Well, it makes a good deal of difference whether you"re company at a house or a boarder. They all felt a good deal like company at first, but by the next evening at supper time they felt different. Mr. "c.o.o.n and Mr. "Possum had been out all day bringing in things, too, and Mr. Crow had been cooking harder than ever. Mr. Robin was first to make remarks.
He said that the cherries were canned, and not very good ones at that.
"That"s what I said," put in Mr. "c.o.o.n, "but Mr. "Possum said you wouldn"t know the difference."
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"Oh, he did, did he?" says Mr. Robin. "Well, I"ve got better cherries than these at home," and he got up from the table with a disgusted air.
Then Mr. Squirrel picked up some roasted nuts that the Crow had just brought in.
"Where"d you get these nuts?" he says, after he"d cracked one or two of them.
"Down on the slope of Green Bushes," says Mr. "c.o.o.n. "Why, aren"t they good ones?"
"I suppose they were once," says Mr. Squirrel--"two or three years ago.
Nuts have to be fresh to be good."
"That"s what I told him," says Mr. "Possum; "but he said you wouldn"t know the difference."
"Oh, he did, did he?" says Mr. Squirrel. "Well, I"ve got better nuts than these at home," and Mr. Squirrel he got up and left the table.
Then Jack Rabbit began.
"Where"d you get this salad?" he says, turning up his nose.
"Out by Mr. Man"s back gate," says Mr. "Possum. "Why, isn"t it good?"
"Might have been once," says Mr. Rabbit. "I s"pose it"s some Mr. Man threw out because it was wilted."
"That"s what I told him," says Mr. "c.o.o.n, "but he said you wouldn"t know the difference."
"Oh, he did, did he? Well, I"ve got better salad than this at home," and Jack Rabbit he got up and he left the table.
And then, pretty soon, Mr. Turtle made a face over the fish because they were salt mackerel and not nice fresh fish, such as he was used to at home. So he got up and left the table, too, and there sat the "c.o.o.n and "Possum and the Old Black Crow all by themselves and looking cheap enough to fall through the floor. Mr. Crow said it wasn"t his fault, and then Mr. "c.o.o.n and Mr. "Possum commenced to blame it on each other, and nearly got into a fight. They were just about to fight when Mr. Crow happened to think of something. Mr. Crow always did think of things.
"I"ll tell you!" he says. "We"ll just rent rooms."
"Do what?" says Mr. "Possum and Mr. "c.o.o.n together.
"Why, just rent each of our guests his room and let him take his meals out. Then we won"t have any work."
"Whoo-ee!" says Mr. "Possum and Mr. "c.o.o.n both together, as loud as ever they could. That made all the guests come running back, and when they heard the new plan they all cheered, too, and said it was just the thing.
So then Mr. "Possum went down and got the sign and brought it up and changed it to read:
THE HOLLOW TREE INN.
FURNISHED ROOMS ONLY.
And that was how business began at last in the Hollow Tree.
MR. "POSSUM EXPLAINS
HOW UNCLE SILAS TRIED TO PLEASE AUNT MELISSY
Well, you remember that the Hollow Tree people took four of their friends to live with them and called it the Hollow Tree Inn. Mr. Robin came, and Mr. Turtle, also Jack Rabbit and Mr. Squirrel, and they made a jolly crowd after they got settled and knew about each getting his own things to eat, because the Hollow Tree people--the "c.o.o.n and "Possum and the old black Crow--found they couldn"t suit their guests exactly when it came to a steady diet. So they all kept house together, and used to go out days (and nights, too, sometimes, when Mr. Man and Mr. Dog were tired and asleep and didn"t want to be disturbed) and get nice things.
Then they"d bring them in and fix them to suit themselves, and have them all on the big table down stairs, nice and comfortable, where they could sit and talk as long as they pleased.
It was a good deal like a big family when they were all together that way, and they used to say how nice it was, and once Mr. "Possum said he always did think a big family was nice, anyway. Then Jack Rabbit laughed and said he should think Mr. "Possum was just the kind of a man for a big family, being fond of good things to eat and not very fond of getting them for himself, and mostly fat and sleepy like. He said if there was just a nice, spry Mrs. "Possum, now, to keep house and look after things he should think it would be ever so much better than living in bachelor quarters, or, rather, thirds, with Mr. "c.o.o.n and Mr. Crow, and not having things very orderly. Of course, with himself, Jack Rabbit said, it was different, but even at his house it got lonesome, too, now and then.
Well, Mr. "Possum thought a minute, and then he said that there was such a thing as folks being too spry, and that it was because he had always been afraid of getting that kind that he had been pretty well satisfied to live in the Hollow Tree just as he was. He said that he had once had an uncle that something happened to in that line, and whenever he thought about poor Uncle Lovejoy he didn"t seem to care much about trying anything he wasn"t used to. Then they all wanted him to tell about Uncle Lovejoy and what happened to him. So Mr. "Possum did tell, and it went this way:
"Once upon a time," he said, "Uncle Lovejoy--we always called him Uncle Silas then, and he was uncle on my mother"s side, and lived with Aunt Melissy in a nice place just beyond the Wide Pawpaw Hollows--once upon a time, as I was saying, he had to go to town on some business, and that was something that never happened to Uncle Lovejoy before."
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"Well, Aunt Melissy was always a spry woman, as I said, and stirring--very stirring, and primpy, too. But she was never as stirring and spry and primpy as she was the day that Uncle Silas started for town. She dressed him all up neat and proper in his very best things, and tied his tie for him, and while she was tying it she says:
""Now, Silas," she says, "when you get to town you buy a few little articles right away and put them on. You don"t want folks to see that you come from the country, you know, and you don"t want Cousin Glenwood to be ashamed of you before folks. Cousin Glen will know just what things you need and where to get them." Then she told him not to get run over by anything, or blow out the gas, or let anybody see that he wasn"t used to things, because, you see, Aunt Melissy was proud, being a Glenwood herself. Then Uncle Lovejoy promised all those things, and that he would use his napkin and not eat pie out of his hand or drink out of his finger bowl, and a lot more things that Aunt Melissy remembered at the last minute. So you see by the time he got on the train he had a good deal to think about, and he kept thinking about it until by the time he got to the city he"d made up his mind he"d try to do for once everything she told him to and give her a pleasant surprise with the way he had fixed up and improved his manners when he got back. Uncle Lovejoy was good natured and always anxious to please folks, especially Aunt Melissy."
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"Well, Cousin Glenwood met him at the station, and about the first thing Uncle Silas said was to ask him where he got his clothes, and to tell him that Aunt Melissy had said he was to fix up, so"s folks wouldn"t think he came from the country, which, of course, she had. That just suited Cousin Glenwood, for he liked to spend money and show off what he knew about the city; so he took Uncle Lovejoy "most everywhere, and told him to buy "most everything he saw. And of course Uncle Silas did it, because he wanted to surprise Aunt Melissy when he got back and make her feel happy for once in her life."
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"Cousin Glen took Uncle Lovejoy to the stores first, and then to a good many different kinds of places afterward, and every place where there was a mirror Uncle Lovejoy would stand before it and admire himself and wonder what Aunt Melissy would say when he got home. He kept buying new things every day, because every day he"d see somebody with something on or carrying or leading something, and when he remembered what Aunt Melissy said, he made up his mind he"d have to have all the things to please her, and he got them as far as he could. Even Cousin Glenwood had to commence buying things pretty soon to keep up, and before long people used to stop on the street and look at them when they went by.
Uncle Silas didn"t want to go home, either, when the time came, but of course he had to, and he put on his best clothes for the trip, and took a young man he"d hired to wait on him, and started.
"He didn"t tell Aunt Melissy just what time he"d be there, so it was a surprise sure enough. He walked right into the yard, and behind was the young man he"d hired, carrying his things. Aunt Melissy was getting dinner, and had just come to the door a minute to see what time it was by the sun, when all of a sudden, as she looked up, there he was! He had his hat in one hand and a cane in the other, and was leading a game chicken by a string. All his boxes and bundles and the young man were behind him. Uncle Lovejoy wore an eyegla.s.s, too, and smoked a paper thing he said was a cigarette. My little cousins, who were there, told me afterward that their pa had never looked so fine in his life before or since. They didn"t know him at all, and neither did Aunt Melissy. She thought he was somebody with something to sell at first, and when he said:"
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""Aw, there, Melissah!" she threw up her hands and was just about to call for help, when just that minute she saw it was Uncle Silas.
"Poor Uncle Silas! He meant to surprise her, and he did it sure enough.
He meant to please her, though, and he didn"t do that worth a cent. It seemed funny, but she was mad. That"s just the trouble about women folks; you never know when you"re going to please them. My little cousins said they never saw their ma so mad before or since. She made Uncle Lovejoy take off all his nice clothes, and the young man, too, and she cooked the game chicken for dinner. Then, right after dinner, she picked up a bag of shinney sticks that Uncle Lovejoy had brought home, and she says to him and the young man:"
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