Arthur Scott Bailey

“ Moses Mouse urged him. "Go to the farmhouse and walk right in."
"Oughtn't I to rap?" Grunty inquired.
"Certainly not!" said Moses Mouse. "Make yourself right at home. Act as if the farmhouse belonged to you. That's the way I do. And nobody ever bothers me, except Miss Kitty Cat—or Miss Snooper, as we Mice call her. Even she can't drive me away from the farmhouse. I lived there before she ever came to Pleasant Valley."
"She certainly couldn't drive me away," Grunty Pig muttered. ”

“ It was afternoon when Grunty Pig made up his mind that he would never go home. When the Muley Cow warned him once more to beware of the bears he actually jeered at her.
"There are no bears in Pleasant Valley," he scoffed. "And you needn't trouble yourself to mention them again to me. I'm going to live in this pasture and there's no use of your trying to frighten me away." ”

“ After Farmer Green put the lid with the holes in it over the top of the feeding trough, Grunty Pig began to grow. At last he was getting as much to eat as his brothers and sisters. And the bigger he grew, the more food he wanted. He was always on the watch for some extra tidbit—always rooting about to find some dainty that others had overlooked. ”

“ Jasper Jay called me names because he was safe in the tree. If he hadn't had that tree to help him he'd never have dared say what he did.
"To tell the truth, I am a bit out of patience with that beech tree," Grunty confessed. "It played me a mean trick. And I hope there'll be a raging wind to-night that will rob it of every bur it has.... I'd uproot the beech," he added, "if I didn't like beechnuts so much."
"Well, you are an odd one," said Frisky Squirrel.
"If everybody was as odd as I am there'd be fewer Jasper Jays in the world," Grunty Pig declared. ”

“ Again Grunty Pig burst through the hole in the fence and romped up to his mother.
"He chased me another time!" he grunted. "The bear chased me almost as far as the fence."
"Sakes alive!" his mother shrieked. "Somebody ought to tell Farmer Green! This farm is not a safe place to live, with a bear prowling about it." ”

“ The next day Farmer Green made a long lid that dropped over the feeding trough and covered it completely. And in the lid he cut seven holes—one for each of Mrs. Pig's children.
There was no more jostling at meal time. There was a place for everybody. And Mrs. Pig was delighted with the improvement. When Farmer Green filled the trough, each of the children stuck his head through a hole and ate in the most orderly fashion. To be sure, there was some squealing and grunting, and some snuffling and blowing. But it seemed to Mrs. Pig that no youngsters could have behaved more beautifully. ”

“ Mr. Mouse admitted. "But I've often gone to bed half starved. Maybe you didn't know that Mrs. Green is terribly neat. She doesn't leave much food around for us Mice."
"Well," Grunty remarked, "it's an honor, anyhow, to live in the farmhouse. You ought not to complain about the food,106 even if it is a bit scarce at times. I'd be glad to live there. And I dare say I'd find a plenty to eat. The farmhouse is where the sour milk comes from."
"If you feel like that," said Moses Mouse, "why don't you join us? Why don't you come to the farmhouse for the winter, anyhow?"
Grunty Pig shook his head. ”

“ Jolly Robin and his wife were terribly worried. Grunty Pig meant to uproot the apple tree where they had their nest. Every day he came and dug at the foot of the tree. Every day, just before he went away, he looked up at them and said, "I hope you'll sleep well to-night. You'd better enjoy your home while you have it, for the tree will be flat on the ground before fall." ”

“ When Spot spoke of Farmer Green's cutting off his tail, Grunty Pig winced. But as the old dog talked on and on Grunty forgot the painful part of the plan.
"There's no doubt," he agreed, "that my tail would be a fine sight, fastened up on the barn where everybody could gaze at it. But don't you think, Mr. Spot, that I'd look very queer without any tail?"
"N—no!" Spot told him. "N—no! I've seen plenty of pigs without tails. They didn't look queer at all. Really,85 they looked better without tails than they would have looked with them." ”

“ All the farmyard folk agreed that Farmer Green took the best of care of everybody. Mrs. Pig often told her children that they were lucky to have so good a home. And not having lived anywhere else, they never imagined that anything could be finer than their pen.
After the day when he escaped from the pen, however, Grunty Pig began to complain. He wasn't satisfied with the food that Farmer Green gave him, he grumbled because there was no good place to wallow in mud, and especially did he object because there wasn't a tree to rub29 against. ”

“ But when there are seven children in a family it is no wonder that one of them could slip away without having his absence noticed. It is specially easy, in such a large family, to overlook the littlest.
If Mrs. Pig had known there was a loose board on the pen she would certainly have counted noses to find out whether her children were all safe at home. But nobody20 knew about that loose board except Grunty himself.
It was lucky that Farmer Green had made the lid for Mrs. Pig's children's feeding trough—the lid with the seven holes in it. ”

“ Don't you find it a nuisance to have to turn your head around every time you want to look at your tail?"
Grunty Pig admitted that his tail wasn't in the most convenient place in the world.
"If Farmer Green should cut off your tail and nail it up on the outside of the84 barn," old Spot suggested, "you could look at it easily enough. And it would give others a better chance to see it, too. Even the people that drive along the road could enjoy it. Everybody spoke about the tall corn that we nailed to the barn last fall. And I'm sure that folks would admire your tail." ”

“ Frisky Squirrel merely grinned at his companion.
100
"Look here, young Porker!" Jasper called to Grunty Pig. "Doesn't Farmer Green feed you?"
The name "Porker" made Grunty Pig look up.
"I'm Mrs. Pig's son," he said. "Don't call me 'Porker'!"
"Well—Pig, then!" Jasper Jay squalled. "Doesn't Farmer Green feed you?"
"Yes!"
"Well, then—don't come here and take our nuts! Didn't your mother ever teach you that things that grow on trees—such things as nuts—belong to the people that live in the trees?"
"Does Johnnie Green live in this tree?" Grunty Pig inquired. ”

“ Pig!" thought Henrietta Hen. "It's bad enough to have a child so untidy as this youngster. But it's far worse to have a dull-witted one."
Then to Grunty she said sharply,18 "You'd better get out of that mudhole and go dry yourself in the sun."
He actually obeyed her. And as soon as Henrietta Hen saw that he was sunning himself she walked out of sight around the barn, stopping now and then to pick up some tidbit or other.
"Good!" Grunty Pig grunted. "She's gone. This was the easiest way to get rid of her." ”

“ Crow was not empty-headed, like Henrietta Hen. He was not to be deceived so easily.
"Why don't you answer me?" he bawled. "You make noise enough when you're at home. I've heard you often,25 way across the cornfield." Mr. Crow cawed so angrily that a dozen of his cronies flew over from the woods to see what was going on. And the whole thirteen made such an uproar that Farmer Green couldn't help noticing them. He and Johnnie were in the orchard, hunting for Grunty Pig.
"Those crows are up to some mischief," Farmer Green declared. "You don't suppose—do you?—that they're teasing that pig?" ”

“ He felt sure that he would have a much pleasanter time there than at home. For one thing, he knew well enough that there was a punishing waiting for him at the piggery—if he ever went back to get it.
Not until Johnnie Green and old dog48 Spot came to the pasture to drive the cows down the lane did Grunty Pig begin to feel the least twinge of homesickness. And even then he tried to forget it. He hid in a clump of brakes near the fence while Johnnie Green and Spot were in the pasture, for he didn't want them to spy him and take him home with them. ”

“ THE MARJORIE BOOKS
Marjorie is a happy little girl of twelve, up to mischief, but full of goodness and sincerity. In her and her friends every girl reader will see much of her own love of fun, play and adventure. ”

“ It's a wonder they don't get in the trough all over."
Johnnie Green liked to watch the pigs.
"That black fellow's the greediest of the7 lot," he declared. "He's getting to be the biggest. He's almost twice the size of the little runt."
"The runt doesn't get his share," said Farmer Green. "We'll have to do something to help him, or he'll never be worth his salt."
Grunty Pig looked up at Farmer Green and gave a plaintive squeal, as if to say, "Hurry, please! Because I'm always hungry."
And Blackie, his greedy brother, looked up at Farmer Green too. He said nothing. ”

“ At last his gurgles and grunts attracted the notice of a proud creature known as Henrietta Hen. She had been scratching for worms in the farmyard. And now she17 came running around a corner of the barn and peered through the fence at Grunty.
"You careless child!" she squawked. "Stop playing in that mud! Don't you know that it's very dangerous to get your feet wet?"
Grunty Pig stood up and looked at her.
"Goodness! You're a sight!" Henrietta Hen exclaimed. "Does your mother know you're here?" ”