acker or a Roman candle stick
when you had your Fourth of July celebration, but if you were I hope you
will soon be better, and perhaps if I tell you a story it will make you
forget the pain. So here we go, all about Uncle Wiggily and the buttercup.

The old gentleman rabbit spent a few days in an old burrow next to the
bumble bee's house, and then one morning, when the sun was shining
brightly, he started off again to seek his fortune.

"I never can thank you enough," he said to the bee, "for going after the
sparrow children and saving me from the exploding sky-cracker. If ever I
find my fortune I will give you some of it."

"Thank you very kindly," said the bee, as she looked in the pantry, "and
here are some sweet honey sandwiches for you to eat on your travels. This
is some honey that I made myself."

"Then it must be very good," said the old gentleman rabbit politely, as
he put the sandwiches in his valise and started off down the dusty road.

Well, he hopped on and on, sometimes in the woods where it was cool and
green and shady, and sometimes out in the hot sun, and every minute or so
he would stop and look around to see if he could find his fortune.

"For, who knows?" he said, "perhaps I may pick up a bag of gold, or some
diamonds at almost any minute. Then I could go back home and buy an
automobile for myself to ride around in, and my travels would be over. I
have certainly been on the go a long time, but my health is much better
than it was."

So he kept on, looking under all the big leaves and clumps of ferns for
his fortune. But he didn't find it, and pretty soon he came to a hole in
the ground. And in front of this hole was a little sign, printed on a
piece of paper, and it read:

"COME IN! EVERYBODY WELCOME."

"Humph! I wonder if that means me?" thought the old gentleman rabbit.
"Let's see, gold grows under ground, in mines, and perhaps this is a gold
mine. I'm going down. I'm sure there is a fortune waiting for me. Yes,
I'll go down."

So he laid aside his valise and barber-pole crutch and got ready to go
down in the hole, which wasn't very big.

"But I can scratch it bigger if I need to," said Uncle Wiggily.

Well, he had no sooner gotten his front feet and part of his nose down the
hole, but his ears were still sticking out, when he heard a voice calling:

"Here! Where are you going?"

"Down this hole after gold," replied Uncle Wiggily.

"You mustn't go down there," went on the voic