MRS. WIDOW CROW.

WILL TAKE A FEW GUESTS.

SINGLE GENTLEMEN PREFERRED;

PLEASANT LOCATION NEAR

RACE-TRACK.

Then Mr. 'Possum scratched his head and tried to think, and Mr. 'c.o.o.n scratched _his_ head and tried to think, and pretty soon Mr. 'c.o.o.n said:

"Oh yes, I know about that. That's Mr. Crow's mother-in-law. He had a wife until last year, and his mother-in-law used to live with them. I believe she was pretty cross, but I've heard Mr. Crow say she was a good cook, and that he had learned to cook a great many things himself. I heard some time ago that she had moved over by the race-track, and perhaps Mr. Crow is boarding with her. Let's go over and see."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THEY SAW MR. CROW OUT IN THE YARD CUTTING WOOD FOR HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW]

So away they went, saying how nice it would be to be really settled, and pretty soon they got over to Mrs. Widow Crow's, and there, sure enough, they saw Mr. Crow out in the yard cutting wood for his mother-in-law; and when they asked him about the advertis.e.m.e.nt, he said he was helping her to get started, and she had two nice rooms, and that Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'c.o.o.n would be just the ones to fill them.

So they went right in and saw Mrs. Widow Crow about it, and by night they had their things moved and were all settled, and Widow Crow got a nice supper for them, and Mr. Crow helped her, and worked as hard as if he were a hired man instead of a boarder like the others, which he was, because he paid for his room as much as anybody, and got scolded besides when he didn't do things to suit his mother-in-law.

THE FINDING OF THE HOLLOW TREE

THE FINDING OF THE HOLLOW TREE

HOW THE 'c.o.o.n AND 'POSSUM AND THE OLD BLACK CROW MOVED AND SET UP HOUSEKEEPING

Well, the Widow Crow set a very good table, and everything in her boarding-house went along quite well for a while, and Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'c.o.o.n both said what a good thing it was to have a home, and Mr.

Crow said so too, though he didn't look as if he enjoyed it as much as he said, for his mother-in-law kept him so busy cutting and carrying wood and helping her with the cooking that he never had any time for himself at all.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HAD TO STAY AT HOME AND PEEL POTATOES]

Even when Mr. Rabbit and some of his friends had the great fall handicap race he had to stay at home and peel potatoes, and not see it, besides being scolded all the time for wanting to go to such a thing as a rabbit race anyway. And Mr. Crow was sad because it reminded him of his married life, which he was trying to forget--Mrs. Crow having been the image of his mother-in-law and exactly like her about races and peeling potatoes and such things.

And by-and-by, Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'c.o.o.n didn't like it so much, either.

Widow Crow got so she scolded them, too, about their habits, especially about being out nights and lying in bed next morning, and she wouldn't give them any breakfast unless they got up in time.

At last she even asked them to take care of their own rooms and to do other work, the same as Mr. Crow did; and she didn't cook as good things, nor as many of them, as she did when they first came. Then one day when they complained a little--not very much, for they were afraid of the Widow Crow, but a little--she told them that if they didn't like what she gave them they could find a place they liked better, and that she was tired of their ways anyhow.

So then Mr. Crow and Mr. 'c.o.o.n and Mr. 'Possum all got together and talked it over. And Mr. Crow said _they_ might be pretty tired of it, but that they couldn't in a hundred years, thinking night and day, think how tired of it _he_ was. He said if they would just say the word he would take the things that belonged to him out of that house, and the three of them would find some good place and all live together, and never have anything more to do with mothers-in-law or their families. He said he knew how to cook as well as she did, and really liked to cook when he was in a pleasant place and wasn't henpecked to death.

And he said if they moved his things they had better do it at night while his mother-in-law was asleep, so as not to disturb her.

Well, Mr. 'Possum and Mr. c.o.o.n both spoke right up and said _they'd_ go in a minute, and that they'd hunt up the place to live that very day, though it wasn't the best time of year to move. And Mr. Crow said:

"I know where there's a big Hollow Tree that would be _just_ the place.

It's the biggest tree in the Big Deep Woods. It has three big hollow branches that would do for rooms, and with a little work it could be made into the finest place anywhere. The Old Wise Man of the Woods once lived there and fixed it all up with nice stairs, and a fireplace, and windows, and doors with good latches on them, and it's still just as he left it. All it needs are a few repairs, and we could move right in. I found it once as I was flying over, and I could tell _you_, so you could find it. It's in a thick swampy place, and you would never guess it was there if you didn't know it. Mr. Dog knows about it, but he never could get in if we kept the door latched, and it's not so far away from Mr.

Man's that we could not borrow, when we ran out of little things we needed."

Well, Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'c.o.o.n took the directions from Mr. Crow, and went right off to look at the Hollow Tree that very day, and decided they'd take it, and pitched in to clean it up and get it ready to live in. And next day they came with a hammer and some nails and worked all day again, and Mr. Rabbit heard the noise and came over and looked through the place and said how nice it was; and they were so tired at night that they never thought of going out, and were up early for breakfast.

Widow Crow was so surprised she forgot what she had always scolded them for before, and scolded them this time for getting up so early that they had to stand around and wait for breakfast to be put on the table. But they didn't seem to mind the scolding at all, and Mr. Crow looked happier than he had looked for months, and skipped around and helped set the table, and brought in a big wood-box full of wood, and when Widow Crow scolded him for getting chips on the floor he laughed. Then she boxed his ears and told him he ought to remember the poor Missing One at such a time, and Mr. Crow said he did, and could almost imagine she was there now.

Well, Mr. 'c.o.o.n and Mr. 'Possum got the Hollow Tree all ready, that day, and that night they moved.

The Widow Crow was pretty fat, and liked to go to bed early, and sleep sound, and leave Mr. Crow to do the evening dishes; and that evening Mr.

'c.o.o.n and' Mr. Possum pitched in and helped him, and they got through in a jiffy and began to move.

Mr. Crow said he knew his own things, and that he wouldn't take any that belonged to the Missing One, because they had mostly come from her mother; and, besides, they would be a sad reminder, and didn't seem to go with the kind of a place they had planned to have. He said if they didn't have enough things they could borrow a few from Mr. Man when Mr.

Man went away and left his windows open, and that they wouldn't need much to begin with.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LISTENED NOW AND THEN AT WIDOW CROW'S DOOR TO BE SURE SHE WAS ASLEEP]

So then they got Mr. Crow's cook-stove out of the back store-room, and a table that was his, and some chairs from different parts of the house, and a few dishes which had come to him from his side of the family, and they tiptoed around and listened now and then at Widow Crow's door to be sure she was asleep.

They knew she _was_ by the sound; but still they were very quiet until Mr. 'Possum started to bring a rocking-chair of Mr. Crow's down-stairs and somehow got his legs through the rounds and fell and rolled clear to the bottom, expressing his feelings as he came down.

That woke up Widow Crow with a jump, and she sat up in bed and called "Thieves!" and "Help!" and Mr. Crow ran to her door and said that it wasn't anything, only those scamps Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'c.o.o.n had been out late again. He said they had brought home one of Mr. Man's beehives and had dropped it because the bees woke up just as they were climbing the stairs.

Then Mrs. Crow called out quick, and said for him not to dare to open that door and let those pesky bees into her room, and that she hoped they'd sting that 'Possum and 'c.o.o.n until they wouldn't be able to tell themselves apart. She said she bet she'd get that pair out of her house if she lived through the night. Then she rolled over and went to sleep again, and Mr. 'Possum got up and limped a little, but wasn't much damaged, and they got all the things outside and loaded up, and set out for the Hollow Tree.

It was moonlight and Mr. Crow led the way, and the minute they were far enough off to be sure they wouldn't wake up Widow Crow they sang the chorus of a song that Mr. Rabbit had made for them the day before when he called at the Hollow Tree, and they had told him what they were going to do. That was the Hollow Tree Song, which, of course, everybody in the Big Deep Woods knows now, but it had never been sung there before, and when they joined in the chorus,

Then here's to the 'Possum and the Old Black Crow And the 'c.o.o.n with a one, two, three!

And here's to the hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow-- Then here's to the Hollow Tree,

Mr. Owl, who was watching them from a limb overhead, thought he had never heard anything quite so fine.

Well, they couldn't get along very fast, for the things got so heavy and they had to rest so often that it began to look as if they wouldn't get to the Hollow Tree by morning. But just as they got out into a little open place that was about half-way there they saw somebody coming, and who do you suppose it was?

"I know," says the Little Lady, "it was the Old Wise Man of the Woods, to tell them they couldn't have his house."

"No, he didn't live there any more--he had gone away for good. No, it wasn't the Old Wise Man; it was Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Turtle, coming to help them move. Mr. Rabbit had gone all the way to the Wide Blue Water after Mr. Turtle because he is so strong, and they would have been there a good deal sooner, only Mr. Turtle didn't get home till late, and travels slow."

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. 'POSSUM SAID HE'D JUST GET ON AND HOLD THE THINGS]

Well, it wasn't so hard to move after that. They just set the cook-stove on Mr. Turtle's back and piled on as much as would stay on, and he kept telling them to put on more, until pretty soon Mr. 'Possum said that he would just get on and hold the things from slipping off, which he did, and sat on the stove and rode and swung his feet and held the other things, while Mr. Crow and the rest walked and carried what was left.

And when they got to the Hollow Tree it was just about sun-up, and Mr.

'Possum said if they didn't have breakfast pretty soon he would starve to death with being up all night and working so hard holding on those things.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. 'POSSUM AND MR. 'c.o.o.n TRIED TO PUT UP THE STOVE]