ery shaky:

"Oh y-yes, Mr. 'Possum, w-we meant to, a-all the t-time."

And they tried to get up, but were so scared and weak they couldn't, and
all at once Mr. 'Possum gave a great big laugh and threw off his sheet
and sat down on a stool, and rocked and laughed, and Mr. 'Coon and Mr.
Crow realized then that it was Mr. 'Possum himself, and not just his
appearance, as they had thought. Then they sat up, and pretty soon began
to laugh, too, though not very gaily at first, but feeling more cheerful
every minute, because Mr. 'Possum himself seemed to enjoy it so much.

Then Mr. 'Possum told them about everything, and how Mr. Man's medicine
must have made him well, for all his pains and sorrows had left him, and
he invited them down to help finish up the chicken which had cost him so
much suffering.

So then they all went down to the big room and the Crow brought in the
big platter of dumplings, and a pan of biscuits and some molasses, and a
pot of coffee, and they all sat down and celebrated Mr. 'Possum's
recovery. And when they were through, and everything was put away, they
smoked, and Mr. 'Possum said he was glad he was there to use his
property a little more, and that probably his coat would fit him again
now, as his sickness had caused him to lose flesh. He said that Mr.
Man's medicine was certainly wonderful, but just then Mr. Rabbit dropped
in, and when they told him about it, he said of course the medicine
might have had some effect, but that the dumplings and chicken caused
the real cure. He said there was an old adage to prove that--one that
his thirty-fifth great-grandfather had made for just such a case of this
kind. This, Mr. Rabbit said, was the adage:

"If you want to live forever
Stuff a cold and starve a fever."

Mr. 'Possum's trouble had come from catching cold, he said, so the
dumplings were probably just what he needed. Then Mr. Owl dropped in to
see how his patient was, and when he saw him sitting up, and smoking,
and well, he said it was wonderful how his treatment had worked, and the
Hollow Tree people didn't tell him any different, for they didn't like
to hurt Mr. Owl's feelings.

389

Prominent among writers of the new realistic
nature literature is Dallas Lore Sharp
(1870--), professor of English in Boston
University. Mr. Sharp's stories and descriptive
sketches of nature reveal charming details in
out-of-door life that