of an egg," said Peter Rabbit.

"Who are likely to be sleepy on a bright sunny morning?" asked Old Dame
Nature.

"People who have been out all night," said Johnny Chuck, who himself
always goes to bed with the sun.

"Jimmy Skunk," said Old Dame Nature, and her voice was very stern, very
stern indeed, and her face was very grave. "Jimmy Skunk, I accuse you of
having broken and eaten the eggs of Mrs. Grouse. What have you to say
for yourself?"

Jimmy Skunk hung his head. He hadn't a word to say. He just wanted to
sneak away by himself.

"Jimmy Skunk," said Old Dame Nature, "because your handsome black coat,
of which you are so proud, has made it possible for you to move about in
the night without being seen, and because we can no longer trust you
upon your honor, henceforth you and your descendants shall wear a
striped coat which is the sign that you cannot be trusted. Your coat
hereafter shall be black and white, that will always be visible."

And this is why to this day Jimmy Skunk wears a striped suit of black
and white.

[K] From "Old Mother West Wind," by Thornton W. Burgess; used
by permission of the author and publishers, Little, Brown & Co.

[Illustration: HOW CATS CAME TO PURR]

BY JOHN BENNETT

A Boy having a Pet Cat which he Wished to Feed, Said to Her, "Come, Cat,
Drink this Dish of Cream; it will Keep your Fur as Soft as Silk, and
Make you Purr like a Coffee-Mill."

He had no sooner said this than the Cat, with a Great Glare of her Green
Eyes, bristled her Tail like a Gun-Swab and went over the Back Fence,
head first--pop!--as Mad as a Wet Hen.

And this is how she came to do so:

The story is an old one--very, very old. It may be Persian; it may be
not: that is of very little moment. It is so old that if all the nine
lives of all the cats that have ever lived in the world were set up
together in a line, the other end of it would just reach back to the
time when this occurred.

[Illustration: "THE CAT THAT GROUND THE COFFEE IN THE KING'S KITCHEN"]

And this is the story:

Many, many years ago, in a country which was quite as far from anywhere
else as the entire distance thither and back, there was a huge cat that
ground the coffee in the King's kitchen, and otherwise assisted with the
meals.

This cat was, in truth, the actual and very father of all subsequent
cats, and his name was Sooty Will, for his hair was as black as a night
in a coal-hole. He was ninety years old, and