Show mr blacksnake changes suit in green forest brush pile by THORNTON BURGESS OW that mr blacksnake had amade NOW made up his mind to have a new suit he was in a hurry to get it so he hurried about looking for or a retired place in which to take off his old suit but all the time he took the utmost pains not to be seen ordinarily dina rily he does not care who sees him but getting rid of an old suit tor for a new one Is a very serious matter with mr blacksnake in the first place he feels very uncomfortable while he is getting the old suit off and his temper never of the 00 4 you see his old suit had caught between those two logs and he was peeling himself right out of it best is very very short then also he has rather a helpless feeling you see he cannot slip his suit off easily in the way a boy can he is like the little girl who has a dress with a great many hooks and eyes where she cannot get at them easily and so must take considerable time and sometimes lose both temper and patience at last he found just the place he was looking for it was on the edge of the green forest where the brush grew thick around a little pile of old logs there was room to crawl craw under these you know mr blacksnake does not require very r much 1 room and here he found plenty plent y tor for his purpose he felt sure that no one would disturb him there and that was a very important matter still more important was the tact fact that two of 0 those logs were just tar far enough apart to make it a tight squeeze for him to wriggle between them he smiled when he saw this it was going to make it much easier to get that old suit off you see he has no hands with which to pull it off as old bid mr toad pulls his suit off and so he has to try some other way he glided all around under and between the logs to make sure that no one else was there and then he glided this way and that way through the brush to make sure that no one was hiding there at last he was satisfied that he would not be disturbed and he hurried back to the pile of togs logs to begin the task of getting off his old suit now you know old mother nature has queer ways of giving her children new clothes all this time mr blacksnake really had his new suit on underneath the old suit he had to get the old suit off but he have to put the new one on because it was already on Old Mother nature had attended to that he went straight to the two logs that were so close together and then be began to push and wriggle and squirm as he tried to pass between them he puffed and he blew a and nd I 1 suspect that if he had been anybody but a snake he would have grunted it was easy enough to get his neck through after he had got his head through but the thickest part of his body was a terribly tight squeeze little by little he managed to get through when enough of him was through to allow him to lift his head and look back he gave a little sigh of relief you see his old suit had caught between those two logs and he was pulling himself right out of it just the same way in which you pull your hand out of a glove when he saw this he went to work again and pulled harder than ever he was afraid that that old suit might pull loose from the logs but it and presently as he got the thickest part of his body through the old suit came off easier A few more wriggles and vu pulls IM and he was out of it altogether there it lay turned wrong side out complete clear to the tip of his slender tail and the tunny funny thing was that instead of being black it was white yes sir it was white and so thin that you could almost look through lit it but his new suit was black oh so blackl black and it was very handsome right away mr blacksnake was in a hurry huny to show it off and he even give his old suit another look as he rushed away now what do you think all the time he had supposed no one was about a certain thrifty little person of the green forest foiest had been watching himl him I 1 0 T W burgess service |