Evening star., 1921-12-27
uI1IILESloRlEs
%BEDTlr1E
Peter Tries to Gain Courage.
BY THORNTON w. BURGESS.
Courage comes to him who tries.
Fer 1t grows by exercise.

BY THORNTON w. BURGESS
Courage comes to him who tries.
Fer II grows by exercise.
| Peter Rabbit:
! Peter Rabbit needed courage. Yes,
stree, he needed courage. There he
was In the tiny cave that opened from
one corner of the larger cave which
was Buster Bears bedroom, and there
was Buster Bear himself right in
front of him doing his best to make
himself comfortable and sleepily
grumbling to himself.
Now. as you know, Peter naturally
\ IS timid. He is very timid. Just now
ne was as badly frightened as any
Rabbit in all the Great World ever
mad been. In the first place he had
| Just had the narrowest of narrow es-
capes from Yowler the Bob Cat. Then,
| Just as he had thought that his trou-
| bles were nearly at an end, in had
| walked great big Buster Bear, and
| now he, Peter, was once more a pris-
| oner. One fact gave Peter a wee
bit of comfort, and this was that
Buster Bear didn't know he was
| there.
! So Peter crouched In his tiny cave,
which was hardly big enough for him
TO turn around in, and wished his
| heart wouldn't thump so hard, and
wondered how long it would be be-
! fore Buster Bear would go to sleep.
and II when he did go to sleep he
would sleep soundly. And he won
| dered. too, if he, Peter. would ever
be able to gain courage enough to try
to steal past Buster Bear.
Buster Bear was sleepy. He yawn-
| ed and yawned and yawned. But
somehow he couldn't seem to go to
sleep. Sometimes he would doZe off.
but just as Peter would feel sure that
| at last he was asleep he would wake
up. change his position n bit and
! grumble to himself. But at last he
really was asleep. Peter knew this
by the sound of his breathing.
Peter poked his head out of his
hiding place and held his breath as
he listened to Buster Bears breath
ing Buster twitched paw and
Peter lodged back SO suddenly that
he bumped his head hard against the
top of the entrance. 1t was a long
time before he dared peek out again.
But by and by he gained courage
enough to poke his head out again.
Buster seemed to be really asleep.
the big cave. My, how far away it
seemed. That was because Buster,
Bear was between it and Peter.
Little by little Peter crept out of
his hiding place. all the time trying
to hold his breath. Buster moved
N.
! more he tried it and was frightened
back. But the third time he was
holder. His courage was growing.
This time when Buster twitched a
paw in his sleep Peter didn't run: he
simply sat perfectly still and wished
his heart would stop humping so.
Keeping close to the wall, Peter be-
gan to creep around Buster Bear. At
the least little movement on the part
of Buster he would dart back. But
each time he got a little farther, for
all the time he was coming courage.
1t was growing because he kept try
ing. The more he tried the faster his
courage grew.
At last he was quite around the
foot of Busters bed and there was
nothing between him and the en-
trance to that cave. 1t was all Peter
could do to keep from darting out,
lipperty -lipperty-lSp Yes. sir. it was
all Peter could do TO keep from doing
just that thing. But he remembered
that somewhere outside was Yowler
the Bob Cat. To rush out without
first carefully looking and listening
might be to rush right into his cruel
claws. So Peter just made himself
steal slowly and carefully across that
cave to the entrance and sit just in
side where he could see out. Then
for some time he sat there looking
and listening and all the time want
ing to run.
It was bright daylight now. and
Peter was glad of that. "Yowler
doesn't like daylight" though Peter.
He is less likely to be watching than
if it was night. I don't believe he is
about, but 1 must make sure"
At last Peter felt as sure as he
thought he was likely to be, and like
brown-gray streak he darted from
Buster Bears cave. He was free at
last!
copyright, 1921, by T. w. Burgess.)