“I’m sorry to hear that,” said the old gentleman rabbit; “I like sleigh riding. But of course, if you must go, you know best,” and then the reindeer said good-by and went away to the cold north country where Santa Claus lives and the Xmas trees grow.
And then the Yellow Dog Tramp said he was going back to New Hampshire to see his dear old mother.
“Take this ten-carrot gold piece to her,” said dear, kind, generous Uncle John Hare, and that Tramp Dog almost cried with joy and away he went back to the old homestead in the Green Mountains.
Well, by this time it was pretty late and Mr. Merry Sun had disappeared over the Western Hills, so the two little rabbits went into the house and Uncle John Hare hung up his great fur overcoat and put on his slippers and sat down before the fire to warm his paws, and while he sat there a little cricket came out of a crack in the floor and began to sing:
“I’m the cricket on the hearth,
Listen while I sing,
Though it’s cold and bleak outdoors,
And Jack Frost will nip your paws
Round the hearth it’s warm and bright
In the fire’s golden light.”