This
movement
on the part of the jay
put the hawk in the notion, and she also joined
the dancers.
put the hawk in the notion, and she also joined
the dancers.
Childrens - Brownies
Just as soon as
the sun reached the banks of the little brook
Froggy would perch himself on a smooth stone,
blinking and winking as though the world gave
nothing but happiness to him. Now the tree soon
learned that Froggy loved a little lady frog.
Every morning went the youthful lover to take
his lady love for a walk ; he carried a huge bou-
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? In the Meadow.
269
quet of flowers so beautiful that the bees and but-
terflies followed him, sipping of their sweetness.
One day Froggy and his lady love went away and
never came back again. The tree felt sure they
had found a home for themselves by some other
stream.
A hill sloped up from the brookside, and among
the grasses and low shrubs flowers of all sorts
lifted their heads. Daisies opened their bright
eyes at the peep of morning, and nodded their
sleepy little heads at the coming of the shadows.
The blue violets shyly put forth their bloom, and
the yellow buttercups sparkled and gleamed in the
bright sunshine. But the hillside was most beauti-
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? 270 In the Meadow.
ful when the children coming home from school
stopped to gather the posies. Their chatter and
joyous laughter rang out like the sweetest music,
as beautiful, so thought the tree, as the song of
the birds that sang so sweetly all day long.
One night the flowers and trees were awakened
from their happy dreams by the strangest noise
they had ever heard. The moon was big and
round that night and was shedding her brightest
light, so that the meadow was almost as bright as
day. Flowers lifted their drowsy heads, and the
trees bent and swayed to peep around each other
to find out, if possible, the cause of so much
trouble. They soon discovered that a flock of
young birds tliat had doubtless wandered from
their nests and had stayed out too late had been
attacked by some big, round-eyed owls, and the
loud cry of fear from the young birds as they hur-
ried through the air had wakened all the sleeping
hillside and put sleep to flight.
But the meadow was not only the home of the
birds, the flowers and the fat little frogs, but the
children nsed to go there and spend the long beauti-
ful summer days playing in the soft, green grass
hunting for the birds^ nests and gathering the
bright, pretty flowers. But, best of all, they loved
to chase the butterflies that flitted here and there,
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? The Lost Prize.
^1
drinking the honey from the flower cup*h,*iiid rest-
ing lightly on the nodding grasses. Take it all in
all, the meadow was the most delightful place in
the world, not only for the children, but for all the
merry crowds of birds and insects that made it their
home and their pleasure ground, and none of them
would have known how to get along without it.
The Lost Prize.
Kitty Gray had been brought to her new
\^me in a covered basket. She remembered well
li:)W one of the boys had brought a saucer of new
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? 272
The Lost Prize,
milk to the barn, set it down on the~ floorTand,,
when she and her brothers and sisters were busy
lapping up the milk, she had been picked up, car-
ried to the house, and tucked away in the basket.
It was hours before she was taken out. Time
and time again had she called " Mew ! Mew ! "
iust as loud as ever she could, but it had done no
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? The Lost Prize.
273
good, a gentle voice would always say, " Lie still,
Kitty Gray, and be real good/^
When the basket was opened and Kitty jumped
out she found herself in a place very different
from the big barn in which she had always lived.
But she soon grew to like it very much. She
loved the warm fire, beside which she curled her-
self every night, and the cook gave her lots o^
good things to eat.
Cook sat by the fire reading one night, efK
Kitty lay curled up in her lap. Kit's eyes roam-^fii
lazily around the room until they rested upon ac
empty pickle bottle that cook had left standing on
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? 274
The Lost i=^ze.
the dresser. What was that black object that
kept moving around in the bottle? "As sure as
you are living," thought Kitty Gray, " that is a
mouse. I'll wait until cook goes to bed, and then
I'll have a feast. "
The clock struck ten, and cook put out tke light
and went up stairs. Kit jumped up on the dresser,
peeped in at the mouse, stuck her paw in the
bottle, but no mouse came out. Then Kitty shook
the bottle, then she turned it upside down, but the
mouse would not shake out. Then Kit grew cross,
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? The ! Lost Prize.
275
and seizing the bottle, brought it down crash on a
flat iron that lay Dear. It flew in a hundred
pieces, and away scampered the mouse, right
through a hole in the wall, and so swiftly that
Kitty had no chance at it at all. She was dread-
r. ^^y^ fi
rally disappointed, but that did not help mattei-s,
so she curled herself in a heap by the fire to for-
get her troubles in sleep, but in the future she
will have too much good sense to strike a bottle
on an iron.
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? Rival Babies.
Daddy Bear had gone off on a hunting trip.
He had left Madam Bear and their little son alone,
but he had brought such a fine young lamb from
the neighboring farm-yard that he had no fear of
their being in want while he was gone.
Daddy Bear and his wife were very proud of
their young son. They thought nothing so beauti-
ful as his fat little body and his sharp little eyes,
that looked so bright and charming. His funny
attempts to growl like his parents made them both
laugh merrily.
Very near to the home of the bears dwelt an-
other family. This family consisted of Father
and Mother Fox and their little son. Now the
Fox parents were just as fond and proud of their
baby as Daddy and Madam Bear were of theirs,
and they used often to think that their son was
just a little more cute than Baby Bear. These
two little chaps were born about the same time,
and each had been carefully watched and guarded
by its fond parents, who tried to outdo each other
in their devotion to their babies. If Madam Bear
took her little boy walking, young Master Fox
was soon taken out for a stroll. If little Foxy
appeared in a new Pinafore, Madam Bear lost no
(276)
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? (277)
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? 278 The Dance in the Woods.
time in arraying her son in one just like it. So it
went on, and these rival babies grew strong and
hearty, caring not at all for the jealousies of their
mothers, but spending many happy hours together
in play.
One day the two mothers and the two babies
met together in the woods. The youngsters played
haj)pily together, while the mothers sat on a fallen
log and chatted. Finally Mother Bear declared
that her son was the taller. Mother Fox said that
could not be the case, for she knew that honor be-
longed to Foxy. So the little folks were called
and made to stand up and be measured, but it did
no good, for each mother claimed that her son was
the taller. At last they decided to leave the mat-
ter to some friends that happened to be passing,
and they decided that there was no difference be-
tween them. This did not satisfy the mothers, and
each one thought that the honor belonged to them.
The Dance in the Woods.
It was spring, and the butterflies now began to
emerge from the warm, soft covering in which
they had been folded. They were the pictures of
graceful beauty as they flitted here and there from
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? The Dance in the Woods.
279
flower to flower. The flowers nodded to them
and gave them their sweetest juices to drink. The
birds watched them one morning as they danced
merrily on the green grass, still sparkling with the
early dew.
'' It seems to me/^ said a young raven, '^ that
if the butterfly can whirl so gracefully on his tiny
legs, we also might learn to perform this most de-
lightful accomplishment. ''
The raven prided himself upon his shiny black
coat, and it is likely he thought this a good chance
of showing off" before his friends.
" Let's try it once," said the stork, who was out
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? 280
The Dance in the Woods.
for a stroll and had stopped to watch the merry
butterflies.
" We will dance together,'* said the raven. So
tne stork threw his long bill over the raven's
shoulder, and wing to wing they whirled around,
not pictures of grace, however, for they moved
very, very awkwardly.
The eagle, gazing from his lofty nest, saw the
antics of the pair and laughed merrily to himself.
" I'll fly down and get nearer the fun," said he.
Down he came, and meeting a plump, white goose,
ne told him of the performance and asked him to
come along and see it. The goose had hard work
to keep up with the eagle, who walked along with
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? The Dance in the Woods.
281
great rapid strides. The dancers soon grew tired,
but not discouraged, and so, after resting their
weary legs and gaining once more their breath,
they went at it again.
By this time quite a crowd of birds of one sort
or another had perched themselves on trees and
bushes, for such a sight as two birds dancing to-
gether was new and strange in the woods of Fly-
away.
A little blue jay, who sat swinging on a bough
of a young cherry tree, thought if it were such
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? 282 The Surprise Party.
fun to watch the stork and the raven, how much
more fun it would be to trip it with them. So
down he flew and commenced spinning around and
around.
This movement on the part of the jay
put the hawk in the notion, and she also joined
the dancers. The dodo and the crane were the
next to fall in, and before very long couple after
couple were hopping around enjoying the lively
reel.
THe Surprise Party.
Dear me, did no one tell you ahoiit the party ?
It was a perfect success all through. That funny
little turtle that lives in the swamp back of the
hedgehog's got it up. One morning he arose
bright and early, did his work as quickly as pos-
sible, and then started around to his friend's, the
porcupine, to make him a visit. " Do you know,''
said the turtle, after a while, " I've been thinking
how pleasant it would be to get up a surprise party
for our neighbor, Mr. Bruin. "
"The very thing," replied the porcupine, "if
you are willing to invite the people. "
"I'll be glad to do it," answered the turtle.
The turtle would not stay to dinner, although the
porcupine invited him, and that very afternoon he
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? The Surprise Party.
'2SZ
started off to invite the guests. The following
Monday was selected, and everybody was charged
not to let the news reach the ears of Mrs. Bruin.
'^t^^^M^^^^&S
^^'tfj cox'^^^^^,
Monday came bright and clear, and about eight
o'clock all the guests met at the weeping willow
tree and started off together. They looked very
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? 284
The Surprise Party.
funny as they marched along, each one carrying
his basket on his arm. These baskets were care-
fully guarded, for therein were hidden all sorts of
dainties for the feast to be given during the even-
ing. When they reached the house, Jedekiah Fox
knocked at the door, and instead of opening it Mr.
Bruin popped his head out of the window. You
never saw anybody so surprised in your life. But
what lots of fun they did have after they had gone
in and put down their baskets ! The bear was so
glad to see them that he consented to show them
how he used to dance when he travelled around
with Prof. Trix. So he took his cane in his hand
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? The Raid of the Rats. 286
and performed many queer antics, which were ex-
ceedingly amusing to the whole company. They
were all so happy and time passed so pleasantly
that the wee, small hours of the morning dawned
before the party broke up. They all agreed that
the turtle deserved much pmise for the fine time
he had been the means of affording them, and de-
cided to arrange a surprise party for him some
day.
The Raid of the Rats.
There was once a man named Nathan Brown,
who kept the " Silver Lake Mill. '' The mill had
been so named on account of the beautiful stream
of water upon whose banks it was built. This
water as it flowed on and on, day after day, turned
the great wheel and ground the wheat that the
farmers brought to Nathan to be made into flour.
Nathan was a big, fat, red -cheeked fellow, who
loved nothing better than a chat with his neigh-
bors, and while the mill wheel kept busily and
steadily turning the dusty miller kept up a merry
chattering:.
One day Nathan looked very solemn, and the
farmer who had come with his bag of wheat won-
dered what had happened. He asked uo ques-
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? 286
The Raid of the Rats.
lions, for he knew that in time the miller would
tell him. When Nathan had emptied the wheat
into the hopper he sat down beside the farmer and
began to talk. '' Do you know," said he, ^' there
is something carrying off my wheat, and what it
is I don't know, but I have my suspicions that it
is the rats. I have about made up my mind to
set traps and see if I can in that way discover who
the thieves may be. "
Kow it happened that the rats were the doeis
of all the mischief, and it also happened that one
of them, who had taken a nap on a beam, wakened
in time to h^ar what the miller said.
"Traps? ' thought he, *'that ends the fun for
us. We will carry off all we can to-night, and
then get away from this place. " Just as soon as
old Ratty could leave without being seen he hur-
ried off to tell the rest of the rats the news he had
heard. They all agreed that they must get away
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? The Raid of the Rats.
287
as soon as possible, but, like him, they wanted one
more night of fun.
When night came a big crowd had gathered.
They had merry times chasing one another, in and
out among the bags, and crawling up them and
sliding; down af! :ain.
*' I have an idea," said one of the rats ; " I think
if we tried we miglit manage to carry away one of
those small bags of flour. We could hide it in
the wagon house and have a merry time with it. "
" That's a splendid idea," cried they all ; " we
can do it if we try. "
One of the smallest bags was selected, and all
went to work, and they did work. It was not
easy to lift the sack up on their shoulders, nor to
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? 288 The Back Yard Party.
keep it there. One failure followed another, but
these little fellows would not give up, and they
tried and tried again, until at last success rewarded
their efforts, and they started to the wagon house.
Now the shortest road to the wagon house was
by way of the ledge outside of the large mill door.
They crept along, carefully balancing the sack,
when all at once the bag slipped, and over all of
them went down into the stream below. The flour
was forgotten, and each one's mightiest effort was
devoted to saving himself. They had a good hard
pull, but at last all stood shivering and shaking on
the bank, the sorriest looking crowd of rats you
ever saw. They got together a lot of sticks and
leaves and built a fire, and soon looked quite them-
selves again -- but the flour was gone, and all
agreed that they had paid very dearly for their fun.
The Back Yard Party.
Mrs. Mouse laid down her pen and breathed a
sigh of relief. She had been busily at work
getting out invitations for a grand garden party in
the back yard, and now she had finished* The
field mice, the mice at the barn and wagon iiousc,
and, of course, the house mice, all were invited.
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? The Back Yard Party.
289
Mrs. Mouse hoped that everything might be
pleasant. The mice at the house were rather in-
clined to hold themselves a little above the field
mice, why she could not tell, for she was quite
sure one family was as good as the other, and she
had no wish to slight either.
Mrs. Mouse felt all of a flutter when the night
of the party arrived. She had allowed her four
little daughters to stay up for a while and see
part of the fun if they would promise to be good.
Very nice and proper they looked standing side by
iyde with their little arms folded. The first to
arrive was the mouse who lived in ilie parlor cup-
board. She was very grand, indeed, in her kigh-
19
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? 290
The Back Yard Party.
topped bonnet. Grandmother Skipper and her
youngest grandchild came next, and after them
came Lady Newly- Wed and her husband. On
they came, one after the other, until quite a large,
merry crowd had gathered in the back yard. The
young mice wanted to dance, so partners were
chosen, and the merry whirlers went spinning
round and round until they were almost ready to
drop.
Billy Nibble and Patty Pry grew tired of danc-
ing and seated themselves on top of the gate.
Tucker Gray saw them, and he feU jealous, for he
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? The Back Yard Party.
291
had a great fondness for little Patty and did all in
his power to coax her away from Billy, but she
would not come. Then Tucker went off and de-
voted himself to Polly Pruin. Polly was charmed,
^^^r-
W^^^
---
^^^^^'^^^^^^^
? p^\ ^ --
^
for she had been sitting all alone, waving her new
turkey feather fan. But all at once the fun was
brought to a close, the house door w^as throw^n
open, and out stole old Tom, the big, black cat.
Such a scapering you never saw, and no one
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? 292 Bruin's Singing School.
stopped until he had safely reached his home. It
was a shame that they should be so rudely dis-
turbed in the midst of their fun, for they were
having a very gay time all by themselves, and
they are such cute and cunning little things that
we like to see them enjoy themselves.
Bruin's Singing School.
You will really be quite surprised when I tell
you how Uncle Bear started the singing school at
Matchless Hollow. It happened in this way.
One real cold winter night, when the snow lay on
the ground like a great white blanket, quite a
number of young people made up a sleighing
paiiy. It was the first sleighing of the winter,
and everybody was extremely anxious to go.
What lots of fun they had as they sped over
the hard, white crust ! After a while some of the.
folks began holding their ears and rubbing their
hands together in a manner that showed they were
far from warm. "Wouldn't it be jolly," some
one called out, " to stop at Uncle Bear's. " " Oh,
do," came from all sides. It did not take them
long to reach the home of the Bears, but it did
take some time to rouse the old folks from the
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? Bruin's Singing School.
293
sound sleep into which they had fallen. Both the
old people seemed glad to see their young friends,
and the warm fire soon sent the blood tingling
through their young bodies. " Won't you give us
a song," said Auntie Bear, " Uncle and I are so
fond of music. ^^ It took them some time to get
started, but after a while they began, and they
sung very merrily. One song after another was
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?
the sun reached the banks of the little brook
Froggy would perch himself on a smooth stone,
blinking and winking as though the world gave
nothing but happiness to him. Now the tree soon
learned that Froggy loved a little lady frog.
Every morning went the youthful lover to take
his lady love for a walk ; he carried a huge bou-
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? In the Meadow.
269
quet of flowers so beautiful that the bees and but-
terflies followed him, sipping of their sweetness.
One day Froggy and his lady love went away and
never came back again. The tree felt sure they
had found a home for themselves by some other
stream.
A hill sloped up from the brookside, and among
the grasses and low shrubs flowers of all sorts
lifted their heads. Daisies opened their bright
eyes at the peep of morning, and nodded their
sleepy little heads at the coming of the shadows.
The blue violets shyly put forth their bloom, and
the yellow buttercups sparkled and gleamed in the
bright sunshine. But the hillside was most beauti-
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? 270 In the Meadow.
ful when the children coming home from school
stopped to gather the posies. Their chatter and
joyous laughter rang out like the sweetest music,
as beautiful, so thought the tree, as the song of
the birds that sang so sweetly all day long.
One night the flowers and trees were awakened
from their happy dreams by the strangest noise
they had ever heard. The moon was big and
round that night and was shedding her brightest
light, so that the meadow was almost as bright as
day. Flowers lifted their drowsy heads, and the
trees bent and swayed to peep around each other
to find out, if possible, the cause of so much
trouble. They soon discovered that a flock of
young birds tliat had doubtless wandered from
their nests and had stayed out too late had been
attacked by some big, round-eyed owls, and the
loud cry of fear from the young birds as they hur-
ried through the air had wakened all the sleeping
hillside and put sleep to flight.
But the meadow was not only the home of the
birds, the flowers and the fat little frogs, but the
children nsed to go there and spend the long beauti-
ful summer days playing in the soft, green grass
hunting for the birds^ nests and gathering the
bright, pretty flowers. But, best of all, they loved
to chase the butterflies that flitted here and there,
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? The Lost Prize.
^1
drinking the honey from the flower cup*h,*iiid rest-
ing lightly on the nodding grasses. Take it all in
all, the meadow was the most delightful place in
the world, not only for the children, but for all the
merry crowds of birds and insects that made it their
home and their pleasure ground, and none of them
would have known how to get along without it.
The Lost Prize.
Kitty Gray had been brought to her new
\^me in a covered basket. She remembered well
li:)W one of the boys had brought a saucer of new
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? 272
The Lost Prize,
milk to the barn, set it down on the~ floorTand,,
when she and her brothers and sisters were busy
lapping up the milk, she had been picked up, car-
ried to the house, and tucked away in the basket.
It was hours before she was taken out. Time
and time again had she called " Mew ! Mew ! "
iust as loud as ever she could, but it had done no
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? The Lost Prize.
273
good, a gentle voice would always say, " Lie still,
Kitty Gray, and be real good/^
When the basket was opened and Kitty jumped
out she found herself in a place very different
from the big barn in which she had always lived.
But she soon grew to like it very much. She
loved the warm fire, beside which she curled her-
self every night, and the cook gave her lots o^
good things to eat.
Cook sat by the fire reading one night, efK
Kitty lay curled up in her lap. Kit's eyes roam-^fii
lazily around the room until they rested upon ac
empty pickle bottle that cook had left standing on
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? 274
The Lost i=^ze.
the dresser. What was that black object that
kept moving around in the bottle? "As sure as
you are living," thought Kitty Gray, " that is a
mouse. I'll wait until cook goes to bed, and then
I'll have a feast. "
The clock struck ten, and cook put out tke light
and went up stairs. Kit jumped up on the dresser,
peeped in at the mouse, stuck her paw in the
bottle, but no mouse came out. Then Kitty shook
the bottle, then she turned it upside down, but the
mouse would not shake out. Then Kit grew cross,
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? The ! Lost Prize.
275
and seizing the bottle, brought it down crash on a
flat iron that lay Dear. It flew in a hundred
pieces, and away scampered the mouse, right
through a hole in the wall, and so swiftly that
Kitty had no chance at it at all. She was dread-
r. ^^y^ fi
rally disappointed, but that did not help mattei-s,
so she curled herself in a heap by the fire to for-
get her troubles in sleep, but in the future she
will have too much good sense to strike a bottle
on an iron.
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? Rival Babies.
Daddy Bear had gone off on a hunting trip.
He had left Madam Bear and their little son alone,
but he had brought such a fine young lamb from
the neighboring farm-yard that he had no fear of
their being in want while he was gone.
Daddy Bear and his wife were very proud of
their young son. They thought nothing so beauti-
ful as his fat little body and his sharp little eyes,
that looked so bright and charming. His funny
attempts to growl like his parents made them both
laugh merrily.
Very near to the home of the bears dwelt an-
other family. This family consisted of Father
and Mother Fox and their little son. Now the
Fox parents were just as fond and proud of their
baby as Daddy and Madam Bear were of theirs,
and they used often to think that their son was
just a little more cute than Baby Bear. These
two little chaps were born about the same time,
and each had been carefully watched and guarded
by its fond parents, who tried to outdo each other
in their devotion to their babies. If Madam Bear
took her little boy walking, young Master Fox
was soon taken out for a stroll. If little Foxy
appeared in a new Pinafore, Madam Bear lost no
(276)
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? (277)
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? 278 The Dance in the Woods.
time in arraying her son in one just like it. So it
went on, and these rival babies grew strong and
hearty, caring not at all for the jealousies of their
mothers, but spending many happy hours together
in play.
One day the two mothers and the two babies
met together in the woods. The youngsters played
haj)pily together, while the mothers sat on a fallen
log and chatted. Finally Mother Bear declared
that her son was the taller. Mother Fox said that
could not be the case, for she knew that honor be-
longed to Foxy. So the little folks were called
and made to stand up and be measured, but it did
no good, for each mother claimed that her son was
the taller. At last they decided to leave the mat-
ter to some friends that happened to be passing,
and they decided that there was no difference be-
tween them. This did not satisfy the mothers, and
each one thought that the honor belonged to them.
The Dance in the Woods.
It was spring, and the butterflies now began to
emerge from the warm, soft covering in which
they had been folded. They were the pictures of
graceful beauty as they flitted here and there from
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? The Dance in the Woods.
279
flower to flower. The flowers nodded to them
and gave them their sweetest juices to drink. The
birds watched them one morning as they danced
merrily on the green grass, still sparkling with the
early dew.
'' It seems to me/^ said a young raven, '^ that
if the butterfly can whirl so gracefully on his tiny
legs, we also might learn to perform this most de-
lightful accomplishment. ''
The raven prided himself upon his shiny black
coat, and it is likely he thought this a good chance
of showing off" before his friends.
" Let's try it once," said the stork, who was out
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? 280
The Dance in the Woods.
for a stroll and had stopped to watch the merry
butterflies.
" We will dance together,'* said the raven. So
tne stork threw his long bill over the raven's
shoulder, and wing to wing they whirled around,
not pictures of grace, however, for they moved
very, very awkwardly.
The eagle, gazing from his lofty nest, saw the
antics of the pair and laughed merrily to himself.
" I'll fly down and get nearer the fun," said he.
Down he came, and meeting a plump, white goose,
ne told him of the performance and asked him to
come along and see it. The goose had hard work
to keep up with the eagle, who walked along with
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? The Dance in the Woods.
281
great rapid strides. The dancers soon grew tired,
but not discouraged, and so, after resting their
weary legs and gaining once more their breath,
they went at it again.
By this time quite a crowd of birds of one sort
or another had perched themselves on trees and
bushes, for such a sight as two birds dancing to-
gether was new and strange in the woods of Fly-
away.
A little blue jay, who sat swinging on a bough
of a young cherry tree, thought if it were such
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? 282 The Surprise Party.
fun to watch the stork and the raven, how much
more fun it would be to trip it with them. So
down he flew and commenced spinning around and
around.
This movement on the part of the jay
put the hawk in the notion, and she also joined
the dancers. The dodo and the crane were the
next to fall in, and before very long couple after
couple were hopping around enjoying the lively
reel.
THe Surprise Party.
Dear me, did no one tell you ahoiit the party ?
It was a perfect success all through. That funny
little turtle that lives in the swamp back of the
hedgehog's got it up. One morning he arose
bright and early, did his work as quickly as pos-
sible, and then started around to his friend's, the
porcupine, to make him a visit. " Do you know,''
said the turtle, after a while, " I've been thinking
how pleasant it would be to get up a surprise party
for our neighbor, Mr. Bruin. "
"The very thing," replied the porcupine, "if
you are willing to invite the people. "
"I'll be glad to do it," answered the turtle.
The turtle would not stay to dinner, although the
porcupine invited him, and that very afternoon he
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? The Surprise Party.
'2SZ
started off to invite the guests. The following
Monday was selected, and everybody was charged
not to let the news reach the ears of Mrs. Bruin.
'^t^^^M^^^^&S
^^'tfj cox'^^^^^,
Monday came bright and clear, and about eight
o'clock all the guests met at the weeping willow
tree and started off together. They looked very
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? 284
The Surprise Party.
funny as they marched along, each one carrying
his basket on his arm. These baskets were care-
fully guarded, for therein were hidden all sorts of
dainties for the feast to be given during the even-
ing. When they reached the house, Jedekiah Fox
knocked at the door, and instead of opening it Mr.
Bruin popped his head out of the window. You
never saw anybody so surprised in your life. But
what lots of fun they did have after they had gone
in and put down their baskets ! The bear was so
glad to see them that he consented to show them
how he used to dance when he travelled around
with Prof. Trix. So he took his cane in his hand
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? The Raid of the Rats. 286
and performed many queer antics, which were ex-
ceedingly amusing to the whole company. They
were all so happy and time passed so pleasantly
that the wee, small hours of the morning dawned
before the party broke up. They all agreed that
the turtle deserved much pmise for the fine time
he had been the means of affording them, and de-
cided to arrange a surprise party for him some
day.
The Raid of the Rats.
There was once a man named Nathan Brown,
who kept the " Silver Lake Mill. '' The mill had
been so named on account of the beautiful stream
of water upon whose banks it was built. This
water as it flowed on and on, day after day, turned
the great wheel and ground the wheat that the
farmers brought to Nathan to be made into flour.
Nathan was a big, fat, red -cheeked fellow, who
loved nothing better than a chat with his neigh-
bors, and while the mill wheel kept busily and
steadily turning the dusty miller kept up a merry
chattering:.
One day Nathan looked very solemn, and the
farmer who had come with his bag of wheat won-
dered what had happened. He asked uo ques-
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? 286
The Raid of the Rats.
lions, for he knew that in time the miller would
tell him. When Nathan had emptied the wheat
into the hopper he sat down beside the farmer and
began to talk. '' Do you know," said he, ^' there
is something carrying off my wheat, and what it
is I don't know, but I have my suspicions that it
is the rats. I have about made up my mind to
set traps and see if I can in that way discover who
the thieves may be. "
Kow it happened that the rats were the doeis
of all the mischief, and it also happened that one
of them, who had taken a nap on a beam, wakened
in time to h^ar what the miller said.
"Traps? ' thought he, *'that ends the fun for
us. We will carry off all we can to-night, and
then get away from this place. " Just as soon as
old Ratty could leave without being seen he hur-
ried off to tell the rest of the rats the news he had
heard. They all agreed that they must get away
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? The Raid of the Rats.
287
as soon as possible, but, like him, they wanted one
more night of fun.
When night came a big crowd had gathered.
They had merry times chasing one another, in and
out among the bags, and crawling up them and
sliding; down af! :ain.
*' I have an idea," said one of the rats ; " I think
if we tried we miglit manage to carry away one of
those small bags of flour. We could hide it in
the wagon house and have a merry time with it. "
" That's a splendid idea," cried they all ; " we
can do it if we try. "
One of the smallest bags was selected, and all
went to work, and they did work. It was not
easy to lift the sack up on their shoulders, nor to
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? 288 The Back Yard Party.
keep it there. One failure followed another, but
these little fellows would not give up, and they
tried and tried again, until at last success rewarded
their efforts, and they started to the wagon house.
Now the shortest road to the wagon house was
by way of the ledge outside of the large mill door.
They crept along, carefully balancing the sack,
when all at once the bag slipped, and over all of
them went down into the stream below. The flour
was forgotten, and each one's mightiest effort was
devoted to saving himself. They had a good hard
pull, but at last all stood shivering and shaking on
the bank, the sorriest looking crowd of rats you
ever saw. They got together a lot of sticks and
leaves and built a fire, and soon looked quite them-
selves again -- but the flour was gone, and all
agreed that they had paid very dearly for their fun.
The Back Yard Party.
Mrs. Mouse laid down her pen and breathed a
sigh of relief. She had been busily at work
getting out invitations for a grand garden party in
the back yard, and now she had finished* The
field mice, the mice at the barn and wagon iiousc,
and, of course, the house mice, all were invited.
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? The Back Yard Party.
289
Mrs. Mouse hoped that everything might be
pleasant. The mice at the house were rather in-
clined to hold themselves a little above the field
mice, why she could not tell, for she was quite
sure one family was as good as the other, and she
had no wish to slight either.
Mrs. Mouse felt all of a flutter when the night
of the party arrived. She had allowed her four
little daughters to stay up for a while and see
part of the fun if they would promise to be good.
Very nice and proper they looked standing side by
iyde with their little arms folded. The first to
arrive was the mouse who lived in ilie parlor cup-
board. She was very grand, indeed, in her kigh-
19
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? 290
The Back Yard Party.
topped bonnet. Grandmother Skipper and her
youngest grandchild came next, and after them
came Lady Newly- Wed and her husband. On
they came, one after the other, until quite a large,
merry crowd had gathered in the back yard. The
young mice wanted to dance, so partners were
chosen, and the merry whirlers went spinning
round and round until they were almost ready to
drop.
Billy Nibble and Patty Pry grew tired of danc-
ing and seated themselves on top of the gate.
Tucker Gray saw them, and he feU jealous, for he
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? The Back Yard Party.
291
had a great fondness for little Patty and did all in
his power to coax her away from Billy, but she
would not come. Then Tucker went off and de-
voted himself to Polly Pruin. Polly was charmed,
^^^r-
W^^^
---
^^^^^'^^^^^^^
? p^\ ^ --
^
for she had been sitting all alone, waving her new
turkey feather fan. But all at once the fun was
brought to a close, the house door w^as throw^n
open, and out stole old Tom, the big, black cat.
Such a scapering you never saw, and no one
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? 292 Bruin's Singing School.
stopped until he had safely reached his home. It
was a shame that they should be so rudely dis-
turbed in the midst of their fun, for they were
having a very gay time all by themselves, and
they are such cute and cunning little things that
we like to see them enjoy themselves.
Bruin's Singing School.
You will really be quite surprised when I tell
you how Uncle Bear started the singing school at
Matchless Hollow. It happened in this way.
One real cold winter night, when the snow lay on
the ground like a great white blanket, quite a
number of young people made up a sleighing
paiiy. It was the first sleighing of the winter,
and everybody was extremely anxious to go.
What lots of fun they had as they sped over
the hard, white crust ! After a while some of the.
folks began holding their ears and rubbing their
hands together in a manner that showed they were
far from warm. "Wouldn't it be jolly," some
one called out, " to stop at Uncle Bear's. " " Oh,
do," came from all sides. It did not take them
long to reach the home of the Bears, but it did
take some time to rouse the old folks from the
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? Bruin's Singing School.
293
sound sleep into which they had fallen. Both the
old people seemed glad to see their young friends,
and the warm fire soon sent the blood tingling
through their young bodies. " Won't you give us
a song," said Auntie Bear, " Uncle and I are so
fond of music. ^^ It took them some time to get
started, but after a while they began, and they
sung very merrily. One song after another was
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?
