Show Bedtime Stories PETER ETER ISN'T WELCOME By Dr THORNTON V. W. V. V BURGESS Unwelcome visitors should know It So do not hesitate to show it Old Old Jed Thumper Peter Rabbit was up In the Old Pasture It wasn't the first fI t. t time he had visited the Old Pasture My goodness no He had visited the Old Pasture many times It was was' up there long ong ago that be he first met little Mrs Peter who was then Miss t. t Ill and nd md induced her to become M Mrs Mr Peter and live lI in the dear Old Briar patch But all nh Peters Peter's visits had been tern tem temporary visits Now he had come to the he Old Pasture to 11 Ih lice e. e e It was a long time since Peter had been there and he found some Orne changes You know bushes have a aay away away way ay of growing very fast fasL So some somer places that had been quite t open the thelast r i n nj j last ast time he was there were now n filled with little bushes But the old cow- cow paths were about the same and to co were the bramble I 1 wonder said he to himself if tt Old Jed Thumper is still living here I 1 Iwonder wonder vender If he is living here and if It he hes heIs heIs Is s as tempered bad-tempered as he used to be Old Jed Thumper was little Mrs Peters Peter's father big gray old Rabbit and nd more than once he had tried to drive rive Peter out of th lbs Old Pasture But Peter was so big bl and strong now that hat he wasn't afraid of or Old Jed Thumper He Is getting old now continued Peter talking to himself as he hopped long along p Fernans he h would like corn com ke any pany I 1 shoura houRi think h he would Whether he does docs or not makes no dif dif- difference difference ference I guess the Old Pasture Is big enough nough for both of us Ill I'll cut some new paths in some of these bramble- bramble tangles angles and keep away from Old Oid Jed Thumper unless he Is better tempered than han ne was the last time I 1 saw him rum The first thing to do is to look around and find hod out just where I want to tomake tomake tomake make my home So Peter leisurely hopped along along- the winding and twisting t old and carefully looked over o each bram bram- tangle ble-tangle as he came to it It Through some ome of them were very cry good Rabbit paths laths and he knew that Old Jed Thumper had made these Some tan tan- tangles tangles tangles had no paths through them at ataU all aU and in some tangles there had been paths but briars had now grown grewn grownup up In these He lie meant to look the whole of the Old Pasture over before beCore he settled d on what part he would live In n. n Of course said Peter as he talked to o himself Reddy and Granny Fox live ive up here and I dont don't want to be too near them And Im I'm almost sure that thai Old Man Coyote and Mrs Coyote are arc living Iving up here it wont won't do to be too near them The trouble is I 1 dont don't know Just where the Coyotes live However I 1 will not borrow trouble until 1 come to it You see it be that the Coyotes dont don't live up here herc If H they do Ill I'll find out soon enough and do my worrying then This Is quite like Peter You know hes he's a lucky happy-go-lucky sort of little fellow ellow He Ile takes things as sc they come tie He is a little too much that way in fact act actA A great many scrapes he has been in he could have avoided by do doing do do- doing ing a little thinking A little littie twig snapped It was a aery very ery tiny Uny snap You wouldn't have heard It I wouldn't have heard It But Pe Peter Pe- Pe Peter ter tera s long ears heard it He lie knew somebody was behind him He didn't know who It was but he ho knew that It probably was no friend He didn't stop top to Und Hod out what it iL was He took tools to ins his long heels and away he raced lIp He had got to get to a tangle bramble-tangle a good thick tangle Bramble-tangle that he could get into but no enemy could get Into There Just ahead of him was just the sort of place he was looking for And oh Joy Joyl I There was the opening of oC a lit little lit Ut- litI Uttie tie tle path a rabbit path leading to the I very heart of that Bramble tangle As p I i I A ur Of or 01 course said Ieter a as he talked biked to himself Reddy and Granny i Fox ll c up here hereon I he dived ed Into It he rolled his eyes back and saw Reddy Fox coming as only Reddy can when he is in a hurry An Anu then before he could get his breath someone said Get out of oC here this Is s my bramble Get GeL out of oC here herel It was Old Jed Thumper I But Reddy Fox is waiting just out out- outside outside outside side protested Peter PeterI PeterI I dont don't care Get out of here said ald Old Jed Thumper Copyright 1927 1921 by T. T W. W Burgess Burgets The rhe next story sto A Tangle Bramble Quarrel |