The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-12-17
BURGESS BED-
 TIME STORIES
By THORNTON W. BURGESS

CURIOSITY MAKES PETER BOLD Curiosity Is bold
 And quite as foolish too, I'm told.
 Peter Rabbit.
 Peter Rabbit sat up and stared this way and stared that way and stared the other way, every way in the moonlight. And as he stared this way that way and the other way he listened with those long ears of his He saw nothing to make him afraid He heard nothing to make him afrid Yet he was afraid. He tried to think He was afraid because ohe was so near the home of Buster Bear. Any way that Is what 1t used to be-the home of great, big Buster Bear. It was to find out if 1t still was Busters home that Peter had come over there Curiosity had sent him. Of course. You don't need to be told that.
 >The moonlight fell full on that ledge of rock under which was a cave in which Buster Bear had slept the winter before. Peter could see the entrance to that cave looking like the blackest of Black Shadows He wished he could see into it with out going nearer. But he couldn't Stare as he would he couldn't see into that cave. Little by little Peter crept nearer, looking over his shoulder every other minute to make sure that no one was after him. No one was and at last Peter was right at the entrance to that cave.
 But even there he could not see in- side. for it was very dark in there. Peter listened for the least little sound to show that Buster Bear was in there. He heard nothing. He cooked his head on one side and then on the other, listening for the sound of Buster breathing. If Buster was in there 1t should be possible to hear him breathing. But there was no such sound and finally Peter made up his mind that Buster was not there.
 Then Curiosity began to whisper to Peter once more Now Is a splen- did chance to see what kind of a place Buster Bear sleeps in," whispered Curiosity. Tt may be that Buster isn't using that cave any more Prob ably he isn'ter he would be there now. Probably he has gone to sleep somewhere else. You can slip >fn there and see what it Is like and then slip out again without any one being the wiser. You'll never have a better chance to see Buster Bears bedroom. If he is in there he certainly is fast asleep and there isn't the least bit of danger"
 So Curiosity whispered to Peter and Peter listened. He shouldn't have listened. Of course not. No, sir-ee, he shouldn't have listened. But he did and almost before he knew what he was doing he was inside that cave. Butter Bear wasn't there. There wasn't anybody there. In jiffy Pe- ter had forgotten everything but the desire to find out all there was to find out about that cave.
 It was the first time Peter ever had been inside that cave. First he went all around the edgesof it. In one corner he found a tiny cave open ing from the big one. This little cave was just big enough for him to turn around in. The entrance to 1t was just big enough for him to squeeze through.
 At the back part of the cave Peter found a bed. It was a big bed It was very big bed. It was made of leaves mostly. Most of them had been there very long time. but some or those on top seemed to have been put there very recently.
 T wonder if the wind blew them In here" thought Peter. "I wonder"
 What Peter wondered can be guessed at only, for just at that in- stant he heard a noise just outside the cave. a noise that made his heart jump right up In his mouth. Any way. that is how 1t seemed to Peter, as with eyes which seemed to be pop ping out of his head he stared at the entrance to that cave.
 Copyright, 1921. by. T. W. Burges.) The next story: Peter Rabbit Is Trapped"