Hazel Squirrel and Other Stories   By: Samuel E. (Samuel Edward) Lowe (1890-1952)

FAMOUS ANIMAL STORIES

Hazel Squirrel AND OTHER STORIES

By Howard B. Famous

FULLY ILLUSTRATED

WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. RACINE, WISCONSIN

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY WHITMAN PUBLISHING CO. RACINE, WIS. Printed in United States of America

CONTENTS

Page

IN SQUIRREL TOWN 7

HAZEL AND BUSHY TAIL VISIT SOME STRANGE LANDS 15

MRS. SCREECH OWL 26

THE RACCOON AND THE BEES 41

PINKIE WHISKERS 67

ILLUSTRATIONS

LITTLE HAZEL WAS PLAYING FAR OUT ON A LEAFY BRANCH ( Frontispiece )

Page

"I'LL BE DOWN IN A JIFFY" 9

HE HELD OUT SOME NUTS TO THEM 13

SHE ROCKED THEM IN HER DOLL'S CRADLE 21

MR. BAT SAW THEM HUDDLED TOGETHER 23

MOTHER SQUIRREL ENTERTAINS HER VISITORS 27

THE SQUIRRELS GO ON A PICNIC 32

FEASTING ON HAZEL NUTS 36

THE RACCOON WATCHES THE BOYS 40

"YUM, YUM, BUT IT IS FINE" 48

"OH, COONIE, TELL ME WHERE IT IS" 51

CHUCK ARRIVED AT THE BIG OAK TREE 55

HE GRABBED UP A BIG STICK 59

HAZEL SQUIRREL

IN SQUIRREL TOWN

"Come, little sleepy eyes, it's time to get up," said Mrs. Squirrel, one morning. But little Bushy Tail was having such a nice dream about a wonderful tree where all kinds of nuts grew side by side on the same branch that he did not answer. Only his eyelids quivered ever so little, so his mother knew he was pretending.

"Come, come!" she repeated. "Little Hazel Squirrel is up and playing outside."

In a twinkling he had jumped out of bed and pressed his furry little nose against the window pane. Little Hazel was playing far out on a leafy branch with one eye on Bushy Tail's house, nestled in a forked limb close to the trunk. She waved her lovely gray tail when she saw him and began chattering very fast.

"Wait a minute," Bushy Tail called back, "I'll be down in a jiffy."

And he was in such a hurry that he tied his tie on sideways and brushed his furry tail the wrong way, which made him look very funny. He even forgot to take a bite of the nice breakfast his mother had left on the table for him. Right through the window he bounded, instead of walking through the door as he had been taught to do, and landed close beside Hazel, far out on the leafy bough.

"Oh, Hazel," he cried, "I've had the loveliest dream!"

"You old sleepy head," she answered, "you lay abed dreaming when you might be out playing in the fresh air."

[Illustration: "I'LL BE DOWN IN A JIFFY"]

"Hazel," Bushy Tail began, teetering up and down on the branch in his excitement, "I'm sick of peanuts, aren't you?"

"No," she answered, "I love them. Mother says they make my coat thick and sleek."

They were city squirrels, you know, who lived in a park and had their daily supply of peanuts left at their door by the park keeper.

"No, I am not sick of peanuts," she continued. "But what has that to do with your dream?"

"Everything," he went on. "Oh, Hazel, I dreamed of a most wonderful tree where all kinds of nuts hickory, walnuts, chestnuts and hazel nuts grew side by side on the same branch. We must hurry and get there before they are all gone," and he jumped up so quickly that Hazel went spinning round and round the branch she was holding on to with her sharp little claws.

Now, Hazel was a good little squirrel who always talked things over with her mother, so as they were hurrying away across the park she suddenly stopped. "I forgot to tell mother where I was going," she said.