Evening star., 1942-03-27
Bedtime Stories
By THORNTON w. BURGESS.

Made Farmer Browns boys hair to rise.
That's a funny thing for hair to
do-rise up all of sudden-isn't it?
But that is just what the hair on
Farmer Browns Boys head did the
day he went fishing in the Laughing
Brook and had no luck at all. There
are just two things that make hair
rise-anger and fear. Anger some
times makes the hair on the back of
the neck of Bowser the Hound and
of some other little people bristle
and stand up, and you know the
hair on the tail Of Black Pussy
stands on end until her tail looks
twice as big as 1t really is. Both
anger and fear make it do that.
But there is only one thing that
can make the hair on the head of
Farmer Browns Boy rise, and as it
isn't anger, of course 1t must be the
other thing, fear.
It never happened before. You
see, there isn't much Of anything
that Farmer Browns Boy is really
afraid Of. Perhaps it wouldn't have
happened this time if it hadn't been
for the surprise of what he found.
You see, he had patiently fished
down the Laughing Brook through
the Green Forest without getting so
much as a nibble, and this seemed
very, very queer to him, for 1t had
never happened before. Then he
had found the heads of some trout
on the bank, and this had seemed
very queer, too, because they had
been bitten off and not cut off with
a knife. He knew right away that
some one else had been fishing and
that was why he couldn't catch any,
but the only fisherman he could
think of who might bite of the
heads of the trout was Billy Mink,
and he had never known Billy to
do it before and leave them lying
around that way. Besides, it didn't
seem possible that little Billy Mink
could have eaten all those trout.
He didn't once think of Little Joe
Otter, and so he was very, very much
puzzled.
He was turning it all over in his
mind and studying what 1t could
mean, when he came to little
muddy place on the bank OF the
Laughing Brook, and there he saw
something that made his eyes as II
they would pop right out OF his
head. It was right then that he
felt his hair rise. Anyway. that is
what he said when he told about
it afterWard. What was it he saw?
What do you think? Why, 1t was
a footprint in the soft mud. Yes,
sir. that's what it was and all 1t was.
But it was the biggest footprint
Farmer Browns Boy ever had seen,
and it looked as if it had been made
ONLY a few minutes before. 1t was
the footprint of Buster Bear.
Now. Farmer Browns Boy didn't
know that Buster Bear had come
down to the Green Forest to live.
He never had heard Of bear being
in the Green Forest. And he was
so surprised that he had hard work
to believe his own eyes, and he had
a queer feeling all over. a little
chilly feeling, although it was
warm day.
Somehow he didn't feel like meet
ing Buster Bear. The very thought
made his hair rise. If he had had
his terrible gun with him 1t might
have been different. But he didn't,
and so he suddenly made up his
mind that he didn't want to f1sh
anv more that day. He had funny
feeling that he was being watched,
although he couldn't see any one.
He was being watched. Little Joe
Otter and Buster Bear were Watch-
ing him ard taking the greatest
care to keep out OF his sight.
All the way home through the
Green Forest Farmer Browns Boy
kept looking behind him, and he
didn't draw a long breath until he
had reached the edge OF the Green
Forest. He hadn't run, but he had
wanted to.
HUH" said Buster Bear to Little
Joe Otter, Il believe he was afraid"
And Buster Bear was exactly
right.