Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-11-14
nuII5ESoRlEs
&BEDTInE
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.
Copyright. 1916. by T. ". Burgess.l
Reddy Fox Boasts and Sway
gers.
It's most annoying to the ear
A silly. boasting tongue to hear.

a silly. pOastlnC tongue to hear.
One reason for this is that those
who really have done something worth
while. something for which they might
be pardoned if they boosted a little.
seldom do boast. So when we hear
ooaster we always begin to suspect
that he hasn't done so very much after
ALL He is like the Laughing Brook
"here 1t flows over the stones and peb-
bles and there is hardly water enough
to cover them. 1t gurgles and splashes
and makes a great fuss. 1t calls atten-
tion TO ITSELF 1t seems to say: Here
am. See me, See the white froth
L am Kicking up. That shows how
strons and fierce 1 am" All the time
you know and / know that right there
Is the very place where we can easiest
get across. 1t is there we have moth
ing to fear from it. All that chatter
and noise is but idle boasting 1t is
"here the water is deep and quiet,
making no sound, that the Laughing
Brook awakens our respect.
NOW Reddy Fox is a boaster. He is
smart. He is very smart But he
ism content to let people find that out
1of themselves. He likes to tell how
smart ne Is. In fact, with that boast
l u tongue of his he tries to make him
sen appear even smarter than he really
Is: The result is that a great many
~ MS neigh bors. the little people Of
me Green Meadows and the Green For
es.. 40 not credit him with being as
smarL a haze ne really ,.ndl is Now Reddy
poast to old Granny Fox In the first
place 1t was she who had taught him
u.s. is h OF what he knew. But boasting
"a han!t. a bad habit. and like most
o "a, habits 1t grows and grows. SO
| the instant Reddy reached hime after
| .hat long run when Bowser the Hound
| had SO nearly caught him he began
D ne sWassered up to where old Granny
! FOX was sitting on the doorstep. To
swagser Is to strut proudly, as you
hnoM: Where have you been?" de-
ma nded Granny sharply.
showing that silly hound of Farmer
| Browns how useless 1t is for him to
| Try to catch me-" boosted Reddy. TT
| was splendid exercise and great fun
al all because Bowser the Hound had
SO nearly caught Reddy that for time
TEDDY had been quite in despair. But
| he didn't intend to let Granny know
this. Il suppose you mean it was
great fun for Bowser.' said Granny
dryly.
lseddy looked at her sharply He had
an uncomfort able feeling that Granny
knew more about that chase than he
| had supposed she did. He wondered
how much she did know. NO" said
he. Il mean it was fun for me. l
| played trick on that fellow I guess
he won't forget in hurry. He was
| the most frightened dog you ever saw.
| guess he won't bother me again in a
hurry
What did you do?" demanded
Granny.
Il let him almost catch me-" replied
Reddy, land then ] led him straight to
Ivr-1n<
You ought to have seen Buster Bear. OF
course. j took care to get out of the way
myself. and he didn't pay any attention
to me. He just made for Bowser, and
Rowser put his tail between his legs and
started for home yelping at the top of his
voice. He was scared almost to death. 1t
was one of the smartest tricks l have
ever played"
Now what Reddy had told Granny was
partly true. but it wasn't the whole truth
He had led Bowser to where
| Buster Bear was taking nap.
and then things had happened just
as he said But he hadn't led
Bowser there purposely. No. indeed He
hadn't known that Buster Bear was
there. If he had known nothing would
have tempted him to go near that place.
The real truth was that all of Reddy's
smart tricks to fool Bowser had failed
and II was just chance that had led him
to where Buster Bear was. 1t was just
chance. and as it turned out lucky
chance. for Reddy had been so tired that
| he could have run very little farther
| Now that it was all over he wanted Gran
ny Fox to think that he had done it pur-
| posely. In fact, he wanted to think so
| himself, because it would be something
| to brag and boast about All the way
| home he had thought about il until he
(. had almost made himself believe that
! he had done it purposely. He didn't
mean to be untruthful 1t was just the
| result of that habit OF Boosting and also
| the desire to escape the scolding he knew
he would get if Granny suspected the
| truth.