HAPPY JACK IS PERFECTLY HAPPY
Never say a thing is so
Unless you absolutely know.
Just remember every day
To be quite sure of what you say.
_Happy Jack._
Taking things for granted doesn't do at all in this world. To take a
thing for granted is to think that it is so without taking the trouble
to find out whether it is or not. It is apt not only to get you yourself
into trouble, but to make trouble for other people as well. Happy Jack
saw Farmer Brown's boy carry Shadow the Weasel away in a cage, and he
saw him bring back the cage empty. What could he have done with Shadow?
For a while he teased Farmer Brown's boy to tell him, but of course
Farmer Brown's boy didn't understand Happy Jack's language.
Now Happy Jack knew just what he would like to believe. He would like to
believe that Farmer Brown's boy had taken Shadow away and made an end of
him. And because he wanted to believe that, it wasn't very hard to
believe it. There was the empty cage. Of course Farmer Brown's boy
wouldn't have gone to the trouble of trapping Shadow unless he intended
to get rid of him for good.
"He's made an end of him, that's what he's done!" said Happy Jack to
himself, because that is what he would have done if he had been in
Farmer Brown's boy's place. So having made up his mind that this is what
had been done with Shadow, he at once told all his friends that it was
so, and was himself supremely happy. You see, he felt that he no longer
had anything to worry about. Yes, Sir, Happy Jack was happy. He liked
the house Farmer Brown's boy had made for him in the big maple tree
close by his own house. He was sure of plenty to eat, because Farmer
Brown's boy always looked out for that, and as a result Happy Jack was
growing fat. None of his enemies of the Green Forest dared come so near
to Farmer Brown's house, and the only one he had to watch out for at
all was Black Pussy. By this time he wasn't afraid of her; not a bit. In
fact, he rather enjoyed teasing her and getting her to chase him. When
she was dozing on the doorstep he liked to steal very close, wake her
with a sharp bark, and then race for the nearest tree, and there scold
her to his heart's content. He had made friends with Mrs. Brown and with
Farmer Brown, and he even felt almost friends with Bowser the Hound.
Sometimes he would climb up on the roof of Bowser's little house and
drop nutshells on Bowser's head when he was asleep. The funny thing was
Bowser never seemed to mind. He would lazily open his eyes and wink one
of them at Happy Jack and thump with his tail. He seemed to feel that
now Happy Jack was one of the family, just as he was.
So Happy Jack was just as happy as a fat Gray Squirrel with nothing to
worry him could be. He was so happy that Sammy Jay actually became
jealous. You know Sammy is a born trouble maker. He visited Happy Jack
every morning, and while he helped himself to the good things that he
always found spread for him, for Farmer Brown's boy always had something
for the little feathered folk to eat, he would hint darkly that such
goodness and kindness was not to be trusted, and that something was sure
to happen. That is just the way with some folks; they always are
suspicious.
But nothing that Sammy Jay could say troubled Happy Jack; and Sammy
would fly away quite put out because he couldn't spoil Happy Jack's
happiness the least little bit.