nswered; "but you know that little boys
can't always remember to be polite."

"I think we were at your house," suggested Mr. Rabbit, rubbing his
chin.

"Yes," replied Mrs. Meadows. "In the little house by the creek. The
yard sloped from the front door right to the bank."

"To be sure," exclaimed Mr. Rabbit, brightening up. "I remember the
house just as well as if I had seen it yesterday. There was a little
shelf on the left-hand side of the door as you came out, and there the
water-bucket sat."

"Yes," said Mrs. Meadows; "and there was just room enough up there by
the bucket for Brother Terrapin."

"That's so," Mr. Rabbit replied, laughing, "and when he used to go to
your house to see the girls they'd set the bucket on the table in the
house and lift Brother Terrapin to the shelf so he could see and be
seen. I remember it used to make him very mad when I'd tell him he
would be a mighty man if he wasn't so flat-footed."

"Oh, you used to talk worse than that," cried Mrs. Meadows, laughing
heartily at the remembrance of it. "You used to tell him he was the
only man you ever saw that sat down when he stood up. I declare!
Brother Terrapin's eyes used to get right red."

"Well," said Mr. Rabbit, after a pause; "I remember I went to your
house one day and I carried my fiddle. When I got there, who should I
see but old Brother Terrapin sitting up on the shelf. I expected to
find the girls by themselves, but there was Brother Terrapin. So I
began to joke him.

"'Howdy, Brother Terrapin?' says I. 'If you had a ladder handy you
could come downstairs and shake hands, couldn't you?'

"He began to get sullen and sulky at once. He wouldn't hardly make any
reply. But I didn't care for that. Says I: 'Cross your legs and look
comfortable, Brother Terrapin; don't be glum in company. I've got my
fiddle with me, and I'm going to make your bones ache if you don't
dance.'

"Then I whirled in," said Mr. Rabbit, "and played the liveliest
tunes I could think of,--'Billy in the Low Grounds,' ''Possum up
the Gum-Stump,' 'Chicken in the Bread-Tray,' and all those
hoppery-skippery, jiggery-dancery tunes that make your feet go
whether or no. But there Brother Terrapin sat, looking as
unconcerned as if the fiddle had been ten miles away. He didn't even
keep time to the music with his foot. More than that, he didn't even
wag his head from side to side."

"I always knew Brother Terrapin had no ear for music," remarked Mrs.
Meadows. "If