VI
A HAPPY THOUGHT
Brownie Beaver liked to know what was going on in the world. But living far from Pleasant Valley as he did, he seldom heard any news before it was quite old.
"I wish—" he said to Mr. Crow one day, when that old gentleman was making him a visit—"I wish someone would start a newspaper in this neighborhood."
Mr. Crow told Brownie that he would be glad to bring him an old newspaper whenever he happened to find one. "Thank you!" Brownie Beaver said. "You're very kind. But an old newspaper would be of no use to me."
"Why not?" Mr. Crow inquired. "They make very good beds, I've been told. And I suppose that is what you want one for."
"Not at all!" Brownie replied. "I'd like to know what's happening over in Pleasant Valley. It takes so long for news to reach us here in our pond that it's often hardly worth listening to when we hear it—it's so old. Now, what I'd really prefer is a newspaper that would tell me everything that's going to happen a week later."
Mr. Crow said he never heard of a newspaper like that.
"Well, somebody ought to start one," Brownie Beaver answered.
Mr. Crow thought deeply for some minutes without saying a word. And at last He cried suddenly: