_see_ just
where _all_ Mr. Crow's wonderful things came from.

Then Mr. Crow felt the gray spot on his head getting a good deal grayer,
and he dropped his knife and fork, and swallowed two or three times, and
tried to smile, though it was a sickly smile. He said that Mr. Rabbit
was very kind, but that Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon had done a good deal
of the work, too.

But Jack Rabbit said "No," that nobody but an industrious person like
Mr. Crow could have raised _those_ vegetables--a person who got up
early, he said, and was used to taking a little trouble to get the best
things.

Then Mr. Crow went after the dessert, and was glad enough that there
were no more vegetables to come, especially of that kind.

And Mr. Rabbit seemed to forget about looking at the garden until they
were all through, and then he said that before they went outside he
would read a little poem he had composed that morning lying in bed and
looking at the sunrise across his own garden. He said he called it:

ME AND MY GARDEN

Oh, it's nice to have a garden
On which to put my labors.
It's nice to have a garden
Especially for my neighbors.

I like to see it growing
When skies are blue above me;
I like to see it gathered
By those who really love me.

I like to think in winter
Of pleasant summer labors;
Oh, it's nice to have a garden
Especially for my neighbors.

Everybody said that was a nice poem and sounded just like Mr. Rabbit,
who was always so free-hearted--all except Mr. Crow, who tried to say it
was nice, and couldn't. Then Mr. Rabbit said they'd better go out now to
see the Hollow Tree garden, but Mr. Crow said really he couldn't stand
it yet, and they could see by his looks that he was feeling pretty sick,
and Mr. Turtle said it was too bad to think of taking Mr. Crow out in
the sun when he had worked so hard.

So then they all sat around and smoked and told stories, and whenever
they stopped Mr. Crow thought of something else to do and seemed to get
better toward night, and got a great deal better when it got dark, and
Mr. Jack Rabbit said all at once that now it was too late to see the
Hollow Tree garden, and that he was so sorry, for he knew he could have
learned something if he could just have one look at it, for nobody could
see those vegetables and that garden without learning a great deal.

[Illustration: JACK RABBIT CAPERED AND LAUGHED ALL THE WAY HOME]

Then he said he must go, and Mr. Turt