hing sweeter than
Success to Squirrel or to man.

_Happy Jack._

Very few people can be all puffed up with pride without showing it.
Happy Jack Squirrel couldn't. Just to have looked at him you would have
known that he was feeling very, very good about something. When he
thought no one was looking, he would actually strut. And it was all
because he considered himself a very bold fellow. That was a new feeling
for Happy Jack. He knew that all his neighbors considered him rather
timid, and many a time he had envied, actually envied Jimmy Skunk and
Reddy Fox and Unc' Billy Possum and even Sammy Jay because they did such
bold things and had dared to visit Farmer Brown's dooryard and henhouse
in spite of Bowser the Hound.

But now he felt that he dared do a thing that not one of them dared do.
He dared go right into Farmer Brown's house and make himself quite at
home in the room of Farmer Brown's boy. He felt that he was a
tremendously brave fellow. You see, he quite forgot one thing. He forgot
that he had found out that love destroys fear, and that though it might
look to others like a very bold thing to walk right into Farmer Brown's
house, it really wasn't bold at all, because all the time he _knew_ that
no harm would come to him. It is never brave to do a thing that you are
not afraid to do. It had been brave of him to go in at that open window
the first time, because then he had been afraid, but now he wasn't
afraid, and so it was no longer either brave or bold of him.

Tommy Tit the Chickadee knew all this, and he used to chuckle to himself
as he saw how proud of himself Happy Jack was, but he said nothing to
any one about it. Of course, it wasn't long before others began to
notice Happy Jack's pride. One of the first was Sammy Jay. There is
very little that escapes Sammy Jay's sharp eyes. Silently stealing
through the Green Forest early one morning, he surprised Happy Jack
strutting.

"Huh," said he, "what are you feeling so big about?"

Like a flash the thought came to Happy Jack that here was a chance to
show what a bold fellow he had become. "Hello, Sammy!" he exclaimed.
"Are you feeling very brave this morning?"

"Me feeling brave? What are you talking about? If I was as timid as you
are, I wouldn't ever talk about bravery to other people. If there is
anything you dare to do that I don't, I've never heard of it," retorted
Sammy Jay.

"Come on!" cried Happy Jack. "I'm going to get my breakfast,