AUTUMN LEAVES
"I'm going after chestnuts tomorrow, Mammy," said Buster one autumn
evening.
"We have had a good frost. I think the burrs have cracked open, Buster,"
grinned Uncle Squeaky.
"I like to roast chestnuts in the winter," lisped Tiny.
"I like to roast chestnuts," echoed Teenty, "and I like to pop corn."
"Those wild grapes you fetched home made delicious jelly," said Mother
Graymouse.
"There are red berries dangling from a prickly bush. Shall I fetch some
home, Mammy?"
"Barberries," guessed Granny. "There is no better sauce made. Fetch a
basketful, Buster."
"Barberry sauce is full of pegs," complained Grand-daddy. "Grape jelly is
my favorite sauce."
"Nimble-toes says there's poison ivy and dogwood around here," said
Scamper. "Be careful or you'll get poisoned, Buster."
"Yes," added Limpy-toes, "don't touch any bushes except blueberry, cedar,
pine, hemlock, sweet fern, bayberry, or peppermint. Those are all safe and
you know 'em well."
"For pity sake, Buster, don't get poisoned!" cried Silver Ears. "We hope
to get Wink and Wiggle out of doors tomorrow. I'm not anxious for any more
patients. I wonder that you let him roam about the woods, Mammy."
"He never goes alone, Silvy," replied Mother Graymouse, calmly.
"Hopsy Toad, and Webbie Spider are going chestnutting with me," said
Buster. "I had a nice walk yesterday with Bunny and Bobsey Rabbit. They
took me over to Mr. Giant's strawberry bed. What do you think, Mammy!
There are ripe red berries and pretty blossoms, now! On the way home, we
saw yellow dandelion blossoms. It isn't summer any more; it is frost-time.
Everything seems topsy-turvy!"
"Mercy on us!" cried Aunt Squeaky. "Ripe strawberries when it is 'most
snow-time!"
"The Giants are a wise folk," explained Grand-daddy. "They grow plants
nowadays that bear fruit most of the time. Prob'ly you could find berries
on those vines when they are buried under the snow."
"You take a basket and fetch home some strawberries, right now, Buster
Graymouse, and I'll bake a strawberry short cake for supper that'll melt
in your mouth," promised Aunt Squeaky.
"Take Tiny and Teenty along and show them how to dig dandelions. We will
have a mess of greens for dinner tomorrow," planned Mother Graymouse.
"Such treats as we have in the country! I am afraid I shall not wish to go
back to our attic very soon, Grand-daddy."
"I am not rushing in that direction, myself, Betsey," chuckled
Grand-daddy. "Guess we will stay to supper, Granny, and have some of
Belindy's short cake. Dot was invited to tea with Mrs. Rabbit, so there's
nobody home at our house."
"Of course you must stay," invited Aunt Squeaky. "Buster will fetch plenty
of berries."
They had a jolly tea-party with a delicious strawberry cake for dessert to
celebrate the first time that Wink and Wiggle had come to the table since
the automobile accident.
The next day, Hopsy and Webbie came to go nutting. They carried bags for
the chestnuts. Buster took a basket also, for barberries.
They had good fun picking the brown nuts from the soft, silky linings of
the burrs.
"The burrs are prickly and the barberry bushes are prickly," said Hopsy.
"Perhaps they are trying to say 'Touch me not!' But we will pick them just
the same," laughed Buster.
"Let's get a bouquet of pretty leaves," said Webbie. "Ma would like some
for her parlor."
[Illustration: They had good fun picking the brown nuts from the soft,
silky linings of the burrs.]
"There are lovely gold and scarlet leaves on that stone wall," said
Buster. "Let's climb and get them."
They were pulling eagerly at the sprays of bright leaves, when along
trotted Simon Skunk.
"Hi, there!" he shouted, "leave those leaves alone."
"Don't mind him," said Hopsy. "He is angry because we are getting the
pretty leaves."
"Hi! Those leaves are poison," warned Simon again.
"Do you s'pose they are poison?" asked Webbie Spider.
"I don't believe one word that Simon Skunk says," sputtered Buster. "Mr.
Giant had a vine like this growing on his piazza. Giants don't plant
poison vines."
By-and-by, they arrived at Gray Rock Bungalow laden with bags of
chestnuts, plenty of barberries for Granny's sauce, and the pretty autumn
leaves twined around their shoulders.
"For the land o' pity!" cried Aunt Squeaky. "Betsey Graymouse, here is
Buster with his paws full of poison ivy!"
"Trot out and throw that stuff away at once," commanded Uncle Squeaky.
"Only last evening we told you not to touch poison ivy."
"Simon Skunk said that it was poison, but I thought he meant to scare us.
I've seen Ruth Giant pick these pretty leaves on her piazza," whimpered
Buster.
"The poor kiddie didn't understand, Hezekiah," smiled Mother Graymouse.
"Hold up your paw and count the fingers. How many are there, Buster?"
"One, two, three, four, five," counted Buster.
"Yes, and the leaves on Ruth Giant's vine have five fingers. These wild
leaves have only three fingers and you must never touch them. You see
these berries are waxy white and the berries on Mr. Giant's woodbine were
purple. Remember, Buster, unless the leaves have five fingers like your
paws, they are poison ivy. Now trot along with Hopsy and Webbie over to
Wild Rose Cottage. Tell Grand-daddy all about it and ask him to fix you
up."
Dr. Whiskers washed the three scared little patients in salt water.
[Illustration: Sure enough, next morning poor Buster could hardly see out
of his eyes.]
"I am afraid you will be some puffed-up youngsters in the morning," he
said. "But I guess you will know poison ivy next time."
Sure enough, next morning poor Buster could hardly see out of his eyes.
His face and paws were swelled and puffy and oh, how they itched!
"Simon Skunk meant to be kind to you, Buster, because Grand-daddy had been
good to him," said Mother Graymouse.
"Next time I'll mind Simon and leave the old ivy alone, Mammy," promised
Buster sadly.