed to like his new quarters , and , after exploring every corner of the room , he chose his favourite haunts and began to enjoy himself . I always knew where he was , for he kept up a constant song , humming and buzzing , like a little kettle getting ready to boil . On sunny days , he amused himself by bumping his head against the window , and watching what went on outside . It would have given me a headache , but he seemed to enjoy it immensely . Up in my hanging basket of ivy he made his bower , and sat there on the moss basking in the sunshine , as luxuriously as any gentleman in his conservatory . He was interested in the plants , and examined them daily with great care , walking over the ivy leaves , grubbing under the moss , and poking his head into the unfolding hyacinth buds to see how they got on . The pictures , also , seemed to attract his attention , for he spent much time skating over the glasses and studying the designs . Sometimes I would find him staring at my Madonna , as if he said , ` What in the world are all those topsy-turvy children about ? ' Then he 'd sit in the middle of a brook , in a water-color sketch by Vautin , as if bathing his feet , or seem to be eating the cherry which one little duck politely offers another little duck , in Oscar Pletch 's Summer Party . He frequently kissed my mother 's portrait , and sat on my father 's bald head , as if trying to get out some of the wisdom stored up there , like honey in an ill-thatched bee-hive . My bronze Mercury rather puzzled him , for he could not understand why the young gentleman did n't fly off when he had four wings and seemed in such a hurry . I 'm afraid he was a trifle vain , for he sat before the glass a great deal , and I often saw him cleaning his proboscis , and twiddling his feelers , and I know he was ` prinking , ' as we say . The books pleased him , too , and he used to run them over , as if trying to choose which he would read , and never seemed able to decide .
He would have nothing to XXXXX to the fat French Dictionary , or my English Plays , but liked Goethe and Schiller , Emerson and Browning , as well as I did .
amused boil buzzing eating kissed neglected said sat say went