ke a little speech that was
kind of a reply to Mr. Rabbit's poem. He said how nice it was to give
one's friends pleasant surprises of good things as Mr. Crow had done,
instead of unpleasant ones such as Mr. 'Possum had mentioned, and all
the others said, "Yes, Yes!" and cheered him, all except Mr. Crow, who
looked down into his plate and didn't say a word, but just seemed to be
thinking and thinking.

And by and by, when Jack Rabbit and Mr. Turtle said goodby and went
away, he hurried back to the table, and was just going to take the C. X.
pie up to his own part of the house, when Mr. 'Possum and Mr. 'Coon
grabbed him and said they must have a piece of that pie, after all. And
when Mr. Crow wasn't going to give it to them they both commenced to
laugh and said it was their pie anyway, and that they meant to have it.
And right then Mr. Crow knew just what had happened, and that it was no
use to be an April fool any longer. He stood still a minute, looking
first at Mr. 'Coon and then at Mr. 'Possum. Then he walked to the window
and flung the C. X. pie out as far as he could send it among the leaves
and brush, where it belonged. The 'Coon stood on one side and the
'Possum on the other, and they watched it strike and roll out of sight
before they said anything. Then Mr. 'Coon said that perhaps it would be
a good time now to tell the great secret of the Johnnie cake and gravy,
and Mr. Crow said he would do that and anything else they wanted him to
if they'd promise they wouldn't tell this joke on him to anybody--Mr.
Rabbit and Mr. Turtle especially. Then he went right on and told them
the great secret of the Johnnie cake, and the 'Coon and the 'Possum did
promise, though they didn't intend to tell anyway, for they thought a
great deal of Mr. Crow and they were all good friends.

"But, dear me!" exclaimed the story teller, "I've been telling for three
evenings on this story, and here it is nine o'clock again."

"You'll tell some more to-morrow night won't you?" said the Little Lady,
drowsily.

"We'll have a story about Mr. Jack Rabbit next time," said the story
teller.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The Three Friends, page 136.

MR. RABBIT EXPLAINS

AN EASTER STORY

"Now tell me the rabbit story," commanded the Little Lady on the next
evening. "You know you promised to."

"So I did," said the Story Teller, "and it goes this way:--"

[Illustration]

"One afternoon in the early spring Mr. Jack Rabbit and his friends we