The Hollow Tree Snowed-in Book

by Albert Bigelow Paine

  THE "SNOWED-IN" LITERARY CLUB--Part II

  MR. RABBIT STARTS SOME NEW AMUSEMENTS

  IT was still dark in the Hollow Tree when the Deep Woods People woke upnext morning, but they knew what was the matter now, and could tell bythe clock and the fire that it was day outside, even before Mr. 'Possumran up to his room and looked out the window and came back shivering,because he said the snow was blowing and drifting and some had driftedin around his windows and made his room as cold as all outdoors. He saidhe was willing to stay by the fire while this spell lasted, and takesuch exercise as he needed by moving his chair around to the table whenhe wanted to eat.

  Mr. 'Coon said that Mr. 'Possum might exercise himself on a little woodfor the cook-stove in Mr. Crow's kitchen if he wanted any breakfast,and that if this spell kept up long enough, they wouldn't have anythingleft but exercise to keep them alive.

  So Mr. 'Possum went down-stairs after an armful of stove-wood, and hestayed a good while, though they didn't notice it at the time. Then theyall helped with the breakfast, and after breakfast they pushed back allthe things and played "Blind Man's Buff," for Mr. Rabbit said that evenif moving his chair from the fire to the table and back again was enoughexercise for Mr. 'Possum, it wasn't enough for _him_, and the otherssaid so, too.

  SO THEN MR. RABBIT SAID THEY MUST CHOOSE WHO WOULD BE"IT"]

  So then Mr. Rabbit said they must choose who would be "It" first, andthey all stood in a row and Mr. Rabbit said:

  "Hi, ho, hickory dee-- One for you and one for me; One for the ones you try to find, And one for the one that wears the blind,"

  which was a rigmarole Mr. Rabbit had made up himself to use in gameswhere somebody had to be "It," and Mr. Rabbit said it around and aroundthe circle on the different ones--one word for each one--until he cameto the word "blind" and that was Mr. 'Possum, who had to put on thehandkerchief and do more exercising than any of them, until he caughtMr. Turtle, who had to be "It" quite often, because he couldn't getout of the way as well as the others.

  And Mr. 'Possum was "It" a good deal, too, and Mr. 'Coon, and all therest, though Mr. Robin was "It" less than anybody, because he was solittle and spry that he could get out of the way.

  Then when they were tired of "Blind Man's Buff" they played "Pussy Wantsa Corner" and "Forfeits," and Mr. 'Possum had to make a speech to redeemhis forfeit, and he began:

  "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN" (though there were no ladies present)--"I ampleased to see you all here this evening" (though it wasn't evening)"looking so well dressed and well fed. It is better to be well fed thanwell dressed. It is better to be well dressed than not dressed at all.It is better to be not dressed at all than not fed at all. Ladies andgentlemen, I thank you for your kind attention and applause"--thoughthey hadn't applauded yet, but they did, right away, and said it was agood speech, and Mr. Crow said it reminded him that it was aboutdinner-time, and that he would need some more wood.

  So Mr. 'Possum got right up to get the stove-wood again, which everybodythought was very good of Mr. 'Possum, who wasn't usually so spry andwilling.

  MR. 'POSSUM HAD TO PUT ON THE HANDKERCHIEF AND DO MOREEXERCISING THAN ANY OF THEM]

  Then in the afternoon they had games again, but nice quiet games, forthey were all glad to sit down, and they played "Button! Button! Who'sGot the Button?" and nobody could tell when Mr. 'Possum had the button,for his face didn't show it, because he was nearly always lookingstraight into the fire, and seemed to be thinking about something awayoff. And when the fire got low, he always jumped up and offered to godown into the store-room after the wood, and they all said how willingand spry Mr. 'Possum was getting all at once, and when he stayed a goodwhile down-stairs they didn't think anything about it--not at thetime--or if they did they only thought he was picking out the bestpieces to burn. They played "Drop the Handkerchief," too, and when theygot through Mr. Rabbit performed some tricks with the handkerchief andthe button that made even Mr. 'Possum pay attention because they were sowonderful.

  There was one trick especially that Mr. Rabbit did a great many timesbecause they liked it so much, and were so anxious to guess how it wasdone. Mr. Rabbit told them it was a trick that had come down to him fromhis thirty-second great-grandfather, and must never be told to any one.

  It was a trick where he laid the button in the centre of thehandkerchief and then folded the corners down on it, and pressed themdown each time so that they could see that the button was still there,and he would let them press on it, too, to prove it, and then when hewould lift up the handkerchief by the two corners nearest him therewould be no button at all, and he would find it on the mantel-shelf orperhaps on Mr. Crow's bald head, or in Mr. 'Possum's pocket, or someplace like that. But one time, when Mr. Rabbit had done it over andover, and maybe had grown a little careless, he lifted the handkerchiefby the corners nearest him, and there was the button sticking fast,right in the centre of the handkerchief, for it had a little beeswax onit, to make it stick to one of the corners next to Mr. Rabbit, and bysome mistake Mr. Rabbit had turned the button upside down!

  Then they all laughed, and all began to try it for themselves, and Mr.Rabbit laughed too, though perhaps he didn't feel much like it, and toldthem that they had learned one of the greatest secrets in his family,and that he would now tell them the adage that went with it if theywould promise never to tell either the secret or the adage, and they allpromised, and Mr. Rabbit told them the adage, which was:

  "When beeswax grows on the button-tree, No one knows what the weather'll be."

  WOULD FIND IT ON THE MANTEL-SHELF OR PERHAPS ON MR.CROW'S BALD HEAD]

  "That," said Mr. Rabbit, "is a very old adage. I don't know what itmeans exactly, but I'm sure it means something, because old adagesalways do mean something, though often nobody can find out just whatit is, and the less they seem to mean the better they are, as adages.There are a great many old adages in our family, and they have often gotmy ancestors out of trouble. When we didn't have an old one to fit thetrouble we made a new one, and by-and-by it got old too, and useful indifferent ways, because by that time it didn't seem to mean anythingspecial, and could be used almost anywhere."

  Then the Deep Woods People all said there was never anybody who knew somuch and could do so many things as Mr. Jack Rabbit, and how proud theyall were to have him in their midst, and Mr. Rabbit showed them how todo all the tricks he knew, and they all practised them and tried them oneach other until Mr. Crow said he must look after the supper, and Mr.'Possum ran right off after an armful of stove-wood, and everybodyhelped with everything there was to do, for they were having such a goodtime and were so hungry.

  And after supper they all sat around the fire again and smoked a littlebefore anybody said anything, until by-and-by Mr. Rabbit said that theywould go on now with the literary club, and that Mr. Robin might readthe story he had mentioned the night before.

  So Mr. Robin got up, and stood on a chair, and made a nice bow. He saidit was not really his own story he had written, but one that hisgrandmother used to tell him sometimes, though he didn't think it hadever been put into a book.

  Then Mr. Rabbit spoke up and said that that didn't matter, that ofcourse everybody couldn't be original, and that the story itself was themain thing and the way you told it. He said if Mr. Robin would go righton with the story now it would save time. So then they all knocked theashes out of their pipes--all except Mr. Robin, who began right off toread his story: