Well, you remember that the Hollow Tree people took four of their
friends to live with them and called it the Hollow Tree Inn. Mr. Robin
came, and Mr. Turtle, also Jack Rabbit and Mr. Squirrel, and they made a
jolly crowd after they got settled and knew about each getting his own
things to eat, because the Hollow Tree people--the 'Coon and 'Possum and
the old black Crow--found they couldn't suit their guests exactly when
it came to a steady diet. So they all kept house together, and used to
go out days (and nights, too, sometimes, when Mr. Man and Mr. Dog were
tired and asleep and didn't want to be disturbed) and get nice things.
Then they'd bring them in and fix them to suit themselves, and have them
all on the big table down stairs, nice and comfortable, where they could
sit and talk as long as they pleased.
It was a good deal like a big family when they were all together that
way, and they used to say how nice it was, and once Mr. 'Possum said he
always did think a big family was nice, anyway. Then Jack Rabbit laughed
and said he should think Mr. 'Possum was just the kind of a man for a
big family, being fond of good things to eat and not very fond of
getting them for himself, and mostly fat and sleepy like. He said if
there was just a nice, spry Mrs. 'Possum, now, to keep house and look
after things he should think it would be ever so much better than living
in bachelor quarters, or, rather, thirds, with Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow,
and not having things very orderly. Of course, with himself, Jack Rabbit
said, it was different, but even at his house it got lonesome, too, now
and then.
Well, Mr. 'Possum thought a minute, and then he said that there was such
a thing as folks being too spry, and that it was because he had always
been afraid of getting that kind that he had been pretty well satisfied
to live in the Hollow Tree just as he was. He said that he had once had
an uncle that something happened to in that line, and whenever he
thought about poor Uncle Lovejoy he didn't seem to care much about
trying anything he wasn't used to. Then they all wanted him to tell
about Uncle Lovejoy and what happened to him. So Mr. 'Possum did tell,
and it went this way:
"Once upon a time," he said, "Uncle Lovejoy--we always called him Uncle
Silas then, and he was uncle on my mother's side, and lived with Aunt
Melissy in a nice place just beyond the Wide Pawpaw Hollows--once upon a
time, as I was saying, he had to go to town on some business, and that
was something that never happened to Uncle Lovejoy before."
[Illustration]
"Well, Aunt Melissy was always a spry woman, as I said, and
stirring--very stirring, and primpy, too. But she was never as stirring
and spry and primpy as she was the day that Uncle Silas started for
town. She dressed him all up neat and proper in his very best things,
and tied his tie for him, and while she was tying it she says:
"'Now, Silas,' she says, 'when you get to town you buy a few little
articles right away and put them on. You don't want folks to see that
you come from the country, you know, and you don't want Cousin Glenwood
to be ashamed of you before folks. Cousin Glen will know just what
things you need and where to get them.' Then she told him not to get run
over by anything, or blow out the gas, or let anybody see that he wasn't
used to things, because, you see, Aunt Melissy was proud, being a
Glenwood herself. Then Uncle Lovejoy promised all those things, and that
he would use his napkin and not eat pie out of his hand or drink out of
his finger bowl, and a lot more things that Aunt Melissy remembered at
the last minute. So you see by the time he got on the train he had a
good deal to think about, and he kept thinking about it until by the
time he got to the city he'd made up his mind he'd try to do for once
everything she told him to and give her a pleasant surprise with the
way he had fixed up and improved his manners when he got back. Uncle
Lovejoy was good natured and always anxious to please folks, especially
Aunt Melissy."
[Illustration]
"Well, Cousin Glenwood met him at the station, and about the first thing
Uncle Silas said was to ask him where he got his clothes, and to tell
him that Aunt Melissy had said he was to fix up, so's folks wouldn't
think he came from the country, which, of course, she had. That just
suited Cousin Glenwood, for he liked to spend money and show off what he
knew about the city; so he took Uncle Lovejoy 'most everywhere, and
told him to buy 'most everything he saw. And of course Uncle Silas did
it, because he wanted to surprise Aunt Melissy when he got back and make
her feel happy for once in her life."
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
"Cousin Glen took Uncle Lovejoy to the stores first, and then to a good
many different kinds of places afterward, and every place where there
was a mirror Uncle Lovejoy would stand before it and admire himself and
wonder what Aunt Melissy would say when he got home. He kept buying new
things every day, because every day he'd see somebody with something on
or carrying or leading something, and when he remembered what Aunt
Melissy said, he made up his mind he'd have to have all the things to
please her, and he got them as far as he could. Even Cousin Glenwood
had to commence buying things pretty soon to keep up, and before long
people used to stop on the street and look at them when they went by.
Uncle Silas didn't want to go home, either, when the time came, but of
course he had to, and he put on his best clothes for the trip, and took
a young man he'd hired to wait on him, and started.
"He didn't tell Aunt Melissy just what time he'd be there, so it was a
surprise sure enough. He walked right into the yard, and behind was the
young man he'd hired, carrying his things. Aunt Melissy was getting
dinner, and had just come to the door a minute to see what time it was
by the sun, when all of a sudden, as she looked up, there he was! He had
his hat in one hand and a cane in the other, and was leading a game
chicken by a string. All his boxes and bundles and the young man were
behind him. Uncle Lovejoy wore an eyeglass, too, and smoked a paper
thing he said was a cigarette. My little cousins, who were there, told
me afterward that their pa had never looked so fine in his life before
or since. They didn't know him at all, and neither did Aunt Melissy. She
thought he was somebody with something to sell at first, and when he
said:"
[Illustration]
"'Aw, there, Melissah!' she threw up her hands and was just about to
call for help, when just that minute she saw it was Uncle Silas.
"Poor Uncle Silas! He meant to surprise her, and he did it sure enough.
He meant to please her, though, and he didn't do that worth a cent. It
seemed funny, but she was mad. That's just the trouble about women
folks; you never know when you're going to please them. My little
cousins said they never saw their ma so mad before or since. She made
Uncle Lovejoy take off all his nice clothes, and the young man, too, and
she cooked the game chicken for dinner. Then, right after dinner, she
picked up a bag of shinney sticks that Uncle Lovejoy had brought home,
and she says to him and the young man:"
[Illustration]
"'Now you get out in the garden,' she says, 'both of you, and try to
earn back some of this money you've been spending.' And Uncle Lovejoy
didn't feel very much like it, but he went, and so did the young man.
So did Aunt Melissy, and she used up most of those shinney sticks on
Uncle Silas and the young man before fall, and Uncle Silas never saw any
of his nice clothes again, though they had the best garden they ever did
have, so my little cousins said.
"And that," said Mr. 'Possum, leaning back in his chair to smoke,
"that's why I've always been afraid to try family life. It's easier to
please one than two, especially when the other one is a spry, stirring
person like Aunt Melissy Lovejoy."
"What became of all the good clothes?" asked Jack Rabbit, who was always
very stylish.
"Why, I've heard," said Mr. 'Possum, "that Aunt Melissy made some of
them over for my little cousins, and that she traded off the rest of
them to a pedler for patent medicine to give Uncle Silas for a weak
mind, and I think he needed it some myself for trying to please her in
the first place."
Mr. Rabbit nodded.
"It takes all kind of people to make a world," he said.
Mr. 'Coon yawned and rubbed his eyes. The others were fast asleep.