Show bedtime story f for or children by THORNTON NV BURGESS NO ONE BELIEVES PETER RABBIT IS hard not to be believed ask IT peter rabbit he knows yes indeed he knows it is bad enough not to be believed when one is not telling the truth but to tell the truth and then have everybody te tell 11 you that they dont believe you is is worse still anyway peter rabbit thinks so to make it worse it was great news that peter had h ad to tell and of course he might just as well have had no news at all it all came from peters curiosity to see the deepest part of the green 00 0 g they were as big as the tracks ot of farmer browns boy 91 said peter his elis big eyes round with excitement forest when everything was covered with wilh snow of course he had to satisfy that curiosity it have been like peter not t to 0 have done so so off he went all by himself way into the deepest part of the green forest close to the foot of the great mountain and there he found it so still that he could feel the stillness anyway what he said and it was so lonesome there that peter would have been afraid of his own shadow had he seen been it he had made up his mind that no one ever visited that part of the green forest at least not in the winter time when suddenly he be saw tracks and such tracks it was those tracks that had made peter all his present trouble you see no one would believe peter when he told about those tracks the first one peter saw after aft er getting back to the dear old briar patch was sammy jay and though peter like sammy he just had to tell him about those strange tracks they were as big as the tracks of farmer browns boy said peter his big eyes round with excitement cit ement probably he made them said sammy jay shortly but they were not his tracks only something like his the ones lie he makes in the mud around the swimming pool when lie he goes swimming in m the summer and you know as well as I 1 do that he never makes that kind of tracks in the winter sammy jay cried peter sammy looked sharply at peter and began to laugh besides peter hurried on whoever made those tracks had claws great great big claws sammy laughed harder than ever and in the most provoking way do you expect me to believe any such story as that peter rabbit he demanded demanded you better not talk to me about not telling the truth when you tell such a story as that and off flew sammy still laughing to think that peter should try to make him believe such a foolish story peter looked after him and scratched his head thoughtfully those tracks did look something like those of farmer browns Brov ns boy he muttered they were rounder but they were big and they had toes and well perhaps they look very much like them but they did look something like them and I 1 said something I 1 believe ill go tell chatterer the red squirrel about them but chatterer laughed at peter just as sammy jay had youve had a bad dream peter thaes the matter with you who ever heard beard of any one in the green forest who made tracks like t those hose why bowser the hound makes the biggest tracks with claw marks as you ought to know by this time youve had a dream peter and now you better run away and forget it it was the same way with tommy tit the chickadee and mrs grouse and billy mink and every one else he told the story to every one laughed at him and no one believed him poor peter grew quite miserable for he knew what his eyes had seen and it was dreadfully hard to be laughed at and have fun fan poked at him just because he insisted that he had seen those strange tracks 0 T IV burgess service |