eel safe. Mr. 'Coon was a bachelor, like Mr. 'Possum, though
he had once been disappointed in love, and told about it sometimes, and
looked sad, and even shed tears.

So when he met Mr. 'Possum that day they walked along and talked about
finding a place to live, and just as they were wondering what they ought
to do they happened to notice, right in front of them, a little piece of
birch bark tacked up on a tree, and when they read it, it said:

MRS. WIDOW CROW.

WILL TAKE A FEW GUESTS.

SINGLE GENTLEMEN PREFERRED;

PLEASANT LOCATION NEAR

RACE-TRACK.

Then Mr. 'Possum scratched his head and tried to think, and Mr. 'Coon
scratched _his_ head and tried to think, and pretty soon Mr. 'Coon said:

"Oh yes, I know about that. That's Mr. Crow's mother-in-law. He had a
wife until last year, and his mother-in-law used to live with them. I
believe she was pretty cross, but I've heard Mr. Crow say she was a good
cook, and that he had learned to cook a great many things himself. I
heard some time ago that she had moved over by the race-track, and
perhaps Mr. Crow is boarding with her. Let's go over and see."

[Illustration: THEY SAW MR. CROW OUT IN THE YARD CUTTING WOOD FOR HIS
MOTHER-IN-LAW]

So away they went, saying how nice it would be to be really settled, and
pretty soon they got over to Mrs. Widow Crow's, and there, sure enough,
they saw Mr. Crow out in the yard cutting wood for his mother-in-law;
and when they asked him about the advertisement, he said he was helping
her to get started, and she had two nice rooms, and that Mr. 'Possum and
Mr. 'Coon would be just the ones to fill them.

So they went right in and saw Mrs. Widow Crow about it, and by night
they had their things moved and were all settled, and Widow Crow got a
nice supper for them, and Mr. Crow helped her, and worked as hard as if
he were a hired man instead of a boarder like the others, which he was,
because he paid for his room as much as anybody, and got scolded besides
when he didn't do things to suit his mother-in-law.

THE FINDING OF THE HOLLOW TREE

THE FINDING OF THE HOLLOW TREE

HOW THE 'COON AND 'POSSUM AND THE OLD BLACK CROW MOVED AND SET UP
HOUSEKEEPING

Well, the Widow Crow set a very good table, and everything in her
boarding-house went along quite well for a while, and Mr. 'Possum and
Mr. 'Coon both said what a good thing it was to have a home, and Mr.
Crow said so too, though he didn't look as if he enjoyed it as