VI 



A STARLIGHT TRAGEDY 



'' 'T^HE little brother to the bear/' as 

 several naturalists have so aptly 

 called him, came scratching down the out- 

 side of an old stub birch and alighted at its 

 foot. It was an old trick with him, for 

 the birch stub was hollow and its dry in- 

 side had been his home for two or three 

 years. So he had got used to this back- 

 ing out of his front door and sliding tail 

 first down his front walk. 



The creature, who was about the size 

 of a small dog, weighing perhaps twenty- 

 five pounds, was not a bear, as you children 

 know bruin, but a large raccoon. His 

 habits are those of the bear, and as he 

 belongs to the family, it is quite fair 



