“I’ll come!” Brownie Beaver promised.
“I’ll be there at sunset.”
And he went. Mr. Frog was waiting for him, with
a broad smile on his face. Any smile of his just
had to be broad, because he had such a wide mouth.
“Come right in!” Mr. Frog said. “I’ll
measure you at once.” So Brownie Beaver
stepped inside Mr. Frog’s shop to be measured
for his new suit.
It was all over in a few minutes. Mr. Frog scratched
some figures on a flat stone. And then he went
into the back room of his shop.
He stayed there a long time. And when he came
into the front part again he found Brownie Beaver
still there.
“What are you waiting for?” Mr. Frog asked.
He seemed surprised that Brownie had not left.
“I’m waiting for my suit, of course,”
Brownie Beaver said.
“Oh! That won’t be ready for three
days,” Mr. Frog told him. “I have
to make it, you know.”
Brownie thought that Mr. Frog must be a slow worker;
and he told him as much.
But Mr. Frog did not agree with him.
“I’m very spry!” he claimed.
“On the jump every minute!”
As Brownie started away, Mr. Frog called him back.
“I’d get a new hat if I were you,”
he suggested.
“What’s the matter with this hat?”
Brownie wanted to know. “It’s a beaver
hat—one my great-grandfather used to wear.
It’s been in our family a good many years and
I’d hate to part with it.”
“You needn’t part with it,” Mr.
Frog said pleasantly. “Just don’t
wear it—that’s all! For it won’t
look well with the clothes I’m going to make
for you.”
Then Brownie Beaver moved away once more. And
again Mr. Frog stopped him.
“I’d buy a collar if I were you,”
he said.
“What’s the matter with this neckerchief?”
Brownie Beaver demanded. “It belonged to
my great-grandmother.”
“Then I’d be careful of it if I were you,”
Mr. Frog told him. “And please get a stiff
white collar to wear.”
“Won’t it get limp in the water?”
Brownie asked, doubtfully.
“Get a celluloid one, of course,” Mr.
Frog replied. “That’s the only kind
of collar you ought to wear.”
So Brownie Beaver left the tailor-shop. And he
was feeling quite unhappy. He had always been
satisfied with his clothes. But now he began
to dislike everything he had on. And he could
hardly wait for three day to pass, he was in such
a hurry for Mr. Frog to finish his new suit.
THE NEW SUIT
Three days had passed. And as soon as he had
finished his breakfast Brownie Beaver hastened to
the tailor-shop of Mr. Frog, who had been making him
a suit of clothes.
Much to Brownie’s disappointment, he found that
Mr. Frog’s door was locked. But he sat
down on the doorstep and waited a long time. And
at last Mr. Frog appeared.
After bidding Brownie Beaver good-morning, Mr. Frog
yawned widely, remarking that he had been out late
the night before, “at a singing-party,”
he said. “What can I do for you?”
he asked Brownie Beaver.
