claw he picked some
green stalks growing near him, and handed them to the bunny uncle,
afterward crawling away.

"Pooh! Those are no good!" cried Billie, the boy squirrel.

"I should say not!" laughed Johnnie, "They are only green rushes that
grow all about in the woods, and we could give Uncle Wiggily all he
wanted."

"Hush, boys! Don't talk that way," said the bunny uncle. "The mud
turtle tried to do the best he could for me, and I am sure the green
rushes are very nice. I'll take them with me. I may find use for
them."

Billie and Johnnie wanted to laugh, for they thought green rushes were
of no use at all. But Uncle Wiggily said to the squirrel boys:

"Billie and Johnnie, though green rushes, which grow in the woods and
swamps are very common, still they are a wonderful plant. See how
smooth they are when you rub them up and down. But if you rub them
sideways they are as rough as a stiff brush or a nutmeg grater."

Well, Billie and Johnnie thought more of the rushes after that, but, as
they walked on with Uncle Wiggily, when he had put them in his pocket,
they could think of no way in which he could use them.

In a little while they came to where Mother Goose lived, and the dear
old lady herself was out in front of her house, looking up and down the
woodland path, anxious like.

"What is the matter?" asked Uncle Wiggily. "Are you looking for some
of your lost ones--Little Bopeep or Tommy Tucker, who sings for his
supper?"

"Well, no, not exactly," answered Mother Goose. "I sent Simple Simon
to the store to get me a scrubbing brush, so I could clean the kitchen
floor. But he hasn't come back, and I am afraid he has gone fishing in
his mother's pail, to try to catch a whale. Oh, dear! My kitchen is
so dirty that it needs scrubbing right away. But I cannot do it
without a scrubbing brush."

"Ha! Say no more!" cried Uncle Wiggily in his jolly voice. "I have no
scrubbing brush, but I have a lot of green rushes the mud turtle gave
me for turning him right-side up. The rushes are as rough as a
scrubbing brush, and will do just as nicely to clean your kitchen."

"Oh, thank you! I'm sure they will," said Mother Goose. So she took
the green rushes from Uncle Wiggily and by using them with soap and
water soon her kitchen floor was scrubbed as clean as an eggshell, for
the green, rough stems scraped off all the dirt.

Then Mother Goose thanked Uncle Wiggily very much, and Billie and
Johnnie s