Books published by publisher Thornton W. Burgess

So every morning they ask him to play, and every morning they laugh when he says he has too much to do. Then they rumple up his hair and pull his whiskers and give him last tag and race down to the Smiling Pool to see Grandfather Frog and beg him for a story. Now Grandfather Frog is very old and very wise, and he knows all about the days when the world was young. When he is feeling just right, he dearly loves to tell about those long-ago days.

Danny Meadow Mouse sat on his door-step with his chin in his hands, and it was very plain to see that Danny had something on his mind. He had only a nod for Jimmy Skunk, and even Peter Rabbit could get no more than a grumpy “Good morning.” It wasn’t that he had been caught napping the day before by Reddy Fox and nearly made an end of. No, it wasn’t that. Danny had learned his lesson, and Reddy would never catch him again. It wasn’t that he was all alone with no one to play with. Danny was rather glad that he was alone. The fact is, Danny Meadow Mouse was worried.

Grandfather Frog's Big Mouth Gets Him In TroubleGrandfather Frog has a great big mouth. You know that. Everybody does. His friends of the Smiling Pool, the Laughing Brook, and the Green Meadows have teased Grandfather Frog a great deal about the size of his mouth, but he hasn't minded in the least, not the very least. You see, he learned a long time ago that a big mouth is very handy for catching foolish green flies, especially when two happen to come along together. So he is rather proud of his big mouth, just as he is of his goggly eyes.

PETER RABBIT! Peter Rabbit! I don't see what Mother Nature ever gave me such a common sounding name as that for. People laugh at me, but if I had a fine sounding name they wouldn't laugh. Some folks say that a name doesn't amount to anything, but it does. If I should do some wonderful thing, nobody would think anything of it. No, Sir, nobody would think anything of it at all just because—why just because it was done by Peter Rabbit."Peter was talking out loud, but he was talking to himself. He sat in the dear Old Briar-patch with an ugly scowl on his usually happy face. The sun was shining, the Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind were dancing over the Green Meadows, the birds were singing, and happiness, the glad, joyous happiness of springtime, was everywhere but in Peter Rabbit's heart. There there seeded to be no room for anything but discontent. And such foolish discontent—discontent with his name! And yet, do you know, there are lots of people just as foolish as Peter Rabbit.

Peter Rabbit had quite lost his appetite. When Peter forgets to eat you may make up your mind that Peter has something very important to think about. At least he has something on his mind that he thinks is important. The fact is, Peter had fully made up his mind to change his name. He thought Peter Rabbit too common a name. But when he tried to think of a better one, he found that no name that he could think of really pleased him any more. So he thought and he thought and he thought and he thought. And the more he thought the less appetite he had.

When Old Man Coyote first came to the Green Meadows, to live, he chased Peter Rabbit and gave Peter a terrible fright. After that for some time Peter kept very close to the dear Old Briar-patch, where he always felt perfectly safe. But Peter dearly loves to roam, and Peter is very, very curious, so it wasn’t long before he began to grow tired of the Old Briar-patch and long to go abroad on the Green Meadows and in the Green Forest as he always had done, and find out all that was going on among his neighbors.

Danny Meadow Mouse sat on his door-step with his chin in his hands, and it was very plain to see that Danny had something on his mind. He had only a nod for Jimmy Skunk, and even Peter Rabbit could get no more than a grumpy “Good morning.” It wasn’t that he had been caught napping the day before by Reddy Fox and nearly made an end of. No, it wasn’t that. Danny had learned his lesson, and Reddy would never catch him again. It wasn’t that he was all alone with no one to play with. Danny was rather glad that he was alone. The fact is, Danny Meadow Mouse was worried...