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Show WHITEFOOT FINDS OUT WHAT , THE MATTER WAS By Thornton W. Burgess fiiv the lonely for deep in the heart Is an ache that no doctor can heal by his art. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse. Of all the little people of the Green Forest. Whitefoot the Wood Mouse seemed to be the only one who was unhappy. The worst of It was he did I not know why he was unhappy, and' so day by day he became more un happy. Perhaps 1 should say that night by night be became more un happy, for' di-rlng the brightness oi the day he s, pt uiost of the time "There is something wrong, something some-thing wrong." he would say over and over to himself. 'It must be with me, I bet a use everybody else is happy and this is the happiest time of ail the year. 1 wish some one would tell me what ails me 1 want to be happy and somehow I Just can't be." One evening Whitefoot wandered a I luile farther from home than usual. He wasn't going anywhere In part i Ular. He had nothing in particular toj do. He was just wandering about because be-cause somehow he couldn't remain a home. Nol far away Melody (he Wood Thrush was pouring out hjs beautiful evening song. Whitefoot stopped to; listen Somehow it made him feel more unhappy than ever. Melody stopped singing for a few momenta I I was just then that Whitefoot beard a faint sound It was a gentk drumming. drum-ming. Whitefoot pricked up his cars' and listened. There li was again' He knesv Instantly how that sound wa-made. wa-made. It. was made by dalntj little feet beating very fast on an old log. Whitefoot had drummed that way him self many times. It was soft, but clear, and it lasted only a momeni Right then something very Strang happened io WhitefOOL Yes, sir. some thing verj strange happened to WhitefOOL All in a Hash he felt bit ter. At first be didn't know why Hi just did, that was all. Without think ing what he was doing he bega,, to I drum himself. Then he listened. At first he heard nothing Then son ami low came that drumming sound again. Whitefoot replied to it. All the time he kept leeling better. He ran a lit j tie nearer to the place from which that drumming sound had come and 'then once more drummed. At first he got no repl -. Then In a few minutes lie beard It again only this time it came from a different place White foot became quite excited. He knev thai that drumming waR done bv an olher Wood Mouse and all in a flash Thera la something wrong, something wrong," he would say over and over to himself it came o-r him what had been the i ter with him. "1 ve been lonely," exclaimed Whlti foot. "Thai La all that has been th LB (rouble with me. l have been lonely a,d didn't know it. I wonder if tha' other Wood Mouse has felt the same way." iIbbbbI Again he drummed and again came that soft reply. Once nion- White-foot Jhurrled in IbelUrection of it, and oxfc more he was disappointed when th. next reply came from a different place H By now he was getti,,g elicited. 11 wa bound lo find that other Wood Mouse. Every time he heard that 'M drumming funir. little thrills ran al' Lam over him. He didn't know why. They 'M just did. that was all He simply must II find that other Wood Mouse. He for very thing else He didn't even IHH notice where he was going He wouhi dn-.m. then wait for a reply. As soon H ai lie heard it he would scamper in , the direction of it and then pause to .drum again. Sometimes the reply would be very near, then again It wtiuM be so far away that a great fear would nil Whitefoot's hear: that the H stranger was running away. j (Copyright. 1922. by T. W. Burgess.) H The next slorv: "Love Fills the 'Heart, of Whitefoot." |