im. And Jimmy Rabbit hung the hats and coats
upon Nimble's antlers.

"Now," Jimmy said, "keep your head exactly where it is!"

[Illustration: Nimble Frightened Uncle Jerry Chuck.
_Page 125_]

"I suppose I may raise it after everybody has come to the party," Nimble
ventured.

"No! That would never do," Jimmy Rabbit replied firmly. "If anybody
happened to come back to get a pocket-handkerchief out of his coat he'd
be sure to notice the difference."

A sigh escaped Nimble Deer.

"My neck will ache before the evening's over," he said. "Couldn't I take
a short walk in the woods, later, to rest myself?"

"My goodness, no!" Jimmy cried. "You'd be sure to lose some of the hats
and coats, or tear them on some briars, or get them full of burs."

"How long is the party going to last?" Nimble asked.

"Only till midnight!"

At that Nimble gave a groan.

"S-s-h!" Jimmy Rabbit laid a paw upon his lips. "Keep still! Stuffed
animals never talk. If you don't look out somebody will hear you."

And then he hurried away to join his guests. He did not want to leave
them alone too long. He feared they might be saying things to each other
about his new hat-rack.

XXIV

UNCLE JERRY CHUCK

Soon Jimmy Rabbit's friends arrived at his party in throngs. And soon
Nimble Deer's antlers bristled with hats and coats of many kinds and
colors.

"I must look like a Christmas tree," Nimble thought. "I wish Jimmy
Rabbit and his friends would come and dance around me so I might see
the fun."

But they didn't. They stayed down in a little hollow some distance
away. Nimble could hear their voices. And they seemed to be having
a delightful time.

As for Nimble, he wasn't having a good time at all. "I'll never help
at another party!" he promised himself. He couldn't believe that
midnight--and the end of the party--would ever come.

At last, however, he took heart. For old Uncle Jerry Chuck came hurrying
up and began taking hats and coats off Nimble's antlers. And Nimble knew
then that the party must be almost over.

"This is a good hat!" Uncle Jerry muttered to himself. "I'll take it."
And then he said, "This is a good coat! I'll take it." Then he looked
closely at another hat. "This is a good one, too!" he remarked. "I might
lose the other. I'll take this one, too--and this coat here," he added,
selecting a second coat that pleased him.

Little did Uncle Jerry Chuck dream that the Deer