Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-01-02
tI1TILEHoRlEs
6rbEDTInE
By THORNTON w. BURGESS.
Copyright. 1917, by T. W. Barssss.)
Mrs. Grouse in the Old Brier-
Patch.

/ So far as Peter. Rabbit could remem-
Der he never had known such a. silent
world as he was living in now. Usu-
/ ally, even on the coolest days Of win
| ter. there are some voices to be heard.
| the CHEEKY call of Tommy Tit tho
J Chickadee, or the harsh scream of
Sammy Jay. or the scolding of Chat
terer the Red Squirrel But Peter
heard none of these now. All day he
listened for some sound to tell him
that he had neighbors. but he listened
in vain No more did he hear the tat
too of Drummer the Woodpecker in the
ioId Orchard. Sammy Jay seemed to
have lost his voice. entirely. or else
something had happened to him. Peter
shivered as he wondered II the latter
icould be true. Only when the Black
Shadows had crept out from the Purple
Hills were voices to be heard, and these
| were not voices he cared to. hear--the
Coyote, and the boot Of Hooty the Owl
And 1t was all because Of the great fear
OF the Gray Terror. Of Mr.. Goshawk,
who had come down from the north.
| Many times Peter thought Of his
friends and wondered anxiously what
they were doing, and IL anything dread
| full had happened to any of. them. He
| was especially anxious about Mrs.
Grouse He WAS, WAS very cry fsnd c 2, Mrs
also was very fond OF Mrs. Grouse. but
in quite different way. Mr.. Goshawk
desired her for dinner There is
nothing he likes to eat better than
Grouse. He will go out of his way to
and SO he was very. very anxious about
Mrs Grouse and her family. It was
of no use for him to go over to the
Green Forest at night to look for her.
him to find, As for going over in day
light he didn't dare to.
So it was with both delight and re-
lief that very early one morning Peter
farther side of the Old Brier Patch, and
hurried over to find Mrs. Grouse there.
She had just come from the Green
Forest. She was very thin and worn
and very nervous
IL hope. Peter, you won't mind
my coming to the Old Brier Patch"
she stammered before Peter could ind
his tongue to tell her how glad he was
to soc her and to know that she was
alive.
'Why, Mrs Grouse" cried Peter,
you ought to know me well enough
by this time to know that / am tickled
to death to have you come here. I've
been afraid that something might have
Green Forest
Its a wonder nothing has" declared
Mrs Grouse. i've had some narrow
escapes. / can tell you. Just look at
my tail" She spread her tail and
Peter saw at once that-there was gap
in it where some feathers were missing
! Did Mr.. Goshawk do that?" asked
Peter.
Mrs Grouse nodded. Il thought he
had me that time she confessed. THE
way he has hunted Mr.. Grouse and my
self has been dreadful" she continued
1--WE nearly starved to death. It's a
fact. IT II hadn't been for buds In
some Of the trees I would have. You
see didn't dare move about in daytime
over there now. That is why come
over here. I thought there might be
n few berries up where you cannot
reach them, Peter. and that you
wouldn't mind IL I got them. Then It
will be such a relief to feel safe even
for little while. You don't mind. do
you. Peter -?
Peter pretended to be very indis-
nant with Mrs. Grouse for limiting at
such a thing.