Uncle Wiggily's Automobile (TM) by *HOWARD R. GARIS

Once upon a time,
a good many years ago,
there was an old rabbit gentleman
named
Uncle Wiggily Longears.
He was related to
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail,
the squirrels,
as well as being an Uncle to
Sammie and Susie Littletail,
his rabbit nephew and niece.
And Uncle Wiggily lived near
Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow,
the puppy dogs,
while,
not far away
was the home of the
Wibblewobble family of ducks,
and across the street,
almost,
around the corner
by the old stump,
were the Kat children,
and
Neddie and Beckie Stubtail,
the nice bear children.
One day
Uncle Wiggily was not feeling very well,
so
he sent for Dr. Possum,
who soon came over.
Dr. Possum found Uncle Wiggily
sitting in the rocking chair
on the front porch
of
the hollow stump house where he lived.
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" Well,
what is the trouble,
Uncle Wiggily?" asked Dr. Possum,
as
he looked over the tops of his glasses.
" I am sick,"
answered the rabbit gentleman.
" Sick; eh?"
exclaimed Dr. Possum.
"Let me see.
Put out your tongue!"
Uncle Wiggily did so.
" Ha! Hum!"
exclaimed Dr. Possum.
"Yes, I think you are ill,
and
you will have to do something for it
right away."
" What will I have to do?"
asked Uncle Wiggily,
anxious-like,
and
his nose twinkled
like
a star on a frosty night.
" You will simply have to go away,"
said Dr. Possum.
"There is no help for it."
" I don't see why!
exclaimed Uncle Wiggily,
and
he bent one of his long ears forward
and
the other backward,
until
he looked as if he had the letter V
on top of his head.
But,
of course, he hadn't,
for that letter is
in the reading book-or it was
the last time I looked. " Yes," said Dr. Possum,
"you must go away."
" I don't see why,"
said Uncle Wiggily again.
"Couldn't I get well at home here?"
" No, you could not,"
replied Dr. Possum.
"If you want me to tell you the truth---"
" Oh, always tell the truth!"
exclaimed Uncle Wiggily, quickly.
" Always!"
" Well," said Dr. Possum,
as he looked in his medicine case,
to see if he had any strong peppermint
for Aunt Jerushia Ann,
The little,
nervous old lady woodchuck.
"Well, then,
to tell you the truth,
you are getting too fat,
and
you must take more exercise."
" Exercise!"
cried Uncle Wiggily.
"Why!
Don't I play a game of Scotch checkers
with Grandfather Goosey Gander,
the old gentleman duck,
nearly every day?
And we always eat
the sugar cookies we use for checkers." " That's just it,"
said Dr. Possum,
as he rolled up a sweet sugar-pill
for Sammie Littletail,
the small rabbit boy;
"you eat too much,
and
you don't jump around enough."
" But I used to,"
said Uncle Wiggily,
while he twinkled his pink nose like a red star
on a frosty night.
"Why, don't you remember the time
I went off and had a lot of adventures,
and
how I traveled after my fortune,
and
found it?" " That is just the trouble,"
spoke Dr. Possum.
"You found your fortune,
and
since you became rich you do nothing.
I remember the time
when
you used to teach Sammie and Susie Littletail
how to keep out of traps,
and
how to dig burrows
and
watch out for savage dogs."
" Ah, yes!"
sighed Uncle Wiggily.
"Those were happy days." " And healthful days, too,"
said Dr. Possum.
"You were much better off then,
and not so fat." " And so you think
I had better start traveling again?"
asked Uncle Wiggily,
taking off his high hat
and
bowing politely to Aunt Lettie,
the nice goat lady,
who was passing by,
with her two horns sticking through holes
in her Sunday-go-to-meeting bonnet.
" Yes,it would be the best thing for you,"
spoke Dr. Possum.
"Medicine is all right sometimes,
but fresh air,
and sunshine,
and being out-of-doors,
and happy and contented,
and helping people,
as Uncle Booster,
the old ground hog gentleman,
used to do-all these
are better than medicine."
" How is Uncle Booster,
by the way?"
inquired the rabbit gentleman. " Fine! He helped a little girl mouse
to jump over
a mud puddle the other day,
and after she was on the other side
she jumped back,
all by herself,
and fell in,"
said Dr. Possum, with a laugh.
"That's the kind of a gentleman
Uncle Booster is!" " Ha! Ha!" exclaimed Uncle Wiggily.
"That's queer!
But now do you think
it would do me any good to start off
and
have some adventures in my automobile?"
" It would be better to walk,"
said Dr. Possum.
"Remember you called me in
to tell you what was the matter with you,
because you felt ill.
And I tell you that
you must go around more;
take more exercise.
Still,
if you had rather go
in your auto than walk,
I have no objections." " I had much rather,"
said Uncle Wiggily.
"I like my auto." " Then,"
said Dr. Possum,
"I will write, that as a prescription."
So
on a piece of white birch bark he wrote: "One auto ride every day,
to be taken before meals.     Dr. Possum." " I'll do it at once,"
said the rabbit gentleman.
Uncle Wiggily Longears was quite rich,
you know, having found his fortune,
of about a million yellow carrots,
as I have told you
in some other stories,
so he could afford to have an auto.
And it was
the nicest auto you could imagine.
It had a turnip for a steering wheel,
and
whenever Uncle Wiggily got hungry
he could take a bite of turnip.
Sometimes after a long trip
the steering wheel would be all eaten up,
and old Circus Dog Percival,
who mended broken autos,
would have to put on a new wheel.
And to make a noise,
so that no one
would get run over by his machine,
Uncle Wiggily had a cow's horn
fastened on his auto;
so instead of going "Honk-honk!"
like a duck,
it went "Moo! MOO!"
like a bossy cow
at supper time.

" Well, if I'm going off for my health,
I'd better start,"
said Uncle Wiggily,
as he went out to his auto
after Dr. Possum had gone.
"I'll take a long ride."
so he got in the machine,
and pushed on the doodle-oodle-um,
and twisted the tinkerum-tankerum,
and away he went
as fast as anything, if not faster.
~*~


to be continued on next page
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~*~