Raggytug 85 



the wild creatures. But Moliy Cottontail had 

 no fear of it. She was not brought up in the 

 briers for nothing. Dogs and foxes, cattle and 

 sheep, and even man himself might be torn by 

 those fearful spikes : but Molly understands it 

 and lives and thrives under it. And the fur- 

 ther it spreads the more safe country there is 

 for the Cottontail. And the name of this new 

 and dreaded bramble is — the barbed-wire fence. 



m 



Molly had no other children to look after 

 now, so Rag had all her care. He was unusu- 

 ally quick and bright as well as strong, and he 

 had uncommonly good chances ; so he got Cti 

 remarkably well. 



All the season she kept him busy learning tho 

 tricks of the trail, and what to eat and drink 

 and what not to touch. Day by day she 

 worked to train him ; little by little she taught 

 him, putting into his mind hundreds of ideas 

 that her own life or early training had stc-ed 

 in hers, and so equipped him with the kno»yU 

 edge that makes life possible to their kind. 



Close by her side in the clover-field or the 

 thicket he would sit and copy her when she 

 wobbled her nose * to keep her smeller clear/ 



