Laura Rountree Smith

“ Black Beauty, in recounting the many incidents of his life, has given us a series of stories full of interest, danger and excitement, through all of which is a pathetic plea for the more considerate treatment of his kind. ”

“ Bunny ran away so much, you see, that his mother was quite used to it, while Susan was a good rabbit and had never before run away from home.
The week passed, and then Bunny’s [37] mother said Bunny must go to school. For rabbits have to go to school if they want to learn anything, of course!
So she put up a nice little lunch for Bunny, and gave his coat an extra brush. She brushed him so hard that he cried a little, and went down the road with his dinner pail on his arm, brushing the tears away with his sore paw! ”

“ Poor little Bunny was sadly frightened. He did not know that this big thing was only a scare-crow. He had never seen a scare-crow before, in all his life. But he had seen men, and his mother had told him that men did not like rabbits. Bunny thought the [8] scare-crow was a man, and he quickly crept close to a big cabbage, to hide, and lay quite still for a while. ”

“ Now, what do you suppose Mother Bunny was going to do? She was going to find Mr. Owl, who is the wisest creature in the woods. And why was she going to find Mr. Owl? Because she wanted to ask him how to stop Bunny Cotton-Tail from running away.
Mr. Owl was at home, as usual, sitting on a branch of an old pine-tree. When Mother Cotton-Tail told her story, he blinked his round eyes and turned his head all the way around to hide a smile. He had heard of Bunny Cotton-Tail before.
Mr. Owl did not talk very much; [42] wise people never do. So he answered Mother Cotton-Tail with two words: “Mr. Fox.” ”

“ All children will be greatly interested in it and every person can learn much from it of these strange people. The quaint custom in China of attempting to fool evil spirits is shown by the peculiar name of the boy whose life is so entertainingly written by Mary Muller. ”