The Hollow Tree Snowed-in Book

by Albert Bigelow Paine

  WHEN JACK RABBIT WAS A LITTLE BOY

  A STORY OF A VERY LONG TIME AGO

  THE Little Lady skips first on one foot and then on the other foot,around and around, until pretty soon she tumbles backward into _twelveflower-pots_.

  That, of course, makes a great damage, and though the Little Ladyherself isn't hurt to speak of, she is frightened very much and has tobe comforted by everybody, including the Story Teller, who comes last,and finishes up by telling about something that happened to Jack Rabbitwhen _he_ was little.

  Once upon a time, it begins, when Mr. Jack Rabbit was quite small, hismother left him all alone one afternoon while she went across the WideGrass Lands to visit an old aunt of hers and take her some of the niceblackberries she had been putting up that morning. Mrs. Rabbit had beenvery busy all the forenoon, and little Jack had been watching her andmaking believe he was putting up berries too.

  And when Mrs. Rabbit got through she had cleaned her stove and polishedit as nice as could be; then she gave little Jack Rabbit his dinner,with some of the berries that were left over, and afterward she washedhis face and hands and found his blocks for him to play with, besides anew stick of red sealing-wax--the kind she used to seal her cans with;for they did not have patent screw-top cans in those days, but alwayssealed the covers on with red sealing-wax.

  Then Mrs. Rabbit told little Jack that he could play with his blocks,and build houses, with the red stick for a chimney, and to be a good boyuntil she came home. So little Jack Rabbit promised, and Mrs. Rabbitkissed him twice and took her parasol and her reticule and a can ofberries, and started. Little Jack would have gone with her, only it wastoo far.

  Well, after she had left, little Jack played with his blocks and builthouses and set the stick of sealing-wax up for a brick chimney, andby-and-by he played he was canning fruit, and he wished he could have alittle stove and little cans and a little stick of sealing-wax, so hecould really do it all just as she did.

  TOOK HER PARASOL AND HER RETICULE AND A CAN OF BERRIES,AND STARTED]

  Then little Jack Rabbit looked at the nice polished stove and wonderedhow it would be to use that, and to build a little fire in it--just a_little_ fire--which would make everything seem a good deal more real,he thought, than his make-believe stove of blocks.

  And pretty soon little Jack opened the stove door and looked in, andwhen he stirred the ashes there were still a few live coals there, andwhen he put in some shavings they blazed up, and when he put in somepieces of old shingles and things they blazed up too, and when he put insome of Mrs. Rabbit's nice dry wood the stove got _quite hot_!

  Then little Jack Rabbit became somewhat frightened, for he had onlymeant to make a very small fire, and he thought this might turn into abig fire. Also, he remembered some things his mother had told him aboutplaying with fire and about _never going near a hot stove_. He thoughthe'd better open the stove door a little to see if the fire was gettingtoo big, but he was afraid to touch it with his fingers for fear ofburning them. He had seen his mother use a stick or something to openthe stove door when it was hot, so he picked up the first thing thatcame handy, which was the stick of sealing-wax. But when he touched itto the hot door the red stick sputtered a little and left a bright redspot on the stove door.

  AND HE MADE SOME STRIPES, TOO--MOSTLY ON TOP OF THESTOVE]

  Then little Jack forgot all about putting up blackberries, admiring thatbeautiful red spot on the shiny black stove, and thinking how nice itwould be to make some more like it, which he thought would improve thelooks of the stove a great deal.

  So then he touched it again in another place and made another spot, andin another place and made another spot, and in a lot of places and madea lot of spots, and he made some stripes, too--mostly on top of thestove, which was nice and smooth to mark on, though he made _some_ onthe pipe. You would hardly have known it was the same stove when he gotall through, and little Jack thought how beautiful it was and howpleased his mother would be when she got home and _saw_ it. But thenright away he happened to think that perhaps she might not be so pleasedafter all, and the more he thought about it the more sure he was thatshe wouldn't like her nice red-striped and spotted stove as well as ablack one; and, besides, she had told him _never_ to play with fire.

  LITTLE JACK KNEW PERFECTLY WELL THAT SHE WASN'T AT ALLPLEASED]

  And just at that moment Mrs. Rabbit herself stepped in the door! Andwhen she looked at her red-spotted and striped stove and then at littleJack Rabbit, little Jack knew perfectly well without her saying a singleword that she wasn't _at all pleased_. So he began to cry very loud, andstarted to run, and tripped over his blocks and fell against a littlestand-table that had Mrs. Rabbit's work-basket on it (for Mrs. Rabbitalways knit or sewed while she was cooking anything), and all the spoolsand buttons and knitting-work went tumbling, with little Jack Rabbitright among them, holloing, "Oh, I'm killed! I'm killed!"--justsprawling there on the floor, afraid to get up, and expecting everyminute his mother would do something awful.

  But Mrs. Rabbit just stood and looked at him over her spectacles andthen at her red-spotted and striped stove, and pretty soon she said:

  "Well, this is a lovely mess to come home to!"

  Which of course made little Jack take on a good deal worse and keep onbawling out that he was killed, until Mrs. Rabbit told him that he wasmaking a good deal of noise for a _dead_ man, and that if he'd get upand pick up all the things he'd upset maybe he'd come to life again.

  Then little Jack Rabbit got up and ran to his mother and cried againsther best dress and got some tears on it, and Mrs. Rabbit sat down in herrocker and looked at her stove and rocked him until he felt better. Andby-and-by she changed her dress and went to cleaning her stove whilelittle Jack picked up all the things--all the spools and buttons andneedles and knitting-work--every single thing.

  And after supper, when he said his prayers and went to bed, he promisednever to disobey his mother again.

  PROMISED NEVER TO DISOBEY HIS MOTHER AGAIN]