“YA-Ha!” said the raccoon, yawning and
stretching himself. “Ya-a-_hoo_! Hm-a-yeaow!
oh, dear me! what a pity!”
“What, for instance, is the matter?” demanded
the squirrel, dropping a hickory-nut down on the
raccoon’s nose. “I knew a raccoon once who
yawned till his head broke in two, and the top
rolled off.”
“Hm!” said the raccoon. “Not much loss if
it was like some people’s heads.
“I was sighing,” he continued, “you very stupid
Cracker! to think that summer is gone, and
that winter will be here before we can say ‘Beechnuts.’”
“Ah!” said the squirrel, looking grave. “That,
indeed! To be sure; yes.”
“The leaves are falling fast,” continued the
raccoon meditatively; “the birds are all gone,
except Pigeon Pretty and Miss Mary, and they are
going in a day or two. Very soon, my Cracker,
we shall have to roll ourselves up and go to sleep
for the winter. No more gingerbread and jam, my
boy. No more pleasant afternoons at the cottage;
no more stories. Nothing but a hollow tree
and four months’ sleep. Ah, dear me!” and Coon
sighed again, and shook his head despondingly.
“By the way,” said Cracker, “Toto tells me
that he and his people don’t sleep in winter any
more than in summer. Queer, isn’t it? I suppose
it has something to do with their having only
two legs.”
“Something to do with their having two heads!”
growled the raccoon. “They don’t sleep with
their legs, do they, stupid?”
“They certainly don’t sleep _without_ them!”
said the squirrel rather sharply.
“Look here!” replied the raccoon, rising and
shaking himself, “should you like me to bite
about two inches off your tail? It won’t take me
a minute, and I would just as lief do it as not.”
Affairs were becoming rather serious, when
suddenly the wood-pigeon appeared, and fluttered
down with a gentle “Coo!” between the
two friends, who certainly seemed anything but
friendly.
“What are you two quarrelling about?” she
asked. “How extremely silly you both are! But
now make friends, and put on your very best
manners, for we are going to have a visitor here
in a few minutes. I am going to call Chucky
and Miss Mary, and do you make everything
tidy about the pool before she comes.” And off
flew Pigeon Pretty in a great hurry.
“_She?_” said Cracker inquiringly, looking at
Coon.
“She _said_ ‘she’!” replied Coon, bestirring himself,
and picking up the dead branches that had
fallen on the smooth green moss-carpet.
“Perhaps it is that aunt of Chucky’s who has
been making him a visit,” suggested the squirrel.
“Oh, well!” said the raccoon, stopping short
in his work. “If Pigeon Pretty thinks I am
going to put this place in order for a woodchuck’s
aunt, she is very much mistaken, that’s
all. I never heard of such—” But here he
stopped, for a loud rustling in the underbrush
announced that the visitor, whoever she might
be, was close at hand.
The bushes separated, and to the utter astonishment
of both Coon and Cracker, who should
appear but the grandmother herself, escorted by
Toto and Bruin, and attended also by the wood-pigeon
and the parrot, who fluttered about her
head with cries of pleasure.
Toto led the old lady to the mossy bank beside
the pool, where she sat down, rather out of breath,
and a little bewildered, but evidently much pleased
at having accomplished such a feat.
The raccoon hastened to express his delight in
the finest possible language, while the little squirrel
turned a dozen somersaults in succession, by
way of showing how pleased he was. As for the
worthy Bruin, he fairly beamed with pleasure, and
even went so far as to execute a sort of saraband,
which, if the grandmother could have seen it,
would certainly have alarmed her a good deal.
“My dear friends,” said the old lady, “it gives
me great pleasure to be here, I assure you. Toto
has for some time had his heart quite set on my
seeing you once—though, alas! my _seeing_ is only
_hearing_—in your own pleasant home, before you
separate for the winter. So, thanks to our kind
friend, Mr. Bruin, I am actually here. How warm
and soft the air is!” she continued. “What a
delightful cushion you have found for me! and
is that a brook, that is tinkling so pleasantly?”
“That is the spring, Granny!” said Toto eagerly.
“It bubbles up, as clear as crystal, out of
a hole in the rock, and then it falls over into the
pool. And the pool is round, as round as a cup;
and there are ferns and purple flags growing all
around it, and the trees are all reflected in it, you
know; and there are turtles in it, and there used
to be a muskrat, only Coon ate him, and—and—oh!
it’s so jolly!” and here Toto paused, fairly
out of breath.
Indeed, it was very lovely by the pool, in the
soft glow of the Indian summer day. The spring
murmured and tinkled and sang to them; the
trees dropped yellow leaves on them, like fairy
gold; and then the sun laughed, and sent down
flights of his golden arrows, to show them what a
very poor thing earthly gold was, after all. So
they all sat and talked around the pool, of the
summer that was past and the winter that was
coming. Then the grandmother made a little
speech which she had been thinking over for some
time. It was a very short speech; but it was very
much to the point.
“Dear friends,” she said, “you are all sad at
the prospect of the long winter; but I have a
plan which will make the winter a joyous season,
instead of a melancholy one. I have plenty of
room in my cottage, warmth, and food, and everything
comfortable; and I want you all to come
and spend the winter with Toto and me. There
is a large wood-pile where you can climb or sit
when you are tired of the house. You shall sleep
when you please, and wake when you please;
and we will be a happy and united family. Come,
my friends, what do you say?”
“Then the grandmother made a little speech.”
What did they say? Indeed, they did not
know what to say. There was silence around the
pool for a few minutes. Then the bear looked at
the raccoon, the raccoon looked at the squirrel,
and the squirrel looked at the wood-pigeon; and
finally the gentle bird answered, as she usually
did, for all.
“Dear, dear madam,” she said, “we can imagine
nothing so delightful as to live with you and our
dear Toto. We all accept your invitation thankfully
and joyfully; and we will all do our best to
be a help, rather than a burden, to you.”
All the animals nodded approval. Then Toto,
who had been waiting breathless for the answer,
seized the bear by the paws, and the raccoon
seized the squirrel, and they all danced round and
round till there was no breath left in their bodies;
and the woodchuck—who had been asleep behind
a tree, and had waked up just in time to hear the
grandmother’s speech—danced all alone on his
hind-legs, to the admiration of all beholders. And
then Cracker went and brought some nuts, and
Coon brought apples, and Bruin brought great
shining combs of honey, and they sat and feasted
around the pool, and were right merry.
And then they all went back to the cottage,—the
grandmother, and Toto, and Bruin, and Coon,
and Cracker, and Chucky, and Pigeon Pretty, and
Miss Mary,—and there they all lived and were
happy; and if you ever lead half such a merry
life as they did, you may consider yourself
extremely fortunate.
THE END.
_Messrs. Roberts Brothers’ Publications._
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A Portrait of Dorothy at Sixteen.
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