Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber’s Notes:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

Additional Transcriber’s Notes are at the end.

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Tiny Redsquirrel

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_The_ SQUIRREL’S PILGRIM’S PROGRESS

_A Book for Boys and Girls_

BY J. D. WILLIAMS

Setting Forth the Adventures of Tiny Red Squirrel and Chatty Chipmunk

And describing Miss Hare’s School; Red Squirrel, Chipmunk, Reynard
Fox, Pussy Cat, and Other Students, as well as Mr. Wise Owl, a
Director of the School, and Billy Beaver, the Janitor.

FIFTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. WOOD (FIVE COLORED PLATES)

CHICAGO LAIRD & LEE, Inc., PUBLISHERS

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And Nature, the old nurse, took
The child upon her knee.
Saying, “Here is a story-book
Thy father has written for thee.”
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Once on a time a little boy was taken from the noise and bustle of city life to a sparsely settled land where a great forest stretched away in every direction. To this land his parents came to make a home in the heart of the deep wood. A large log house had been built in an open space from which great oaks, beeches, maples and other trees had been removed, and here, surrounded by nature’s forms and activities, they lived many years.

What a delightful experience this was to this little boy! How wonderful this new world seemed to him! Here were flowers of every hue, bees, birds, butterflies, and many other interesting things to excite his childish wonder. He soon learned the names of the shrubs, the trees, the wild fruits and the flowers; and the habits of the honey gatherers, the feathered folk, and the little animals of the wood.

This story has its foundation in these experiences and was written in the hope that it will prove interesting and instructive to many children. It teaches its young readers to see material things as they really are, so that the early impressions shall always be the true ones; it teaches them to apply the same habit of careful observation to language forms and constructions, so they shall know how thoughts must be expressed, and more than that, how they may be expressed beautifully. It is believed that it will influence them to observe nature’s works closely--the beauty in the dense foliage of spring, in the myriad forms of life, in nest building and bird music, in the vitality of growth, in the sweet beneficence of the universal mother, so that they may come to know

“There are tongues in trees,
Books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones,
And good in everything.”

Acknowledgments are due to Wilber Hershel Williams for assistance in the preparation of this volume; to Frances Squire Potter, James S. Greenwood, and Z. C. Spencer for literary criticism and helpful suggestions.

J. D. W.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. INTRODUCING TINY REDSQUIRREL 7

II. TINY GOES TO SEEK WINTER STORES 12

III. HIS FIRST ADVENTURE 17

IV. INTRODUCING MR. WISE OWL 23

V. A LESSON FROM THE ANTS 30

VI. MEETING MR. FROG 34

VII. HIS ADVENTURE WITH QUEEN BEE 37

VIII. THE PORCUPINE SCARES TINY 44

IX. MEETING WITH THE BLACK GIANT 49

X. TINY THE HERO OF SQUIRRELTOWN 58

XI. THE MAYOR CALLS ON TINY 65

XII. MR. OWL INTERRUPTS A SPEECH 69

XIII. HE TAKES TINY TO SCHOOL 77

XIV. TINY GETS ACQUAINTED 85

XV. SCHOOL DAYS EXPERIENCES 95

XVI. MR. OWL VISITS THE SCHOOL 101

XVII. TINY’S CORRESPONDENCE 108

XVIII. MISS HARE ON GRAMMAR 116

XIX. STUDYING NATURE 124

XX. TINY HELPS WITH TEACHER’S LETTERS 134

XXI. OPOSSUM AND CATERPILLAR 140

XXII. GRADUATION EXERCISES 147

XXIII. THE STUDENTS START FOR HOME 158

XXIV. TINY IS APPOINTED MAYOR 168

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Squirreltown _Frontispiece_

Go Away! 9

How Can You Sleep On a Day Like This? 12

Splash! Chatty Fell Into the Creek 16

Tiny and Chatty Meet the Raccoon 19

Tiny Meets Mr. Owl 23

Watching the Ants Build a House 31

Learns a Lesson from the Spider 34

Meeting with Mr. Toad 36

Rescues the Queen Bee 37

“Hist!” Cried the Ogre 45

Tiny Conquers the Porcupine 47

The Bear Falls from the Tree 51

The Bees Rescue Tiny from the Bear 54

Tiny Returns to Squirreltown 58

Brings Food to His Hungry Mother 60

Tiny Is Ill--The Mayor Calls 65

The Story of the Fable 68

Tiny Makes a Speech 69

Mr. Owl Lectures Tiny 71

He Takes Tiny to School 78

Mr. Beaver Shows Tiny to His Room 80

Tiny Meets Mr. Redfox 82

The Janitor Awakens the Pupils 85

Miss Hare’s School 87

Tiny Gives Miss Hare an Acorn 90

Tiny and Winkie Run a Race 95

Tiny Prepares for Graduation 101

The Owl Prophet Visits the School 103

He Hardly Knew Tiny 106

The Pigeon Mail Carrier 108

Reynard Is Sick 116

Chatty Chipmunk Appears 125

The Panther Gives Them a Scare 126

Mrs. Badger and the Bees 128

Tiny Assists the Teacher 134

Mr. Opossum 141

Shifty Woodchuck Wants Help 148

Sammy Rabbit’s Composition 151

Tiny’s Speech Wins the Prize 155

The Encounter with the Lynx 162

In Deertown 164

Running from a Wildcat 166

Celebration in Squirreltown 172

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Tiny Redsquirrel