where his mistakes
were, and made him do it over and over until Mr. Dog had bowed and
scraped and backed himself almost into the fire, though he didn't know
it.

[Illustration: GAVE A HOWL AND JUMPED STRAIGHT UP INTO THE AIR.]

Next, Jack Rabbit said, they'd have a lesson in paying compliments, and
then the dancing. Now, whenever anybody pays a compliment to Mr. Dog he
always wags his tail; so the Rabbit thought of the very finest
compliment he could think of and paid it to Mr. Dog, and Mr. Dog forgot
that it was only a lesson and was so happy to receive such a compliment
from Mr. Jack Rabbit that he wagged his tail a great big wag sideways
and then up and down, until all at once he gave a howl and jumped
straight up in the air, for he had pounded his tail right into the ashes
and hot coals of Mr. Rabbit's fire.

"Did it burn him much?" asked the Little Lady.

It did that, and he howled and jumped up and down and whirled first one
way and then the other, and Jack Rabbit leaned out of the window and
held his sides and said:--

"That's it! That's the step! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"

[Illustration: TOOK OVER THE HILL TOWARDS HOME.]

When Mr. Dog heard that, he thought the Rabbit was really in earnest,
and didn't know, perhaps, he had wagged his tail into the fire; so he
quit howling and really tried to do a few fancy steps, and Jack Rabbit
almost died trying to keep from laughing, but he managed to do it, and
he called out to Mr. Dog that he was doing fine, and that all he needed
now was the dance plaster on his tail. When Mr. Dog heard that, he
thought perhaps a dance plaster would take the smart away, too, and he
sat right down and tied it on, tight. And then pretty soon that soft
soap began to act, and, right then, of all the howling and dancing and
performance that you ever heard of, Mr. Dog did it. Mr. Rabbit couldn't
hold in any longer, and lay back in his chair, and laughed, and rolled
on his bed and shouted, and when Mr. Dog heard him he knew he had been
fooled again, and he took off over the hill toward home a good deal
faster than he came. Every little ways he'd stop to dance and perform,
and try to get that plaster off his tail, and every time he stopped Jack
Rabbit would sing out:--

"That's a new step, Mr. Dog! You're doing fine! Dance, Mr. Dog; dance!"

And for a long time after that Mr. Dog didn't like to go out much,
because everywhere he went somebody would be sure to say to him:--

"That's a new